WASHINGTON – In the waning days before lawmakers leave Washington, the House got something done Tuesday behind an effort led by U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), of Bucks County.
What exactly they accomplished, though, likely depends on where you sit on the political spectrum and your level of skepticism as election day nears.
To Fitzpatrick and, presumably, the 319 Republicans and Democrats who voted with him on the "Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act" Tuesday night, the House was cutting through needless government regulations to help growing businesses keep expanding, and hiring.
"This is a jobs bill – by repealing and reforming burdensome regulations, we can set businesses and working capital free to invest in the economy and to create jobs," Fitzpatrick said in a speech on the House floor.
To Democratic critics, the only thing accomplished was a bit of election-year theater that will sound good on the campaign trail, but won't produce tangible changes. The measure appears to have little chance of clearing the Democratically-controlled. Senate.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) called the bill and its sudden passage a "mad dash for political victory" as Republicans try to fight off the label of being a "do-nothing Congress."
They "want a political package that says, 'we're doing something about jobs,'" she said.
Fitzpatrick, campaigning in a competitive district, has made the economy his signature message, and has promised to help cut regulations to spark economic growth and hiring.
His bill, introduced Sept. 8 and passed eight days later, bundled together 11 other jobs bills. Some had already cleared the House, but languished in the Senate – a sign that the combined package is also unlikely to gain traction.
Other parts of the package had gone through committee hearings, and each of the incorporated bills had sponsors from both parties, according to Fitzpatrick. He noted that the bill ran to just 39 pages – less than four pages per proposal included in the package -- and called it a "plain-English bill of bipartisan fashion."
Here, though, are the first changes the bill proposes:
(a) Commodity Exchange Act Amendment.--Section 4s(e) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 6s(e)), as added by section 731 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
"(4) Applicability with respect to counterparties.--The requirements of paragraphs (2)(A)(ii) and (2)(B)(ii) shall not apply to a swap in which a counterparty qualifies for an exception under section 2(h)(7)(A) or satisfies the criteria in section 2(h)(7)(D)."
The bill goes on to address, among other things, collateralized loan obligations, derivatives, Securities and Exchange Commission regulations dealing with merger and acquisitions brokers, and federal disclosure requirements for growing companies. Many provisions aim to streamline parts of the Dodd-Frank financial regulations.
Democrats called it a "sweeping" proposal dealing with complex financial issues.
While the individual bills have been reviewed, Democrats said no one had analyzed how the 11 different measures would interact. Waters said many lawmakers would support it because they had sponsored one of the bills included, but that "many don't have a clue" about the other parts of the package.
A Fitzpatrick aide described some of the changes as fixes that would help businesses avoid disclosing competitive information, and cut through regulations that can make investing more expensive. Fitzpatrick said the bill would make it easier for growing companies in the bio-tech field – a key sector in southeast Pennsylvania – to innovate and expand.
Other companies – including Wegman's, with 8,200 employees in the commonwealth – would be able to offer stock to employees, a tool for keeping valued workers, without triggering federal disclosure requirements that a Fitzpatrick aide said could reveal competitive information.
While Democrats "are talking about process and procedure and amendments," Fitzpatrick said, "we're talking about results."
The bill passed 320-102, with 225 Republicans backing the plan and one opposing it. Among Democrats, 95 supported the bill against 101 who opposed it, including all of those from Philadelphia and the surrounding area.
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