APMA News - November/December 2012 - (Page 58)

Federal Advocacy Forum By Seth A. Rubenstein, DPM A Status Quo Election? For all the sound, fury, and record-breaking political spending (some $6 billion) the 2012 campaign generated, the outcome leaves the country in a familiar place: the same divided government heading into next year. Now that President Barack Obama has been re-elected, and with Democrats holding onto the Senate and Republicans keeping the House, we are sure to see more gridlock, partisanship, and finger-pointing. Though the major party control of government remains largely the same, there will be 12 new senators and at least 79 new representatives, all of whom will be mindful of the interesting voter preferences, trends, take-aways, and insights from the November 6 elections: Voter turnout was lower in 2012 than 2008. Turnout dipped from 62.3 percent of eligible voters in 2008 to an estimated 57.5 percent in 2012. That figure also was below the 60.4 percent level of the 2004 election but higher than the 54.2 percent turnout in the 2000 election. President Obama received 9 million fewer votes than in 2008, and Mitt Romney received almost 3 million fewer votes than John McCain. President Obama is the first president since the 19th century to win with a lower percentage of the vote in his second-term victory than in his first (53 percent in 2008 versus 50 percent in 2012). Mitt Romney won among independents, but by just five percentage points. After wins by five women in Senate races, one of every five members of that chamber will be female come January. New Hampshire will soon have an all-female congressional delegation and governor. And 78 women are on track to be sworn in to the House of Representatives in the 113th Congress, an all-time high. spending cuts would begin to take effect (including additional cuts for Medicare providers) under the sequestration plan agreed to under last summer’s debt ceiling law. In a sense, the overwhelmingly high re-election rate of incumbents means Congress can step up to the many policy challenges almost immediately. There will not be turnover in administrations and congressional control, so next year promises to be busier, more intense, and more bipartisan than any year since 1997, with huge issues such as tax and fiscal reform actually starting to move. • 2013 and the New Congress With the significant number of new senators and representatives joining the 113th Congress in January 2013, APMA and its members have an early and important opportunity to get to know and educate these elected officials and their staffs about our profession and our issues. On the opposite page, APMA News lists the new members of the 113th Congress, and APMA is devising a more comprehensive new member directory to disseminate soon to all APMA members and state components. To those APMA members who have been active in helping your favorite candidates in this past election, we thank you wholeheartedly. Your efforts and the relationships you built are remembered by our elected officials, and you should expect your personal relationships to continue to pay dividends. We also are revamping and revising our legislative advocacy strategies and tactics to keep members better informed of federal legislative activities, issues, and grassroots involvement opportunities, and also to revitalize our efforts to pass The Equity and Access for Podiatric Physicians Under Medicaid Act (Title XIX). The hustings are over, the bunting is down, the hysteria is at an end, and the winning candidates now must turn to governing. As we close the chapter on the 2012 national elections—the first after the dramatically changed 2010 census—we will have an opportunity to learn much more about the American electorate and where we as a country may go from here. n • • • • The issues that have galvanized Congress—taxes, anemic economic growth, deficits, and the health-care law implementation—still need resolution, and massive budget cuts and tax hikes are looming at the end of the year unless the lame-duck 112th Congress takes action. Foremost among the challenges facing Washington is steering away from the fiscal cliff of broad tax increases and deep spending cuts slated to take effect in January, which could push the fragile economy back into recession. Without action by year’s end, the George W. Bush-era tax cuts would expire, Medicare’s physician payments would be slashed by 27 percent, and $109 billion in across-the-board 58 APMA News November/December 2012 APMA Trustee Seth A. Rubenstein, DPM, can be reached at sarubenstein@apma.org.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of APMA News - November/December 2012

APMA News - November/December 2012
President’s Message
Contents
United States of Diabetes
Corporate Partners and Members: A History of Generosity
Tradition of Leadership: APMA Executive Directors Move Podiatric Medicine Forward
100 Years of Chiropody History in the UK: A Personal View
Annual Scientifi c Meeting Registration Form
2012 Podiatric Practice Survey: Age and Gender by Practice Arrangement Type
APMA By the Decade: 2002–2012
Reimbursement
Federal Advocacy Forum
Cosponsors to the Equity and Access for Podiatric Physicians Under Medicaid Act
APMAPAC Contributions in the 2011–12 Election Year
APMAPAC Chair Report
IT Consultant
Website Wisdom
Technofi
Small Business 101
CPME Update
APMA All Stars
Resolutions Deadlines
In Short
Worthy of Note
Affi liates Corner
Insurance Advisor
New Members
Death Notices
APMAPAC Update
Classified Advertising
Dates to Remember
Advertising Index
10 Questions
Your APMA

APMA News - November/December 2012