WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Capital Comment -- Daily news notes, political rumors, and important events that shape politics and public policy in Washington and the world from United Press International.
Swan song -- Although he was defeated in his effort for renomination, Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., is not going quietly. One of his last acts as a legislator is to offer H.R. 4561 -- The Federal Agency Protection of Privacy Act -- to require federal agencies to consider and explain the privacy impact of proposed rules submitted for public comment. According to Barr, the FAPA would ensure that the American public receives adequate notice and an opportunity to participate in the formulation of rules that affect privacy before they become binding regulations. The bill currently has 43 congressional co-sponsors including Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee; Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee; Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, whom is considered by many to be the leading libertarian in the House of Representatives; and Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, a leader in the Congressional Black Caucus. Barr is pushing for a vote on the bill by the full House before it adjourns for the year. Sens. Zell Miller, D-Ga., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, have introduced a companion bill in the senate, S. 2492.
Keeping cool -- The Cooler Heads Coalition, an organization dedicated to a critical examination of the science behind global warming, is sponsoring a lecture by Dr. Richard Lindzen "On the Meaning of Global Warming Claims." Lindzen, the Alfred P. Sloan professor of meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of the world's leading authorities on atmospheric research, will speak in room 345 of the Cannon House Office Building on Monday, Sept. 30 at 12 noon. Lunch will be provided.
Bringing home a bundle of joy -- According to the National Council for Adoption, 130,000 of the 500,000 American children currently in foster care are legally free to be adopted into loving homes. The less then stellar record of placement in these homes has led them to step up their efforts to get the senate to take up S. 1802, a bill from Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., to accelerate the effective date from 2003 to 2002 for making the special needs adoption tax credit available to parents. The council fears the bill will not make it to the senate floor this year and is encouraging adoption supports to contact their senators and urge the bill's consideration. "Congress should not wait until 2003 to begin supporting families who make the generous commitment to love and parent these needy and deserving children," the group says.
America first -- Bruce Cole, the new chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is making the rounds in Washington to generate broad support for a new NEH initiative to promote the fundamentals of America to high school and college age students. The program will reportedly have three components: a new internal agency initiative to encourage new thinking about fundamental national principles inside the NEH's many grant making divisions; a new lecture series, sponsored by the agency, allowing prominent scholars to expound on the virtues of heroes in history; and an essay contest for 11th grade students, giving them the chance to expound their views on the idea of America. The program, part of the White House's new initiative to raise the level of civic literacy, comes in response to alarming data collected over many years indicating the abysmal degree of knowledge most American students have about their country's history. In recent educational survey, for example, most American students were unable to place the American Civil War in the correct half century. And, before you ask, it was 1861 to 1865.
Homeland insecurity -- The president's call for a new federal department of homeland security is still stalled in Congress. The major hang up is the White House's insistence that the new department be organized in a manner giving the executive branch flexibility in the way the department is run on everything from budgetary matters to personnel. Not only has this measure met with strong resistance from Senate Democrats, they have thrown a new wrinkle into the mix.
An amendment by Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., the chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee and the lead sponsor of the bill, would expand the 1932 Davis-Bacon Act, applying it to all parts of the new department as well as to any state or local projects funded by the new department. In practice this means that individuals would now be required to pay Davis-Bacon wages -- often higher than what might the market might allow -- for personal projects like the rebuilding of a home after a natural disaster if they had received a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to do so.
Bill Spencer, vice president for government affairs for the Associated Builders and Contractors which opposes the amendment says the "Davis-Bacon Act has been shown to increase construction costs by anywhere from 5 percent to 38 percent. In order to function properly, the department must be able to disperse funds quickly, with minimum red tape in the most efficient manner possible. It is unconscionable to require all projects funded by the proposed Homeland Security Department, including disaster reconstruction and relief, to be subject to an outdated requirement that will delay and increase costs for such projects."
Personnel notes -- Kevin Callahan, a former staffer to U.S. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, is the new manager of consumer media for the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America... Elizabeth Traynor, an attorney, has joined the National Retail Federation as a government-relations counsel. She leaves a position on the Senate Judiciary Committee where she served as counsel to ranking committee Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah.
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