Storm of bills before calm of Aug. recess

[babylonsister]

Storm of bills before calm of Aug. recess
By Jim Snyder
July 31, 2007

Congress, and by extension K Street, has a busy week ahead as Democratic leaders try to shake a do-nothing tag by passing a series of bills before the month-long August recess.

A weekend breakthrough on a House energy bill appears to have alleviated concerns among enough oil patch Democrats to ensure passage, though it looked unlikely yesterday that an increase in fuel-efficiency standards for automobiles and trucks, a key priority for environmental groups, would be included.

Democrats also were looking to expand children’s health insurance, reverse a Supreme Court decision that imposes a statute of limitations on wage discrimination cases, and add $16 billion over the next decade to federal coffers, principally through new taxes on oil and gas companies.

After weeks of delay, Democrats were poised to adopt a lobbying reform bill that would, for the first time, require public disclosure of campaign contributions that lobbyists bundle for candidates. The measure is likely to attract significant bipartisan support, but would be a crowning achievement for the young majority with freshman members who promised to clean up Washington in response to Jack Abramoff and other congressional scandals.

Some tweaks have been made to the measure in the weeks since the House and Senate passed separate versions. Under the agreement, the House and Senate would pass identical bills, thereby relieving the necessity of a congressional conference, which Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has thwarted.

The new bill requires semi-annual rather than quarterly reports. Candidates for office would be responsible for filing the information, and would have to do so only for lobbyists who raised at least $15,000 in a period rather than $5,000, which had been the previous floor.

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