Government operations bills may be postponed until 2008

A set of good-government bills, despite strong support, appear increasingly likely to be pushed to next year as Congress focuses on higher priority legislation before recessing.

Senate Judiciary Committee aides said they remain hopeful the Senate this week will pass, by unanimous consent, a bill to overhaul the Freedom of Information Act. Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said last week that he wants to secure President Bush's signature this year on FOIA reform.

But while Leahy and co-sponsor Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, have said they revised and reintroduced their FOIA bill to address pay-as-you-go objections raised by House conference negotiators, a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee aide said last week that the bill "doesn't deal with all our concerns."

The staffer declined to elaborate, but criticized the senators for reintroducing the bill without consultation.

"We were having productive, bipartisan talks with the Senate, so the new bill is a surprise," she said.

"It appears the Senate prefers to send bills back and forth instead of working this out quickly and cooperatively."

Although FOIA experts say the differences between the chambers' preferred versions of the bill remain relatively minor, the continuing disagreement leaves it unclear when negotiations will be completed. Also in limbo is a bill intended to increase the independence of inspectors general.

The House and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee have passed similar IG bills, but aides said they did not know when the full Senate might consider the bill.

Senate votes on bills on e-Government, telecommuting for federal employees and a pilot program to dispose quickly of unused federal buildings are also unscheduled.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Government Management Subcommittee has scheduled a Thursday hearing on creating chief management officer positions at federal agencies.

Government Management Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and ranking member George Voinovich, R-Ohio, along with GAO, have been vocal advocates of creating CMO positions to spur management reforms at the Defense and Homeland Security departments in particular.

The hearing will examine whether CMOs could help drive personnel and other reforms at many federal agencies, according to a subcommittee summary.