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National Journal's CongressDaily
Issue date: October 26, 2001 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- TRADE Business Roundtable To Start $1M Trade Ad Campaign Although the bill's prospects are uncertain at best, the Business Roundtable is preparing a major new effort to pass presidential trade negotiating authority, shelling out more than $1 million for advertising targeted at 20 uncommitted House legislators. The BRT already has television and radio spots in the can for the new campaign, which will begin this weekend and extend throughout portions of the next two weeks. Depending on the timing of a vote, the campaign could be extended, and much more cash will be made available from the BRT's sizable kitty. "We will spend what it takes to counter labor's message of misinformation," said one BRT official. Indeed, the campaign is in part a direct response to recent advertising by labor groups opposed to the legislation, and many of the BRT ads will appear in districts targeted by the unions. Most of the 20 legislators in the BRT's crosshairs are Democrats. Democratic support for trade negotiating authority has been anemic so far, and many business lobbyists are now focusing on Democrats, with the expectation that the administration will be able to keep GOP ranks in line. But the expenditure still could amount to a gamble. House Republican leaders, once eager to schedule a vote on the measure, are now refusing to say when they will put it on the floor. And labor operatives say they are confident they can defeat it. Nevertheless, other backers of the bill are ramping up their efforts. President Bush was set at presstime to promote trade negotiating authority during an East Room appearance. The president was planning to describe the trade bill, energy legislation and the economic stimulus measure as a comprehensive package designed to bolster the economy. And the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is also planning to put up a series of radio ads touting trade negotiating authority - including Spanish language-only spots - according to a Chamber official. Among the 20 legislators targeted by the BRT are Reps. Dennis Moore, D-Kan.; Tom Sawyer, D-Ohio; Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; Bob Etheridge, D-N.C.; David Price, D-N.C., and Melissa Hart, R- Pa. Other districts on the list are in California, Washington and Indiana. The BRT expects spillover into radio and television markets not directly targeted to reach portions of another 40 congressional districts. The buys will supplement a print campaign that is partially underway and which is centered mainly inside the Beltway. The BRT is also mobilizing its goTRADE advocacy network - which has a presence in 167 districts - to visit and phone lawmakers and work the local media. The Chamber's radio ads will also run mainly in Democratic districts. The Chamber's Spanish language ads will emphasize that trade negotiating authority could help secure trade agreements with countries in Central and Latin America. The Chamber's campaign is designed to highlight the business community's view that the legislation is essential for keeping the United States engaged internationally. - by Keith Koffler -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- TRADE Survey Shows Public Support For Trade Expansion Even as Congress rushes to consider legislation renewing presidential trade negotiating authority, four out of five Americans say they know little or nothing about the issue, according to a national poll commissioned by the Association of Women in International Trade. That poll was conducted among 850 U.S. adults Oct. 7-11 and released today by EPIC/MRA, a Lansing, Mich.-based polling firm. However, once trade authority, formerly known as fast track, was explained to the survey respondents, 46 percent said they would support it, while 37 percent said they opposed it and 17 percent were undecided. The poll has a 3.5 point error margin. The approval rate is exactly the same proportion of supporters found in a Pew Research Center poll conducted in September. Overall support for trade and economic globalization remains strong. More than half - 57 percent - of those questioned nationwide said they approved of free trade agreements, with the strongest support in Western states - 69 percent, and the strongest disapproval in the Midwest - 29 percent. As was the case in past such surveys, free trade support generally grows with age, income and education. More than half of union members - 54 percent - said they also approved of free trade deals. More broadly, 48 percent said they think globalization has a positive impact on society. In September, the Pew poll found 60 percent thought globalization was a good thing. One sign of the appeal of anti-globalization sentiments among the young is that disapproval of free trade agreements was highest - 30 percent - among generation X, those born after1960. Back-handed support for the North American Free Trade Agreement continued to grow. Barely half those questioned - 51 percent - think the United States should change or pull out of the trade deal with Canada and Mexico, compared with 63 percent who felt that way in 1998. As the economy has turned sour, there has been a slight growth in protectionist sentiments, but the public seems unwilling to put their money where their mouth is. One out of two people questioned thought protecting certain companies from foreign competition was a good idea. But the amount of money they were willing to spend out of their family budgets to pay for higher- priced domestic goods actually declined to only $29.80 per month, down 38 percent since 1998. - by Bruce Stokes -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- APPROPRIATIONS House Panel Faces Decisions On Defense, Supplemental Next week, the House Appropriations Committee - and