Washington Watch: Legislative Update
For the Week of 13 November 2006
 
In This Week's Edition
 
I.      This Week in Congress
II.     Post-Election Update
III.    Update on FOP Top Legislative Priorities
IV.     Update on LEOSA Amendment
V.      Other Legislative Activity


I.   THIS WEEK IN CONGRESS

Both the House and the Senate were in session this week and then recessed in observance of next week's Thanksgiving Day holiday.  Congress will reconvene on Monday, 4 December.  The Washington Watch Legislative Update will not be published during this time and will not be distributed again until 8 December.

Action in the House
The House considered and passed H.J. Res. 100, a continuing resolution which will fund the Federal government through Friday, 8 December.

The House also considered an passed S. 3880, the "Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act," which will revise the criminal prohibitions against damaging or interfering with the operations of an animal enterprise to include intentional damage or loss to any real or personal property and intentional threats of death or serious bodily injury against individuals (or their family members, spouses, or intimate partners) who are involved with animal enterprises. The bill also increases monetary and criminal penalties for such crime.  This bill will now go to the President for his signature.

The House also considered and passed H.R 864, the "Sober Truth on Preventing (STOP) Underage Drinking Act."  The measure requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish an interagency coordinating committee to guide policy and program development across the Federal Government on underage drinking; issue an annual report card to rate the performance of each State in enacting, enforcing, and creating laws, regulations, and programs to prevent or reduce underage drinking; develop a set of outcome measures to prepare report cards, including the strictness of the minimum drinking age laws and the number of compliance checks conducted; fund and oversee the Ad Council's national adult-oriented media public service campaign; award grants to reduce the rate of underage alcohol use and binge drinking among students at institutions of higher education; and collect data on, and conduct or support research on, underage drinking, including the impact alcohol use and abuse has upon adolescent brain development, the scope of the underage drinking problem, and progress in preventing and treating underage drinking.


Action in the Senate
The Senate considered and passed H.J. Res. 100, a continuing resolution which will fund the Federal government through Friday, 8 December.  The measure now goes to the President, who is expected to sign the measure today.

The Senate considered and passed an amended version of H.R. 5385, the "Military Construction, Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act."  This measure will be returned to the House for further action.

The Senate began debate on H.R. 5384, the "Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act."

 
II. POST-ELECTION UPDATE
The recent elections resulted in a new majority in both the House and the Senate.  Republican losses will turn control of both chambers over to the Democrats when the new Congress is sworn in next January.

The Democrats will be led in the Senate by Senator Harry Reid (NV) and Richard J. Durbin (IL), and the Republicans will be led by Senator Mitch McConnell (KY) and Trent Lott (MS).

In the House, Representative Nancy Pelosi (CA) will be elected Speaker and Representative Steny H. Hoyer (MD) will serve as Majority Leader.  Representative John Boehner (OH) will be elected Minority Leader, with Roy Blunt (MO) serving as Minority Whip.

The FOP has always approached all of our issues in a nonpartisan manner.  This approach has been the key to our success and it is success we believe we can sustain in the 110th Congress.


III.  UPDATE ON F.O.P. TOP LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

For the complete list of cosponsors for all of our top legislative priorities, or to find out if your Representative and Senators are cosponsors of specific bills, check out http://thomas.loc.gov .
 
A.      SOCIAL SECURITY ISSUES:

(1)  Support H.R. 147/S. 619, the "Social Security Fairness Act"

We currently have three hundred and twenty-two (322) cosponsors on H.R. 147--more than seventy percent (70%) of the U.S. House of Representatives.  Please note that this total differs slightly from THOMAS, as we are not including in our count Representatives Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA), who has resigned his seat, and Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who resigned his seat after his appointment to the U.S. Senate.  Also not included in our total are Delegates Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Luis Fortuno (R-PR), who are non-voting Members of the House.

The National Legislative Office's list of previous cosponsors--three (3) Republicans and one (1) Democrats--appears below.  We continue to ask F.O.P. members in those Members' districts to contact their Representative and urge them to show their support for law enforcement by cosponsoring H.R. 147. 

