Legislative Update XVI

The House of Representatives passed a bill tripling aid to Pakistan, including both economic aid and military aid (with conditions that require the Obama administration to certify that Pakistan remains committed to combating terrorist groups) to help the national battle extremism on more than one front. The House also passed the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act to enhance the U.S. foreign policy efforts of the State Department and the Peace Corps.

Also, the House passed "cash for clunkers" legislation that would offer up to $4,500 in cash rebates to help people who trade in cars or SUVs with a combined fuel economy of 18 miles per gallon or less to buy newer, more fuel efficient vehicles (I may take them up on that!).

And lawmakers who steer money and contracts to favored companies, and receive campaign contributions in return for funding for pet projects in the form of earmarks, might face a House ethics committee investigation.

The Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill (even our two Republicans Senators here in Texas voted for it!) allowing the FDA to regulate tobacco products - allowing the agency to regulate nicotine content and advertising gears towards the young. The House already passed a similar bill, but they will pass the Senate version Friday to get it quickly to President Obama's desk for signature. Unsurprisingly, many of the Senators voting "nay" receive a lot of tobacco lobby money...

The Senate also confirmed by unanimous consent the nominations of Army Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal to be the next commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan and Navy Adm. James Stavridis to be commander of U.S. forces in Europe and the top NATO commander.

UPDATE: The House and Senate have reached compromises to give retroactive bonuses to those in the military under "stop-loss" orders and on several issues in the held-up war funding bill.

Legislative Update XV

The House of Representatives passed the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act which would provide four weeks of paid leave for federal workers following the birth or adoption of a child (currently federal employees must use annual or sick leave to be with their new children). The House also passed bills recognizing seven Native American tribes and a resolution honoring those that died in the Tiananmen Square protests twenty years ago that also calls on China to free remaining prisoners and launch a UN-backed probe of its crackdown.

GOP opposition to IMF funding delayed a vote on funding the wars in Aghanistan and Iraq. Why would this matter, you ask? Well, the combined votes of Republicans and those Democrats who don't vote for war funding on principle would have been enough to defeat the legislation, but this will likely be worked out next week. What I want to know is: Can we start running ads that say House Republicans denied funding for our troops? Hell, these days they are even revealing secret information on intelligence briefings. Traitors, all!

The Senate overwhelmingly voted to consider legislation that would allow the FDA to regulate tobacco, which the House has passed already. Republicans are dragging out a vote until next week though.

Legislative Update XIV

Congress sent President Obama two bills this week aimed preventing foreclosures and regulating the credit card industry, though with the price of allowing guns in national parks.

Both chambers of Congress also quickly and unanimously passed and President Obama signed into law a bill aimed at saving billions of dollars in wasteful spending on weapons systems often delivered late and hit by ballooning cost overruns. The armed forces have also submitted to Congress their "wish lists" of spending priorities that did not make the president's Defense budget request, and the items on the list are about one-tenth as expensive as last year's.

The Senate passed $91 billion in war funding, including financing for the International Monetary Fund that may be a sticking point for the House. The Senate also voted 90-6 to strip funding to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay from a supplemental spending bill and bar funding for the transfer of prisoners to the United States. However, many Democrats said they were just waiting on a more specific plan from the Obama administration that the president began to lay out on Thursday.

The Senate confirmed President Obama's nominees for the FDA and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, while his pick to run the census moved toward confirmation as well. But Republicans, who used to believe in "up or down" votes for judicial nominees, blocked action on President Obama's first judicial appointment.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted in favor of the climate change bill currently under consideration by a 33-25 vote.

Finally, the full House rejected a GOP resolution that called for investigations into Speaker Pelosi's accusations against the CIA. Perhaps to mend fences, Pelosi is considering appointing a Republican on an economic crises panel. The Speaker will also be visiting China next week.

FDA Regulation of Nicotine On The Horizon

We here at TWM have in the past called for legislation that would grant the FDA authority to regulate nicotine as a drug, and it appears that Congress is finally close to granting such authority. Such a move is long overdue considering the cigarette manufacturer's well-documented lack of regard for human life. The Bush administration is opposed (you expected otherwise) but the best reason not to enact such legislation that Congressional Republicans can come up with is that the FDA already has enough on it's plate, a flimsy excuse even were it to happen to be true (and one that manufacturers like RJ Reynolds have been quick to include in none-too-convincing ads.) Of course, oversight will hardly begin to make up for the enormous cost in life and public money that decades of illegality produced, but it is a start to bringing an end to an era in which American companies could produce a product that, when it works as intended, kills people.

Capitol Hill Update

The House of Representatives passed the global AIDS bill, 308-116, which authorized $5o billion in spending over the next five years. While more than the White House requested, there is no veto threat, and the bill moves to the Senate. Also, the House Commerce Committee overwhelmingly approved a bill to allow the FDA to regulate tobacco.

Senate Majority Leader Reid and Minority Leader McConnell announced a bi-partisan effort to tackle the housing crises, but Dem-backed provision that would allow bankruptcy judges to restructure mortgages was killed by a 58-36 vote. But in good news, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson announced his resignation Monday amid the wreckage of the subprime mortage controversy. He is accused of tilting the Department of Housing and Urban Development toward Republican contractors and cronies.

FDA drug safety bill passes

Prompted in part by a recent string of drug safety scandals, the Senate approved legislation unanimously to give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration new power to police serious side effects from prescription drugs already on the market, after the measure was approved 405-7 in the House of Representatives. President Bush is expected to sign it into law.

So what does it do? The legislation "allows the FDA to require new warnings on approved prescription drugs, order the completion of post-approval safety studies or limit a product's distribution because of side effect concerns. Companies that do not comply could be fined up to $10 million." And for the first time, "drug and device makers must post basic results for clinical trials of approved products in a public database. The bill also includes an FDA and industry agreement for companies to pay fees to fund agency reviews of television commercials that are submitted voluntarily."

Hopefully, this legislation will help improve the inspection system that's been around since the time Theodore Roosevelt pushed for the Pure Food and Drug Act in response to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (unfortunately the corporate greed at the root of the problem has not gone away since that time either). All of us who depend on to make sure our food and drugs are safe deserve nothing less from our government.

Standing Up for Safe Drugs for Pets

In case you'd forgotten this truism/cliche, no good deed goes unpunished. But some people stand up for what's right anyway.

The FDA and Cigarettes

A positive development on the issue of cigarettes, nicotine and tobacco companies, from an articles forwarded to me by Adam:

Democrats in the U.S. Congress plan to renew efforts, possibly as soon as next week, to give the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over cigarettes, three congressional aides said on Friday.

Massachusetts Democrat Edward Kennedy is expected to take the lead in the Senate by introducing a bill to give the FDA broad sway over tobacco products, aides said.

With the Democrats in power on Capitol Hill, Kennedy now chairs the committee that would consider the bill.

California Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record) is expected to file a similar bill soon in the House of Representatives. Virginia Republican Rep. Tom Davis is planning to be a co-sponsor with Waxman, the aides said.

"This legislation has broad bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate. We fully expect the Congress to consider the legislation quickly and we're hopeful it will pass with overwhelming support," said Bill Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an activist group.

For decades Congress and the states have chipped away at the ability of tobacco companies to sell their products to the public. The result is that these companies still reap billions in profits a year, while gaming the amount of nicotine in their products to hook new users more easily. Regulation of nicotine is the only thing that will stop them, and the sooner the better.