Note: All newclips are extracted in their editorial entirety and are not altered by
Marforth Group in any way.

The Washington Report.

March 27, 2006
The Council is pleased to report that after months of negotiations, $1 billion in additional LIHEAP funding for FY 2006 was recently approved by Congress and signed into law by the President.

In addition, the Senate recently passed its version of an FY 2007 budget resolution that does not include a new round of mandatory spending curbs that the President sought in his budget request. Both chambers also continue to work on lobbying reform plans in the wake of recent scandals.

Budget

On March 16, the Senate passed by a vote of 51-49 a $2.8 trillion FY 2007 budget resolution. The Senate budget outline does not contain any of the curbs on entitlement spending proposed by the President in his budget last month, nor does it contain the President’s proposal to make the 2001 tax cuts permanent. In addition, the Senate plan would break the President’s proposed $873 billion cap on non-defense discretionary spending. Specifically, $16 billion in additional spending was added, including $7 billion for education, health research and worker safety; $3.7 billion for military personnel costs; $1.2 billion for aviation security while specifically opposing the President’s proposal to raise airline security fees; and $1 billion for military survivor benefits. In addition, $3.3 billion was added for LIHEAP that would increase the funds available for that program to the fully authorized level of $5.1 billion. However, this additional LIHEAP funding would be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes.

The House is not scheduled to release its budget plan until after Congress returns from the St. Patrick’s Day recess this week.

On March 16, the House passed 348-71 a $91.9 billion FY 2006 supplemental appropriations bill (H.R. 4939). $67.6 billion of the bill’s funding is for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, $4.3 billion is for foreign aid, and $19.2 billion is for hurricane relief in the Gulf Coast region. The full Senate is not expected to consider a version of the supplemental until the last week in April. An amendment offered by Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA) was adopted 213-208. It would boost funding for peacekeeping missions in Darfur by $50 million.

Also on March 16, the Senate voted to raise the debt limit from $8.18 to $8.96 trillion. The House had already approved raising the debt limit last year automatically when lawmakers approved a budget. This was the fourth debt-ceiling increase in the last five years.

On March 6, the President sent to Capitol Hill legislation that would establish a new version of the line-item veto to help trim unnecessary spending provisions passed by Congress. An earlier version of the line-item veto passed in 1996 was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Supporters of the new legislation say they are confident that it will pass Constitutional muster. Under terms of the bill, the President could suspend implementing certain programs for 180 days and send a package of items he found unnecessary back to Capitol Hill for an up or down vote to rescind their budget authority. On March 7, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) formally introduced the legislation.

Enery & Environment

LIHEAP
On Thursday March 16th, the House passed, by a vote of 287-128, legislation that will add $1 billion to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) in FY06 by shifting funding originally allocated for FY 2007 in last year’s budget reconciliation bill. The additional $1 billion would be split between regular formula funding and contingency funding allocated at the White House’s discretion.  The Council actively advocated on behalf of this legislation and was pleased that the President signed it into law on March 20th.

The Senate had passed the measure (S. 2320), sponsored by Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), by unanimous consent on March 7th.

With the enactment of Sen. Snowe’s bill, an alternative LIHEAP measure included in the FY 2006 supplemental appropriations bill that would have added $750 million to the program is now expected to be removed from the supplemental during House-Senate negotiations.

New Source Review
On March 17th, the U.S. Court of Appeals struck down an EPA rule allowing power plants to replace significant amounts of equipment without triggering a Clean Air Act requirement to also install new pollution controls. Under the rule, power plants could replace identical or functionally equivalent components without needing a New Source Review permit and new pollution controls as long as the components did not exceed 20 percent of the unit’s value or substantially change its design parameter. The Court found the rule was contrary to the Clean Air Act which says that a New Source Review is triggered when any modification of a stationary source increases the amount of any air pollutant emitted or results in any air pollutant not previously emitted.

