Legislative Committee Reports

Report for February, 2010

January 2, 2010

In mid-December, a conference was held in Washington, DC, with the apparent aim of forming a coalition of conservative and constitutionalist groups. I went, as Freedom21’s representative, to see if this was something we might want to be involved in. Cut to the chase: it isn’t. Though well meant, the conference was disorganized from the beginning. In addition, the attendees appeared to either be self-promoters, or representatives of single issue, localized groups, or small third parties. There was no clear direction or focus, nor did most of the participants seem to grasp that if Congress is not turned completely around and set back on the path ofconstitutional government in 2010, everything else becomes moot.

 While it was good that there were folks concerned enough with the current state of affairs to actually try to dosomething, this particular effort does not appear likely to accomplish much very quickly. Given time, if it doesn’t just quietly die, it may turn into something useful, but it has a long way to go, and short time to get there…Therefore, though we will stay in contact with some of the folks involved, Freedom21 deemed it better to put our efforts elsewhere.

 Now that we are into the New Year, the Legislative Committee will be continuing to foment unrest among the sluggards on Capitol Hill with a few more Congressional Educational Excursions, aimed at familiarizing our “representatives” with the Constitution and how to properly apply it to various pieces of legislation. In addition, we want to recruit a handful of Congressmen to regularly stand up and demand that the House follow its own rules, specifically RULE XIII, Calendars and Committee Reports, 3(d)(1), which requires that, “Each report of a committee on a public bill or public joint resolution shall contain the following: A statement citing the specific powers granted to Congress in the Constitution to enact the law proposed by the bill or joint resolution.” It’s a good bet that nearly all the legislation passed by the House this year lacks this required statement. I see a potential for slowing the leftist steamroller and creating some interesting and telling public debate.

 To these ends, we need volunteers to, a) Join me on an occasional DC jaunt; b) Write hard copy letters to selected Congressmen/Senators in support of our efforts; and c) Suggest bills to look at and Congressmen or Senators to directly visit. E-mail me if you are interested: moberndorf@yahoo.com. Up the Republic!

On September 29 and 30, I undertook my first trip to Washington, D.C., on behalf of the Legislative Committee of Freedom21, to visit directly with lawmakers. This was a shakedown cruise, if you will, to get a feel for the system and begin to develop methods for future visits. Considering it was a first trip, I think it was reasonably successful.

Even though I waited until there was a week or less before I was to be in D.C. to try to schedule appointments, I managed to get meetings with legislative aides for 10 congressmen – six Democrats and four Republicans. In addition, a cold-call on a Republican got me a meeting on the spot. I only met three congressmen in person, and a couple of the aides I met with appeared as if they were just starting to shave, but all save one – the Legislative Assistant for Rep. Sanford Bishop, Jr. (D-GA) - listened carefully without knee-jerk arguing. I also visited the offices of 25 other congressmen and dropped off a summary sheet of the issues. The bills I discussed included Rep. John Shaddeg’s (R-AZ) HR 450, the Enumerated Powers Act, and Rep. Ron Paul’s (R-TX) HR 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act. In addition, I brought up health care “reform” and cap-and-trade. The majority of the representatives I visited were from North Carolina and Georgia (closest to my current home), but also included ones from Alaska, California, Texas, and South Carolina.

Reaction to the Enumerated Powers Act was interesting. Two - Rep. Joe “You lie!” Wilson (R-SC), an ex-Marine and solid conservative, and Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA), another solid conservative, are already co-sponsors. Others, while professing to support the concept didn’t want to become co-sponsors. Those who were not in support had varying reasons. For example, Rep. John Linder (R-GA) said he thought the bill was “political posturing”. However, a young aide for Rep. David Price (D-NC), who had clearly done his homework, pointed out to me a fact I was not aware of: the requirement that the relevant part of the Constitution that authorizes the congress to pass a piece of proposed legislation is already in place within the Rules of the House of Representatives, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, Rule XIII, Calendars and Committee Reports; Content of Reports, 3.(d)(1), which states,

“Each report of a committee on a public bill or public joint resolution shall contain the following: A statement citing the specific powers granted to Congress in the Constitution to enact the law proposed by the bill or joint resolution.”

I suggested to him that if this was important enough to include in the House Rules, and if it was being done already, then codifying it into a statute would be a logical next step. He agreed that this was certainly something to consider and that he would bring it up with his boss.

Six of the 10 representatives I visited are cosponsors of HR 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act – two Democrats, and four Republicans. Three others listened carefully and did not disagree that the public and Congress had a right to know where and how all the billions of dollars being handed out by the Fed were going. Again, only the Legislative Assistant for Rep. Sanford Bishop, Jr. (D-GA) responded negatively, running out tired, worn out left-wing Democrat talking points.

On the subject of health care “reform” I requested that they not vote on anything, allowing the process to slow down. I pointed out that we ALL need time to clearly define what, if any, problems exist, and come up with economically, socially, and politically sustainable solutions. Only two Democrats – Bishop and Rep. Larry Kissel (D-NC) – thought that enough time had been spent, and that there was no need to delay any longer. Everyone else responded to the idea that flawed “reform” that ended up with poorer, more expensive care, would hurt the working poor and middle class the most, and would be damaging, politically.

Cap-and-trade will, if passed by the Senate, return to the House as a conference version. Thus, I asked that they all vote against it. Interestingly, the Legislative Assistant for Rep. John Barrow (D-GA) brought up the point that cap-and-trade would have a much more negative impact on the Southeast than on other parts of the country, due to its higher dependence upon coal for its energy needs. Indeed, not only will cap-and-trade drive up energy costs – Duke Power, the largest energy company in the Southeast, has already applied to raise rates in anticipation of cap-and-trade; moreover, some 25 energy companies nationwide have withdrawn their memberships from anti-cap-and-trade groups, and allied themselves with greenie groups in the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, slavering, apparently, over the prospect of huge profits from skyrocketing energy rates – it will force the loss of jobs in the coal industry, and in the industries that support it. Many, if not most, of these jobs are union, a key Democrat constituency, and most of the aides appeared very concerned about the political fallout from such an occurrence.

To sum up, I would suggest that by the time cap-and-trade reaches the floor of the House again, it will not have enough support to pass. It seems, too, that health care “reform” is far from a done deal, and something meaningful may actually come out of all this mess. It looks, too, as if the Federal Reserve is in for a heavy dose of the light of day, with folks on both sides of the aisle working together to pull back the curtains. As for the Enumerated Powers Act, the discovery of this as a part of the existing House Rules should help make up the minds of the more timid amongst both Republicans and Democrats.

The last thing I would like to share is the strong impression I got from both Democrats and Republicans that a) they are fed up with their “leadership” dictating policy that clearly is not supported by their constituents ; and b) being pushed around by the executive branch. All seemed receptive to the idea that Congress needs to take back from the Executive Branch the prerogatives they have given up over the past 40 or more years.

Finally, I would again like to invite the membership of Freedom21 to join me on the Legislative Committee. We need folks to write letters and telephone their senators and congressmen on a variety of issues, and I plan to make three to six trips to Washington, D.C. each year. We are NOT powerless, and we CAN make a difference, if we make the effort.

Respectfully submitted,

Michael R Oberndorf, M.A., RPA

Chairman, Legislative Committee