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December 15, 2003
CONGRESS ADJOURNS WITHOUT PASSING OMNIBUS SPENDING BILL
Both the House and Senate came back into session early last week, for what had been planned as a pro-forma meeting to give final approval to an “Omnibus” spending bill. Such a bill is needed to fund large portions of the federal government for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1; it would replace seven individual appropriations bills that Congress failed to act on, out of 13 normal appropriations bills.
The House did, in fact, pass the Omnibus bill. However, it ran into trouble in the Senate, where many Democrats were upset over last-minute changes that had been forced into the bill by the White House and by House Republicans. Specific objections included removal of two riders that had been in earlier versions of the legislation, one that would have blocked new media ownership rules and another that would have blocked the Dept. of Labor from moving forward with new overtime regulations.
Sen. Majority Leader Frist (R-TN) went through the motions of asking for unanimous consent to passage of the bill. When Sen. Daschle (D-SD) objected (on behalf of himself and of other Democratic Senators), Frist decided to wait until January before trying to bring the Omnibus bill up for a vote.
Both the House and Senate have adjourned for the year – on Dec. 9, more than 2 months past their “targeted” adjournment date of Oct. 3, and without completing 2 of the 3 major items planned for the fall session (funding bills and energy bill not done; Medicare reform passed.)
Federal agencies that to be funded by the Omnibus bill are currently operating at last year’s funding levels under a Continuing Resolution which expires January 31, 2004 – 4 months into the fiscal year. Congress doesn’t return to Washington until Jan. 20. Although Sen. Frist expressed confidence he will then have the votes to block a Democratic filibuster, it is still likely to be a tough fight – there are some Republicans as well as Democrats who oppose the Omnibus bill in its present form. Many predict the bill will be changed before it is brought up for a vote in January.
In the short term, the Dept. of Labor is free to move forward with overtime rule changes. However, it may feel constrained against doing so, since Congress could “undo” any new DOL rules, after-the-fact, and might be more likely to do so if DOL appeared to be acting in a high-handed fashion without taking Congressional concerns into consideration.
SECURITY ALERT
The Dept. of Homeland Security has issued a security alert for operators of bulk petroleum transporters. They report five recent incidents on the East Coast involving overt monitoring of, and possible attempts to interdict, bulk fuel trucks. Whether the incidents are related to attempts to steal fuel or are related to planned terrorist attacks is unknown. For more detail, go to http://www.sigma.org/DHS_ALERT.pdf.
WHISTLER HOUSING DEADLINE
Tomorrow (Tuesday, Dec.16) is the hotel reservation deadline for the Winter Management Conference in Whistler, BC Canada. It’s not too late to make plans to attend this intense educational program – featuring Dr. David Nelson and Dr. George Overstreet – at a premier ski resort!
REMOTE TOBACCO SALES
The Senate accomplished one significant action last week before adjourning for the year. By unanimous consent, it approved the Hatch-Kohl tobacco bill (S.1177) to strengthen the law regarding remote sales of tobacco. Although similar to pending legislation in the House in terms of internet sales of tobacco, it does not contain provisions related to Indian sales that the Green-Meehan bill (H.R.2824) does. Efforts will now focus on getting the House to pass their bill.
NY-CT RFG CHANGES
The transition to ethanol-based RFG in the NY & CT markets, effective 1/1/04, continues to cause supply concerns. SIGMA will participate in a meeting with EPA on the issue later this week. A helpful website on the subject is maintained by the American Petroleum Institute at www.API.ORG/NY-CT.
ENERGY BILL NOTES
There is still talk that the Energy Bill might be resurrected early in the next session of Congress. However, the politics seem to argue against it. The ethanol mandate (Renewable Fuels Standard) is the “engine” driving the “train”, and that in turn is strongly enhanced by Iowa political considerations. Since it is now too late to pass an energy bill with the RFS prior to the Iowa Presidential caucuses, some are beginning to wonder of the engine has run out of steam.
TAX-FREE/TAX-SUBSIDIZED
A member has called to our attention a new organization aimed at pushing back against the expansion of sovereignty-based policies for Indian tribes that cause distortions in the free market economy, such as tax-free sales of motor fuel and tobacco. A national group with Oklahoma roots, it maintains a website at www.OneNationOK.com.
Another member has learned of plans for yet another government-induced distortion of the free market. The St. Francis County (Arkansas) Transportation Commission, working with some state and federal grants and looking for more, is planning to build the nation’s largest truck stop on I-40 in eastern Arkansas. Although plans call for leasing the site to a private company for operation, it would clearly be in competition with other privately-funded truck stops and would not be economic without the governmental subsidies for development (and is unlikely to be viable even with the subsidy). Your highway tax dollars at work!
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
The Federal Trade Commission reportedly plans to appeal the recent dismissal of its antitrust lawsuit against UNOCAL over its patents for reformulated gasoline. We reported that dismissal last week . . . The American Petroleum Institute (API) has joined with other international petroleum groups in adopting new “global guidelines for companies to use in voluntarily estimating and reporting greenhouse gas emissions”.
EARLY JANUARY CHANGES
Remember these changes in rules coming on or about January 1:
• MTBE Bans take effect in California, New York, and Connecticut. Without passage of the Energy Bill which would have repealed the oxygenate standard for Reformulated Gasoline, this means that RFG in those 3 states must effectively be blended with ethanol as of that deadline.
• Hours of Service Regulations for truck drivers will change as of Jan. 4, 2004. The new rule is available at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) website, http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/Home_Files/revised_hos.asp.
• MasterCard and Visa Unbundling will take effect Jan. 1, 2004, under the terms of the settlements of the lawsuit which are pending final approval. If approved, the terms will allow each merchant to decide separately on accepting debit cards and credit cards (i.e., without having to take both debit and credit) from MC and from Visa. An advisory from the attorneys for the plaintiffs in the case is available at http://www.cpny.com/debitcase.ihtml.
SIGMA Weekly Report December 15, 2003 © Copyright SIGMA
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