Health Care
On March 15, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved on a party-line vote of 11-9, small business health plan legislation sponsored by Committee Chairman Michael Enzi (R-WY). The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act (S. 1955) aims to make it easier for small businesses to band together to obtain better rates on health insurance by allowing them to bypass state coverage mandates. A provision was added to the bill that would allow insurers to offer plans not subject to state mandates as long as they also offer a plan that meets the mandated coverage requirements for state employees of one of the five most populous states. However, critics of the bill contend that circumventing coverage mandates will harm patients, ignore the wishes of individual states, and potentially cause insurance rates to actually increase for many individuals.
 
Senator Gregg (R-NH) voted for the measure. Senators Kennedy (D-MA), Dodd (D-CT), Reed (D-RI) and Jeffords (I-VT) voted against it.
 
Several Democratic amendments, including those offered by Senators Kennedy, Dodd and Reed, were defeated on party-line or near party-line votes.

The Council has historically opposed association health plan (AHP) legislation over the years. While this bill is a modification of earlier AHP legislation, concerns remain over the effect it would have on New Englanders’ health insurance coverage and rates.

Data Security
On March 16, the House Financial Services Committee marked up and approved by a vote of 48-17 legislation that would create a national data security protection standard that would pre-empt related state laws. Specifically, the legislation would require companies to inform customers if a security breach involved sensitive financial data that could cause harm or inconvenience. Language in the bill would also allow customers who first file a police complaint to freeze their credit reports. Opponents of that provision contend that consumers should be able to freeze their credit reports without first having to go to the police. An amendment that would have allowed state attorneys general to pursue data breach cases if federal authorities were not involved in a case was defeated 40-23.

On March 23, the House Energy and Commerce Committee released a revised version of its data security bill. It contains provisions that analysts say makes it more consumer-friendly than the version passed by the House Financial Services Committee. In the new manager’s amendment, significant changes have been made to the legislation passed by the Committee’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection last November. One of the changes would alter the trigger for customer notification from a “significant” risk to a “reasonable” risk of identity theft, fraud or other unlawful conduct, which makes it more likely that businesses would have to report a data breach. The Energy and Commerce bill would also allow enforcement by state attorneys general and would give the right to consumers to access and correct information held by data brokers. Neither of these actions are allowed under the Financial Services Committee bill. In addition, the manager’s amendment would narrow the definition of data brokers to only include businesses that sell non-customer information to third parties, a move meant to insure that mailing lists would not be affected by the legislation.

The Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to mark up its version of data security legislation on March 29. The bill has bipartisan support and is expected to be easily approved by the committee. The House Judiciary Committee, which also has jurisdiction over this issue, has not yet come forward with a competing piece of legislation.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Education
On March 8th, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved by voice vote a bill (S. 2197) sponsored by committee Chair Pete Domenici (R-NM) that would authorize billions of dollars for Energy Department research and develop new initiatives to attract more young students to math, science and engineering fields. The measure would create new internship programs for middle- and high-school students at the Energy Department’s national laboratories and a new initiative called the Advanced Research Projects Authority-Energy (ARPA-E) aimed at overcoming obstacles for commercializing cutting-edge energy technologies.

The bill revises last year’s energy bill to authorize a total of $24.7 billion from FY 2010 to 2013 for basic science research at DOE labs. It includes $1 billion through FY 2011 for the ARPA-E initiative, $45 million for new grants for universities to start nuclear science degree programs or improving existing ones, and $90 million for new scholarships for nuclear science students. Senators Lieberman (D-CT), Snowe (R-ME), Collins (R-ME), Dodd (D-CT), Reed (D-RI), Leahy (D-VT) and Kerry (D-MA) have joined as co-sponsors.

The Committee also adopted by voice vote an amendment offered by Senator Menendez (D-NJ) to improve programs to attract minority students to science, math and engineering fields.

Lobbying Reform
During the week of March 6, the Senate began debate on lobbying reform legislation. Earlier, both the Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, led by Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-ME) and ranking member Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), reported out separate proposals that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) melded into one bill for floor consideration. After several days of consideration, proceedings on the legislation came to an abrupt halt after Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) surprised his colleagues by offering an unrelated amendment to block the Dubai Port World’s deal to take over operations of several U.S. ports.

The bill before the Senate would bar lawmakers from accepting meals from registered lobbyists after an amendment offered by Senators Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Rick Santorum (R-PA) was accepted by voice vote. The underlying bill already contained a provision that would bar Members of Congress from accepting gifts, such as sports tickets, from lobbyists. The bill would also prohibit former members from lobbying their colleagues for two years once they leave office – doubling the current one year ban. In addition, lobbyists would be required to disclose their activities more often and in greater detail, including a year-end report on campaign donations. Privately paid travel would need prior approval and greater disclosure about such trips would be required. Finally, the bill would also make it more difficult to add earmarks to a conference report that were not already included in the House- or Senate-passed version of a bill.

An amendment to create an independent office of public integrity is still pending. Earlier the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs voted 11-5 to drop a similar provision from its version of the legislation after members of the Senate Ethics Committee argued that it would be unnecessary.

The Senate is expected to return to lobbying reform today, with the intention of approving a final measure later this evening.

In the House, Republican leaders, led by Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-CA), the designated point person on lobbying reform, floated a package of reforms on March 15. Included among the reforms would be a ban on privately-funded travel for the remainder of the 109th Congress; a requirement for lobbyists to file quarterly disclosure reports, rather than the currently-required twice a year; increased disclosure for gift-giving, but no change in the per instance or annual limit; and a requirement for so-called 527 groups to comply with existing federal campaign finance laws. An anticipated provision on earmark reform is still being negotiated.

The bill, entitled the Lobbying Accountability and Transparency Act, will not be formally introduced until this week.

Pension Reform
After some delay because of a disagreement between Senate leaders over how many conferees would be named for the pension reform conference, an agreement was finally reached and Senate conferees were named on March 3. Among the sixteen conferees named (nine Republicans and seven Democrats) are New England Senators Gregg (R-NH), Snowe (R-ME) and Kennedy (D-MA). There are no New Englanders among the eleven House conferees.

Financial Services
On March 8, the House overwhelmingly approved, on a vote of 415-2, the Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act. The legislation would eliminate redundant or outdated requirements currently imposed by federal regulations on the financial services industry. Provisions of the legislation would reduce the number of cash transaction reports that banks must file under the Bank Secrecy Act, increase the asset threshold from $250 million to $1 billion for banks to be examined on an 18-month, rather than 12-month cycle, allow interstate bank mergers between insured banks, and amend the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) Act to allow some privately insured credit unions to become members of the FHLB.

On March 16, Senate Finance Committee ranking member Max Baucus (D-MT) introduced legislation aimed at increasing personal savings and investment. Among the bill’s provisions is language that would allow a parent to set up a Roth IRA for their child. The child would then be able to make penalty-free withdrawals from the account for education and first-time home buying expenses. Among the bill’s other provisions, one would relax mandatory distribution requirements for retirees and another would provide a tax credit for businesses with fewer than 25 employees to encourage the creation of a company payroll savings plan..


Airline Security Fees
On March 16, the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection and Cybersecurity approved by voice vote legislation (H.R. 4439) reorganizing the Transportation Security Administration that includes provisions that would increase airline security fees. Under the bill, security fees would rise from $2.50 to as much as $4.00 for a one-way trip.

Trade
On February 27th, the United States concluded a free trade agreement that would eliminate tariffs and trade barriers in services with Columbia, the second Andean nation to reach a free trade deal with the United States. The deal also provides for “effective enforcement” of labor and environmental standards.

The Bush administration, which wrapped up a free trade deal in December with Peru, hopes to send the agreements to Congress for consideration this summer. Negotiations with Ecuador are still underway, and Bolivia, who has participated as an observer, could become part of the agreement at a later date.

The Bush administration is anxious to complete as many trade agreements as possible before July 2007 when it loses the ability to negotiate such accords under an expedited procedure that requires Congress to vote yes or no without amendments.
In another trade development, the United States has joined Switzerland and Singapore in introducing a proposal that would eliminate tariffs imposed on the trade of medicines and medical devices.