News
Hundreds of orphaned bills will become the final casualties of the midterm elections when they are left to expire at the end of the session by their departing advocates.
Good ideas, bad ideas, ideas with lots of support and no support at all — all manner of legislation will expire, with little hope for resuscitation in the next Congress because sponsors will no longer be around to do it.
The 10 retiring and defeated senators, in particular, are learning that even in the chamber known for its courtesy, final wishes are not easily accommodated.
Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., who was defeated Nov. 7 by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, settled on one last goal before returning to private life.
His legislation (S 757) would require the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate the links between the environment and breast cancer. He has two-thirds of the Senate as cosponsors, 260 cosponsors for a companion bill in the House (HR 2231) and no prospects for success in the lame-duck session.
“How can a bill with 66 cosponsors that was reported unanimously by the HELP [Health, Education, Labor and Pensions] Committee not be taken up and approved by the Senate?” asked Chafee.
The answer: Tom Coburn, R-Okla., blocked the bill because he does not believe Congress should be micromanaging the NIH. He said he would support the bill if it said that NIH “may” rather than “shall” conduct the research.
But neither Chafee nor the anti-mandate Coburn has been willing to compromise.
“I really tried,” Chafee said, “but it’s probably done.”
Stalled Vehicles
Having given up on passing appropriations bills and instead funding government operations with continuing resolutions, congressional leaders have eliminated some of the most promising vehicles for carrying smaller bills to President Bush’s desk. Their decision also dashed some deals previously arranged by outgoing lawmakers.
Before he was defeated in November, Republican Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania helped to get some language important to coal states attached to two different pieces of legislation, a pension protection bill (HR 2830) and estate tax legislation (HR 5970).
Now he and other senators from the region are trying to get an agreement either to attach their measure to a tax bill that is moving — a package of extensions for expiring or expired tax breaks — or to get quick floor action on the original Santorum-drafted bill (S 2616). The bill would reduce federal fees paid by coal companies and require that the money be spent to clean up abandoned mines and pay for the health benefits of miners who are retired from now-bankrupt companies.
Republican aides say the coal legislation is all but guaranteed to get another chance in the 110th Congress if it does not clear this year because other coal-state senators want to see the bill become law.
For other legislation, the best its advocates may be able to hope for is to pass along the objective to someone else in the state’s congressional delegation or to a colleague with a shared interest in a topic.
That’s what happened after Paul Wellstone, D-Minn. (1991-2002), was killed in a plane crash.
A tearful Pete V. Domenici, R-N.M., vowed to win passage of the mental health parity bill that had been Wellstone’s signature issue. It was enacted about a year after Wellstone’s death (PL 108-197).
Special Timetables
Those about to retire may have an advantage over their defeated colleagues in that they are leaving on their own timetable; they and their staffs have been playing an endgame for months or even years.
Independent James M. Jeffords of Vermont, though, can attest that even the most carefully laid plans are easily derailed at the end of a session.
For six years, Jeffords laid the groundwork for a bill introduced in the 109th Congress to designate thousands of acres of Vermont forest lands as protected wilderness (S 2565).
“I have reviewed comments from thousands of constituents, visited the forest on the ground and viewed it from the air, and spent countless hours studying maps,” Jeffords told his colleagues when he introduced the bill in the spring of 2006.
The bill passed the Senate twice, got yanked from the House floor schedule once, and survived two rounds of objections from Vermont’s Republican Gov. Jim Douglas.
By the time the House cleared the measure on Nov. 15, it had a new bill number (S 4001), a new name — the New England Wilderness Act — and a different prime sponsor — John E. Sununu, R-N.H.
It also omitted more than 6,000 acres initially targeted by Jeffords’ bill.
But it was done.
Jeffords’ aides said several other bills remain on his “to do” list before he retires, including a long-delayed water projects bill (HR 2864) that is currently in conference.
Time may run out for that bill, as it likely will for many other pet projects as the clock on the lame-duck session runs out and the staff that makes so many of the deals happen are, by necessity, distracted by having to shut down the offices and find new jobs.
Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, another defeated incumbent, is pushing hard to complete a project that needs no legislative bartering but does demand some stamina.
For months, he has filled downtime on the Senate floor with speeches honoring the men and women from his state who have been killed in Iraq — about 90 speeches so far.
But Ohio’s death toll in Iraq is closer to 140, and DeWine has confided to colleagues that he’s worried about time running out before he gets to speak about them all.
“He is determined to get it done as a tribute to these families,” said Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., the incoming Senate majority whip. “He said, ‘It is about all we can do, isn’t it?’ He is right. It says a lot about Mike DeWine, a lot that we already knew.”
Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who is retiring at the end of this session, has promised to help DeWine reach his goal, according to spokesman Eric Ueland.
