[North-NV-Greens] Fwd: Quick, Early Gains Embolden Business Lobby on Capitol Hill

Sat Feb 19 22:41:22 PST 2005

>
>
>New York Times
>February 18, 2005
>
>Quick, Early Gains Embolden Business Lobby on Capitol Hill
>
>By STEPHEN LABATON
>
>WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 - These are heady days on Capitol
>Hill for business lobbyists. Just as the House of
>Representatives was completing work on one measure
>sought by some of the most powerful business lobbyists
>- which would sharply restrict class-action lawsuits
>brought against companies - the Senate began work on a
>second measure, to overhaul the bankruptcy system. It
>has long been sought by major banks, credit card
>companies and retailers and has its strongest chance of
>quick passage in years. It now heads to the Senate
>floor as soon as the members return from their recess
>in early March.
>
>After suffering numerous setbacks in President Bush's
>first term, business lobbyists now say they have the
>wind at their backs. The class-action bill, for
>example, was approved on Thursday in the House by a
>vote of 279 to 149, after languishing in Congress for
>years. Its passage is a significant victory for
>businesses ranging from auto, drug and gun makers to
>home builders and tobacco companies. President Bush
>intends to sign it on Friday.
>
>The measure, supported by 229 of the 230 voting
>Republicans and 50 Democrats, is the president's first
>big victory in his effort to rewrite the tort laws. It
>came after the United States Chamber of Commerce and
>another group it founded had spent $168 million over
>the last five years lobbying for overhaul of the civil
>liability system.
>
>Mr. Bush called the vote in the House "an important
>step forward in our efforts to reform the litigation
>system and to continue creating jobs and growing our
>economy."
>
>The bankruptcy bill, which the administration also
>supports, would make it significantly more difficult
>and expensive for poor and moderate-income families to
>use bankruptcy protection to shield themselves from
>creditors. The bill's supporters say it is necessary to
>curb abusive filings, although its critics say it is
>largely a gift to the credit card and banking
>industries.
>
>Elizabeth Warren, a bankruptcy expert at Harvard Law
>School, testified last week that the legislation
>unfairly hits families driven into bankruptcy because
>of large health care bills and does virtually nothing
>to prevent large corporations from abusing the process
>through techniques like seeking bankruptcy protection
>to limit pension obligations. It sets up a means test
>that denies access to Chapter 7, or liquidation,
>bankruptcies, for persons who are deemed "able" to
>repay their debts under a complex calculation of income
>and debt.
>
>It sailed through the Senate Judiciary Committee on
>Thursday by a vote of 12 to 5. Three Democrats - Joseph
>R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and
>Dianne Feinstein of California - joined nine
>Republicans to assure passage.
>
>After breakfast on Wednesday morning with President
>Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, Senator Bill
>Frist, the majority leader, crossed the street to the
>Chamber of Commerce's ornate granite headquarters where
>he announced that he intended to take the bankruptcy
>measure to the floor the first week in March. He
>suggested that the bill would be swiftly adopted. "I
>don't see any particular amendments that are show
>stoppers," Mr. Frist told the chamber audience.
>
>The early successes have heartened business groups,
>which are moving quickly to secure other gains that
>proved elusive in prior years even though Congress has
>been under the control of their Republican allies.
>
>"You have this voracious appetite of business interests
>who think this is the year and who know they have the
>president on their side," said Joan Claybrook,
>president of Public Citizen, a public advocacy group,
>and a senior safety regulator in the Carter
>administration. The group lost the class-action fight.
>
>What has changed?
>
>The business groups gained enough victories in a
>handful of states in the Senate - notably Florida,
>Louisiana and South Carolina - to overcome filibusters
>or other procedural roadblocks. While there are 55
>Republican senators, which is 5 short of the number
>needed to cut off debate, enough Democrats are willing
>to vote with the G.O.P. on selected measures to assure
>passage.
>
>The business lobby also played a strong role in helping
>President Bush and Republican members of Congress
>during their election contests, and are now reaping the
>benefit.
>
>Other political forces are at work in favor of the
>business groups. The leaders of the House and Senate,
>often at odds even though the same party controls both
>chambers, have so far been working well together. In
>the case of the class-action legislation, the House
>agreed to adopt the Senate measure provided that the
>Senate did not amend the bill. Senate supporters then
>used that commitment to beat back both significant and
>modest proposals to change the legislation. There was
>talk on Capitol Hill this week that the same strategy
>could be used for the bankruptcy bill.
>
>Moreover, Republicans and the White House have
>scheduled consideration of these measures early in the
>legislative session, before the atmosphere could become
>poisoned by such divisive issues as judicial
>nominations, or distracted by more difficult political
>issues like taxes and Social Security.
>
>"We've gotten early on the schedule, which was helpful,
>because if you got further down the road, when we're
>trying to approve judges and do all that sort of stuff,
>it would have gotten more crowded in the parking lot,"
>said Thomas J. Donohue, president of the chamber. "We
>broke out of the gate and we got a break."
>
>The chamber and other groups, from the National
>Association of Manufacturers to the American Bankers
>Association, have seized the moment and worked closely
>with the Republicans to move the legislation.
>
>"There are some more supporters and that is very
>helpful," said Floyd E. Stoner, executive director of
>Congressional relations at the American Bankers
>Association. "But moving the legislation early in the
>Congressional cycle is also a very encouraging sign."
>
>In addition to completing bankruptcy legislation, the
>groups face their biggest test over two other tort
>revisions. One would sharply limit damage awards in
>medical malpractice lawsuits. Another would overhaul
>the way courts dispose of asbestos cases, but that has
>become bogged down in negotiations among trial lawyers,
>unions, manufacturers and insurers.
>
>The Senate has also begun working early on a measure
>supported by manufacturers and opposed by
>environmentalists that would set new emissions
>standards for three major pollutants: sulfur dioxide,
>nitrogen oxides and mercury. The Senate Environment and
>Public Works Committee withdrew that measure from
>consideration on Wednesday when it became clear that it
>faced heavy opposition from Democrats. The chairman of
>that committee, Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of
>Oklahoma, said it would be reintroduced shortly.
>
>Still, business lobbyists are hoping that their early
>gains will lead to more victories, even as they are
>cautious in their outlook.
>
>"I would hope, and underline the word hope, that the
>strong working relationship that was built here over
>time will get people to more carefully look at some of
>those opportunities and look to see if they can work
>together to get some of those things done," Mr. Donohue
>said. "But your supporter on Legislation A can be on
>the other side of the fence on B and back with you on
>C. That's why people in this town who don't keep
>relationships and don't treat people as individuals,
>not as the last vote, have a hard time in the long
>run."
>
>One potential obstacle for supporters of the bankruptcy
>legislation is an abortion-related amendment, sponsored
>by Senator Harry M. Reid of Nevada, who is the minority
>leader, and Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New
>York. It would prevent people involved in blocking
>access to abortion clinics, and who are later assessed
>damages, from avoiding those payments by filing for
>bankruptcy protection. The measure was in earlier
>bankruptcy legislation, which failed as a result. It
>was stripped out of the latest version.
>
>Senator Schumer vowed on Thursday to try to block the
>legislation unless the provision was reinserted. But it
>is unclear whether he will have enough support to stop
>the bill from passage without the measure.
>
>Mr. Frist did not seem concerned about the Reid-Schumer
>amendment. "It will come to the floor," he said. "I
>won't predict the outcome but it will be handled well."
>
>Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company |
>
>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/18/business/18lobby.html
>
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-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand