By Conference Staff
November 20, 2006

As Congress reconvened last week to work on the remaining ten appropriations bills for FY 2007 and other unfinished matters, much of the attention in Washington has shifted to the agenda for the incoming 110th Congress and the new leadership.

To date, Congress has only completed the Homeland Security Department and Defense Department appropriations bills, and this week approved a new continuing funding resolution for the remaining government departments and programs that will run until December 8. Congress is now back in adjournment for the Thanksgiving recess, and will return the week of December 4.

Prior to the Congressional elections, the Leadership of the Conference of Mayors met in Santa Barbara (CA) September 14-16 and identified priority areas of concern related to homeland security/crime; energy and environment; and poverty, work and opportunity. The Leadership also discussed ongoing defensive battles related to CDBG, telecom rewrite and eminent domain.

Following is an analysis of how these issues, and several others, may fare in the 110th Congress. Much of this analysis comes from the Democrats “A New Direction For America” plan, the statements of leaders like House Speaker-Elect Nancy Pelosi (CA) and Senate Majority Leader-Elect Harry Reid (NV) at recent Conference of Mayors meetings and in press reports, and recent meetings and discussions with key committee staff in the House and Senate.

The Conference has been advocating for increased resources for first responders, ports, transportation systems, and interoperable communications. In addition, the Conference has been strongly fighting continual cuts in law enforcement funding – especially in light of increasing crime rates in many cities across the country.

One of the six issues the new leadership has pledged to address is homeland security. Among the specific recommendations in the new Leadership’s plan are:

• Immediately implement the recommendations of the independent, bipartisan 9/11 Commission including securing national borders, ports, airports and mass transit systems.

• Screen 100 percent of containers and cargo bound for the U.S. in ships or airplanes at the point of origin and safeguard America’s nuclear and chemical plants, and food and water supplies.

• Prevent outsourcing of critical components of our national security infrastructure – such as ports, airports and mass transit – to foreign interests that put America at risk.

• Provide firefighters, emergency medical workers, police officers, and other workers on the front lines with the training, staffing, equipment and cutting-edge technology they need.

• Protect America from biological terrorism and pandemics, including the Avian flu, by investing in the public health infrastructure and training public health workers.

Also included are: “Issues dealing with the communications spectrum available to first responders must be resolved, and funding to those communities most likely to be the targets of terrorists must be assured.”

The Leadership’s plan also states that they want to, “strengthen the front lines of domestic defense by helping state and local governments hire more police, firefighters, and EMS professionals, and provide them with the tools and training they need to respond.”

On the issue of gun safety, it is hoped that there will be less focus from Congress on trying to prevent cities from tracing illegal gun sales, although it is not yet known if more progressive gun safety proposals strongly supported by the Conference like closing the gun-show loophole will be priorities.

Energy independence is another issue the House Leadership has pledged to address in the first 100 hours. Specifically, the new Leadership plans to begin its new direction towards energy independence by repealing the multi-billion dollar tax breaks the oil industry received in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Additionally, incoming chairmen for the committees (Senate Energy and Natural Resources and House Energy and Commerce) that cover energy policy have vowed to pursue legislation next year that promotes clean energy sources, including ethanol and biodiesel.

Other issues the committees will address include promoting energy conservation and energy-efficient technologies, alternative energy and fuels, instituting a renewable portfolio standard that would require purchasing a percentage of renewable energy, and addressing climate change and global warming by pushing for cuts in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Incoming Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (NM) stated that he wants “a bipartisan consensus on the committee’s agenda that will cover issues from nuclear power and nuclear waste to renewable energy and climate change.”

Representative John Dingell (MI), who is slated to become the next chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has pledged to develop responsible climate change legislation as one of his committee’s top priorities. Dingell said, “I could support responsible legislation on climate change, but not a bill that would shift the entire burden to industry.”

