Congress Wrap Up: Legislators Tie Up Loose Ends before the Holidays

The first session of the 109th Congress has come to a close, and legislators worked frantically to tie up loose ends.

The Patriot Act, anti-torture legislation, the budget, and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge were all on the table the week before the holiday recess, and the outcome of these negotiations left many on the Hill scratching their heads.

What could be more important than Americans’ security and privacy, how the U.S. conducts itself in times of war, federal spending for the year to come, and deciding whether to open an untouched nature preserve to drilling?

Yet, quick deals were made on all of these issues, and we the people need to examine these agreements and determine if they serve our best interests.

The Patriot Act

After the Senate failed to renew 16 expiring provisions of the Patriot Act on December 16, 2005, Senate Republican leaders decided to extend the law for six more months, reneging on a threat to let the provisions expire on December 31st.

Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) approved the extension after he received a letter from 52 senators that asked for three more months to work out differences over the Patriot Act reauthorization bill. Senators on both sides of the aisle are worried about civil liberties, especially in light of the news that President Bush secretly authorized the monitoring of individuals’ communications without the required issuing of a warrant by a judge.

The Senate passed the six-month extension by voice vote. However, Frist did not consult the House before passing the bill, and House Judiciary Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R- Wisconsin) was incensed by the six-month delay. He had fought hard for broad reauthorization of the law.

Following Sensenbrenner’s lead, the House amended the Senate version to limit the extension to Feb. 3. The shorter extension would force senators to re-examine the matter right after the second session begins in January.

President Bush, who had criticized Democrats for blocking full reauthorization of the Patriot Act and had opposed any delay, finally gave his support to the extension.

For more on the Patriot Act, click here.

Anti-Torture Legislation

Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), himself a victim of torture for five years in Vietnam, fought for a new law that would prohibit inhumane treatment of enemy combatants.

Specifically, the provision would require military interrogators to abide by an Army field manual that is already in compliance with a series of international laws on warfare or, the Geneva Convention.

Although the Geneva Convention and the Army manual already prohibit torture, the cruel acts performed at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq demonstrate a need for further action. Senator McCain said that there is a lot of confusion in the field about what is permitted and believes that his amendment to the Defense spending bill would help to clarify the rules.

The measure was attached to the Fiscal 2006 Defense Authorization bill that Congress approved on December 22, 2005 and is ready for President Bush’s signature.

Initially, the Bush administration was opposed to the anti-torture legislation, saying that the amendment would impede the president’s powers as commander in chief. Further, the White House was concerned with making a distinction between the treatment of uniformed military personnel and that of unlawful enemy combatants, who the administration said were not protected by the Geneva Convention.

But public pressure on this issue eventually caused the administration to change its position, and Bush is expected to sign the Defense Authorization Bill with the anti-torture amendment in tact.

For more on this, click here.

The budget

Senate Democrats blocked the final passage of a $39.7 billion budget savings package or, reconciliation bill, by forcing the deletion of three provisions that violated Senate rules.

More specifically, Democrats argued that four provisions violated the Byrd Rule, which prevents minor budgetary changes in a reconciliation bill. The presiding officer agreed on three of the four challenged provisions.

Leading the charge was Senator Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota), who successfully objected to one provision that would have granted hospitals immunity from malpractice liability if they refused to treat Medicaid recipients who could not afford co-payments.

Two provisions were technical in nature, and Conrad also challenged a fourth provision that would prohibit low-income grandparents from receiving foster care payments. The presiding officer decided that it was within the rules because it would save the government money.

The Senate agreed to the rest of the package on a 51-50 vote, with Vice President Dick Cheney breaking a tie. That sent the measure back to the House for final action.

No Senate Democrats voted for the budget savings package, because all are against the savings package’s cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and student loans. Five moderate GOP senators also opposed the measure, including Gordon H. Smith of Oregon, Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Mike DeWine of Ohio.

Other Republicans complained that removing the provisions and delaying final passage could threaten welfare payments, doctors’ Medicare payments, and medical assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Delaying the bill until next year will affect a variety of provisions that would otherwise take effect January 1, 2006. For example, doctors may face a 4.4 percent cut in Medicare payments and $2.1 billion in Medicaid assistance to Katrina victims may be delayed.

For more on this, click here.

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

For over a decade, Americans have debated about drilling for oil in Alaska’s wildlife preserves. Republican leaders hoped to win that debate by attaching it to a defense spending bill a provision that would allow drilling.

But that plan was defeated when opponents in the Senate blocked the legislation or, filibustered, and prevented a vote on the defense bill. It takes 60 votes to overcome a filibuster and end the debate, and the Republican leadership came up short with a vote of 56-44.

The contentious issue is likely to come up next year, since both sides feel that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is the last frontier. Those who support drilling in ANWR believe it is one of the best remaining prospects for significant oil discovery in the United States; those who oppose drilling maintain that it is some of the last untouched wilderness in the country and there is not much oil there, especially compared to Canada.

For more on this debate, click here.

Speaking up next year

All of these issues are important, and these last minute deals and changes prove that public opinion is important, that your voice matters.

What do you think about the Patriot Act? Do you think the anti-torture legislation is necessary? Do you approve of drilling in ANWR? What about the Medicare and Medicaid cuts in the reconciliation package?

Make communicating with your elected representatives your New Year’s resolution.

What do you think?

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Update Posted on: 12/24/2005