What the Tea Party did instead of job creation

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The freshman class that swept Republicans into control of the House has sponsored more than 400 pieces of legislation since January, ranging from bills that would dismantle President Obamas' health care law to minting coins to honor mothers and the National Basketball Association.


Only a handful have become law.


They include a measure that praises the nation's intelligence community for "bringing Osama bin Laden to justice" and another that aims to protect trains and subways from terrorist attacks.


Republican freshmen have hit themes they sounded on the campaign trail: At least 10 bills chip away at Obama's health care law, and several legislators have tried to peel back pieces of the Wall Street financial regulations passed last year.


Others want to clamp down on environmental protection legislation they say hurt industry and cost jobs.


Other bills would trim federally backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and transfer money from foreign aid programs to domestic ones.


The freshmen also have sponsored 11 measures to rename post offices and parks.


Four bills focus on the coins of the realm. Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., wants the Treasury to mint coins in recognition of the NBA Hall of Fame, Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., wants coins honoring the establishment of Mothers Day.


Republican Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., wants coins commemorating the 225th anniversary of the founding of the US Marshals Service.


Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, wants to establish the Waco Mammoth National Monument and Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., wants to establish the Chimney Rock National Monument, while Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, wants to bar presidents from creating any more monuments in his state.


Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill., wanted to bar the use of the word "Palestine" in government documents...


Rep. Billy Long, R-Mo., a certified auctioneer, hoped Congress would express its support for making the third Saturday of April "National Auctioneers Day."

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/washin...lls-belies-power-of-House-freshmen/50231794/1
 
Rep. Stephen Fincher, a cotton farmer from a mostly rural swath of Tennessee, introduced a bill to mandate swift federal approval of genetically modified crops for commercial sale. Fincher has received more campaign money from agribusiness than any other industry.


Two months after he filed the bill, the political action committee of the Minnesota-based agricultural giant Land O'Lakes' staged a $500-a-head fundraiser to benefit the Republican's re-election campaign. The company spent more than $740,000 on lobbying last year on a range of issues, including federal regulation of its genetically modified alfalfa seeds.


Other freshmen who have crafted legislation backed by the industries helping to underwrite their campaigns include Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.


Duffy, who gets a significant portion of his campaign funds from financial services companies, is the lead sponsor of a measure that would dilute the powers of a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.


Gosar would end health insurance companies' protection from anti-trust provisions, a step applauded by doctors, dentists and health professionals who have donated nearly $74,000 to his campaign in the first six months of this year.


Craig Holman of the watchdog group Public Citizen said the proposed legislation is a sign that "the incoming freshmen have learned business-as-usual on Capitol Hill. They are very quickly moving into the ranks of normal incumbents."


They also are setting fundraising records. House freshmen collected $37.2 million during the first six months of the year, a 34.3% jump over the campaign money raised by new House lawmakers at the same point in the 2010 election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission data.


A third of the donations this year to House freshmen who have joined the Tea Party caucus came from political action committees, a USA TODAY analysis shows.


Fincher, one of 15 freshmen in the House Tea Party group, has received more than $87,700 from agribusiness interests between Jan. 1 and June 30, according to data compiled by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. In July, Land O'Lakes hosted a Capitol Hill dinner to aid Fincher's campaign. Its subsidiary, Forage Genetics, had been at the center of a protracted legal battle over commercial cultivation of a genetically altered alfalfa seed it helped develop. It won final federal approval this year.


The decision to host the Fincher event "was based on a wide range of issues affecting agriculture," Land O'Lakes spokeswoman Jeanne Forbis said in an e-mail. "Since being elected to Congress, Rep. Fincher has been supportive on a wide range of issues, including trade policy, support for farmer cooperatives and environmental regulations."
Fincher, who also is a gospel singer, touted his outsider credentials during the campaign, calling Congress "out of touch" and proclaiming in his campaign literature, "My roots run deep in Tennessee, not in politics."


Fincher's proposed legislation would require automatic approval for genetically engineered crops if the U.S. Department of Agriculture failed to act on an application within 240 days. His spokeswoman Sara Sendek said there's no connection between campaign contributions and legislation. "He's acting in his capacity as a congressman who's here to represent his district," she said.


Bill Freese, a science policy analyst with the Center for Food Safety, called Fincher's effort "an end run around the regulatory process." The environmental advocacy group has waged legal battles over engineered seeds and their potential to contaminate conventionally grown crops.


Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., is the lead sponsor of legislation that recently passed the House that would curb the powers of a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He has received nearly 40% of his political action committee donations this year from the financial services and insurance PACs.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/washin...push-bills-that-benefit-big-donors/50196680/1
 
Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., introduced a bill that would eliminate the Legal Services Corporation, not long after the non-profit group won a ruling that an agricultural company in his state favored foreign workers over U.S. employees. Scott now counts agribusiness as the top industry backing his re-election campaign...



Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., has championed proposed legislation that would strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its power to overturn Army Corps of Engineer permits. Earlier this year, the EPA vetoed a West Virginia mountaintop coal removal permit, deciding the project would cause too much environmental damage. Contributions to his campaign from the mining industry have skyrocketed since he assumed office.



http://www.usatoday.com/news/washin...push-bills-that-benefit-big-donors/50196680/1
 
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