Besides looking into the topics of climate change and fuel economy standards, Dingell has also indicated an interest in EPA’s Superfund and brownfield programs. According to Dingell, Superfund is “short of money” and said that funding of the program is something his committee will “take a hard look at.”

Dingell is also interested in the issue of factory farms looking to exempt themselves from Superfund requirements, a position the Conference of Mayors and the Mayors Water Council has adamantly opposed. Dingell said such an exemption was an outrage and said he would pursue oversight on this issue. Given this potential, agricultural industry sources say they would be seeking an exemption during the lame duck session of the 109th Congress.

The Conference of Mayors has long standing policy supporting one of the primary vehicles essential to moving people from poverty to middle class – increasing the minimum wage. The federal minimum wage stands at $5.15 per hour and has not been increased in nearly 10 years, while inflation and the cost of living have continued to skyrocket.

The Democrats’ agenda calls for raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over two years. “At least 7.3 million people would benefit from this raise, including 1.8 million parents with children,” according to the paper. “We will make our economy fairer, and we will begin by raising the minimum wage. We will not pass a pay raise for Congress until there is an increase in the minimum wage,” according to the paper. House Democrats, led by Education and Workforce Committee Chair George Miller and Senate Democrats, led by Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Chair Edward Kennedy, have vowed to continue to fight for a minimum wage increase.

Additionally, the new leadership has vowed to make healthcare affordable and will begin by addressing the Medicare Prescription Drug Program. In the 100-hour agenda, there would be legislation to “allow the government to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices for Medicare patients.” Part of the effort to lower costs may include allowing drug importation, a policy position the Conference supports. As more and more seniors find themselves moving closer to the drug coverage “gap” in their Medicare program where they will have to begin paying full price for their prescriptions again, the idea of lower cost prescription drugs is becoming even more attractive.

Two of the six broad themes and policy proposals outlined by the Democratic leadership as central to their governing strategy focused on education and workforce issues; with “College Access for All” and “Better American Jobs – Better Pay,” cited as cornerstones of their legislative agenda.

The senior Democrat in line to head the House Committee on Education and the Workforce Committee, Representative George Miller (CA), has already stated that his first three priorities for the Committee would involve: increasing the minimum wage, reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act, and making college more affordable.

“We will work to ensure not only that the economy grows but that all families benefit from it. We will invest in our schools, colleges, and students, so that every child has an opportunity to succeed and so that America maintains its economic leadership in the world. And we will fight for the rights and safety of workers. To get us started on the path toward these goals, we will act quickly to raise the national minimum wage and to cut interest rates in half on college loans,” Miller said.

In his reelection speech on November 7, Kennedy took the opportunity to address the issue of college costs as well, reiterating the Democrats’ call for cutting student loan interest rates in half and increasing the maximum Pell grant.

There is a greater expectation of movement on reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) in the 110th Congress, as the faith-based hiring preference provision in the House passed version of the bill (H.R. 27), which has served as the primary barrier to conferencing of the bill with the Senate version, will no longer serve as a sticking point. WIA reauthorization could be taken up as one of the first things on the House agenda next year. They could, of course, start from scratch with whole new legislation, since the current bill was seen as a strictly partisan bill throughout the entire reauthorization process. In the Senate, even with the shift in power, it is fully expected that the bill, whenever taken up by the HELP Committee, will again move forward in a bi-partisan manner.

In the House, Representative Barney Frank (MA) is expected to chair the Financial Services Committee, while the chair of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee is likely to be Senator Christopher Dodd (CT). It is expected that the new leadership will give more attention to housing and community development programs. Such programs as the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME, Section 8, Homeless, Public Housing are expected to be supported by both houses.

As for new legislation, the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) Reform bill is likely to pass in the new Congress. Frank has been involved with this legislation. The House version of this legislation includes an Affordable Housing Program to support the production and preservation of low-income housing. The Conference of Mayors has called on Congress to pass the GSE legislation and to include the Affordable Housing Program.

