Legislative Summary of the 109th Congress.

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Legislative Summary of the 109th Congress.

Article by David Leiter

ML Strategies, a consulting firm specializing in government relations, public relations and real estate advisory services, is pleased to present this summary of the 2005 Congressional session and a look ahead to issues of importance in 2006. With a bipartisan team in our Washington D.C. office, ML Strategies is well-positioned to analyze Congressional actions and their impact on our clients as well as identify key pieces of legislation and trends in the current session.

ML Strategies is an affiliate of Mintz Levin, a law firm with approximately 450 attorneys and seven offices in the United States and London.

In Jan. 2005, GOP leaders, buoyed by strong election results in 2004, began the first session of the 109th Congress with an ambitious legislative agenda. The first ten Republican bills introduced in the Senate concerned issues such as Social Security reform, tax-cuts, class-action lawsuit reform, and a comprehensive energy policy. While Republicans managed to pass much of their proposed legislation, including a federal energy policy that emphasized enhanced production, a Central American free-trade agreement, and limits to class action litigation, the process required more time and compromise than most expected at the beginning of the year. In addition, Congress failed to pass two of the President's top aims, Social Security privatization and a permanent renewal of the Patriot Act.

The mounting costs of the Iraq war, the perceived slow response of the administration to Hurricane Katrina, and the indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) allowed emboldened Democrats and moderate Republicans to successfully thwart the majority's agenda at crucial points. Several victories by the Democrats at the end of the first session--including the threat of a filibuster to remove a drilling provision for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the Defense appropriations bill--complicated the end of the session and had lawmakers working up until the holiday recess.

The House is scheduled to return Jan. 31, one of the latest adjournments in recent memory. The Senate will return Jan. 18. The Supreme Court nomination hearings for Judge Samuel Alito will consume the Senate's attention in January. Afterwards, Congress will likely pick up many of the issues held over from the first session: an overhaul of the system guaranteeing federal pensions, the permanent expansion of the ...

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