Cosponsors of H.R. 594, 108th Congress who have not yet signed on to H.R. 147, 109th Congress (4 House Members: 3 Republicans and 1 Democrat as of 17 November 2006)

ILLINOIS                  INDIANA
Hyde                      Chocola

PENNSYLVANIA     WASHINGTON
Peterson                  McDermott

In addition, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) filed a discharge petition (H. Res. 523) on H.R. 147 in September just before the recess.  A discharge petition is a lengthy, multistage procedure by which a measure can be removed from Committee and considered directly by the House on the floor. A majority of Representatives (218) must sign the discharge petition in order for the bill to be removed from committee. The discharge petition currently has one hundred and twenty-two (122) signatories, all Democrats, and needs ninety-six (96) additional signatures to pass.

We added one (1) additional cosponsor to S. 619, Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN), bringing our current total to twenty-eight (28) cosponsors.  Please note that this total differs slightly from THOMAS, as we are not including in our count former Senator Jon S. Corzine (D-NJ), who resigned his Senate seat when he was elected Governor.


(2)  Opposing any legislation that would require the participation of public employees in Social Security

To date, no legislation has been introduced with a provision that would mandate the inclusion in Social Security of public employees currently not in the system.
 

B.  Support H.R. 1249/S. 513, the "Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act"

We added two (2) additional cosponsors to H.R. 1249, bringing our current total to one hundred and twenty (120) cosponsors. Please note that this total differs slightly from THOMAS, as we are not including in our count Delegate Donna M. Christensen (D-VI), who is a non-voting Member of the House.

We currently have twenty-one (21) cosponsors on S. 513.


C.  Support H.R. 354/S. 718, the "State and Local Law Enforcement Officers' Discipline, Accountability, and Due Process Act"

We added one (1) additional cosponsor to H.R. 354, bringing our current total to fifty-two (52).  Please note that this total differs slightly from THOMAS, as we are not including in our count Representative Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who resigned his seat after his appointment to the U.S. Senate. 

We currently have eleven (11) cosponsors on S. 718.


IV.  UPDATE ON LEOSA Amendment
Prior to the pre-election recess, the FOP staff was engaged in seeking a legislative vehicle for S. 3835, the Court and Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act.  The language was included in, and then stripped out of, the conference report on H.R. 5122, the reauthorization bill for the U.S. Department of Defense.  We then attempted to attached the bill to H.R. 4954, the "Security and Accountability For Every (SAFE) Port Act," which was one of the last bills passed before the recess.

The outcome of the November elections have had an impact on the dynamics of the short, lame-duck session and, in recognition of these new realities, the FOP is adopting a more narrow focus.  We are working with our allies on both sides of the aisle to develop an amendment to
the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA), better known to FOP members as H.R. 218, in order to address some of the problems our retired members have been having in States which have been slow to implement the law.  It is our hope that we can get bipartisan agreement on this measure and attach in to an appropriate legislative vehicle when Congress returns to session in December.


V.   OTHER LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY

National President Chuck Canterbury testified before the U.S. Sentencing Commission' on the disparities in crack cocaine and powder cocaine sentencing. 

National President Canterbury and Executive Director Jim Pasco met with Paul McNulty, Deputy U.S. Attorney General, to discuss general law enforcement issues.

National President Canterbury and Executive Director Pasco met with Alice S. Fisher, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, and toured the National Gang Intelligence Center.

Executive Director Pasco met with  Scott Jennings, Deputy Political Director at the White House, to discuss the law enforcement agenda for the 110th Congress.

Executive Director Pasco attended the unveiling of the portrait of former U.S. Attorney General, John D. Ashcroft, at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Executive Director Pasco attended an event to celebrate the victory of Representative Steny H. Hoyer, who will be elected House Majority Leader for the 110th Congress.

Executive Director Pasco met with Terrance W. Gainer, who was recently appointed to be the next Senate Sergeant-at-Arms, to discuss Capitol Police Issues.

Legislative Liaison Alan Dodkowitz and S.K. Johnson, Labor Committee Chairman of the Naval District of Washington,  met with members of the 4th Estate of the Department of Defense to discuss implementing issuances with the National Security Personnel System (NSPS).

Legislative Liaison Tiffany Waddell had a conference call with the Public Safety Broadband Trust about draft legislation.

Legislative Liaison Waddell represented the F.O.P. at a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) meeting about "Take 25" Preventative Safety Campaign.

Legislative Liaison Waddell had a conference call with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to discuss their roll-out plan and intelligence update.

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