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THE DONOHUE LETTER
From the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
The Rush to Regulate
It's the administration that doesn't want to say good-bye. As the clock winds down on the Clinton White House, the administration is using every means at its disposal to rush through a host of new regulations that could break the back of business.
In every arena -- labor, the environment, federal contracting, and more -- the Clinton administration is playing a dangerous game of beat the clock, hoping to slip through massive regulations in the eleventh hour. They're rushing to complete these regulations before the end of their term.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is one of the biggest culprits. In early June, the agency proposed a new rule reducing the sulfur content of diesel fuel by an astounding 97 percent, while ignoring industry concerns that the technology does not yet exist to manufacture sufficient volumes of this low-sulfur fuel or produce the vehicles that can use it.
In addition, EPA skillfully thwarted the will of Congress by finalizing expensive and burdensome new water quality standards in July before must-pass legislation containing a ban on the rules could be signed into law by President Clinton.
The administration wants to pass rules "blacklisting" companies that are merely accused of violating regulations from receiving government contracts, even if those accusations turn out to be false or unproven.
The granddaddy of last minute regulations is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) $100-billion-a-year ergonomics standard, which the agency has vowed to finalize before year's end, despite the lack of scientific consensus on the problem and overwhelmingly negative comments from medical professionals and businesses alike.
That's just the tip of the iceberg. Other examples include changes for lead reporting requirements, reinterpretation of the rules for clean air standards, and the use of informal "guidance documents" to bypass the normal procedures for issuing new regulations.
Small businesses and their Washington advocacy organizations remain on guard against the administration's last ditch efforts to pass anti-business regulations.
Tom Donohue
President and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
2. Legislative Update
Environment
Lead Paint Investigation Launched
The Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has filed an Open Records Request to determine what culpability the city of Milwaukee has as it considers whether to sue the former manufacturers of lead pigment and lead-based paint. Said Jim Wootton, president of ILR, "The Chamber realizes that injuries from deteriorated lead-based paint should not be minimized but neither should the responsibility of governmental or private owners of property to maintain paint in their premises. In the rush to the court house, Milwaukee shouldn't ignore their own potentially significant liability."
For more information, click here.
Health Care
Medicare: Help Wanted
Medicare faces a new crisis next year when several large HMOs will withdraw from its health care programs because the government reimbursements they receive are inadequate. Nearly one million people will be dropped from the plans and leave 160,000 without another Medicare HMO in their area.
Businesses again are urging Congress to reform and modernize Medicare and adjust reimbursement fees to reflect the true costs of care.
Legal
Reform Suing To Raise Health Care Costs And Reduce Benefits
Lawyers in Seattle have sued the Bartell drugstore chain, claiming it amounts to sex discrimination for the company's employee health plan not to cover contraception.
Business groups think forcing companies to cover particular health care services would be counterproductive and not allow businesses to meet the special needs of their employees.
Free Trade
Senate Advances Business Trade Agenda
The business community last week hailed the bipartisan vote in the U.S. House of Representatives that rejected legislation undercutting U.S. businesses' and farmers' ability to trade with Vietnam. By a wide margin, the House preserved the “Jackson-Vanik” waiver, which gives American businesses access to export assistance.
Meanwhile, the Senate began debate on granting China permanent normal trade status. The final vote is scheduled to take place in September.
For more information, click here.
Federal Regulations
Business Backs New Federal Procurement Regulations
The Small Business Administration will soon publish a regulation requiring federal agencies to justify their plans to combine two or more contracts in a single procurement valued at more than $75 million. Agencies will have to show that consolidation of contracts, known as "bundling," will produce at least 10 percent savings.
Because of bundling, individual federal contracts going to small businesses fell from 6.4 million in 1997 to 4.9 million in 1999, a 23 percent decrease. American small businesses strongly support efforts to reform the government procurement process.
Social Security and Entitlement Reform
Clinton Links Tax Cuts To Prescription Drug Benefit
The president has vowed to block any new tax legislation until congressional leaders agree on how to fund it, debt reduction, and the administration's proposal to add a new Medicare prescription drug benefit.
Business groups oppose new health care mandates and are pushing for the largest tax cut possible for American companies and consumers.
Taxes
A Taxing Tax Fight
U.S. House and Senate GOP leaders tried to put together a last-minute package of tax cuts—including repeal of the 3 percent federal telecommunications excise tax and other small business tax cuts—with a $1 increase in the minimum wage, but were unable to build enough support to pass it before Congress adjourned for its five-week August recess.
Business groups continue to fight for the largest possible tax cut for small businesses, including repeal of the telephone tax and the death tax.
Technology
Where No Web Surfer Has Gone Before
Businesses face a challenge to get the contents of their Web sites noticed by robot search engines, according to a recent report issued by Internet start-up BrightPlanet. The company commissioned a report that estimated the World Wide Web is 500 times larger than the search maps provided by popular search services like Yahoo! and AltaVista. Combined, these and other search engines only index about one billion pages.
Many researchers suspected that the unindexed chapters of cyberspace represented a substantial chunk of the Internet, but no one has explored the Web's back roads until now.
Workforce
Education and Training Visa Quota May Be Raised Despite Earlier Administration Demands
Last week, the administration agreed to “delink” an increase in the number of visas granted to high-tech workers from a number of unrelated Central American immigration issues. The White House indicated that as long as the immigration issues are addressed, it would stop holding up a vote on the H-1B high-tech visa quota.
The high-tech community had been growing frustrated by the political stalemate because there is an acute need for qualified computer workers.
Workforce and Labor Issues
“Blacklisting” May Be Blacklisted By Congress
Last week, the House voted to prevent the administration from funding their notorious “blacklisting” regulation. This regulation would fundamentally alter federal procurement law by giving contracting officers almost unlimited discretion to deny contract awards based on largely subjective criteria unrelated to a contractor's ability to fulfill the contract.
The measure's future in the Senate is unclear.
The views expressed in this column are those of Tom Donohue and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and not those of ChamberBiz. ChamberBiz is a nonpartisan resource for small businesses and does not endorse political candidates, legislation or government policies.
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