Worries about price tag of domestic partner benefits bill fade

Supporters of legislation to provide benefits to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian federal employees are optimistic cost will not be as big an obstacle to the bill's passage as it appeared earlier this week.

The Congressional Budget Office on Thursday released an estimate indicating that the House version of the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act (H.R. 2517) would cost $596 million in direct spending and $302 million in discretionary spending through 2019. The House and Senate bills provide the same benefits.

The bulk of the cost would come from increased enrollment in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. CBO estimated that each year from 2011 to 2019, 5,200 non-postal retirees would move from individual health insurance coverage in FEHBP to family coverage through the federal plan. Those switches in enrollments would cost $348 million. In addition, 4,000 non-postal employees would add coverage for their same-sex domestic partners from 2010 to 2019, costing $266 million in discretionary funds, the report stated.

Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, said during a Wednesday hearing that they would not seek time on the Senate calendar for the legislation until the Office of Personnel Management demonstrated it would be cost-neutral. That process might not take long, according to sources on and off Capitol Hill.

"Sen. Lieberman is in ongoing discussions with OPM about finding offsets," said Leslie Phillips, a spokeswoman for Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

OPM Director John Berry said he is "confident that we will be able to work with [the Office of Management and Budget] and the committee to address the concerns raised [on Wednesday] so that forward progress can continue."

Leonard Hirsch, president of Federal GLOBE, an affinity group for gay and lesbian federal employees, said the wait was a matter of political maneuvering, not opposition to the legislation or concerns about its costs.

"This is a small procedural delay," he said. "Everyone is being extremely cautious to create the best conditions and not create any unwanted opposition."