Panel chairmen fighting mad over snubs by Pelosi
By Jared Allen
Senior House Democrats have a message for their Speaker: We’re mad as hell, and we’re only taking it this one last time.
As congressional Democrats take the lead in responding to the sinking economy, subcommittee and even some full-committee chairmen — who normally wield significant influence in writing legislation — have been forced to wait on the sidelines as monumental bills are written in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office.
That often leaves room for cursory input from lawmakers who have carved out expert niches for themselves.
Many of these members are complaining louder and more often to Democratic leaders that a return to regular order, where bills are written in committee, is long overdue. And some warn that if the closed-door, truncated legislative process doesn’t end with the economic recovery bill, frustration could boil over, perhaps onto the floor.
“This is really set to come to a head soon,” said Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who chairs the Energy and Commerce Oversight subcommittee. “The question is: Are we actually going to get a chance to legislate? There’s an opportunity to turn this corner, but we have not done that yet.”
A number of Democrats have said caucus meetings are growing contentious as promises from their leaders to return to a regular process have again been postponed because of “emergency” legislation.
Last week, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) indicated that he “expected” a number of committee markups on the stimulus bill, including a possible markup in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
On Wednesday, though, Democratic leaders unveiled a plan to have the $825 billion bill marked up by only two committees: Ways and Means and Appropriations.
Many frustrated Democrats, while sensitive to the need to enact these bills quickly, feel like they’ve been frozen out of the process.
“I and others have brought this up in caucus meetings,” said Rep. Alcee Hastings (Fla.), the third-ranking Democrat on the Rules Committee.
“In this case, the stimulus package is much too important to risk slowing it up too much,” Hastings said. But in the future, he continued, “it would be better to crawl through the process and go through all the hits and misses that come with that.”
Some, though, say running in lieu of crawling is not only contradictory to the way things are supposed to work, but shortsighted, even for “emergency” measures.
“You know, I’m hearing some of the same rhetoric out of the senior Obama appointees that I heard from Bush officials about the bailout,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), referring to the sense of urgency surrounding the economic recovery plan.
As the Transportation and Infrastructure Highways and Transit subcommittee chairman, DeFazio had been gearing up for a markup in his committee. He spoke to The Hill on Wednesday, just minutes after being told his committee would not, in fact, be marking up the stimulus bill, which contains $90 billion in funding for roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects.
“We’re allowed to make suggestions, and I’m fortunate that [Appropriations Committee] Chairman [David] Obey [D-Wis.] listens to my suggestions,” DeFazio said. “But it’s still a substantially top-down process.”
At the same time, both DeFazio and Stupak defended how Pelosi has handled the stimulus bill, as well as how she has dealt with a caucus growing more anxious by the week.
“I think she’s very aware of the concerns,” DeFazio said. “She’s not unreceptive to the pushback she’s getting from the caucus. She’s not telling us to sit down and be quiet.”
Added Stupak, “They are sensitive and they understand the frustration.
“But it’s fair to people to have them have input and have a chance to offer amendments, have those amendments debated and voted on, and maybe even voted down,” he continued. “At least that way they’ll know the fate of their input.”
Asked if he believes things will change after the stimulus bill, Stupak said: “I think the tale of the tape will be: Will you have real input at the committee level? That’s really the issue.”
For her own part, Pelosi on Thursday acknowledged frustration over the process. But at the same time she alluded to the need to placate the concerns of Republicans, not of members of her own caucus.
“May I just say to you, especially some of you who may be newer here: This is the first step along the way,” Pelosi said. “We will file a bill. What the Republicans have asked me for is the ability for the bills to be marked up. It will take longer, but we are perfectly willing to do that. So next week, the bills will be marked up in committee — Appropriations, Ways and Means, and Energy and Commerce.”
But even that schedule is not comprehensive enough for some members.
“One of the problems is that I think the Speaker thinks that is regular order,” said one senior Democrat, who asked not to be identified.
Even so, there are clear signs that Pelosi will indeed fulfill her promise to members — even those members who still do not believe she has done so.
Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who was Pelosi’s point man on the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill, opened up his bailout accountability bill to a limited number of amendments, which were debated on the floor on Thursday.
And newly installed Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) on Thursday held a hearing on comprehensive energy legislation, and leadership aides said more hearings are in the works.
“They’ll be regular order once we get past the stimulus,” said Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), who chairs the Health subcommittee on the Energy panel. “We can’t do regular order [on the stimulus bill] because we need to get this passed quickly … I just think there’s not enough time.”
Speaking about the future, DeFazio indicated he was just as hopeful, even if less optimistic.
“This is an unusual situation and I assume it will not be replicated,” he said.
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