Some bills by Georgia legislators on road to nowhere

By BOB KEEFE

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Washington — Health care reform and climate change may be the hottest topics as Congress resumes business Tuesday after a monthlong summer recess.

But those aren’t the only pieces of legislation on the minds of members of Georgia’s congressional delegation as they prepare to return to work in Washington.

Some of the still-pending bills and resolutions filed by Georgia’s delegates to Congress in the first half of this year cover a wide swath of interesting ideas — most of which realistically have little chance of becoming law.

Some examples:

● A bill sponsored by Atlanta Democratic U.S. Rep. John Lewis would create a Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund, allowing peace-loving taxpayers who get a special conscientious objector exemption from the IRS to stipulate that their income taxes and estate and gift tax payments can’t be used for war.

● Proposed legislation from Republican U.S. Rep. John Linder of Duluth could make Lewis’ idea a moot point. His bill would abolish the Internal Revenue Service altogether and replace income taxes with a national sales tax. Linder, who co-authored two books proposing a national sales tax, has floated similar proposals in the past.

● A bill by U.S. Rep. Tom Price, a staunch Republican from Roswell, would halt President Barack Obama’s economic recovery programs and return any unspent money to Washington. Price calls his bill “The Reducing Barack Obama’s Unsustainable Deficit Act.”

● U.S. Rep. John Barrow, a Savannah Democrat, introduced a bill he calls the “Travel Trailer Health Registry Act,” whose name may belie its seriousness. The bill would require the government to create and maintain a health registry for victims of 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita who may have been exposed to formaldehyde, a carcinogen, when they lived in travel trailers supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Barrow introduced a similar bill a year earlier that didn’t make it into law.

● U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, a conservative Republican from Athens, filed a bill that would cut public funding of schools that allow children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in any language except English. Another Broun bill would designate 2010 as the National Year of the Bible. Yet another would prohibit honor guards at veterans’ funerals unless they’re allowed to offer the option of a religious-based recitation during the folding of the American flag.

Broun said he also plans to propose his own health care reform bill after he returns to work this week — even though it almost certainly won’t stand a chance of passage over the pending health care bills from Democratic and Republican leaders.

To be sure, members of Congress seldom introduce bills without some support from constituents and others.

Linder’s national sales tax idea has fostered a nationwide movement and a substantial following led by the Houston-based nonprofit Americans for Fair Taxation that promotes the idea wherever it can.

Similarly, Lewis’ peace tax idea is backed by the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund, an advocacy group in Washington.

Of course, any member of Congress can propose any bill he or she wants. That doesn’t mean that their bills — with or without the backing of constituents and advocacy groups — will even get a congressional hearing, much less become law.

“Especially in the House, if you’re in the minority, it’s very rare for you to ever get a bill passed,” said Emory University political science professor Alan Abramowitz.

So why even bother introducing a bill that may have no real chance of passing?

One reason is simply to present an opposing party’s view, said Price, who admits his bill to rescind portions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act doesn’t stand much of a chance.

“The role of the minority is ... to hold the majority accountable and ... provide a contrast,” Price said. “It’s important that we hold people’s feet to the fire and hold them accountable for what they’ve said and done.”

Another reason is simply to make a statement, which a bill like Lewis’ Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act would do regardless if it becomes law.

Some members of Congress believe that even if their bill won’t pass in the current political climate, it may pass if the political scene changes. That’s at least partly the case with Linder’s national sales tax proposals.

And, of course, there are core individual principles and values at stake, too. That’s what Broun said is behind many of his bills.

“I’ve been engaged in introducing bills on a lot of things that have to do with the basic idea of freedom,” he said. “It’s all about America — what it should be as a nation, how to make it stronger and how to make it more prosperous.”

Broun said he introduces bills based on his beliefs, not politics.

But generally, one of the biggest reasons why politicians are inclined to introduce legislation even if it doesn’t stand a chance has to do with pure and simple politics, Abramowitz said.

“It’s to appeal to their political base,” he said, adding that Broun’s bills clearly would appeal to his conservative base of followers. “It’s about aiming to enhance their standing with a group.”

That said, some of the most political of Georgia’s politicians in Washington introduce very few bills.

Coweta County Republican U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, for instance, hasn’t introduced a single bill in Congress this year.

Without discounting fellow Republicans’ bills, “we all know that there’s no chance of passage of conservative legislation” in a Democrat-controlled Congress, said Westmoreland spokesman Brian Robinson. Instead, he said, Westmoreland would rather try to shape legislation in other ways, such as with behind-the-scenes bargaining and offering amendments to other bills.

Jack Pitney, a professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College in California, said a politician can be hurt or helped by the number of bills he or she introduces — regardless if they pass or not.

“Many constituents are hazy on the distinction between introducing a bill and passing one,” Pitney said. “A member can drop a measure with no chance of passage and yet still get some credit for doing something.”