pork piling up on war funding bill

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52862-2003Apr7.html


washingtonpost.com 

War Funding Bill's Extra Riders
Special-Interest Provisions Complicate House-Senate Talks

By Dan Morgan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 8, 2003; Page A04


As Congress puts the finishing touches on legislation to pay for the war in
Iraq, members have been busy attaching special-interest riders with no
connection to the war or the fight against terrorism.

Late last Thursday night, for example, the Senate approved a provision that
sources said would effectively prevent a German company from competing with
FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc. for lucrative U.S. military cargo
business, at least through September.

The one-sentence provision, which did not mention any of the affected
companies by name, was passed without debate as part of a thick package of
last-minute amendments offered by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of
the Senate Appropriations Committee. It simply stated that none of the funds
in the nearly $80 billion bill could be used to pay an air carrier "not
effectively controlled by citizens of the United States."

The existence of the amendment was first reported in Monday's editions of
the Wall Street Journal.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) also used the same fog of late-night
legislating to get back at members of the House for sneaking a major rider
on organic food labeling into a huge spending bill earlier this year. The
Leahy provision, which Stevens accepted into his package, would restore the
authority of the Agriculture Department to resume enforcing strict new rules
for labeling products "organic."

Leahy picked up more than 50 Democratic and Republican co-sponsors for his
amendment. The subject became a major issue between the two houses after
Georgia House members, acting on behalf of a single company, persuaded House
Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to support the loophole in the organic
rules. That change subsequently has been criticized by Agriculture Secretary
Ann M. Veneman and agribusiness giants such as General Mills, which have
invested heavily in organic products.

In the general confusion of the final hours of last week's Senate debate,
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) also succeeded in inserting technical lan guage
that should ensure that southern catfish farmers -- including those in his
home state -- receive their fair share of some $250 million in "disaster
relief" for livestock producers hurt by the rising cost of feed that
resulted from last year's drought.

The Senate action still must be approved in negotiations this week to
resolve differences with the House over its version of the wartime spending
bill. GOP leaders want Congress to approve the compromise legislation and
send it to the president before a two-week recess begins Friday. But along
with major policy issues yet to be resolved, such as control of a $2.5
billion fund to begin reconstructing Iraq, the extraneous provisions only
complicate the talks.

The Senate provision on overnight military cargo services would have broad
ramifications, officials said. They indicated it could complicate if not
scuttle plans by DHL Worldwide Express, which is owned by the German postal
monopoly Deutsche Post AG, to acquire the ground delivery operations of
Seattle-based Airborne Express for $1 billion.

While the amendment applies only to military cargo, it sends a signal to the
Department of Transportation that Congress favors stricter enforcement of
rules governing foreign control of U.S. air carriers. The Bush
administration is reviewing the merger proposal.

U.S. rules prohibit a foreign air carrier from owning more than a 25 percent
interest in a domestic U.S. carrier. Under the merger plan, a U.S.-owned air
carrier, ABX Air, would be created to transport cargo generated by the
German-owned express delivery service. But FedEx and UPS argue that ABX Air
would be "effectively controlled" by the German company, its sole customer.

Some sources said yesterday that House negotiators may go even further than
the Senate in protecting the interests of UPS and FedEx, companies that
operate in every congressional district in the nation.

Sentiments against Germany have run strong in the House since that country
opposed President Bush's Iraq strategy. The House version of the spending
bill already contains a provision that would prohibit companies from Germany
and four other countries from receiving contracts to rebuild Iraq.

During the 2002 election cycle, the UPS campaign fund donated more than $1.1
million to GOP candidates -- twice the amount given to Democrats. The
company also contributed $300,000 to the Republican National Committee in
the same period.

Andrew Blunt, son of House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), serves as a
consultant to UPS on state issues, and sources said yesterday that Rep.
Blunt had indicated support for the amendment in a conversation with
Stevens.

In the Senate, the amendment was sponsored, along with Stevens, by half a
dozen other senators, including Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), whose state is
headquarters for UPS, and the other Alaska senator, Lisa Murkowski (R).
Aides noted yesterday that Alaska-based Lynden Air Cargo recently lost a
major U.S. military contract to DHL Airways.

But David Bolger, a spokesman for UPS, said: "This is a public policy issue.
There is not a lot of political involvement. We have felt since 1999 that
Deutsche Post was going around U.S. [ownership] regulations."

Yesterday Airborne Express hit back with a statement charging that the
Senate amendment had been "clearly influenced" by UPS and FedEx. It
contended that the other companies were attempting to retain their
"stranglehold" on the U.S. express delivery market.


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