the GOP leadership - face a number of pivotal decisions about the size and scope of the FY02 Defense appropriations bill, as Appropriations ranking member David Obey, D-Wis., continues his determined push to add tens of billions more for the Pentagon and homeland security, while New York members push just as hard to secure billions beyond what the president requested for their state's needs. The panel reported out the $317.5 billion Defense spending bill Wednesday, but will not file it until next week as it pulls together a separate title to allocate the second $20 billion of the $40 billion emergency supplemental Congress passed after Sept. 11. Obey wants to pump that up with more billions for the war on terrorism - with added funds for the FBI, CIA, National Security Agency, border patrol, the Customs Service and public health agencies - even though the president has told Congress he does not intend to request another supplemental. White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer this afternoon repeated the administration's position that $40 billion should be sufficient for this year. But at Wednesday's markup, as both Democrats and Republicans lamented that the bill represented a peacetime defense budget that came in below the president's budget, Obey said legislators "have a patriotic duty to decide whether or not we think the administration's [supplemental] request is really adequate." House leaders have said that until the president signals he wants more money, the supplemental will have to be limited to $40 billion. An Obey spokesman said panel Democrats are working with Republicans to build support for more defense and security dollars, and that if Obey is unsuccessful in committee, he will take it to the floor. He added: "There is no tactic or procedure that will be off the table. We want to move forward in a bipartisan way, but we are also going to do everything we can to make sure a lot of those security holes are filled." Another Democratic aide questioned whether Republicans want to vote against more money for such GOP favorites as the Pentagon and national security. At the same time the committee is grappling with how much to provide in the supplemental for security, it will have to address New York's needs. Of the $40 billion supplemental, New Yorkers say Bush promised their state $20 billion. And while some, such as VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman James Walsh, R- N.Y., are willing to wait until next year to get the full $20 billion, others insist the entire $20 billion be provided now. To date, the administration says $2.5 billion has been released for New York's recovery, and another $6.3 billion was included in Bush's request for the second $20 billion allotment. But several New York Democrats want far more than $6.3 billion in the committee's supplemental title. Appropriations member Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., said: "That $20 billion all should be appropriated this year for New York City and state . and it should come out of the $40 billion [supplemental]. That was the basic understanding" between the New York delegation and Bush. Hinchey also rejected the notion that some of the $20 billion could be provided in the economic stimulus package. - by Lisa Caruso -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- CONGRESSIONAL OPERATIONS Dirksen Opens But Mailroom Closed; Ford To Open Sat. The Dirksen Senate Office Building reopened today, although the building's mailroom - which tested positive for anthrax exposure - remains closed. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Daschle said no final decision had been made on what method technicians would employ to conduct remediation of the Hart Senate Office Building, where anthrax was discovered at three different sites. Daschle has said it could take days or weeks to open the building, and Hart building staff continue to make contingency plans to deal with a prolonged dislocation. At the White House, Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters that, despite its virulence and sophistication, the anthrax in a letter received by Daschle's office Oct. 15 "could be produced by a Ph.D. microbiologist in a sophisticated laboratory." Fleischer still did not rule out that the substance was manufactured by a state or some other large-scale operation. But he indicated the anthrax was not of the most sophisticated type that could only be produced by a state, significantly broadening the universe of potential suppliers. Fleischer emphasized that the new understanding, of which administration officials became aware Thursday night, sheds no light on who actually sent the anthrax - since those who sent it and those who produced it may not be the same. President Bush's suspicion that Osama bin Laden may have ordered the anthrax sent is unchanged by the new information, Fleischer said. Meanwhile, the Ford and Longworth House office buildings remain closed, but health officials expect to reopen the Ford building Saturday after completing anthrax decontamination of the building's mailroom, according to an advisory from House leadership posted on a Web site late Thursday. The Longworth House Office Building is scheduled to remain closed "at least throughout the weekend," but could reopen as soon as Monday. Investigators believe that anthrax confirmed in the Ford mailroom could have spread to Longworth, which has required more extensive testing. The Cannon, O'Neill [formerly House Annex 1] and Rayburn House office buildings reopened Thursday after they were closed a week earlier to allow for environmental sweeps for anthrax. In a related development, anthrax was discovered today on a filter removed from a warehouse that screens mail headed for the Supreme Court, a court pokeswoman said. The Supreme Court building was closed to tourists at midday today, and the court's ventilation system was shut off, in