DeWine’s been guaranteed two hours of floor time on Monday as a down payment on keeping that promise.
Good ideas, bad ideas, ideas with lots of support and no support at all — all manner of legislation will expire, with little hope for resuscitation in the next Congress because sponsors will no longer be around to do it.
The 10 retiring and defeated senators, in particular, are learning that even in the chamber known for its courtesy, final wishes are not easily accommodated.
Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., who was defeated Nov. 7 by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, settled on one last goal before returning to private life.
His legislation (S 757) would require the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate the links between the environment and breast cancer. He has two-thirds of the Senate as cosponsors, 260 cosponsors for a companion bill in the House (HR 2231) and no prospects for success in the lame-duck session.
“How can a bill with 66 cosponsors that was reported unanimously by the HELP [Health, Education, Labor and Pensions] Committee not be taken up and approved by the Senate?” asked Chafee.
The answer: Tom Coburn, R-Okla., blocked the bill because he does not believe Congress should be micromanaging the NIH. He said he would support the bill if it said that NIH “may” rather than “shall” conduct the research.
But neither Chafee nor the anti-mandate Coburn has been willing to compromise.
“I really tried,” Chafee said, “but it’s probably done.”
Stalled Vehicles
Having given up on passing appropriations bills and instead funding government operations with continuing resolutions, congressional leaders have eliminated some of the most promising vehicles for carrying smaller bills to President Bush’s desk. Their decision also dashed some deals previously arranged by outgoing lawmakers.
Before he was defeated in November, Republican Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania helped to get some language important to coal states attached to two different pieces of legislation, a pension protection bill (HR 2830) and estate tax legislation (HR 5970).
Now he and other senators from the region are trying to get an agreement either to attach their measure to a tax bill that is moving — a package of extensions for expiring or expired tax breaks — or to get quick floor action on the original Santorum-drafted bill (S 2616). The bill would reduce federal fees paid by coal companies and require that the money be spent to clean up abandoned mines and pay for the health benefits of miners who are retired from now-bankrupt companies.
Republican aides say the coal legislation is all but guaranteed to get another chance in the 110th Congress if it does not clear this year because other coal-state senators want to see the bill become law.
For other legislation, the best its advocates may be able to hope for is to pass along the objective to someone else in the state’s congressional delegation or to a colleague with a shared interest in a topic.
That’s what happened after Paul Wellstone, D-Minn. (1991-2002), was killed in a plane crash.
A tearful Pete V. Domenici, R-N.M., vowed to win passage of the mental health parity bill that had been Wellstone’s signature issue. It was enacted about a year after Wellstone’s death (PL 108-197).
Special Timetables
Those about to retire may have an advantage over their defeated colleagues in that they are leaving on their own timetable; they and their staffs have been playing an endgame for months or even years.
Independent James M. Jeffords of Vermont, though, can attest that even the most carefully laid plans are easily derailed at the end of a session.
For six years, Jeffords laid the groundwork for a bill introduced in the 109th Congress to designate thousands of acres of Vermont forest lands as protected wilderness (S 2565).
“I have reviewed comments from thousands of constituents, visited the forest on the ground and viewed it from the air, and spent countless hours studying maps,” Jeffords told his colleagues when he introduced the bill in the spring of 2006.
The bill passed the Senate twice, got yanked from the House floor schedule once, and survived two rounds of objections from Vermont’s Republican Gov. Jim Douglas.
By the time the House cleared the measure on Nov. 15, it had a new bill number (S 4001), a new name — the New England Wilderness Act — and a different prime sponsor — John E. Sununu, R-N.H.
It also omitted more than 6,000 acres initially targeted by Jeffords’ bill.
But it was done.
Jeffords’ aides said several other bills remain on his “to do” list before he retires, including a long-delayed water projects bill (HR 2864) that is currently in conference.
Time may run out for that bill, as it likely will for many other pet projects as the clock on the lame-duck session runs out and the staff that makes so many of the deals happen are, by necessity, distracted by having to shut down the offices and find new jobs.
Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, another defeated incumbent, is pushing hard to complete a project that needs no legislative bartering but does demand some stamina.
For months, he has filled downtime on the Senate floor with speeches honoring the men and women from his state who have been killed in Iraq — about 90 speeches so far.
But Ohio’s death toll in Iraq is closer to 140, and DeWine has confided to colleagues that he’s worried about time running out before he gets to speak about them all.
“He is determined to get it done as a tribute to these families,” said Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., the incoming Senate majority whip. “He said, ‘It is about all we can do, isn’t it?’ He is right. It says a lot about Mike DeWine, a lot that we already knew.”
Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who is retiring at the end of this session, has promised to help DeWine reach his goal, according to spokesman Eric Ueland.
DeWine’s been guaranteed two hours of floor time on Monday as a down payment on keeping that promise.
