Washington Watch
By Leo Coco
Tough issues and election year pressures
Congress returned from a two-week spring recess to constituent concerns about gas prices, the war in Iraq, immigration, and ethics scandals, packaged with a stronger-than-usual dose of election year jitters. Traditionally, the period between Easter and Memorial Day is when Congress completes consideration of the budget and starts the process of funding various agencies of government through 10 separate appropriations bills. While this annual process of must-pass funding legislation moves forward, Congress is also taking steps to tackle other legislation as the mood of the country appears increasingly at odds with the policies of the administration and Congress’ inability to complete work on complicated issues.
The president’s approval ratings are at an all-time low as is the level of confidence felt by Americans regarding whether the country is headed in the right direction. The White House has responded with recent key personnel changes, namely a new chief of staff and press secretary. Calls for the resignation of the vice-president were followed closely by the call from a group of former military generals for the resignation of the secretary of defense. For Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike, it is hard to ignore the rising discontent in the country over many unresolved issues and the strong potential for volatile elections this fall. And Congress, mindful of the power of national trends, is focused on trying to get things done to address problems.
The first order of business has been to deal with the emergency supplemental appropriations bill. Now, this is not one of the 10 regular appropriations bills, but separate legislation to provide immediate additional funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and hurricane relief. Inserted into the bill was $4.7 million for Texas flood projects to repair damages caused by Hurricane Rita. The recently passed Senate supplemental bill provided spending at $109 billion, and it will have to be reconciled in conference with the $92 billion bill passed by the House. The president has issued strong veto threats for a bill above his acceptable spending of $94.5 billion, and the House and Senate are digging in to support their own funding levels.
There may be no more powerful pocketbook indicator than gas prices, and members of Congress got an earful, if not a tankful, while home over spring break. Strong evidence of their concern was the thwarted attempt by the Senate leadership to try to add to the emergency supplemental appropriations bill a plan to provide relief for gas prices. The proposal would have included a $100 gas tax rebate for a majority of taxpayers, but was dropped because of widespread criticism. Furthermore, the president had made it clear that this emergency spending should be only for the war and hurricane relief. There have been other proposals for gas price relief including a two-month suspension of the federal gas tax and for alternative fuels research. The House recently passed a bill that would create new civil and criminal penalties for price gouging, and a House committee will hold hearings on new fuel economy standards for cars.
Another issue reverberating with Americans has centered on recent scandals resulting in a senior member of the House being sent to jail and others under investigation in corruption scandals involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The Republican House leadership has had a very tough time crafting a lobby reform bill that was acceptable to different groups within their party, but the reform bill squeaked by on May 3. Critics claim the legislation is too weak and only a veiled attempt to deal with reform before the November elections; supporters claim it is real reform and positions the House to iron out differences in conference with a tougher Senate bill.
One measure in the House bill imposes curbs on earmarks, referred to as special funding designations for pet projects in legislation. The earmark curb in the House bill only applies to appropriations bills and requires disclosure of all earmarks contained in conference reports. The House leaders have indicated that the curb will be extended in conference to authorizing and tax legislation as well. The Senate language regarding earmarks provides for a 60-vote point of order being raised against a specific earmark if it is not contained in bills passed by either the House or Senate.
If it sounds like things are moving rapidly in Congress, then keep in mind that it is a long process from passage of legislation in both houses to signature by the president. The conference committee to iron out House and Senate differences on the tax reconciliation bill began last year, and finally a $70 billion compromise extending the Bush tax cuts has passed and was signed by the president. Strongly supported extensions of many popular tax credits, including the $250 credit for public K-12 teachers for out-of-pocket classroom expenditures, got entangled with the tax cuts and were removed. It now appears these noncontroversial extensions will be attached to separate legislation dealing with pension reform currently in conference. Congress will complete work on these tax credit extensions before they expire.
While the administration and Congress are watching the big issues with Americans very closely, there is little that can be done immediately to impact positively the current situation with the Iraq war and the price of gas at the pumps. So that leaves immigration as the big issue that will take center stage, particularly in light of the marches, rallies and boycotts that have taken place across the nation. And while the White House wants to complete work on a reform package, it finds itself caught between opposing views in the Republican Party on how to handle the nearly 12 million illegal immigrants regarding a path to citizenship, securing our borders, and filling the gaps in the American workforce. The Senate will attempt to complete work on its bill before Memorial Day and then work in conference with the House whose recently passed version does not contain a provision that would allow a mechanism for legalization of undocumented workers.
The House and Senate have a May 15 statutory deadline to complete work on the budget that has been held up while the House Republican leadership negotiates with moderate Republicans for increases in education and health programs. This means that individual appropriations bills can be considered at that time without completion of the budget. The House majority leader recently indicated that Congress will adjourn for the November elections but return to work until Christmas to complete legislative objectives. In the meantime, election year pressures will continue to cause controversial issues to get sidelined but also push Congress to show constituents that things can get done. Highly politicized issues like lobby reform, gas prices, immigration and rising deficits will keep the spotlight on what Congress will be able to get done by November.
Leo Coco is TCTA’s lobbyist based in Washington, D.C. He is a senior policy advisor with the law firm of Nelson Mullins, with a background that includes extensive experience in the U.S. Department of Education.
