Outlook: Congress

(Editor's note: As part of its coverage of the issues that will affect business in 2001, Springfield Business Journal is continuing to present Outlook articles on topics of interest throughout the month of January.)

The political pundits who are predicting legislative gridlock in the 107th Congress are likely to be proved wrong in the first few months, even though the House is narrowly divided and the Senate is evenly split.

We are on the verge of making historic improvements to the way our government operates.

Significant tax reform bills vetoed by President Bill Clinton last year should again receive strong bipartisan support in the new Congress.

Repeal of the 1993 tax on some Social Security benefits is likely to be passed as well. The $553 billion in savings to American tax payers from these measures represents less than 15 percent of the projected 10-year surplus.

Congress can maintain a balanced budget, provide tax relief and continue its effort to reduce the publicly held national debt which has already declined by more than a half-trillion dollars since 1997. We are on track to eliminate the publicly held debt in a dozen years.

Other tax reform improvements to be returned to the president's desk will be an increase in the ceilings on IRAs from the current $2,000 to $5,000 per person, per year.

Legislation I sponsored to broaden and simplify the creation of pension retirement plans for small business garnered strong bipartisan support. President-elect Bush has indicated that he would sign all of these reforms.

There will be a serious national debate on strengthening Social Security. People who are now receiving benefits or who are approaching retirement will have their benefits guaranteed. However those who are just entering the work force, or those who are years away from retirement, should have the option to invest a small portion of their Social Security taxes to increase their savings for retirement.

Overhauling Medicare and adding a prescription drug program for seniors will draw close attention. Expect Congress to address the problem for the poorest seniors who need the most help with the cost of the prescribed drugs. Two-thirds of seniors already have some form of drug coverage from the private sector.

Government takeover of pharmaceuticals would provide poorer service to seniors in private programs and price controls that would strangle development of new breakthrough drugs for all. The long-term goal is to ensure all seniors can afford private sector drug coverage.

Education and national defense will be key priorities of the new administration and the Congress. President-elect Bush is seeking a $1 billion pay increase for men and women in military service. Increased spending on upgrading our military technology and security, including a national missile defense system, can be expected.

The new federal education philosophy will be moving power to states and local school districts to make key decisions about how best to educate students. New federal standards will give more flexibility in the use of federal aid but hold districts accountable by requiring them to demonstrate that students are improving their academic performance.

In the last 90 days, the Clinton Administration issued a sweeping number of midnight regulations covering everything from ergonomics in the work place to the use of diesel fuels by big trucks.

The ergonomics rule, covering more than 600 pages in the Federal Register, is being implemented without benefit of the first-of-its-kind study on workplace injuries by the National Academy of Sciences, which is due for completion in a few months.

The new rules force many firms to redesign their workplaces and creates a new federal workers' compensation program.

The Bush Administration is certain to change some of the rules to make them fairer and to ensure they are based on sound scientific data, not bureaucratic guesswork.

(Roy Blunt is the 7th District representative to the U.S. Congress.)