Congress must return to normal order. Indeed, if Congressional leadership is serious about a “return to normalcy” then Congress must promise to return to “regular order,” in which the Congress runs by deliberation rather than unanimous consent, omnibus, or the misuse of the reconciliation process. Committees should retake the lead in drafting all major legislation, and Congress must end the practice of rushing to pass bills that no one reads and are packed with political favors and special interest priorities.
Congress is debating another coronavirus stimulus plan. The Biden Administration has offered a $1.9 trillion proposal which is way off from the $618 billion plan that the Republicans have offered. The plans are significantly different; it is going to be difficult to bridge the gap between the two proposals. The chasm between the parties creates an opportunity for legislative mischief. Consumers should worry about the budget becoming a bonanza for all types and all-comers of special interest groups and the lobbying-class.
Both the Republican and Democrat plans are intended to augment the $3 trillion CARES Act and $900 billion package that was passed in December. The Biden plan, titled the “American Rescue Plan,” is a massive bundle of new spending that is getting serious pushback from Republicans on Capitol Hill. According to CNN, the Biden proposal includes two big ticket items including: “sending another $1,400 per person to eligible recipients” and “increase[ing] the federal boost the jobless receive to $400 a week, from the $300 weekly enhancement contained in Congress' relief package.” The Democrat’s package also includes rental assistance, an eviction moratorium, a boost to the food stamp program through September, funds for child care, targeted tax credits to help impacted communities, health insurance subsidies, emergency paid leave provisions, aid to small businesses, and aid to state governments for distribution of vaccines and increased testing. One landmine in the proposal is a hike of the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, which has always been controversial with conservatives. This is a gargantuan proposal that Republicans have largely resisted.
The Republican plan is a scaled back version that is approximately $1.3 trillion less in spending than the American Rescue Plan. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Republican offer includes, “$300 a week in enhanced federal unemployment benefits through June, include[s] $20 billion each for child care and schools, $50 billion for small-business relief and $160 billion for vaccines, testing and protective equipment.” This proposal seems far short of what Democrats want to pass and does not include a hike to the federal minimum wage. The parties are not close, yet there are ongoing meetings between the factions to find common ground.
It is likely that Republican leadership, Congressional Democrats, and the White House will fail to cut a deal. For this reason, Democrats are openly exploring options – and preparing the way – to pass a bill on a strictly party-line vote of Democrats forcing it through the Congress. House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Leader Schumer are eyeing a legislative process called "reconciliation". The reconciliation process is described by the Congressional Research Service, (CRS) as empowering “Congress to use an expedited procedure when considering legislation that would bring existing spending, revenue, and debt limit laws into compliance with current fiscal priorities established in the annual budget resolution.”
In theory, this process is intended to cut spending and to allow the Congress to reconcile a top line budget with appropriations that may not fall into line with those targets. However, in practice, the reconciliation process can lead to legislation being loaded up with special interest provisions, pork-barrel spending, and political favors. To get a reconciliation bill, the House and Senate have to pass a budget resolution. The Senate will schedule something called a “Vote-a-rama” that allows any Senator to offer an amendment to the budget resolution resulting in a vote. The Vote-a-rama usually goes on for hours and can include as many votes as the Senators want. This allows Senators to offer an amendment to get a vote on a special interest issue.
These special legislative favors may or may not have anything to do with COVID-19 relief. For instance, one issue that may come up is a bill that was briefly on the schedule of the Senate Commerce Committee late last year titled the Contact Lens Modernization Act. This legislation would have eliminated signed acknowledgement that a person received a contact lens prescription from their prescriber. Or a bill, titled the Contact Lens Verification Modernization Act, seeking to end the most effective and efficient prescription verification option by banning automated phone prescription verification. If a Senator can argue that money will be spent by the government to implement these two bills, a vote will be scheduled that will benefit a special interest, the powerful optometrist lobby.
Why should any COVID package include specific consideration on contact lenses?
These are only two potential special interest dealings that may be attached to relief legislation during the reconciliation process. Such proposals favor powerful Washington interests over consumers, patients, and those who have suffered through the coronavirus lockdowns. What’s more, such seemingly inconsequential issues like these will be obscured and overlooked by epic battles over a $15 an hour minimum wage and other big-ticket spending items favored by the Biden Administration.
Congress must return to normal order. Indeed, if Congressional leadership is serious about a “return to normalcy” then Congress must promise to return to “regular order,” in which the Congress runs by deliberation rather than unanimous consent, omnibus, or the misuse of the reconciliation process. Committees should retake the lead in drafting all major legislation, and Congress must end the practice of rushing to pass bills that no one reads and are packed with political favors and special interest priorities.
