T h e L e g is la tive N e w s - D a ilyfro m C o n g re s s io
n a l Q u a rte rlyL a w m a k e r s S e t S i g h t s o n W a rF u
n d sD e fe n s e a ppro pria to rsw a n t to s h ift mo n e y fro
mIra qto o th e rmilita ry n e e dsBy J OSH ROGINAN D D AVID C L
ARKEC QST AF F WRIT ERSSomeleading law-makers want to shiftbillions
of defense dol-lars away from Iraq inthe next supplementalspending
billand de-vote them to other mili-tary priorities.The debate over
thebill,set for later thisonth,is also shaping-P amid aflurry of
pro-posals from lawmakers Defenseappropriators want/to convincethe
administration to lookbeyondwho see the emergency Iraq/ M urtha
said. Theysubmitted their plans to Houseleaders this
week.appropriationsmeasureasavehicle for ahost of non-military
spend-ingneeds and war policy provisions.Although total military
spendingin thebill, which isstill indraft form, will be nearthe
$102.5 billion the Pentagon says itneeds for the remainder of
fiscal 2008, de-fense appropriators would move between$8billion and
$9billion of that total towardtheir own priorities, which focus on
forcemodernization and facilities at home."We're trying to convince
the adminis-tration to look beyond Iraq," said J ohn P.M urtha,
D-Pa., chairman of the HouseWar continued onpage 6E a s t M e e t s
M i d w e s ti n R e g u l a t o r yM e r g e rF i g h tproposed by
Treasury Secretary Henry M .Paulson J r., the center of gravity
would shiftfor the world's most powerfulfutures mar-ket, the
Chicago M ercantile Exchange.Such achange is unlikely to be
enactedquickly, and the congressional fight prob-ably will not
begin in earnest until nextyear. But just the possibility has
rattled "theM ere" and its boosters.Would the SEC bring more
regulation?Would business be disruptedduring ape-riod of
transition? Chicago doesn't want tofind out, with the currentsystem
being solarge and, it thinks, sosuccessful.Over the past six years,
the number ofcontracts traded on the exchange has
goneRegulationcontinued onpage 10By C AT HARIN E RIC HERT ,C Q ST
AF F WRIT ERSens. Richard J . Durbin and Charles E.Schumer are both
members of the Demo-cratic leadership. They're both senior
sena-tors fromtheir home states. They even haveamutuallove of
Chinese food, which, onmany nights, they eat together as room-mates
intheir Capitol Hill townhouse.Now they're on opposite sides of
whatpromises tobecome anextensive battle pit-'ng Wall Street
against the financialpow-erhouse of the M idwest.The issue:
whethertwo regulatory bod-ies should be forced to marry.If
theCommodity Futures Trading Com-mission (CFTC) and the Securities
andExchange Commission (SEC) merge, asAgriculture 7F a r m fi n a n
ci n gRa n g e l w a n ts a s s u ra n ce so n n u tritio n fu n
din gin fa rm le g is la tio n GOP pro te s t o n ju dg e s , p. 5
T h e w e e k a h e a d, p.27PUL SE OFCONGR E S SNEWRUL ESfor House
M embers and Pages:K eepIt Simple, Official and PublicShun
one-on-one situations. M entorat arm's length. Go easy on the
gifts.The House Page Board issued thoseand other new guidelines
after strug-gling for months to agree on the bestway to maintain
ameaningfulprogramfor the teens inblue blazers while pre-venting
situations like those that havegotten some membersof Congress inhot
water.The "Guidelines for Communicationand Interactions with House
Pages"specify that members,officers and staffshould not givepages
gifts worth morethan $50, and they should not spendtime alone with
anyindividual page.M embers, many of whom saw theguidelines for the
first time Thursdayin a"Dear Colleague" letter signed byall eight
members of the Page Board,are encouraged to mentorpages andto "host
or take part in Page Programfunctions."However, members are
warnedagainst "participation in anyoff-cam-pus activitiesinvolving
a page" thatare not formally organized bythe pageprogram.The letter
said the new guidelineswere part of an effort to improve
"theoverall effectivenessof the program."- Molly K. HooperPeople: C
h a n g e s in We lle r's o ffice ,p.13Vo l u m e 44, Nu m be r
43260414 MN PD HD D C G20J OE KEEN ANSEN AT E PRESS GAL L ERYS316
SEN AT E RAD IO T V GAL L ERYWASHIN GT ON D C 20510Pa g e 10 C Q T
o da y, F rida y, April 4,2008R e g u l a t i o n continued from
page 1from 2.2 million to 14 million daily, and itacquiredits
largest competitor, the Chi-cago Board of Trade.When it comes
tocommodities, "the world looks to Chicago,it does not look to
ewYork," said one lob-byist involved inthe issue.Improvement or
Impairment?In addition to being in the Democraticleadership and the
inner circle of M ajorityL eaderHarry Reid, D-Nev.,DurbinandSchumer
