Mary Beth Polley | Fall 2000 Headlines

Congressmen reflect on session

By Mary Beth Polley

WASHINGTON -- Despite some continued progress on balancing the budget and paying down the national debt, Merrimack Valley Congressmen acknowledge that partisanship and election year politics have trapped the 106th Congress in a long session that has produced limited results.

In a series of interviews with the Lawrence Eagle Tribune over the past three weeks, Merrimack Valley Congressmen discussed their personal and collective achievements this session and their goals for the next session of Congress which will begin in January.

The 106th session started in January 1999 with the impeachment trial of President Clinton and will finish its work next month in the shadow of one of the most controversial presidential elections in history. Both events highlight the partisanship that has divided Congress and stalled legislation on a number of important bills including prescription drug benefits for seniors, a patients' bill of rights and tax code reform.

"One of the disappointing things about this Congress is the inability of Democrats and Republicans to come together," said Rep. Martin T. Meehan, D-Lowell. "We should have a prescription drug benefit. We should have a patients' bill of rights. Democrats or Republicans, we're all Americans. These are the things we should've taken care of."

New Hampshire Rep. John E. Sununu, R-Bedford, however, blames President Clinton for Congress's unfinished work.

"To the extent we haven't succeeded in getting particular initiatives signed into laws, it's not been for lack of Congressional effort or Congressional unity on the issue, it's because the President rejected the work we did," said Rep. Sununu, who pointed to the President's veto of legislation to repeal the "marriage penalty" tax and estate tax as examples of how the President prevented popular legislation from being passed.

"I think the administration has made a decision to put politics above the people," said Rep. Sununu.

Another roadblock to the passage of substantive legislation was this year's election.

"The leadership starts focusing everything on what's the message vis-Ã-vis the election," said Rep. John Tierney, D-Salem.

Tierney believes the Norwood-Dingell bill, a patients' bill of rights reform effort, would have become law, had the leadership not wanted to make it a campaign issue. "They don't want the Democrats to be able to say they worked with Republicans to put a piece of healthcare legislation through," he said.

The election also meant that both parties had to worry about which members were out of town campaigning each time a vote was called.

"When you consider the fact that we (Republicans) have a six-vote majority and some days we have a 30 vote minority depending on who's in and out of town," said Rep. Bass, R-Peterborough. "Any six Republicans decide they want to leave town and the business of this body comes to an end."

But despite the partisan politics that divided this session, all four members of the Merrimack Valley delegation point to a balanced budget and efforts to pay down the national debt as important accomplishments in the 106th session.

"With the close of the fiscal year, we will have paid down over $450 billion in debt over the last four years," said Rep. Sununu, who sits on the House Budget Committee. "By retiring that debt, we've reduced the amount of government borrowing, made more money available for citizens and corporations to borrow at lower interest rates."

According to Rep. Sununu, interest rates are between one and two percent lower because of Congress's efforts to pay down the national debt.

The 106th Congress also passed a free-trade agreement with China that Rep. Meehan believes will bring money and jobs to the Merrimack Valley.

"I believe the bill to lower tariffs and open the Chinese markets to American products will be very good to the Merrimack Valley," said Rep. Meehan. "Companies in the Merrimack Valley will be able to do more exporting to China. The result will be an increase in the number of jobs in the Merrimack Valley. One out of every ten jobs in Massachusetts is directly tied to exports and I think we can continue to build on that."

Out of the 5,636 bills introduced into the House of Representatives as of the middle of November, 384 have become public law. Collectively, Merrimack Valley Congressmen introduced 39 of those bills, 3 of which have become public law.

Rep. Meehan introduced a dozen bills, only one of which has become law. This legislation designated portions of the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Rivers as federal Wild and Scenic Rivers, providing federal protection from water pollution and the construction of water resource projects.

Rep. Meehan said some of his greatest achievements have been bringing government funding and contracts to the fifth district of Massachusetts, specifically a $4 million contract for Malden Mills to produce Polartec pullovers for the Marines as well as more than $270,000 for after-school programs in Lawrence. He also continued his efforts to reform the campaign finance system with the Shays-Meehan Campaign Finance Reform Act, which has been passed twice by the House of Representatives but has yet to be acted upon by the Senate. Rep. Meehan says he plans to reintroduce the legislation during the next session of Congress.

Out of 8 bills Rep. Sununu introduced this session, two bills, which provided federal protection for the Lamprey River from pollution and named a Derry post office after Alan B. Shepard, became law.

Rep. Sununu says he has three priorities for the 107th session - - strengthen Social Security and Medicare, make the tax code more fair and equitable and prioritize federal spending to put more emphasis on special education, veteran's healthcare, scientific research and national defense.

"We can use baseline fiscal responsibility on responsibility to make a very positive impact on average families, from younger workers to retirees."

Next session, Rep. Meehan said he will continue work on campaign finance reform, curbing tobacco use among teenagers and providing local communities with grants to combat crime. Rep. Tierney said he will work on school reform and efforts to improve continuing education and training for adults.

"We should be coordinating our education opportunities with businesses along with regional employment boards so that we have a place people can go if their workplace is challenged or if they get put out of work," said Rep. Tierney.

He said he will also work toward providing universal healthcare, funding to develop alternative fuel resources, funding for preschool and after-school programs along with respite care for seniors.

Rep. Bass has an agenda that is "a combination of debt reduction, tax relief, special education, Medicare and defense."

Bass said he will also work on campaign finance reform and pushing for a bi-annual appropriation process.

"I'm pushing biannual budgets and appropriations again," Bass said. "At this time of year, we're particularly sensitive to that issue. We wouldn't be here right now if we had biannual budgets. I go around to my colleagues and say, 'Having fun?' I'm frustrated when Congress is preoccupied by budget problems. We spend 90 percent of our time working out the budget."

This Congress will hold the sixth lame-duck post-election session in 30 years. After taking a two-week vacation, the Congressmen will return in December to complete work on the federal budget for fiscal year 2001 which began Oct. 1.