January 5, 2007

Five Pitts Initiatives Democrats Should Love

By Congressman Joe Pitts

After twelve years in the minority, the Democrats have just taken control of Congress.  As a Republican, I know I will often be at odds with them.  I’m prepared to cast a lot of “no” votes.  But partisanship should always come second, after what’s good for America.  When they’re right, I’ll vote with the Democrats.  And when I propose something they should like, I hope they won’t shoot it down.

In that light, I’m challenging the Democrats to work with me to enact five bills I will soon be reintroducing.  Each of the five represents longstanding initiatives of mine that for one reason or another never became law while Republicans controlled the House.  Tight legislative calendars and adversarial committee chairmen are some of the reasons these five bills aren’t yet law.  We’ll see if the Democrats can do better.

The five bills deal with preserving open space, supporting public transportation,  access to quality health care, help for the working poor, and help for political refugees.  Each of these initiatives is non-ideological, bipartisan, and extremely important to people who need help.  These are bills the Democrats should love.

Open Space – Our area boasts a rich heritage of beautiful opens spaces and bountiful farmland.  Like many other prospering “exurbs,” the value of this land has rapidly increased.  But that increased value does nothing for farmers unless they sell it, usually to developers.  Meanwhile, property and inheritance taxes continue to be heavy burdens on farm families, often forcing them to sell some or all of their land.  Democrats may never agree with my call to permanently repeal the estate tax.  But they should like my Family Farm Preservation Act.  This bill will exempt farmers who sell the development rights to their land to conservancies from having to pay capital gains.  This is a common-sense solution that could save thousands of acres from development and help keep our area beautiful.

Public Transportation – Under current law, transit authorities lose control over how their federal funds are spent if their service areas exceed a certain population. Both RRTA in Lancaster County and BARTA in Berks County went over that population level after the last census.  I’ve been fighting tooth-and-nail since then to change the rules so local authorities can make their own decisions.  I’ve done this over the objections of the chairman of the Transportation Committee, going so far as to beat him on the floor with an amendment.  There was no bill to amend in the last Congress, however, and these local transit systems now face the prospect of cutting bus lines if something isn’t done quickly.  That means people won’t be able to get to work.   My Transit System Flexibility Protection Act is a bill that Democrats should love. 

Access to Quality Health Care – “Medical imaging” technology is essential to modern healthcare.  In the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, reimbursements for things like ultrasounds and CT scans were reduced to a level that was not only unfair but also unwise.  In some cases, doctors may soon be reluctant to use these technologies that routinely save lives.  My Access to Medicare Imaging Act, which had nearly 200 cosponsors from both parties last year, would restore equity to Medicare reimbursement and ensure that sick people can get diagnosed properly.  If 60 Democrats, including some very senior ones, supported my bill last year, I am hopeful that they’ll be just as eager to enact my bill now.

Help For the Working Poor – The working poor in America have a hard time making ends meet.  Saving for college, a mortgage down payment, or entrepreneurship is even harder.  My Savings for Working Families Act would provide tax incentives to financial institutions to match savings of up $500 a year so America’s working poor can plan to buy a first home, pay for college, or start (or expand) a small business.  This is another idea the Democrats should love.

Vulnerable Refugees – The Patriot Act had the unintended consequence of barring refugees and asylum seekers from coming to America if they provided any “material support” to any armed group—even if it’s a group America supports or if they provided the support at gunpoint.  This means Vietnamese minorities who supported the U.S. during the Vietnam War and Cubans who joined anti-Castro movements because we asked them to are barred from coming here.  It also affects refugees from Burma, Columbia, Liberia, Darfur in Sudan, and many other places.  I have a bill to fix this problem.  The New York Times has editorialized in support of it and the new Democratic chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee sponsored it last year.  This is a bill that should pass in a Democratic Congress.

I won’t always agree with the Democrats in this new Congress, and they won’t always agree with me.  But these are five bills they should support.  If they do, they’ll become law.

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