July Session Wrap Up

Op-Ed

July Session Wrap Up

Dear Friend:

This past Friday, August 1, Congress voted to adjourn for a five week recess. The House approved the Adjournment Resolution by a vote of 213-197. I joined my Republican colleagues in voting against our adjournment, as I believe Congress should have stayed in session to address the continued high cost of gasoline.

As you know, I have written two previous e-newsletters on the subject of the high price of gasoline, its impact on Americans and their families, how we have arrived at this troubling situation, and my recommendations for how to solve the problem. The situation requires our action on several fronts, including increasing our own domestic supplies of oil by removing the moratorium that Congress has placed on drilling off the east and west coasts in the gas and oil-filled outer continental shelf (OCS), seeking advances in fuel efficiency, and developing effective, alternative forms of energy for our transportation sector. Democrat leadership has prohibited us from holding votes on these issues in the House.

The stalemate over oil and gas drilling in the OCS in which Congress now finds itself has significant ramifications on a number of fronts, including the operations of the federal government. The months of June and July are usually extremely busy ones for the House Appropriations Committee, as this is the time that we write the annual spending bills that fund government and bring them before the full House for debate and approval. However, because the language that prohibits oil and gas exploration in the OCS is contained within an annual appropriation bill that funds the Department of the Interior, political maneuvers within the House Appropriations Committee have essentially brought Congress' work on these bills to a halt.

Therefore, in addition to leaving for a five week recess without having taken action to remove the moratorium on OCS drilling, we also have left town with only one Appropriations bill complete. In our last act before adjournment, we approved the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies bill—which will provide $72.7 billion in discretionary funding—by a vote of 409-4. Of this funding, $47.7 billion will go to the Department of Veterans Affairs to pay for the benefits, medical and psychological care, and career adjustment services that our returning veterans so deeply deserve. The legislation would also provide $24.8 billion for military construction initiatives, including barracks and base facilities for soldiers, as well as housing and educational programs for military families. Efforts, led by my Republican colleagues, to offer amendments to the bill aimed at increasing American energy production were not permitted, despite their stated purpose of reducing the price that the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs must pay for ever-rising energy costs.

Next, the housing, banking and foreclosure problems also continue to loom over our country this summer. On July 30 the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 became public law, after having ping-ponged between the House and Senate for the past several months. The overarching provisions that were included in each version of the bill were Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Modernization, Government Sponsored Entity (GSE) Reform, a low-income housing tax credit, first-time homebuyer tax credit, and an affordable housing trust fund. However, the Republican leadership believed that the bill included stipulations that would actually undermine the safety and soundness of the GSE's and place significant and unwarranted risks on the taxpayer. For example, the bill imposed a $9 billion permanent tax on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to finance a government housing trust fund, and the first three years of these funds would pay for the FHA "bailout" program. The bill does not stipulate a requirement for reauthorization and the fund is not contingent on appropriations. The bill creates a permanent program without oversight which I believe has the potential to foster fraud and abuse. I voted against this bill, along with 148 other Republicans and three Democrats.

Despite our official adjournment last Friday, many of my Republican colleagues stayed in the House chamber and spoke directly to visitors touring the Capitol about their commitment to ease the burden at the gas pump and work on their behalf to demand that Congress come back into session and address the situation. This effort continues, and I am pleased that we are continuing to call attention to this significant economic burden on American families and businesses with no response from our leadership. Another positive and unprecedented benefit of the energy protest is that it is giving many American citizens an extraordinary opportunity to sit on the floor of the House of Representatives, ask important questions of their Congressmen, and participate directly in the discussions that my Republican colleagues and I hope will lead to answers that will solve our nation's energy crisis.

With no action on increasing the supply of oil to American consumers, little action on appropriations bills, and action on a housing bill that is fraught with potential problems, I remain concerned that we have much work to do on behalf of the country with few legislative days remaining to accomplish it. I have appreciated hearing from you on many of these issues and assure you that I will continue to seek ways to bring Congress together to serve the American people.

Sincerely,

Ralph Regula
Member of Congress

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