Commentary: Congress braces for hurricane aftermath

At its best, the ways of Congress are unpredictable, subject to the whims of current events and the latest public mood swings.

The recent hurricanes have added to the unpredictability, causing Congress' agenda to change dramatically, while putting a huge drain on federal revenues. Between the hurricanes and hearings to confirm a new Chief Justice to the Supreme Court, the events have consumed Washington. How things get back on track and how much money is available for other matters could have a major influence on California agriculture. Here's how:

Death tax repeal
Before leaving town for the August recess the U.S. Senate had scheduled a time certain to vote on repeal of the onerous death tax as soon as the body returned for business after Labor Day. It would be a crucial vote that would, either follow the lead of the House of Representatives in approving outright repeal of the tax or setting in motion negotiations that would lead to some kind of a compromise on a higher, permanent exemption level. But, following Hurricane Katrina's devastating losses, the vote was pulled from the Senate calendar to be brought up at a later, uncertain date. The logic was that it would be wrong for Congress to act on a tax relief matter while entire towns were suffering heavy losses. The vote will be delayed at least a month or two, but more importantly, the mood has changed toward committing less money to tax matters. Timing is everything, since the vote nearly occurred before Congress recessed in July.

Immigration legislation
For the past six years there have been attempts to pass Ag Jobs, the foreign guest worker program. The effort would catch on for awhile only to face new obstacles. The issue re-surfaced this summer as President Bush prodded Republican congressional leaders to make immigration reform a priority item. But Congress really has a number of contrary views on this one. The biggest push on the House side is coming from conservative House members who want stand-alone enforcement legislation to stiffen the borders and fool-proof identification procedures. Their view is you start with enforcement and then you move to resolving the guest worker issue. The various Senate bills are more comprehensive dealing with how to handle legalization of workers currently in the country, creating a new guest worker program, and various ways to establish fraud-proof identification programs. With a distracted Washington it is hard to say how quickly immigration legislation will move. If either the Senate or House takes action, it would force the issue, leading to some kind of a negotiated outcome. Anything is possible with Congress planning to stay in session until Thanksgiving. We are following the issue closely and letting Congress know that real worker shortages are occurring in California agriculture.

Changes to the ESA law
Representative Richard Pombo has put Endangered Species Act legislation on fast track in House. He's determined to keep Congress focused on the need to fix the 31-year-old act. We strongly support him in his efforts. The House will soon vote on H.R. 3824, legislation to update the country's ESA. There is an urgent need for legislative changes to end the gridlock caused by endless lawsuits. Many legislators are finally coming to the conclusion that the current law is broken and needs fixing. It's critically important to push this legislation along, but it's not going to come easily, especially in the Senate. The legislation contains a number of key changes: It would eliminate critical habitat designation, and instead put more emphasis on the development of recovery plans. It creates a clearer definition of best available scientific data in listing decisions. Any listing petition must be accompanied by supporting data—otherwise the Secretary of Interior can ignore the listing request. It gets rid of the "God Squad" (which gave us the spotted owl plan). It makes it easier for the president to use "emergency" powers to suspend ESA implementation, such as with levee maintenance. It seeks cooperative agreements with states to keep species from being listed.

Spending on farm programs
All the emergency spending is causing Congress to re-examine its priorities, which affect future spending decisions. With up to $200 billion in budget outlays for Katrina alone, more legislators are calling for spending cuts elsewhere. This could heavily influence the debate on the next Farm Bill, The current Farm Bill doesn't expire until 2007, but there is already a lot talk of what's in store—less money for farm programs, greater emphasis on conservation, research spending and meaningful changes in nutrition programs.

Hurricane lessons
The hurricanes show our vulnerability on the energy front. Congress is talking about re-opening the energy bill. California agriculture has paid the price of too little refining capacity and restrictive California-only fuel standards. It will take a lot of courage on the part of Congress to deal with these issues, but maybe the hurricane crisis will serve as a wake-up call.

Stay tuned for what we hope will be positive developments coming from Washington.

(Jack King is manager of the California Farm Bureau Federation National Affairs Division. He may be contacted at jking@cfbf.com.)