Washington Watch: Legislative Update
For the Week of 7 September 2009
 
I.      Legislative News and Activity  
II.     This Week in Congress
III.    Update on FOP Top Legislative Priorities
IV.     Update on LEOSA

I.      LEGISLATIVE NEWS AND ACTIVITY

National President Chuck Canterbury was in Washington, DC and, along with Executive Director Jim Pasco, attended an Executive Business Meeting of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary to indicate the FOP's support for the nominations of Neil H. MacBride to be United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and Dennis K. Burke to be United States Attorney for the District of Arizona.  National President Canterbury and Executive Director Pasco also had a conversation with Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Bruce Cohen, chief counsel for Senator Leahy, on the nominations and other priorities.

National President Canterbury taped a public service announcement for the Humane Society of the United States promoting a national tip line to assist law enforcement in fighting criminal animal cruelty.  The FOP is a sponsor of the Humane Society's Humane Law Enforcement Awards, which honors outstanding law enforcement officers and prosecutors for their work on behalf of animals.

National President Canterbury taped a segment for the Living History Series, maintained by the University of Louisville, on former U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate.

Senior Legislative Liaison Tim Richardson represented the FOP at a large meeting of organizations representing public employees with J. Mark Iwry,
Senior Advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Retirement and Health Policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury to
discuss issues affecting the retirements and pensions of law enforcement
officers and other public employees.

Senior Legislative Liaison Richardson and Legislative Liaison Jon Gentile attended a stakeholder meeting of national law enforcement organizations to discuss issues related to combatting narcotics trafficking.
II.  THIS WEEK IN CONGRESS

Both the House and Senate were in session this week following a month long summer recess.

Action in the House
The House considered and passed H.R. 965, the “Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network Continuing Authorization Act,” on a 311-107 vote.  This legislation amends the Chesapeake Bay Initiative Act of 1998 to make permanent the authorization of appropriations for the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network.

Action in the Senate
The Senate considered and passed of H.R. 2997, the “Travel Promotion Act,” on a 79-19 vote. This legislation would establish a non-profit corporation to communicate United States entry policies and otherwise promote leisure, business and scholarly travel to the United States.

The Senate began consideration of H.R. 3288, a bill making appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development and related agencies for the 2010 fiscal year .

Action in Senate Committees.
The Committee on the Judiciary favorably reported out several nominations for U.S. Attorney by voice vote, including two supported by the FOP: Neil H. MacBride and Dennis K. Burke.

III.  UPDATE ON FOP TOP LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

For the complete list of cosponsors for all of our top legislative priorities, or to find out if your Representative and Senators are cosponsors of specific bills, check out http://thomas.loc.gov .
 
A.  Social Security Issues

(1)  Support H.R. 235, the "Social Security Fairness Act"
We added three (3) cosponsors to H.R. 235, bringing our current total to three hundred and six (306) cosponsors--more than a House majority!  Please note that this total differs slightly from THOMAS, as we are not including in our count Delegates Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-Guam) and Gregorio Sablan (D-MP), who have limited voting rights on the floor.
 
We currently have twenty-eight (28) cosponsors on S. 484.

(2)  Opposing any legislation that would require the participation of public employees in Social Security
The FOP will continue to lobby against this scheme and oppose any legislation which would mandate participation in Social Security.

B.  Support H.R. 413/S. 1611, the "Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act"
We added three (3) cosponsors on H.R. 413, bringing our current total to one hundred twenty-six (136).

We currently have eight (8) cosponsors on S. 1611.

C.  Support H.R. 1972, the "Law Enforcement Officer’s Procedural Bill of Rights Act"

We currently have two (2) cosponsors on H.R. 1972.

The Senate companion bill has not yet been introduced.

IV.     UPDATE ON LEGISLATION AMENDING LEOSA

We currently have two (2) cosponsors on S. 1132.

We continue to work with the staff of Representative J. Randy Forbes (R-VA) to introduce the House companion bill.  It is our hope the bill will be introduced next week.