December 2000 Washington Report

Washington Report

Keeping Members Informed About Regulatory Issues

Contents
December 2000

Congress

Privacy and Consumer Affairs

State Legislative Update

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CONGRESS

THE CURRENT CONGRESS: WILL THEY EVER GO AWAY?

The Congress That Wouldn't Die is back, but it looks like they will finally be leaving after today. The remaining Fiscal Year 2001 spending bills (Labor-HHS-Education, Treasury-Postal, and legislative branch) have been combined into one bill that is expected to be approved today. The Commerce-Justice-State bill will be sent to Clinton as it was approved in October. It has been in limbo because of a veto threat that the President is expected to drop.

As far as we know, nothing detrimental to direct marketing has been attached to the appropriations bill. Senator Judd Gregg's (R-NH) proposal to ban the Internet sale of Social Security numbers on the Internet has been removed from the Commerce-Justice-State appropriations bill, which will mean that protection of Social Security numbers will be a hot topic in the new Congress.

In other action, the Senate passed (by a vote of 70-28) House-approved bankruptcy reform legislation that will make it more difficult for consumers to walk away from their debts, but President Clinton has threatened to veto the bill. On the tax front, The Washington Post reported last week that Senate Republicans had decided not to take action on a tax cut bill in order to give George Bush, whom they expected (correctly, as it turns out) to become President, a better opportunity to pursue his own tax cut plan.

THE NEXT CONGRESS: HOW WILL THE ELECTION AFFECT DM?

You win some, you lose some: several legislators who have supported direct marketing causes (including Senators John Ashcroft, R-MO, and Spencer Abraham, R-MI) were defeated while others were victorious, but some who have opposed us won election. However, we have gained two potential friends of our industry in Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and John Ensign (R-NV), whom The DMA supported in their campaigns. Although it is now settled that George Bush has won the presidential election, we do not know yet how he views several issues critical to direct marketers, especially consumer privacy (including limitations on the flow of data) and taxation of the Internet.

Republicans retained their narrow control of the House, suffering a net loss of only one seat. The new numbers are 221 Republicans to 212 Democrats, with two Independents, one of whom votes with the Republicans while the other votes with the Democrats. The Senate will be split 50-50, so Vice President-elect Richard Cheney may be spending a great deal of his time breaking tie votes. A likely result of the even balance is an increased possibility of bipartisan legislation. Because privacy is generally a bipartisan issue, it is likely that privacy legislation would survive any Congressional gridlock.

The chairmanship of some key committees important to our industry will change. In the House, a combination of retirements and new rules instituted by the Republicans in 1994 limiting committee chairmen to six-year terms have opened up several spots. Both Billy Tauzin (LA) and Mike Oxley (OH) are interested in chairing the Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission, and most telemarketing and Internet-related issues, as well as a variety of issues relating to privacy policy, which the committee often shares with the Judiciary Committee, which may be chaired by Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI).

The Postal Subcommittee is a big question mark. Under the rules, John McHugh (NY) must step down as chairman, although he could be granted a waiver by the leadership to stay on. It is also possible that the subcommittee could be eliminated altogether and its functions folded into another subcommittee, such as Civil Service. It is not clear whether there is another House member who would take up the cause of postal reform.