Washington Watch

Washington Watch

February 2008

Washington Fly-In and Congressional Dinner

 

The State Chamber/AIA’s 49th Annual Washington Congressional Reception and Dinner is scheduled for April 28 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington , Va. We also meet and greet our senators and representatives and their staffs at their offices and at district dinners, luncheons and breakfasts April 27-29. For your convenience, the State Chamber/AIA has rooms blocked at the hotel April 26-29.

 

The Crystal Gateway is once again serving as our headquarters, and room reservations may be made by calling 703-920-3230 or 1-800-228-9290. Be sure to mention the special rate of $195 and that you are with the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce group when calling. The deadline to make hotel reservations is April 3. The registration deadline is April 11.

 

Click here for our Web site calendar and to access hotel and contact information for the event. The registration form is also on our Web site. Contact names and numbers for the district events are found on the registration form.

 

Please make any/all revisions to your hotel reservations through the State Chamber/AIA office by calling Deb Mathis or Susie Marks at 501-372-2222.

 

The Washington Fly-In provides an excellent opportunity for productive contact with members of our congressional delegation and their staffs. This governmental affairs activity is organized to afford maximum opportunity to discuss not only national issues that affect our state, but also those of local importance.

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State Chamber/AIA National Issues Committee Identifies Key Priorities

 

The newly formed State Chamber/AIA National Issues Committee held its first meeting on January 24. More than 40 people participated in person and via conference call.

 

Ray Bracy of Wal-Mart chaired the meeting and will be joined by Archie Schaffer of Tyson Foods as co-chair of the committee. The committee reviewed reports of conversations State Chamber/AIA Executive Vice President Kenny Hall had with legislative directors from the offices of Senators Lincoln and Pryor and heard brief oral reports from the U.S. Chamber and the National Association of Manufacturers.

 

Committee members reviewed a broad list of issues before paring the list down to nine priority issues to research and develop position statements on. Those issues are: health care, the farm bill, education and workforce development, union card check legislation, climate change, energy policy, an economic stimulus package, taxes and immigration. This list was then presented by Bracy to the State Chamber/AIA Board of Directors, who met shortly after the committee meeting. The board adopted the priority list.

 

The next course of action will be to develop draft policy statements for each of the priority issues. When a draft is finalized, we will provide copies to all committee members and schedule a follow-up meeting. Our desire is to finalize this document and present it during the State Chamber/AIA Congressional Dinner in Washington , D.C. , on April 28.

 

Thank you to those who were able to participate in the first meeting. If you have an interest in national issues and how they affect your company, please consider becoming a part of this important committee. To join, contact Deb Mathis at 501-210-4212 or dmathis@arkansasstatechamber.com.

 

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  President Signs Economic Stimulus Package

The economic stimulus package that has been taking shape in Washington for several weeks was signed yesterday by President Bush. After days of impasse, the Senate reached an agreement February 7. On an 81-16 vote the Senate sent the package back to the House, which quickly voted 380-34 to send the measure to the President’s desk.

 

The deal includes rebates of up to $600 for individuals and up to $1,200 for couples, with an additional payment of $300 per child. Payments will be reduced for individuals with adjusted gross incomes above $75,000 and couples with incomes above $150,000. In addition, the plan allows for a minimum payment of $300 for individuals who pay less than that in income taxes. The Treasury Department said checks would be distributed in early May.

 

The Senate’s plan is almost identical to the package the House passed at the end of January, but the Senate’s version gives checks to more than 20 million Social Security beneficiaries and 250,000 handicapped veterans and their widows who would not have qualified because they do not earn income. Also, the Senate measure closes what some believed was a loophole in the House version and specifies that illegal migrant workers do not receive payments.

 

The stimulus package will cost roughly $168 billion over two years compared with $161 billion for the original House plan. About $152 billion would be injected into the economy this year. 

 

Senate leaders had originally pushed for a much larger plan that would have included increased home-energy subsidies for low-income families, extended unemployment benefits, tax credits for alternative energy and tax incentives for the coal industry. The $205 billion plan fell just one vote short of the 60 votes required to clear a procedural hurdle and move on to a final vote on the measure. 

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New Secretary of Agriculture Sworn In

 

Ed Schafer was sworn in as the 29th secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on January 28. He gained unanimous consent by both the Senate Agriculture Committee and the U.S. Senate. 

 

Schafer brings both public and private sector experience to the USDA, including a two-term stint as the governor of North Dakota from 1992-2000. While governor, Schafer served as chair of the Western Governors Association and was elected chair of the Republican Governors Association. Before running for public office, Schafer was an executive with the Gold Seal Company, a company that had been founded by his father. After leaving the governor’s office in 2000, Schafer co-founded a company to provide wireless voice and high-speed data services to customers in five rural Midwestern states. He also served as director of the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation and became active in several other advocacy groups in North Dakota . 

 

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Arkansas Senator Among Conferees for 2007 Farm Bill

Last week the Senate Agriculture Committee named its conferees for the farm bill conference committee. Senator Blanche Lincoln is among the senators that will team with members of the House to merge the Senate and House versions of the new farm bill. Senator Lincoln is a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.   

 

The House Agriculture Committee has not named its conferees. The conference committee will likely target March 15 as its deadline. That is the date the short-term extension of the 2002 farm bill expires.

The House passed its version (H.R. 2419) on July 27, followed by the Senate version (S. 2303) on December 14. Both versions include changes to the commodity support and risk-management policies and programs, as well as provisions affecting conservation, bio-energy, rural development, forestry, agricultural research, competition, trade and food aid, agriculture credit, and domestic food programs and nutrition. The House and Senate bills also contain provisions that would make certain changes to tax laws, which are intended to offset new spending initiatives in the bill.

 

The largest controversies continue to be financing new spending and payment limits and adjusted gross income (AGI) reform.

 

At an agriculture town hall meeting in Pine Bluff on January 25, Congressman Mike Ross and House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) updated attendees about on-going negotiations to reach a compromise between the House and Senate versions of the 2007 Farm Bill.  Congressman Peterson said he had been in contact with then-Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner and was aware of the administration’s preferences for the farm bill. Peterson opposes an extension of the 2002 farm bill, which he doesn’t believe would pass the House.    

 

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Card Check Not Dead

Labor unions have redoubled their efforts to pass the deceptively titled Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that would all but eliminate secret ballot elections in union organizing campaigns in favor of a card check process. Unions are using the Internet to mobilize their members and lobby key senators.

 

They have launched a hard-hitting campaign to discredit the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that oversees secret ballot elections in union organizing drives. And they are getting ready to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into the 2008 elections in hopes of electing a president who will sign card check legislation into law. Card check legislation is organized labor's top legislative priority.

 

This legislation is harmful to businesses. First, it would expose employees to the potential of union intimidation. Second, it would dramatically increase the number of unionized workplaces, particularly among small businesses, and transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from workers to union coffers through mandatory union dues. Card check would enable unions to organize large numbers of businesses that they had not pursued previously, especially small service and retail establishments. This would vastly expand union financial, political and economic clout.

 

Third, card check legislation would require employers to negotiate a union contract in just four months after a union is certified through card check or be forced into binding arbitration. It would also impose substantial new penalties on employers – but not on unions – for even technical labor law violations. Contact your representatives in Congress through letters, phone calls and office visits to let them know you oppose any effort to take away workers' and employers' rights through card check.

 

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