Reg reform supporters question strategy

With the backing of the Clinton administration and Senate Democratic leadership ostensibly in hand, primary sponsors of regulatory reform legislation in the Senate are gearing up for a last big push to move their bill to the floor.

But even some supporters of comprehensive regulatory reform are questioning the wisdom of pressing forward this year.

Foremost on the minds of those who advocate waiting is the fact that the environmental community loathes the measure, and has vowed to make it an issue in the upcoming election cycle.

Moreover, White House support for the measure is highly conditional, and some observers believe legislators may be asked to go out on a limb for a bill that President Clinton could decide to veto.

Sources also note the House has indicated little desire to move forward with the issue this year.

And, as one source put it: "If the enviros are going to trash their friend Al Gore [on regulatory reform], what are they going to do to House Republicans? What's in it for the House?"

But in the Senate, Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., reportedly are convinced that, with the White House's endorsement in hand, now is the last, best chance to move regulatory reform legislation across the goal line.

As part of their effort, Levin and Thompson convened a sort of pep rally last Tuesday with a large number of lobbyists who have been supportive.

Sources in attendance said Levin and Thompson exhorted the lobbyists to make a strong pitch for the bill to members who might be persuaded to vote for it.

According to those sources, Thompson and Levin also reportedly said they believe their best chance in moving the bill is to demonstrate to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., that floor debate on the measure would consume no more than "a couple" of days.

"They don't want a cloture vote," said one source who attended the meeting. "They don't want a filibuster."

Accordingly, sources said, Levin and Thompson are intent on getting both sides of the aisle to agree to forgo offering any "major" amendments to the bill.

That also is crucial, given that the White House's support is predicated on Levin and Thompson keeping intact a delicately crafted compromise measure that acting Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew signed off on earlier this month.

But there appears to be at least one flaw in that strategy. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who last week signed onto the bill as a cosponsor in the wake of the OMB's rather cautious endorsement, has conditioned his continued support for the measure in a way that might render his support moot.

A Daschle spokeswoman noted late last week that the minority leader has said he will support the measure on the floor only if Democratic senators are permitted to offer their amendments.

Further, she said, Daschle would withdraw his support for the bill if it is amended in a way that "moves [it] to the right."

The spokeswoman acknowledged the White House's directive that the bill must remain substantially unchanged if it is to be signed by the president, but maintained there are no inconsistencies between that and Daschle reserving the rights of Democrats to offer amendments.