case any material found its way to the building. Officials indicated that these steps were simply a precaution. "We have no evidence of any contamination in the Supreme Court building," itself, a statement from the court said. - by Geoff Earle, Mark Wegner and Keith Koffler -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- DEFENSE President Signs Anti-Terrorism Legislation Into Law President Bush today signed into law anti-terrorism legislation designed to give his administration new powers to track and detain potential terrorists while disrupting their money-laundering operations. "The changes effective today will help counter a threat not like any other our nation has faced," Bush said during an East Room signing ceremony attended by several lawmakers. Bush asserted the legislation would help law enforcement officials fight "modern terrorists," noting existing laws were written in the days of the rotary phone. The legislation, while watered down during congressional debate from the administration's original plan, expands the FBI's wiretapping and electronic surveillance authority and imposes stronger penalties for harboring or financing terrorists. It increases the number of crimes considered terrorist acts and toughens their punishment, while giving police new anti-terrorism powers to secretly search people's homes and business records and to eavesdrop on telephone and e-mail conversations. Bush sought to reassure those concerned about the new reach granted the government, saying the legislation "upholds and respects civil liberties guaranteed by our constitution." - by Keith Koffler -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- DEFENSE Air War Continues, Taliban Kills Opposition Leader U.S. jets struck Kabul today, rocking the capital with huge explosions and blasting a Red Cross compound for the second time this month, the Associated Press reported, while the Taliban said they captured and executed a noted opposition figure. Abdul Haq, a guerrilla leader in the war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, had gone to Afghanistan with peace proposals on behalf of former King Mohammad Zaher Shah, an aide to the former monarch said in Rome. But the Taliban's Bakhtar news agency said he was "killed by the Taliban" under a religious edict that decrees death for anyone spying for the United States and Great Britain. "Commander Haq was on a mission for peace, not for war. He was not going to fight anyone but to talk to tribal elders to inform them about the peace initiative of his majesty, the king," said the king's spokesman. During late night bombing of Kabul Thursday, three children were killed - two from one family living in the northwest area of the city and a third from the east part of town, officials at the Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital said. The United States has repeatedly said it is not targeting civilians. After another night of sometimes intense bombing, three huge detonations shook Kabul at midday, raising clouds of smoke from the direction of the airport and the Khair Khana district to the north. In Moscow, the Northern Alliance's envoy to Russia told reporters that Russian military supplies have begun flowing to the opposition. And Britain today announced it will commit 200 special forces troops as part of a larger force to include warships and planes. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- POLITICS Senate Could Be Dealing With Labor-HHS Approps Most Of Next Week A spokesman for Senate Majority Whip Reid today said the Senate could be dealing with the FY02 Labor-HHS appropriations bill for most of next week. Majority Leader Daschle has said the FY02 District of Columbia spending bill could come up as well. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- HEALTH Pharmaceutical Industry Says It Is Ready To Help Anthrax Victims Top executives from the U.S. pharmaceutical industry emerged today from a meeting with HHS Secretary Thompson saying they stand ready to help in the country's time of need by making antibiotics available free of charge to anthrax victims. However, the antibiotics being offered are not yet approved for that use, so the companies pledged to work with FDA to expedite their approval for anthrax treatment. Peter Dolan, chairman and CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb, said the companies have "no intention to make any profits on bioterrorism." The companies today pledged to step up production of a smallpox vaccine and the flu vaccine, which may help prevent people from getting the flu and mistaking it for early symptoms of anthrax. Robert Essner, president and CEO of American Home Products Corp., said there are only about 80 million doses of the flu vaccine available from the three U.S. manufacturers who produce it, but that there may be more that could be created from the overrun materials the companies still have. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- TELECOMMUNICATIONS Lawmaker Calls For Possible Wireless License Intervention Senate Commerce ranking member John McCain, R-Ariz., wants Congress to intervene if ongoing negotiations between the federal government and NextWave - regarding wireless licenses NextWave won but can no longer pay for - fail to produce a fair price. