WASHINGTON, DC – Representative Pete Stark (D-CA) will tomorrow join Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and nine House colleagues in bringing legal action to enjoin implementation of the “Deficit Reduction Act.”

On February 8, 2006, President Bush signed a version of the Deficit Reduction Act that had passed the Senate, but had never passed the House. The Senate bill set a 13-month duration for rental of certain durable medical equipment in Medicare. The House version set that duration at 36 months, amounting to a roughly $2 billion difference. As such, the version signed by the President should not be considered a “law” for it does not comply with the constitutional requirement that an identical bill pass both Houses of Congress. According to public accounts, the President and Republican leaders in the House and Senate were well aware that the legislation the President was preparing to sign had not passed the House of Representatives.

“Schoolhouse Rock taught generations of Americans how a bill becomes a law,” said Rep. Stark, Ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee. “As most school children can attest, a bill is just a bill on Capitol Hill until it passes both the House and Senate in identical form and is signed by the President – or Congress overrides his veto. Unfortunately, it appears that it will take court action to educate President Bush and Republican Congressional leaders on this basic tenet of our democracy. I'm sorry we had to resort to this lawsuit, but I am committed to protecting our democracy -- a commitment apparently not shared by President Bush or his Republican allies in Congress.”

Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said, "Once again the Administration is playing fast and loose with the Constitution. Anyone who has passed the sixth grade knows that before a bill can become a law, both Houses of Congress must approve it. That the Bush Administration is now saying otherwise underscores the Constitutional crisis we are facing in this country. Over 200 years of legal precedent dictate that such discrepancies can be handled through simply refiling the paperwork, or re-voting the whole bill. Because the bill cuts billions of dollars to the Nation's most needy, the Republican leadership prevented a re-vote at all costs."

In addition to Reps. Stark and Conyers, the nine other plaintiffs include the Ranking Democrats on the relevant committees and subcommittees impacted by the Deficit Reduction Act: Rep. John Dingell, Ranking Member on the Energy and Commerce Committee; Rep. Charles B. Rangel, Ranking Member on the Ways and Means Committee; Rep. George Miller, Ranking Member on the Education and Workforce Committee; Rep. James L. Oberstar, Ranking Member on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee; Rep. Barney Frank, Ranking Member on the Financial Services Committee; Rep. Collin C. Peterson, Ranking Member on the Agriculture Committee; Rep. Bennie Thompson, Ranking Member on the Homeland Security Committee; Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, Ranking Member on the Rules Committee; and Rep. Sherrod Brown, Ranking Member on the Commerce Health Subcommittee. The Congressmen are represented by Dykema Gossett PLLC and Professor Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional expert at Duke Law School.