The Hill Report
A Weekly Newsletter from Congressman Pete Sessions
Week of May 21 - May 25, 2007

This week in Washington, Congress finally delivered on its responsibility to support our troops and fund the War on Terror by passing an emergency military funding bill without a timeline for surrender. After four months of withholding funding for our military, House Democrats have finally chosen to place the needs of our military above political interests.

After eliminating an arbitrary troop withdrawal deadline and billions in pork projects—including $5 million for spinach farmers, $120 million for shrimp, and $75 million for peanut storage—the House and Senate overwhelmingly passed the $120 billion emergency troop funding bill on Thursday.

I am pleased to see that my Democrat colleagues have finally backed down from their attempts to micromanage the war in Iraq and declare a surrender date. Instead, this bill requires Generals to give ‘progress reports’ to Congress, signaling to the Iraq government that it must show significant progress in Iraq in return for America’s continued support. After months of unnecessary and wasteful delays, this war spending bill finally gives our military the funding needed to continue operations.

While not material to the purpose of an emergency spending bill, this legislation increases the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. I have long insisted that a minimum wage increase be accompanied with small business tax relief, and I am pleased that this legislation includes over $4.8 billion in tax relief for small businesses over the next five years.

This critical tax relief will help offset the added payroll costs on small businesses, help reduce the 1.6 million projected job losses from the original wage plan, and help avoid a reduction in competitiveness created by this new federal mandate on small businesses across America.

Ethics and Lobbying Reform Rewind
On Thursday, House Democrats passed legislation aimed at ensuring greater transparency and accountability with interactions between lobbyists and Congress. H.R. 2316, The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, calls for more open and responsive government and includes the following provisions:


Mandates quarterly, electronic disclosure of lobbyist activity to a public database.
Increases fines and criminal penalties for breaking lobbying regulations.
Requires Members to disclose negotiations with potential future employers to avoid conflicts of interests.
Continues the current one-year prohibition of Members from lobbying Congress after they leave office.
I fully support transparency and accountability in lobbying, and the American people deserve open and honest government. Despite campaigning on a platform of a more ethical Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi excluded lobbying reform legislation from the “First 100 Hoursâ€