News from DC
2-15-07
It's been a
busy winter so far in Washington. With the new Congress well underway one thing
has become evident, not much has changed. The perception that the Democrats
would change the way things got done is just that, a perception. In my opinion
Roger Daltry and the rest of the mega rockers from
The Who said best, "meet
the new boss, same as the old boss."
Here is an example of what I mean.
The Democrat controlled Senate passed sweeping reform that put severe limits on
what Senate staffers can accept from lobbyists, it also took away a much abused
perk, lifts on corporate jets to "official business" for Senators. Read:
extended face time for well
healed lobbyists for monster corporations on the
way to fact finding golf outing.
Here is the rub, all of these new rules
and regs do not go into effect until the House has passed identical legislation
and the President signs it into law, until that happens, its business as usual
for the Senate. The House, to its credit, did make some changes when that body
passed its own internal
operational rules back in January. However the
Senate can claim the moral high ground by campaigning on the legislation they
passed to clean up Congress and point fingers across the Capitol dome at the
House for not passing the same bill. Blame game with no real changes at its
best. Sound familiar?, just don't get fooled again.
HIPAA
I received
some promising news about our HIPAA loophole fix legislation.
While no bill
numbers have been handed out yet, I did receive
confirmation that both bodies
of Congress will be dropping bills today, February 15 2007.
The Sponsors are Stupak (D-MI) and Burgess
(R-TX) in the House and Feingold (D-WI) and Collins (R-ME). Bill numbers
should be available after the Presidents Recess next week. Ill certainly make
those known as soon as I get them.
Another bit of good news is
that the House decided to introduce the same legislative language as the Senate.
This is good for a few reasons, first it eliminates the need for a conference
committee and secondly the Senate language is some what looser than the old
House language in that it doesn't
specifically say which forms of legal
recreational behavior are allowable.
This gives virtually no wiggle room for the
Insurance industry. For example if an insurance provider were to change they way
the identify motorcycles; they could arguably squeeze through another loophole.
The new legislation for the 110th Congress removes that possibility by making it
illegal for
insurance to refuse coverage of any injury sustained from a
mishap while engaging in legal recreation of any kind.
The Senate also
just passed out of committee a sweeping mental health parity bill that the
Republicans had kept buried for years. The massive health care mandate would put
mental health issues such as depression and anxiety on the same level as heart
disease and simple physical injuries, forcing insurance
to cover potential
billions of dollars of suspect conditions.
This Senate action is at the
same time disturbing and hopeful. On one hand it clears the way for our HIPAA
bills, putting our issue in perspective alongside mental health care positions
us a small quick fix. On the other hand it shows just how this Democrat
controlled Congress will and can react to issues, with sweeping mandates, like
helmet laws.
Coast to Coast
This winter also saw me
traveling to snowy Wisconsin and sunny Arizona within the same week. I traveled
to the dairy state to attend an event for Senator Dave Zien. Senator Zien lost
his bid for re election last fall after rising to the majority leader in the
Senate. He lost because he was beat up for being a gun toting, Harley riding
nut. Which he is, and proud of it,
as he should be. One thing is for certain
Zien has made a career of being true to himself and his country and his State.
And that has earned him the respect of millions.
It was an honor to
participate in such a moving event for such a great American.
Thanks
Senator Dave for all that you do! We all wish you the best.
The Next day
I met up with Hardtail and Mike Kerr in Milwaukee for a meeting with Harley
Davidson. It was a productive few hours with HD VP Tim Hoelter and HD Director
of Gov't relations, Wayne Curtin as well as parade of other
high ranking HD
execs. The meeting purpose was to find some issues that we can work on together
and move the motorcycling community forward for everybody. It's going to be a
lot of hard work but I am convinced that we can all agree that alcohol is one of
our biggest issues. What and how to tackle it is the million dollar question.
After a few hours in Washington I was back on a plane on my way to
Phoenix AZ. I attended the Arizona Freedom rally. It's an intense rally across
phoenix to the Capitol building ending up with some live music and encouraging
words by yours truly, (the words not the music) as well as remarks from
Oklahoma's own Tiger Mike Revere, and the heads of the different MRO's in AZ. To
me it was impressive to see almost 1000 bikes circle the capitol and park in
front of it with almost military
precision.
The event organizers thought
differently, "we used to get over 3000 thousand" some confided in me. I have to
admit this isn't the first time I have heard this at events across the entire
country.
This must stop. It was through the energy and commitment of the
individual members of every SMRO that we were able to overturn a federal helmet
law. With the current state of the motorcycling rights union being
lackadaisical, defeat is a forgone conclusion.
You, as leaders in your own communities need to
make it perfectly clear to your fellow riders. Don't get involved, expect
another national helmet law, it's that simple. Many states have already
introduced helmet legislation this year; some have even already defeated them so
maybe I am overly paranoid. Just remember freedom is yours if you want it,
ignore it and it will die.
The SMRO visits have officially begun. ABATE
of Michigan was in town last week for a full week of meetings with the entire MI
delegation. The tone was fairly positive, garnered much support for our
HIPAA legislation and before they left, they handed me a check for the PAC.
That's a perfect week in my opinion!
So please start planning your trips
to DC. AS of today I have heard from IA, WI, IL, Washington State, NC, OH, PA
and CO. So if you aren't on that list ask yourself why not, and then find a few
days and few people and come walk the halls of Congress with me.
It doesn't
take a team of 10 or even 5, just a few individuals can make a world of
difference. Food for thought: Consider a trip to DC or consider setting aside
precious MRO funds to send someone.
I am off to the winter board meeting
in beautiful Cedar Rapids, IA for the weekend. Some of you Ill see there, some
you I won't.
One final thought. The plaque commemorating the winner of
the tug o war in Indy at last years MOTM showed up at MRF global headquarters
last week. In my opinion the Kilts were robbed. Or perhaps it was because I
didn't participate, well that's going to change next September so bring it on
bibbies!
As always I welcome all comments, questions and threats.
Jeff Hennie
VP Government Relations
Motorcycle Riders
Foundation
Jeff Hennie
Vice President of Government Relations
Motorcycle Riders Foundation
P: 202-546-0983
F:
202-546-0986
Mobile: 202-725-5471
236 Massachusetts Ave. NE
Suite
510
Washington, DC 20002
www.mrf.org
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