Taegan Goddard’s Political Dictionary tells us that logrolling isn’t just the exciting lumberjack athletic contest that looks like a ballet for tough guys, but also refers to an “informal agreement between legislators to vote for each others’ priorities.” Political logs roll when lawmakers push through a bill that benefits their constituencies but is financed by all taxpayers — it’s a game of “you vote for my dams and bridges, and I’ll vote for your housing projects and hospitals.”
For Big Green, the archetypal “omnibus public lands bill” has been the ideal vehicle — a game that savvy Democrats play with freshman Republicans to “vote for dozens of my no-oil-or-gas wilderness bills and I’ll vote for two of your ‘name a mountain after some obscure native son’ bills.” Even better for Big Green, an omnibus bill is so long and complicated that key staffers are known to have never read the whole thing.
Such crammed-full-of-other-bills omnibus bills are usually touted as being “not especially controversial,” as a New York Times commentator did two months ago when writing about Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, who decided to review 21 federal lands bills at once.
Perhaps it was true. Bills that created “new wilderness in Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, create a new Pinnacles National Park in California and add dozens of miles of wild and scenic rivers in Oregon” weren’t especially controversial — unless it was your home that got the condemnation and eviction notice from a federal marshal.
But the GOP has caught on. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., called it an “unfortunate circumstance” that Democrats had stuffed 21 little bills into one big bill in the panel’s opening hearing of this session of Congress.
“I hate to be starting this year in such a contentious fashion,” he told his colleagues in this bipartisanship-infested body, but apologetically noted that Republican members had neither the staff nor the time to prepare for that many bills in a single hearing, especially new members.
The New York Times commentator seemed oblivious of Burr’s sarcasm in his closing remarks: “I hope that this won’t serve as a permanent blemish on the subcommittee.”
The House is different. Forget omnibus bills. One of the most outspoken opponents of the omnibus federal lands bill is Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, who said, “House Republicans have committed to a transparent legislative process, moving bills through regular order with appropriate hearings and committee markups to create jobs and improve our economy.”
You can tell how much that “transparency” remark stings opacity-loving Big Green by Hastings’ latest ratings — a zero from the League of Conservation voters and an 8 from Republicans for Environmental Protection.
A good deal of Big Green’s fear of Hastings has also been aroused by his outspoken support for fossil fuel energy development — particularly in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
But Big Green practically foams at the mouth because Hastings simply doesn’t tolerate logrolling. I asked him how his opponents react to that. Typically, he responded with the why as well as the what: “Gone are the days of thousand-page bills being written in the dead of night, behind closed doors in Speaker Pelosi’s office. Pushing through Christmas tree omnibus bills is the practice of the failed Democrat majority.”
Well, what does he do, then? “Instead, Republicans will consider each piece of legislation based on their individual merits and contribution to the American economy and job creation.” So far, no logs have dared to roll anywhere near Doc Hastings.
Examiner Columnist Ron Arnold is executive vice president of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise.
