It's almost enough to make you wish they were still stuck on impeachment. But when congressional leaders said they were going to get back to business, they must have meant it.
* On March 5, the two most powerful men in the Senate, Trent Lott and Don Nickles, voted in committee against a bipartisan bill that will make it possible for millions of people with severe disabilities to return to the workforce and not lose critical medical benefits. Only a tiny fraction of the almost 8 million people that receive disability payments from Social Security re-enter the workforce, even though most of them want to. The reason: current law forces them to become poor in order to qualify for Medicaid (to pay for specialized services that most insurers don't even sell policies for), and takes away that coverage if they make more than $500 a month.
But Senator Nickles objected to how the bill would be paid for, singling out a plan to raise $1.2 billion by reducing the amount American companies can take off on the U.S. taxes for taxes they pay on their overseas operations. The bill's sponsors are not sure how it will clear Nickles and Lott's opposition. It just so happens that the oil and gas industry has a big interest in maintaining this loophole, known as the foreign tax credit. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, individuals and PACs connected to the oil and gas industry have given Senator Nickles $295,347 since 1993, making the industry his #1 donor.
* Then on March 10, the House Banking Committee adopted an amendment that will force banks to disclose their automated teller machine fees or risk not being able to charge for those transactions. Banks make almost $2 billion a year from ATM fees, which average $1.27 even though it costs banks only about 25 cents per transaction. So it must have been with a sigh of relief that the banking community saw the proposal from Rep. Marge Roukema (R-NJ) and Rep. John LaFalce (D-NY) sail through the committee by a 48-1 vote. After all, it replaced a far tougher proposal by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to abolish ATM surcharges entirely, which states like Connecticut and Iowa have done with no harm to consumers.
Of course, commercial banks give heavily to most members of the House Banking Committee. In fact, in 1997-98, individuals and PACs connected to the commercial banking industry were the #1 contributors to both Roukema ($86,144) and LaFalce ($111,500). By contrast, Sanders' top contributors were industrial and public sector unions. He raised no money from commercial banks.
* And on March 15, the chickens came home to roost. Remember Reps. Newt Gingrich and Bud Shuster's summer 1998 gift to the airline industry, blocking the efforts of the Transportation Department to force more price competition into the flying business? [See OUCH#10] Well, the big airlines haven't forgotten. They just raised ticket prices a second time this year, by a total of 3 percent for business travelers and 7 percent for leisure fares. So much for the fight against inflation!