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Daschle and Minority Leader Lott today, McCain noted published reports that investors in NextWave, which has been in bankruptcy proceedings since 1998, would still get $5 billion under a proposed settlement, while the federal government would get just $11 billion of the estimated $17 billion the licenses are worth. "I believe that the government can no longer afford to simply 'pay off' a company whose only contribution to the American economy has been to manipulate, for private gain, the results of an improperly designed auction of a valuable public good," McCain wrote. He suggested that if negotiations do not produce a better deal that "Congress must use its oversight authority to ensure that this matter is resolved upon terms that protect the American people from being shortchanged once again." -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- POLITICS Grand Jury Issues New Indictment Against Traficant A federal grand jury today issued a new indictment against Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, alleging that he took bribes from a businessman in exchange for assistance in getting access to local railroad lines, the Associated Press reported. Traficant had previously been indicted on 10 counts of bribery, obstructing justice and tax evasion. The new indictment adds an allegation that Traficant took bribes from James Sabatine of Canfield, Ohio. Traficant did not return calls seeking comment, although the legislator repeatedly has said the charges are a result of misconduct by the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office. Sabatine pleaded guilty in August to paying Traficant $2,400 in 1998 for help in getting access to a rail line near Sabatine's asphalt plant. Sabatine is the third businessman convicted in the investigation. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- POLITICS American Red Cross President Resigns American Red Cross President Bernadine Healy, one of the few physicians to head the nation's largest charity, today announced her resignation after a little more than two years on the job. She later told a news conference that she had been forced out as a result of policy differences with the organization's board, the Associated Press reported. But Healy - a former director of the National Institutes of Health who took over the Red Cross post in September 1999 after Elizabeth Dole resigned to seek the Republican presidential nomination - had stirred controversy in the days following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The organization raised an unprecedented amount - more than $450 million - in the wake of the attacks; Healy rankled other charities collecting money for attack victims by refusing to participate in a coordinated effort led by the New York state attorney general to keep track of how much money was being given to each family. And many blood experts argued she was wrong to encourage blood donations in the wake of Sept. 11 when they were not needed to treat victims of the terrorist attacks. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- THE FRIDAY BUZZ 'Not Meeting With Lobbyists Every 15 Minutes.' The Capitol has been a pretty desolate place since Sept. 11, lacking tourists, lobbyists and often lawmakers. But this past week, it took on a new burst of activity as many members of Congress were shut out of their office buildings due to anthrax sweeps. While many said they felt upended, sad, out of sorts, and somewhat frustrated, they appeared to be trying to look on the bright side. "It's not so bad," said Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., whose flaps with colleagues over the patients' rights bill have been all but forgotten in the wake of the attacks. "We're not meeting with lobbyists every 15 minutes," he said. Although he was quick to add that meeting with lobbyists is helpful to the legislative process, he said what many members are probably thinking, "I am harder to find, and that's OK." Of course, being harder to find has its price. Press secretaries all over Capitol Hill found themselves without paper or a fax to issue press releases. "Everybody just wants to get in their offices. We can't function, we can't file," said Senate Majority Leader Daschle, whose office received an anthrax-tainted letter earlier this month, setting off the office and building closings and sending hundreds to be tested for anthrax. Cell phones, laptops and the ubiquitous hand-held wireless communication devices known as "Blackberries" many staffers and members carry became even more important. "This is my office," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., pointing to her cell phone on her way to the floor. A freshman without the luxury more senior senators have of a Capitol "hideaway," Stabenow said she is actually getting more work done because her committees now meet in the Capitol, where she often presides over the Senate. Even those with hideaways found them cramped and ill equipped for the number of staff trying to use them. One aide to a senior Senate Democrat was overheard on a cell phone in the Capitol saying that her new office space would rival the caves of Osama bin Laden. "We have a much greater appreciation for our offices now," said House Education and the Workforce ranking member George Miller, D-Calif., one of the four key lawmakers trying to hammer out a compromise on the elementary and secondary education reauthorization bill, despite the office closings and the cancellation of several meetings. "If they're working under these conditions, we can't expect them to have the same work intensity," said the Washington representative for a major U.S. city. But lobbyists and reporters have ways of finding lawmakers, and by Thursday, they were wandering the halls of the Capitol in droves, looking for senators who could not hide. - by April Fulton Defining The 'Mavericks.' For legislators, the label "maverick" can be highly subjective. Some welcome it; others deem it disparaging. Some are unpredictable on some issues, reliable elsewhere. What may define them best is that they march to their own drummer. During the past month, two votes helped to define the House's current mavericks. In each case, the House was largely unified behind the "emergency" measures sought by the Bush administration as part of its war effort, and crafted largely by bipartisan majorities with party leaders' support. The votes were the Sept. 21 passage of the $15 billion rescue of the commercial airline industry, and this week's approval of the conference report on the anti-terrorism bill. The House passed the first bill, 356-54, with 46 Democrats opposed; on this week's showdown, the vote was 357-66, with 62 Democrats opposed. (In the Senate, only Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., voted against the airline bill, and only Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., against the law enforcement measure.) Perhaps the most interesting cluster were the 29 House members who voted against both bills. They included independent Rep. Bernard Sanders of Vermont and two Republicans: freshman Rep. Butch Otter of Idaho and a perennial maverick, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. Plus, there were 26 Democrats: Reps. