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News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Sunset Update: Advocacy in Action
In the Senate, the pressure is on to strip sunset commission language out of the Gregg budget process change bill, according to Inside EPA:
Sources say Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), who has supported Republican tax cuts and other measures, told Bush in a June 27 bipartisan meeting that the bill stands a better chance of passage if it is stripped of controversial items such as the sunset commission.
“Our message was that if there was bipartisan energy behind a bill just focused on line-item authority, there’s a good chance it could get done this year,” a Nelson source says.
Sources familiar with the June 27 meeting with Bush now say a narrower line-item authority bill, S. 2381, is more likely to move forward. The measure was introduced by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) with the co-sponsorship of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and does not contain the sunset provisions.
Also in the Inside EPA story is confirmation that advocacy works. In addition to thousands of letters coming into Senate offices, our coalition sent a letter with over 250 groups (and more signing on every day), representing a wide range of groups beyond those who care about budget issues. “The activists’ letter has made a difference," a Democratic staffer told Inside EPA, explaining that the environmental and other groups who care about regulatory policy and other public protections really stood out in a letter about what many consider to be budget process reform.
Posted by Robert Shull
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