have legislative positions that canbe used to advance their
causes.Schumer,of New York, chairs the J ointEconomic Committee,
aplatform that letshimsummon the attention of financial
deci-sionmakers and order up studies toexaminePaulson's proposal
inextensive detail.Durbin, of Illinois, chairs the
Appro-priationspanel that handles fundingforthe SEC and the CFTC.A
subcommitteechairmancan't Single-handedly thwartaregulatory
marriage, but he would be aninfluential voice when it is time to
decidewhether to act or keep the status quo.The equities
industryofWall Street gener-allysupports aregulatory marriage
asawaytomakeitsbusiness more competitive globally.Chicago's futures
traders and their regula-torsarewary, sayingconsolidation could
hurtF OR E IGN POL ICYSchumer, left, and Durbin, who see eyeto
eyeon many issues, may go head to head onthe merger proposal.their
market. 'We shouldn't be about trying said Chicago has reasonto
worry abouttocure what isn't sick," saidCFTC Commis- disrupting
business asusual. "Youcan't un-sioner Bart Chilton. derestimate how
important [the M ercan-Countered TimRyanof the Securities In- tile
Exchange] isto the Chicago economy,"dustry and Financial M arkets
Association: said Ruder, now alaw professorat North-"It istime to
modernize. Our present regu- western University in Illinois.latory
framework was born of Depression- 'Their fortune has ahuge effect
onalot0,era events and is not well suited for today's people,"
agreed J oseph M inarik, vicepresi-environment, where billions of
dollars race dent for the Committeefor Economic De-across the globe
with the click of amouse." velopment, aneconomic think tank.Former
SECChairman David Ruder The exchange demonstrated its cloutwhen
Ruder offered aplan for consolida-tion in the mid-1980s.The
exchange "lob-bied the banking committees, they lobbiedthe
agriculture committeesand did soveryvigorously," he said. "It
became sobitter."Ultimately, he settled for streamliningthe
agencies' overlappingresponsibilitiesand for implementing new rules
that thetwo regulatorsstill follow. L ater, the com-moditiesmarket
and the equities marketclashed on another front.Futures traders in
Chicago claimed thatWallStreet's
so-calledover-the-counterderivatives trading was illegal. Wall
Streetresisted, and won. The CFTCM oderniza-tion Act of 2000 (PL
106-554) recognizedthose trades aslegal.The next round in the
battle for prima-cy over commodities trading may not befought until
next year, assuch acomplicat-ed issue isunlikely to command
Congress s - ,attention in acampaign year.But no one involved
doubts that a biglobbying battle looms."There's much more force
behind thissuggestion this time," Ruder said. "I don'tthink it's
going away." Co bu r n Pr e p a r e s t oB l o ck Gl o ba lA IDS L
e g i s l a t i o nBy AD AM GRAHAM- SIL VERMAN , C QST AF F WRIT
ERWith twoversions of global AIDS legisla-tion ready for the Senate
floor, TomCoburnisnotifYingcolleagues about his objectionsto both
and seeks their support.The bills "contain dramatic policy
rever-sals coupled with irresponsible spendinglevels," Coburn,
R-Okla.,said in a letterthat he plans to send to M inority L eaderM
itch M cConnell, R-K y. "This combina-tion prevents our support for
reauthori-zation of the program that, until now, hasbeen arare
model of foreign aid success."The letter, which says Coburn
mightblock any attempt to call up either bill, isstill circulating
among senators.The bills awaiting possible Senate actionwould
authorize$50 billion over the nextfiveyears for global AIDS
programs. TheSenate Foreign Relations panelapprovedone (S 2731) in
M arch; the House passedthe other (HR 5501) on April 2, 308-116."I
think it's the height of irresponsibilityinthe middle of awar and
surging debts forustobe dramatically increasing the cost andthe
scope of theprogram," saidJ imDeM int,R-S.G, who signed onto
Coburn's letter.The 2003 global AIDS law,which expiresthis year,
authorized $15billion over itsfirstfive years. President Bush had
called for$30 billion for the new law, but the WhiteHouse helped
negotiate compromise leg-islation at the $50 billion level."The
Democrats in the House forcedthe president to go up, to force us to
stopit, which gives them something to hollerabout," DeM int
said.CoburnspokesmanJ ohn Hart stressedthat the senator is
committed to passing areauthorization of the program.A
congressional aide said the letter'sbackers are more concernedwith
alack ofaccountability and "mission creep" than thetotal spending
level. "What's driving this isnot aknee-jerkopposition to foreign
aid,"the aide said.