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Minority Whip Bonior, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Eva Clayton of North Carolina, William Coyne of Pennsylvania, Danny Davis of Illinois, Peter DeFazio of Oregon, Bob Filner of California, Barney Frank of Massachusetts, Alcee Hastings of Florida, Earl Hilliard of Alabama, Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois, Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio, Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, Jim McDermott of Washington, George Miller of California, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, Bobby Rush and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, Bobby Scott of Virginia, Fortney (Pete) Stark of California, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, John Tierney of Massachusetts, Peter Visclosky of Indiana, and Lynn Woolsey of California. What is striking about the Democrats is that there is no obvious common thread - by seniority, by gender or by race. If anything, the group has a slight imbalance in the Midwest. And it appears to have a disproportionate share of legislators who supported Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California over Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland in the contest for minority whip. In that Oct. 10 vote, Pelosi got 55 percent of the total; based on claims from the two camps at the time, 76 percent of the recent legislative mavericks also backed Pelosi. - by Richard E. Cohen Omnipresent Bob. When Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, assumed the chairmanship of the House Administration Committee early this year, the issues of election and campaign finance reform promised him a platform larger than assigning parking spaces. Last month's terrorist strikes have only heightened his visibility, as his panel is charged with overseeing the safety of the House, its members and its buildings. This week, Ney has been trailed by an entourage of staff, reporters and fellow legislators on and off the House floor, the Capitol East Front stairs and temporary offices at GAO. When a reporter suggested Ney be named "mayor," House Chief Deputy Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., balked. "Mayor? . Governor . Governor of Capitol Hill." Ney appears to relish the job, but terrorism has only marginally changed his routine. In the Speaker's Lobby, Ney still alternates between cell phone calls and media inquiries, while occasionally bumming a cigarette off Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio. Asked if he enjoys his post, Ney smiled, but demurred, saying: "I'm still here. We have a challenge House Administration has never had before." - by Mark Wegner Stealth Attack? Some veteran House Republican staffers are privately suggesting the current conventional wisdom - that the GOP leadership cannot bring up renewal of trade negotiating authority because it lacks the votes - is a ruse. They think the leadership is simply biding its time, and speculate the leadership plans to call for a vote late some Thursday afternoon, with no debate and no amendments. Further, despite a strategy almost certain to inflame liberal Democrats, these staff members predict the legislation would then pass by a comfortable majority. At the moment, the bill does not appear on next week's tentative House agenda. - by Bruce Stokes -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- THE FINAL WORD "The hugs really don't transfer spores. You can do that all day long, and remain spore-free." - Majority Leader Daschle, who Thursday clarified his earlier statement that members of his staff might have spread anthrax by hugging each other after the emotional day last week when they were quarantined. One reporter joked that he heard Senate Minority Leader Lott - who, unlike Daschle, failed to receive a presidential hug at a public event last month - was spreading the rumor about the dangers of hugging. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- CongressDaily is published daily, Monday through Friday, by National Journal Group Inc. Copyright 2001 by National Journal Inc., 1501 M St., NW, #300, Washington, D.C. 20005. Retransmission, redistribution or reproduction of CongressDaily is prohibited without the express, written permission of National Journal Group Inc. To read CongressDaily on the Web, contact 1-800-207-8001 or njcirc@njdc.com for your username and password. President--John Fox Sullivan, 202-739-8468 (jsullivan@njdc.com) Publisher--Steve Hull, 202-739-8475 (shull@njdc.com) Editor--Louis Peck, 202-739-8481 (lpeck@njdc.com) Executive Editor--Keith White Senior Managing Editor/A.M. Edition--Robert Ourlian Senior Editor--Charlie Mitchell Associate Editor--Greta Wodele Assistant Editor--Chuck Jordan Reporters--Pamela Barnett, Lisa Caruso, Geoff Earle, Keith Koffler, Brody Mullins, Stephen J. Norton, Mark Wegner Special Correspondents--Jerry Hagstrom, Julie Rovner Subscription price: $2,497 a year. Subscription and e-mail transmission information: 202-266-7230 (cngdaily@njdc.com). -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- CDENDIT
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