H.R. 218—NEWEST DEVELOPMENT
May 2002

In our last update SHIELD reported that H.R. 218 was not on the list of priorities of House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner. Interestingly enough Chairman Sensenbrenner has made it a priority to keep the bill from ever going anywhere as long as he is the chairman of the committee. LEAA learned over the summer that Chairman Sensenbrenner is not a fan of the bill and refuses to even give it a simple hearing in the Crime Subcommittee. He has made it clear to everyone that H.R. 218 “is a terrible bill.” Efforts to talk with him about it were ignored. After September 11—when it was made more clear that there was no better time to pass H.R. 218 and establish homeland security—an idea to add H.R. 218 as an amendment to the Patriot Act began to surface. However, Sensenbrenner became aware of the effort and he warned members of the Judiciary committee who were in full support of the amendment. He told them that anyone offering H.R. 218 as an amendment would find their own legislative priorities derailed and damned. That was the end of H.R. 218 as an amendment.

Finally after a six-month battle with Rep. Sensenbrenner, LEAA’s loyal friend and H.R.218 sponsor—Rep. Duke Cunningham—did the only thing he could to keep H.R. 218 alive. Rep. Cunningham filed a discharge petition in November.

A discharge petition is generally a last resort when trying to resuscitate legislation. Basically, 218 members of congress must sign the petition in order for the bill to be pulled out of its committee of jurisdiction and brought to the house floor for a vote. You may be aware that the House campaign finance reform bill was resurrected through a discharge petition. This is not the ideal way of getting a bill passed in the House but with H.R. 218 being held hostage there is no other procedurally way to get this done.

With this in mind, LEAA encourages you to call your U.S. Reps and ask them to sign the discharge petition. Currently there are 28 members of congress signed on but that is only 10% of the goal. As for co-sponsors, there are 241 members of congress signed on as of this writing—which is the most ever—but we can always use more! Call your U.S. Representatives and ask them to co-sponsor. If they’re already co-sponsors thank them for their effort and ask them to spread the word to their colleagues, especially those in their state delegation.

There is a chance GOP leadership may have no choice but to put pressure on Rep. Sensenbrenner to bring the bill up for a hearing, despite his aversion, if there is insurmountable support for it. So your efforts are more critical than ever.

LEAA also encourages you to call Rep. Cunningham’s at (202) 225-5452 and thank him for his efforts.

.