Reg reform proponents keep pushing

Proponents of regulatory reform legislation in the Senate appear to be engaged in a game of beat the clock, as they endeavor to keep the reform bill viable in the waning days of the session.

While the bill's cosponsors-Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.-apparently remain committed to their bill, most observers agree that time is the legislation's greatest enemy right now.

Thompson agreed with that assessment in an interview late last week with CongressDaily. Complying with the request of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., for a time agreement on the bill will be difficult, he said, especially since that would require the cooperation of Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who has made it clear he will support Democrats in their bid to offer "unlimited" amendments to the bill.

Thompson said Levin continues trying to recruit Democrats as cosponsors. Sen. Dale Bumpers, D-Ark., is the latest to come on board, bringing the total number of Democrats on the bill to seven-five shy of the dozen that Lott says are needed before he will schedule a floor vote.

But Lott appears to have little interest in moving the bill.

Lott has criticized it for being too weak, and earlier this year engaged in what one source described as an "in your face" tactic by dropping his own risk assessment bill on the eve of the Thompson-Levin bill's markup. Not helping matters are the reportedly strong tensions that exist between Thompson's lead staffer on regulatory reform, and Lott's top legislative aide.

Thompson sidestepped questions about whether he felt he had Lott's full support in helping bring the bill to the floor. A GOP leadership staffer was blunter, noting regulatory reform simply "is not on Lott's radar screen."

Further dampening Lott's enthusiasm for the bill, this staffer added, is the fact that some members of the GOP Conference, including Governmental Affairs Committee member Susan Collins of Maine, are being taken to task by local newspapers over their support for it.

Those press reports apparently hit a nerve with both Levin and Thompson. In late April, Thompson's lead committee staffer on regulatory reform insisted on traveling to Maine for a face-to- face, two-hour meeting with editorial writer Todd Benoit of the Bangor Daily News after Benoit criticized the Levin-Thompson bill and Collins' support for it. Benoit later that day took a call from a clearly exercised Levin on the same topic.

"There weren't many editorials that got it so wrong," Thompson said last week in explaining his decision to send the staffer to Maine. Thompson added that he "wouldn't hesitate" to do so again if similar situations arise elsewhere.

Both industry and congressional sources say they believe that in addition to the troubles with the congressional leadership, the business community's commitment to regulatory reform legislation may also be waning, and that lobbyists spearheading the fight have slacked off in recent weeks. But industry lobbyists championing the legislation late last week insisted that simply is not the case.

"From where I sit we haven't backed off," said Bruce Josten of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Rather, he said, the lobbying efforts simply have become more targeted. "We have a small subset of potential 'getables,' [on the Democratic side]," he added.

But several sources contended that many in the business community believe they may get a better shake on regulatory reform legislation with fewer concessions next year-particularly if the GOP's boast of a 60-seat Senate majority comes to fruition. In that respect, said one industry source, Democratic leaders might be wise to reconsider their degree of cooperation on the bill. "That certainly is ... something that should be weighed," conceded Gary Bass of OMB Watch, an ardent critic of the bill.

Thompson also has given that scenario some thought, saying it is "possibly" better, for that reason, to wait until next year to move the bill. But he was quick to note his preference for moving the bill this year.