Copyright 2000 The Washington Post
The Washington
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May 25, 2000, Thursday, Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A35; THE FEDERAL PAGE
LENGTH: 923 words
HEADLINE:
SPECIAL INTERESTS; Trying to Cancel a Postal Bill Vote
BYLINE: Judy Sarasohn , Washington Post Staff Writer
BODY:
Opponents of postal
reform legislation have successfully fought Rep. John M. McHugh
(R-N.Y.), sponsor of the effort, to a standstill for more than five years. But
with McHugh stepping down as chairman of the House subcommittee on the U.S.
Postal Service at the end of the year because of committee term limits, some are
worried that his colleagues may want to reward him with a vote on his bill.
"We're afraid . . . of the desire on the part of some members to help
Chairman McHugh because he worked so hard and he's leaving the subcommittee,"
said John Estes, a lobbyist and executive director of the Main Street Coalition
for Postal Fairness. The coalition includes the American Bankers Association,
the American Greeting Card Corp., the Newspaper Association of America and the
National Consumers League.
McHugh's bill, which has undergone many
transformations, would give the Postal Service "the tools to adapt to a changing
marketplace" while protecting the "public interest from unfair competition" from
the giant organization, says Robert Taub, McHugh's staff director. It also would
create a postal regulatory commission. McHugh and the Postal Service worry that
if something isn't done soon to modernize the agency, its future is bleak: The
Internet and e-mail are increasingly siphoning off postal
revenue.
The coalition wrote members of the full House Government
Reform Committee and House leaders on May 16 and followed up
with meetings with GOP and Democratic congressional staffers to press its
objections to the legislation.
The letter, signed by the coalition and
other critics, such as United Parcel Service, said the bill would result in
unfair competition by a government agency with the private sector, give the
Postal Service "undue discretion" in setting postage rates and allow it to favor
big mailers over smaller ones.
"Sometimes good intentions make bad law,"
Estes said in an interview. "Our objective is to keep it from a vote. Every week
that goes by [without a vote] is a good week for us."
Although McHugh
doesn't have the votes yet in committee, he's mustering his supporters as
well--with some careful help from Postmaster General William Henderson. Also on
board: the Direct Marketing Association, Federal Express, nonprofits and the
trade group of community newspapers.
Last week, during the National
Postal Customer Council, the annual mailing industry conference, in Providence,
R.I., Henderson passed questions about the legislation to McHugh, who appeared
by satellite feed from Washington. "I obviously can't lobby," Henderson noted,
but McHugh could advise the mailers. McHugh urged the mailers at the conference
to contact their lawmakers on behalf of his legislation.
"The time is
now," McHugh said, repeatedly. He said he's "attempting to craft a more
streamlined version" without some of the more controversial provisions.
Leading the NIH Funding Campaign
Entering the
third year of its five-year campaign to double federal funding for medical
research at the National Institutes of Health, the Campaign for Medical Research
has signed Kevin S. Mathis to lead the lobbying charge.
It's a subject
that Mathis knows a lot about: Before taking the job a couple of months ago, he
was legislative counsel to Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who chairs the Senate
Appropriations subcommittee that oversees NIH funding.
Mathis says he
doesn't lobby Specter, though he buttonholes other lawmakers, as well as making
sure that the various interests--"disease groups," pharmaceutical companies and
others--are working together to secure increased funding for NIH research.
Also helping to open doors for the campaign and spreading the word,
Mathis says, are former House minority leader Robert I. Michel (R-Ill.) and
former representative Paul Rogers (D-Fla.), both of Hogan & Hartson, and
retired senator Mark Hatfield (R-Ore.), all members of the group's advisory
board.
The group was formed two years ago with the aim of doubling NIH
funding over five years, which amounts to an increase of 15 percent a year. The
group was launched by Atlanta philanthropist John Whitehead, a former health
care and biotech executive.
The campaign appears to be on track this
year. Senate Appropriations this month approved the 15 percent, or $ 2.7
billion, increase, for a total of $ 20.5 billion, Mathis said. The House
Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill yesterday that provides $ 1
billion more and delays $ 1.7 billion in spending because of budget allocation
limits.
Consulting Moves
Steve Kopperud has left
the American Feed Industry Association, where he was senior vice president, for
the consulting shop of Policy Directions Inc. He's a senior VP there, too,
specializing in food, pharmaceutical and agriculture issues.
Stephanie
Vance, former staff director to Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), has set up her
own shop, AdVanced Consulting, focusing on helping groups develop and manage
grass-roots advocacy campaigns.
Roundtable Names Health Task
Force Chief
Lewis B. Campbell, chairman and chief executive of
Textron Inc., has been named chairman of the Business Roundtable's Health and
Retirement Task Force. A major focus of the task force is the patients' bill of
rights legislation pending in a House-Senate conference committee. Roundtable
members--CEOs of major corporations--are concerned that the measure's liability
provisions could expose employers to lawsuits involving the health plans that
cover their workers.
LOAD-DATE: May 25, 2000
