This Week in Washington
The Week Ending May 24, 2001
This weekly report is written by the American Society of Civil Engineers' Government Relations staff. If you have questions or comments about any items in this report, please contact Brian Pallasch, Michael Charles, Martin Hight, Austin Fulk, or Liz Hermsen or call 202/789-2200
Inside This Week:
- Senate Passes Tax Bill, House and Senate Will Reconcile Versions
- House of Representatives Passes Major Education Bill
- Jeffords Likely to Head Senate Environment Committee
- Nature: Forests May Not Absorb Carbon Dioxide as Predicted
- State Government Relations Update
1. SENATE PASSES TAX BILL, HOUSE AND SENATE WILL RECONCILE VERSIONS
The U.S. Senate passed its version of H.R. 1836, “The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001,” on May 23 by a vote of 62-38. Leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives immediately began working to resolve the differences between the House and Senate versions.
Among provisions being tracked by ASCE is Section 127 of the Internal Revenue Code, which exempts from employees’ taxes educational expenses paid by employers. The Senate bill continues the permanent extension for both graduate and undergraduate education. The House bill extends the exemption for undergraduate education only. ASCE has joined with numerous engineering, scientific and other professional organizations, as well as education and business interests, in a letter to House and Senate leaders supporting the Senate version of the bill.
The Senate bill also contains the permanent extension of the research and development (R&D) tax credit. The House bill also permanently extends the R&D tax credit.
2. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASSES MAJOR EDUCATION BILL
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed H.R. 1, the “No Child Left Behind Act,” on May 23 by a vote of 384-45. The legislation authorizes $22.8 billion in federal education spending, $5 billion above current levels. The bill will provide funds for university partnerships to improve math and science education. Attempts to add provisions to further improve math and science education and add more funding for school construction were defeated.
The Senate version of the bill, S.1, is on hold. Senator Jim Jeffords (I-VT) had been the Republican floor leader on the bill. His decision to switch from the Republican Party to Independent will delay Senate consideration for the immediate future.
3. JEFFORDS LIKELY TO HEAD SENATE ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE
With Senator Jim Jeffords (I-VT) moving away from the GOP, Democrats will now control committee agendas in the Senate for the first time since 1994. In a key decision, Democratic aides said Wednesday that Minority Whip Harry Reid of Nevada, currently the top Democrat on the Environment & Public Works Committee, has offered Senator Jeffords the chairmanship.
Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) will likely become chairman of the Clean Air, Private Property and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee, replacing Senator George Voinovich (R-OH). Senator Lieberman could deflate the White House plan to shift Clean Air Act (CAA) enforcement from the federal government to the states. Lieberman -- who has been highly critical of President Bush's decision to abandon a campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions under a multi-pollutant CAA approach as well as Bush's rejection of the Kyoto Protocol -- also could spearhead an effort to regulate utilities' emissions of CO2, a greenhouse gas blamed for rising global temperatures.
Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) will likely chair the Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee, where a battle over legislation to reauthorize transportation spending will occur. The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) expires at the end of Fiscal Year 2003. Former Representative Bud Shuster (R-PA) secured TEA-21 language prohibiting the use of federal highway trust fund money for anything other than highway improvement projects. With the influential Shuster gone, Senator Baucus -- a rural yet pro-environment lawmaker -- could find himself in the middle of a battle over how to split highway and transit funding and other congestion issues.
Senator Barbara Boxer, a liberal Democrat from California, probably will assume control of the Superfund, Waste Control and Risk Assessment Subcommittee, replacing Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), a moderate who, like Jeffords, has drawn the ire of the White House and Senate Republicans for his voting record. And Senator Bob Graham (D-FL), a moderate, will likely replace conservative western Senator Michael Crapo (R-ID) as chairman of the Fisheries, Wildlife and Water Subcommittee..
4. NATURE: FORESTS MAY NOT ABSORB CARBON DIOXIDE AS PREDICTED
Some environmental policymakers had hoped that forests might counter global warming by becoming carbon "sinks" and absorbing much of the extra carbon dioxide that humans are adding to the atmosphere, and that planting forests could substitute for reducing emissions. Two studies of North American pine forests suggest that such hopes are overly optimistic, according to this week's "Nature" magazine.
Loblolly pine trees planted in air containing slightly greater concentrations of carbon dioxide grew faster for only three years, Ram Oren of Duke University and colleagues have found. The trees then reverted to their original growth rate, the magazine reported.
The results show that forests do not allow man to emit carbon dioxide heedlessly, said ecologist Adam Hirsch of Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts in the magazine. Preserving existing forests, or letting them regrow where they have been cleared, may make a greater contribution to soaking up carbon than planting new trees, Hirsch said.
The limits to the capacity of coniferous forests to act as carbon sinks is a "reality check," the magazine quoted Jim Ehleringer, a biologist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
5. STATE GOVERNMENT RELATIONS UPDATE
The following bills were recently introduced in state legislatures across the country. If you have questions about particular legislation, please contact Austin Fulk, ASCE's Manager of State Government Relations. These bills affect the civil engineering profession, but ASCE National has not taken a position on them unless otherwise noted.
Professional Services Tax in Florida
Florida Senate President John McKay is calling for Florida to overhaul its tax system. Among his proposed changes to the current tax system is an expansion of the state’s sales tax, currently 6 percent, to cover professional services, potentially including design services. The Florida Legislature is out of session for the year, and McKay’s proposal has not been formally introduced as legislation. Currently, Florida’s sales tax contains exemptions for a number of items, including professional services. ASCE opposes the imposition of taxes on professional services, and believes the sole purpose of state statutes requiring registration and licensing of engineers is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public, a view embodied in ASCE’s Policy Statement 450, which can be found on ASCE’s web site at publicpolicy.
back to the top
