Politics

Full Plate For Congress

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 23, 2002 / 3:06 PM EST / CBS

Congress returned to business Wednesday to deal with the leftovers from the 2001 session as well as a troublesome new issue that shot to the forefront during the winter recess: the Enron scandal.

Six congressional hearings are already planned over the next month to investigate the collapse of energy giant Enron Corp., with the first two scheduled for Thursday.

The House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee and Senate Governmental Affairs Committee kick off the string of panels, beginning what promises to be a lengthy investigation into the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

"The Enron issue will be divisive, time consuming and distracting in some ways," congressional scholar Norman Ornstein told CBSNews.com. "But Congress has shown they can do several things at once."

While Enron may hog the headlines, Congress still has several legislative issues it will focus on this year – an election year in which the entire House and 34 senators are running. And with the margins in each house so close (Republicans have an 11-seat advantage in the House; Democrats are up 1 seat in the Senate), there is much more at stake.

"Everyone's nervous because the stakes are high," Ornstein pointed out. "One slipup, one gaffe and you could lose everything."

The House is initially taking a wait-and-see approach with regard to its agenda. House Republicans have said they're waiting for President Bush to deliver his State of the Union address before settling on their legislative plans.

Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., however, has indicated the farm bill, election reform and economic stimulus will be high priorities in the Senate this year.

Here's a look at some of the major issues Congress faces this year:

Economic Stimulus and Taxes: The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office announced Wednesday what most in Washington feared: a return to deficits after four years of running surpluses. The CBO blamed the deficits on the recession, the war on terrorism and Mr. Bush's $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut enacted last year.

After some heated exchanges with the president, Daschle sent a letter to Mr. Bush this week, in which he proposed passing a scaled-down version of a bill passed by the House in December.

"Let's immediately pass what we agree on, and keep working to find common ground in the areas where we still agree," Daschle wrote. The common elements are extended unemployment insurance benefits for 13 weeks, a $300 tax rebate for those not included in last year's rebate, capital investments for business allowing a greater write-off on assets and fiscal relief for states.

Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott was cautiously optimistic, saying Wednesday, "there seems to have been a change of heart, and I accept that as positive. We don't know the details of how that is going to work or exactly what the substance will be, but we are pursuing that."

Defense and Terrorism: MrBush is calling for nearly $50 billion in additional military spending to fund the war on terrorism and beef up homeland security – the largest increase for the Pentagon in two decades.

Both the House and Senate passed bio-terrorism bills last year that would help pay for response and prevention. A final version is expected to cross the president's desk this year.

The House passed – and the Senate blocked – a bill that would provide government protection for insurance companies in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Energy: The Senate last year delayed bringing up the House-passed energy bill which would increase American energy production and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

Senate Democrats may bring up a bill that pushes for more conservation measures and fights one provision involving oil drilling in a small portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

Election Reform: In an attempt to avoid a repeat of the contested 2000 presidential election, the House last year overwhelmingly passed a $2.6 billion bill that would set standards to improve voting systems but give states room to develop improvements. In December, senators proposed a $3.4 billion, five-year plan that has bipartisan support.

Lott said earlier this month that he and Daschle had agreed the bill would be a priority.

"He (Daschle) said 'Maybe we can find a way to do some things in a bipartisan way,' and I said 'Yeah, let's do that,'" Lott said.

Campaign Finance Reform: The fallout from the collapse of politically connected Enron may help the effort to ban unlimited "soft-money" contributions to political parties.

Last July, a campaign finance reform bill, offered in the House by Reps. Chris Shays, R-Conn., and Marty Meehan, D-Mass., died after Republican leaders attached rules that the bill's supporters felt would have killed any chance of passage.

Shays and Meehan are currently circulating a discharge petition, attempting to get enough signatures, 218, to force a vote on the issue. Currently, they are two signatures short of their goal, and Ornstein believes the chances are pretty high they'll get those votes.

Patients' Bill of Rights: Both the House and Senate passed HMO reform measures last summer which, on the surface, are similar but differ on several details that will have to be worked out before a bill reaches the president's desk this year.

The Senate version, opposed by Mr. Bush, includes broader provisions regarding patients' right to sue and employer liability. Both versions include patient protections such as access to emergency care and specialty care as well as direct access to pediatricians and OB-GYNs.

The New York Times reports that negotiations are being held by Mr. Bush and an unlikely ally, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass, much to the worry of congressional Republicans. The two hammered out a deal on education reform last year.

Agriculture: Legislation to help American farmers failed to clear the Senate last year and Daschle has vowed to make passage a priority.

While all sides agree on increasing spending – both the House and Senate proposals ask for an additional $5 billion – there are concerns over the Senate version's impact on international trade agreements.

Trade Authority: The House approved a bill last year, by a single vote, that would bolster the president's power to negotiate trade agreements. The Senate plans to work on a slightly different version in March.

When you add it all up – Enron, pending legislation and an upcoming election – Ornstein thinks this will be a year to remember on Capitol Hill. "It's so close and the stakes are so high," he said. "This is the most intensity that I've ever seen."