2.0. ERMUSR AGENDA 01-09-2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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MEMORANDUM TO: Jack Kegel, MMUA FROM: Michael Nolan, MIN Consulting RE: The End of the 109th Congress DATE: December 27, 2006 End of the Year Wrap-up The lame duck session of the 109th Congress ended in the wee hours of the morning, Saturday, December 9, when the Senate passed a massive tax, trade, drilling, and health care bill. The House had recessed a day earlier when they approved the bill (HR 6111), hoping the Senate would do the same. They did, and it was one of the few late "accomplishments" of the 109th, a Congress that actually met fewer days than the famous "Do Nothing" Congress of the late 1940s, when President Truman was in the White House. Now the Democrats take over: the new 110th Congress begins January 4th. Like much of the session, the final days of the 109th were hit-and-miss: they failed to pass major appropriations bills, opting instead to pass a large continuing resolution(CR) that keeps the federal government functioning until mid-February; they shelved major last- minute initiatives, like telecommunications legislation; and they approved the large tax bill, which contained several energy-related provisions, including an oil and gas drilling bill, as well as key energy tax provisions that were important to MMUA and the public power community. Tax bill The final days were tense and hectic. Despite this, MMUA and public power secured two accomplishments in the tax bill: the so-called rural renaissance bonds, pushed hard by the rural electric coops, were not included in the final bill, while a provision supported by MMUA and public power—clean renewable energy bonds (CREBs)—was included. As the final week began there were very few"must pass"provisions and really only two priorities—pass a budget(which meant, at a minimum, extend the current CR), and pass the tax bill. But the tax bill was a mess: it was terribly partisan; it grew larger(from $20 to approximately $45 billion) and got more and more complicated as both the House and Senate added their favorite provisions; and it became more,not less, controversial. Indeed, only one major aspect of the bill—the tax extenders, those provisions that require reauthorization or"extension" every year or two—was considered non-controversial and bipartisan. The extenders could pass on their own, but several other provisions were quickly added, as sweeteners, to the package, including the drilling bill, which opens up some new areas of the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico, a Medicare 1