An Anti-Predatory Lending bill, with a national standard, is likely to pass in the new Congress. The Conference of Mayors supports such legislation provided it does not preempt existing local laws which now give adequate protection to citizens. Frank also supports this position.

Congress is poised to pass legislation modernizing the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The House has already passed legislation. The Senate must act and will probably do so in the new Congress. The Conference of Mayors adopted policy last June calling for the modernization of the FHA.

In addition to having responsibility for environmental laws, Dingell’s Committee will have oversight of the nation’s telecommunications laws.

Though not confirmed, it is widely anticipated that the Committee will revisit the House approved telecommunications bill known as the Communications, Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006 (H.R. 5252). As approved, H.R. 5252 would “federalize” local government cable franchising and limit the benefits of broadband-video competition to a few well-to-do neighborhoods.

At the Conference’s 74th Winter Meeting in Washington (DC) last January, Dingell told the mayors, “Congress faces enormous pressures to update the telecommunications laws for this modern era and beyond. The role of local governments in future telecommunications policy is far from certain.”

“It is important that as many people as possible have competitive access to the infrastructure in the future,” said Dingell.

Efforts pushed by the telecommunications industry to pass a similar preemptive measure stalled in the Senate this year. While it is anticipated that the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation incoming chairman, Democrat Daniel K. Inouye (HI), will push for telecommunications legislation addressing Universal Service, reports suggest that the phone companies may abandon Congressional efforts to “federalize” local franchising because Democrats want to tie streamlined franchising to build out requirements and net neutrality.

Furthermore, through aggressive lobbying of state legislatures, the phone companies have had success preempting local franchising with statewide models.

The new leadership has pledged to end years of deficit spending and restore fiscal discipline in the federal budget process. Pointing out that the federal deficit is likely to exceed $380 billion in 2007, and that the nation is more than $8.9 trillion in debt, the new leadership said it will restore budget rules that will require Congress to pass future budgets that pay for federal programs on a pay-as-you-go basis. Priority under the new leadership will be given to health care, education, job growth and other programs that support working families.

When the new leadership takes over in January 2007, Representative Charles B. Rangel (NY), an outspoken critic of the national debt, is expected to be named Chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. A close friend of the Conference for many years, Rangel told mayors during an annual meeting a few years ago “…the worse thing about borrowing money…is the interest that you pay.” He added, “The more money used to pay the interest on the debt will mean less money for programs that help cities and their residents. By restoring the pay-as-you-go rules, the new leadership hopes to restore fiscal discipline that could help reduce the need for borrowing more money.”

On assisting local governments, Rangel said a few years ago, “I think it is important for us to think about really getting the economic engines of our country going again in our cities by creating jobs and making certain that we don’t forget our bridges, our tunnels, our roads, our schools and our hospitals.”

The Conference has adopted comprehensive policy on immigration reform calling for legislation that: strengthens border security; includes a fair and efficient guest worker program; provides a path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented people in the United States, does not criminalize undocumented workers for their presence in the United States; and does not require cities, without reimbursement or training, to enforce immigration violations, or reduce local government’s federal grants in an attempt to coerce them into enforcing federal immigration laws.

This position is generally supported by legislation approved in the Senate, and Reid has said that he expects the Senate bill to be the model for Democratic bills on immigration next year. The Senate bill is also closer to the Administration’s position on immigration reform than legislation approved in the House.

Funding prospects for the National Endowment for the Arts and for arts education is expected to improve significantly in the new Congress. There will be dramatic changes in the views of the new chairs of both the House and Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittees that exercise funding jurisdictions over the arts. Longtime House Subcommittee Ranking Member Norm Dicks (WA) has consistently pledged significant increases for the arts if he ever became chairman.

Travel and tourism issues should also receive a positive reception on the Hill. Key legislative priorities will include securing appropriate funding to adequately staff the nation’s ports-of-entry and consular offices, funding to implement the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, and garnering support to utilize the power of travel and tourism as a public diplomacy tool.