Washington Watch: Legislative Update
For the Week of 1 August 2011
I. Legislative News andActivity
II. This Week in Congress
III. Update on FOP Top LegislativePriorities
IV. FOP NEWS: POLITICS ASUSUAL: Deal Maintains Unreasonable Cuts for Public Safety, LeavingDifficult Decisions for “Later”
V. FOP NEWS: Help the FOP Foundationby signing up for FOPConnect!
VI. FOP NEWS: Get YourTickets Now for the Foundation Raffle!
VII. Do Your Friends Get Grassroots?
VIII. NFOP PAC 2011 Official Pocket KnifeCampaign Update
IX. National Legislative Office is now onFacebook!
I. LEGISLATIVE NEWS AND ACTIVITY
National President Chuck Canterbury participated in a conferencecall with officials from the White House and the Office of Management andBudget (OMB) to be briefed on aspects of S. 365, the “Budget ControlAct.”
Senior Legislative Liaison Tim Richardson participated in a conferencecall with law enforcement stakeholder groups to discuss Federallegislation regarding forensic science.
Legislative Liaison Breanna Bock-Nielsen represented the FOPon a conference call to discuss the National Center for Missing andExploited Children’s “Take 25” campaign.
II. THIS WEEK INCONGRESS
Both the House and the Senate were in session over the weekendand for part of this week.
The House went into recess on Monday night and, while they did notofficially adjourn, they are not expected to be in formal session againuntil 7 September. They will, however, periodically go into proforma session.
The Senate also went into recess on Tuesday night without officiallyadjourning, but reconvened briefly on Friday morning to pass legislationextending the authorization of the Federal Aviation Authority. Following the vote, the Senate again went into recess, but willperiodically hold pro forma sessions to prevent any recessappointments by the President.
As a result of the recess, the Washington Watch Legislative Updatewill not be distributed on a regular, weekly basis, but will be releasedas circumstances warrant.
Action in the House
The House considered and passed S. 365, the “Budget ControlAct,” on a 269-191 vote. The bill permits the President toincrease the national debt by a historic $2.4 trillion in exchange for$900 billion in budget cuts spread out over ten years. In addition,a bipartisan, bicameral committee will have to identify another $1.4trillion before the end of the year, or automatic budget reductions willbe triggered. The bill was then transmitted to the Senate, whichacted on the measure on Tuesday. See below and Item IV. foradditional information.
The House went into recess on Monday night.
Action in House Committees
The Committee on the Judiciary considered, amended and favorablyreported H.R. 2189, the “Death in Custody Reporting Act,” on avoice vote. The bill, on which the FOP has not taken a position,would cut by ten percent (10%) certain Federal funding for lawenforcement agencies unless the agency certifies it is reporting “incustody deaths” to the U.S. Attorney General.
Action in the Senate
The Senate considered and passed S. 365, the “Budget ControlAct,” on a 76-24 vote. The measure was transmitted to thePresident, who signed it into law on Tuesday.
The Senate considered and passed H.R. 2553, the “Airport and AirwayExtension Act of 2011, Part IV” by unanimous consent. The billends the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Authority(FAA).
The Senate recessed Tuesday night, reconvened briefly on Friday, and thenwent into recess again.
III. UPDATE ON FOP TOPLEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
For the complete list of cosponsors for all of our toplegislative priorities, or to find out if your Representative andSenators are cosponsors of specific bills, check outhttp://thomas.loc.gov.
A. Social Security Issues
(1) Support the H.R. 1332 “Social Security Fairness Act”
We currently have one hundred and seven (107) cosponsors on H.R.1332. Please note that this total differs slightly from THOMAS, as we arenot including Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who has limitedvoting rights on the floor.
In addition, National Legislative Office staff are actively working withstaff in the office of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) on S. 113, the”Public Servant Retirement Protection Act.” Thislegislation would not impact the Government Pension Offset (GPO) butwould repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision and replace it with amore equitable, individualized calculation of Social Security benefitsbased on an individual’s entire work history. Currently, there areno cosponsors on the bill.
The FOP is also working with Representative Kevin P. Brady (R-TX) on acompanion bill to S. 113. We can expect this legislation to be introducedsoon.
(2) Opposing any legislation that would require theparticipation of public employees in Social Security
The FOP will continue to lobby against this scheme and oppose anylegislation which would mandate participation in SocialSecurity.
B. Support the “Public Safety Employer-EmployeeCooperation Act”
This legislation, which would guarantee the right of publicsafety employees to bargain collectively with their employers over hours,wages and conditions of employment, has not yet been introduced.
C. Support H.R. 1789, the “State and Local LawEnforcement Discipline, Accountability and Due Process Act”
We currently have six (6) cosponsors on H.R. 1789.
The Senate companion bill has not yet been introduced, but staff in theNational Legislative Office has met with staff in the office of SenatorAmy J. Klobuchar (D-MN) to discuss the legislation.
D. Support the H.R. 327, the “Law Enforcement Officers’ EquityAct” and S. 985, the “Law Enforcement Officers’ Retirement EquityAct”
We currently have a total of ten (10) cosponsors on H.R.327.
We currently have no cosponsors on S. 985.
E. Support the H.R. 324, legislation giving Federal lawenforcement officers employed by the U.S. Department of Defense statutoryarrest authority
We currently have a total of ten (10) cosponsors on H.R. 324.
A Senate companion bill has not yet been introduced.
IV. FOP NEWS: POLITICS AS USUAL:Deal Maintains Unreasonable Cuts for Public Safety, Leaving DifficultDecisions for “Later”
Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order ofPolice, said the “breakthrough” on legislation to allow even greaterincreases in the national debt would break local and State efforts tocombat crime.
“I participated this morning in a conference call with officials at theWhite House and at the Office of Management and Budget who reviewed thenature and extent of the cuts as a result of this deal, and I can saywith confidence that public safety is one of the big losers in thislegislation,” Canterbury said. “Republicans got what they wanted–nonew taxes and an end to discretionary programs like Byrne-JAG, COPS andSCAAP. And Democrats got what they wanted–pushing back the realdecisions until after the presidential elections in 2013. When thepoliticians win, all of us lose.”
A potential deal was struck between Congressional leaders over theweekend. An actual bill has not yet been filed but passage in bothchambers is likely.
“I can certainly agree that the specter of default is unthinkable, butthe specter of rampant crime on our nation’s streets should be equallyunthinkable,” Canterbury said. “Regrettably, most of the Members ofCongress seem to have struck a deal not to enact sound public policy, butto maximize their chances of re-election. The safety of ourcommunities will erode in the years to come at a greater cost than anycontemplated by the debt ceiling.”
V. FOP NEWS:Help the FOP Foundation by signing up for the FOPConnect
With the summer issue of the FOP Journal and biennialconference in Salt Lake City, 911Media is launching a campaign to raisemoney for the FOP Foundation. Between July 1 and September 30, 2011,911Media will donate $1 to the Foundation for every FOP member in goodstanding who completes a new registration atFOPConnect.com. The promotion is announced in the upcomingsummer issue of the Journal.
In order to make it successful, we need your help. Pleasereach out to your members and ask them to sign up to receive theelectronic newsletters. Use your lodge website, publications, email,meetings and other means of communication during the 90-day period toencourage their membership to sign up.
We could potentially raise upwards of $321,000 for the FOP Foundation andin doing so, stay informed with the FOP and trends in law enforcement atthe same time. Remember, the clock is ticking!!! Thisdonation offer ends September 30th.