Monday, July 31, 2006 | 7:23 a.m.
Bills awaiting action in the House
HR 3585 Education Savings Act of 2005*: Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income employer contributions to a qualified tuition plan or a Coverdell education savings account held by an employee or the employee's spouse.
HR 2249*: Tax credit for expenses for household and dependent-care services necessary for gainful employment.
HR 1578 Real Estate Investment Thrift Savings Act: Allows the Federal Employees' Retirement System to establish a Real Estate Stock Investment Fund under the Thrift Savings Plan.
HR 2993: To provide for the sale of excess wild free-roaming horses and burros.
HR 3276: Establishment of Results Commissions to improve the results of executive branch agencies. Concepts from this bill found in HR 5766.
HR 4419 Abolishing Aviation Barriers Act of 2005: Repeal the prohibition against an air carrier's operation of nonstop service between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and another airport more than 1,250 miles away.
HR 4859 Federal Family Health Information Technology Act of 2006: Establishes a system of electronic health records for certain federal employees.
HR 5155 Orchard Detention Basin Flood Control Act: Releases 65 acres of land known as the Orchard Detention Basin in Clark County from wilderness designation to construct the Orchard Detention Basin Project.
HR 5474: Create a commission to study the proper response to the growth of Internet gambling.
HR 5710: Reauthorize the Office of Government Ethics
HR 4382 Southern Nevada Readiness Center Act: Allows Clark County to convey up to 50 acres of land for use by the Nevada National Guard.
HR 4294 Natural Resource Protection Cooperative Agreement Act: Authorizes the Interior secretary to enter into cooperative agreements with public or private entities to protect natural resources inside and outside of National Park System from tamarisk and other insidious weeds.
Bills passed in the House, but waiting Senate action:
Amendment: Up to $5,000 in loan forgiveness for college graduates willing to serve five consecutive years in public service.
Provision: Sgt. Henry Prendes Memorial Act of 2006: Penalties for killing, or attempting or conspiring to kill, a current or former federally funded public safety officer engaged in official duties.
HR 4057: Compensatory time off for travel for Justice Department attorneys.
HR 26 Provision: Worker Reemployment Accounts Act of 2005*: Establish a national demonstration project on personal reemployment accounts. Passed Senate.
* Indicates this bill is a new version of an unsuccessful bill from last session.
WASHINGTON - Republican Rep. Jon Porter had the chance to witness something that hasn't happened much during his career in Congress - a bill he worked on being signed into law.
Last week at the White House, Porter enjoyed his first Rose Garden bill signing, an elusive success that shows just how hard it can be for a junior member of Congress to play ball.
His struggle has been a world away from the artful deal-making done by a veteran lawmaker like Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who can make or break legislation with just about a nod.
Porter used all the help he could get. By pushing ahead with his bill, Republican Party leaders ensured that he would have a legislative victory this summer, as he heads into what could be a tough fall election campaign.
"I've seen enough ads where people say, John Jones has only introduced two bills," said Donald Wolfensberger, a former Hill staffer who is now director of the Congress Project at the Woodrow Wilson Institute for International Scholars. Party leaders in Congress understand that junior members "have to make a mark and establish themselves with voters."
Porter dismisses the notion that party leadership served up a legislative success story, saying he has worked on the bill almost since he took office almost four years ago. He was joined in the Rose Garden by Clark County School District's George Ann Rice, the assistant superintendent who gave Porter the idea for the law after he was elected.
Porter's contribution to the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act is a provision that makes information from national criminal databases more available to schools for teacher background checks. Porter says that if anything, the star power of TV show host John Walsh, who lobbied for the bill, helped secure passage this year, the 25th anniversary of his son Adam's death.
"This is an issue that didn't just show up in an election cycle," said Porter after the ceremony. "Legislation takes time. There are members who work on issues for years and years and years If it didn't pass this session, I would keep pushing it again and again."
Such tenacity is essential. Leadership may be able to snap its fingers and get legislation moving, but most of the 435 members of Congress need long-standing relationships and track records to get even a committee hearing. Newbies' bills get co-opted by higher-ups who claim them as their own, or the bills are passed over for similar ones by members with more clout.
Of the 10,000 bills introduced each two-year session, just 4 percent become law - about one for every member of Congress.
Members know their bills may never have a chance to land on the president's desk, but they churn them out anyway so they can tell their constituents back home they're working hard. It's like shouting from the bleachers, then saying you were coaching the team.
"There's some truth to that," said James H. Hershman, a veteran campaign strategist and senior fellow at Georgetown's Government Affairs Institute. "They magnify what they're doing because the general public doesn't know that much about Congress."
But he and others say the theatrical show can serve as a means to an end. Representatives can get an issue in the public record, and if enough like-minded members do the same, there can be a groundswell of support.
Or they can simply introduce the same bill year after year - which is what Porter is doing on a number of his bills - until finally they have the political know-how and capital to get it moved. Even if it fails to make it as a stand-alone bill, they can claim credit, as Porter is doing, if it becomes part of a broader law.
"In the bill, it won't say it's the Jon Porter provision," said John Haskell, also a senior fellow at the Georgetown institute. But "he can go back to Nevada and say it's the Porter provision."
Getting one part of one bill signed by a president may not sound like much to show for two terms in Congress, but experts say representatives should be judged on many fronts. Those include how much pork they bring home to the district; how effective their staff is at handling constituents' concerns on bread-and-butter issues like Medicare or immigration; and how many other pieces of legislation they have helped or halted from becoming law.
Porter has seen several of his bills pass the House or get folded into broader bills. He has brought home tens of millions of dollars in transportation funds and wastewater improvement funds. He secured $1.5 million for a teacher mentoring program and $500,000 for a nursing program at Nevada State College.
He did have a stand-alone bill become law, but it addressed a narrow local issue: renaming the Boulder City Post Office.
To get the provision in the Adam Walsh law, he introduced the teacher background check concept in multiple bills and amendments before it finally got tucked into the act.
"Porter's a good example of how seniority and length of service in Congress and titles aren't the only factors in how you're successful on Capitol Hill," said Kevin A. Madden, a spokesman for House Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio.
But Democrats doubt he did all the heavy lifting on his own - especially as he heads into the November election facing a challenge from Democratic front-runner Tessa Hafen, Reid's former press secretary.
"Leadership was trying to give him something he can talk about," said one Democratic staffer. "Throw him a bone."
"That's generally the M.O. for Republican leaders," said Stacey Bernards, spokeswoman for House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland.
"I think it's something people are probably glad was made into law," Bernards said. "There's probably appreciation for that accomplishment. But does that make him an effective congressman on behalf of his constituents? I don't think that answers the question."
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