Tennesseans stymied in push for new laws
By: Edward Lee Pitts
Chattanooga Times-Free Press
Wednesday, December 28, 2005

WASHINGTON — Halfway through the 109th Congress, Tennessee’s nine members in the U.S. House have been the original sponsors of 67 of the 4,567 bills introduced, records show.

Not one of the bills offered by the Tennessee delegation has become law. All have been referred to committees, which political observers said is the graveyard of legislation.

"Bills are pretty much dead on arrival," said Dr. Ross Baker, a Rutgers University political scientist. "The number that really counts is legislation that the president actually signs."

President Bush has signed 127 bills into law this year as of Friday, according to the Library of Congress.

Dr. Bruce Oppenheimer, a Vanderbilt University political science professor, said a legislator’s effectiveness also can be measured by how influential he or she is in maneuvering with colleagues to get certain agendas addressed or legislation changed.

"But that is much harder for us to judge as individual voters," Dr. Oppenheimer said.

U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, RTenn., said getting legislation through is a two-part process during a two-year term of Congress. The 109th Congress began this year and extends through the end of 2006. "The goal with legislation is to get it moving in the first session and then get it done in the second session," Rep. Wamp said.

He said he already has 50 co-sponsors for his measure to amend the tax code to provide incentives for employee athletic facilities. Rep. Wamp said he has spoken with President Bush on another health initiative, setting content standards for school physical education programs.

But Rep. Wamp said his position on the House Appropriations Committee, which controls about one-third of the federal budget, gives him the ability to attach measures to spending bills that must be passed annually. Veteran members of Congress also can have an effect on big legislation such as the transportation and energy bills signed into law this summer, Rep. Wamp said.

"The longer you serve the more you are required to use your seniority to influence national issues," he said.

U.S. Rep. Harold Ford, DTenn., sponsored the most House bills at 14. Rep. Ford’s legislation includes militaryrelated bills allowing families to send packages at reduced rates to soldiers serving abroad and to improve treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder for veterans of service in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He also has introduced initiatives to increase spending on character education programs, to make more grants available for the recruitment of prekindergarten teachers and to establish a program promoting financial literacy for young adults.

After Hurricane Katrina, Rep. Ford introduced a bill that would establish the AmeriCorps Disaster Relief Corps to conduct national service projects.

Rep. Ford said he is working with colleagues on getting his measures attached to other pieces of legislation.

"We rarely vote on any standalone legislation here," Rep. Ford said. "It is always part of a larger package."

U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., said it is rare for the minority party in the House to get a piece of legislation passed.

"The majority controls the flow of legislation," Rep. Davis said. "Some members of Congress have never been in the majority and have never passed a bill."

Rep. Davis said effective Democrats learn how to influence and work with Republicans during committee meetings on legislation important to the Democrats’ constituents.

"I assume when Democrats get the majority some Republicans will come to us to help them," he said.

Rep. Davis said his legislation focuses on the needs of the working poor that make up the majority of the population in his Tennessee district. He has introduced measures setting minimum wage standards and extending Social Security death benefit payments.

U.S. Rep. John Duncan, RTenn., has introduced measures to improve veterans’ access to outpatient medical clinics and to allow widows and widowers who remarry to keep the deceased’s insurance benefit if the prior marriage lasted at least a decade. He also has authored measures regulating the placement of windmills and designating Cherokee Indian territories in Polk, McMinn, Monroe and Meigs counties as National Heritage areas.

But Rep. Duncan said his biggest work has been in committees. As chairman of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee, he has been shepherding legislation to conserve and develop water resources, he said.

Rep. Duncan also led an 11-member delegation on a trip to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. He said his committee held hearings on reducing hurricane and flood risk in the United States and on examining the spending of federal dollars in the hurricane-ravaged areas.

"We’ve tried to stay on top of Katrina funding so there would be a whole lot less waste and scandal," he said. "You can be an influential, significant member of Congress without passing a single bill."

Rep. Duncan also said Congress needs fewer laws.

"We have so many rules and regulations already on the books they haven’t designed a computer that can keep up with it, much less a human," he said.