The Return of Elliott Eastman (9 page)

Chapter Twenty

The ‘War on the Deficit’ bill became a hot potato. Any member of the House who was seen as voting against it would be a pariah in the eyes of an aware public, but any member voting for it would be ostracized by the corporate community. It was becoming a showdown of epic proportions, but a bill in committee is different. Committees are run by a chairman who may have a different agenda, a chairman who may have to answer to a lobbying firm which he is beholden too. Committee meetings are supposedly for investigating the relative merits of some aspect of a bill. Lobbyists lurk in the hallway outside the committee meetings just waiting for chance to bend the ear of those in the know once they emerge.

But the real meetings are off site where the power brokers exert enormous pressure on committee members. Little is shared regarding what happens in those sessions.

In this case, both the Finance Committee and the Appropriations Committee were selected by the Speaker of the House to review the bill. They had thirty days to send their recommendations to the floor of the House. If they did not respond at all, the bill would die. It was called ‘being killed in committee’, and many a bill had met its fate this way. Three weeks passed and nothing was heard from either committee. It looked as though the bill was going to fade away.

Elliott was seething. He was pacing the floor of his home office in his Colorado ranch when his cell phone rang. It was President White.

“Hello Paul,” Elliott said.

“Hi Elliott. I’ve got that sinking feeling.”

“I do too.”

“How could they shelve a bill that is probably the finest piece of legislation on behalf of the American people since the Civil Rights Bill?” the President asked.

“If I recall correctly, the Civil Rights Bill didn’t get passed without a fight,” Elliott commented.

“Fight? I’d love a fight. I’ve had Jeff Archer, my head of the Government Accounting Office, look at the bill and crunch the numbers. He enthusiastically endorsed it. I’ve also spoken to George Madsen, the Director of the National Economic Council, and he thinks it’s a stroke of genius. It provides a road map for solving all our ills in a few short years. I’ve asked both men to talk to the committee heads, the Republican Sam Whitback from Kansas for the Appropriations Committee and the Republican from Texas Ray Haley Hutchinson for the Finance Committee, but they couldn’t get anywhere with them. I took it upon myself to speak with Hutchinson and he said he couldn’t back it. He said it was too far reaching. The economy was too fragile for something that was such a game changer on so many levels.”

“Oh hog wash,” Elliott growled. “Isn’t Hutchinson the one who was backing an earmark for almost a million bucks for ‘Beef Improvement Research’ at some plant in Texas owned by his cousin?”

“The same.”

“How did we reach such a sick and twisted place in our history, Paul? The framers of the Constitution would jump off the roof of the Capitol if they could hear what goes on behind those doors.”

“It’s the damn lobbyists, but what can we do?”

“We have seven more days to wait and see if the committees do anything, but I think we both know what they are going to do. They aren’t going to report it to the floor where the House members can vote on it, so it is dead. We could press for a Motion to Suspend the Rules and force the bill to the floor, but the Speaker of the House, Nick Cobbings, is a Republican from Oklahoma and close friends with Sam Whitback. The Speaker has the discretion for recognition of a Motion to Suspend and will request a ruling from the Committee that has jurisdiction over the bill. Sam Whitback will simply suggest the Motion to Suspend be denied.”

“And even if H.R. 2239 made it to the floor, the Motion to Suspend allows for the addition of amendments. They’ll amend the thing until it no longer looks anything like what was originally submitted,” The President added.

The two men fell silent mulling over their limited options.

“This is November eighteenth?” Paul asked.

“Yes.”

“The House will adjourn for the balance of the year in eleven days. We don’t have any time.”

“We could try for a Motion to Discharge which would pull the bill out of committee and bypass the Speaker. It sends the bill right to the floor for a vote by the entire House, and it cannot be amended, but let me think. When the Motion to Discharge is approved by a majority of the House it still has to sit in layover for another week, so the House members get a chance to review it. There are only eleven days until they adjourn for the year. Even if we tried for a Discharge Petition the layover period is another week, so we’re three days short, we don’t have time to pull off a discharge before they adjourn for the year. Damn.”

“If I recall my congressional history correctly there have only been two successful Motions to Discharge in the last twenty five years,” Paul White observed.

“Good, then we’re due,” Elliott replied. “If we could just find those extra three days.”

“And it sometimes takes months to get the 218 majority votes needed in the House for an approval of the Motion to Discharge,” the President interjected.

“I know,” Elliott responded in a dejected tone, “but it doesn’t have to take that long. In theory it could take fifteen minutes to get the 218 votes.”

“You’re dreaming,” the president murmured.

“There has got to be a way. I’m tempted to try for a National Referendum.”

“This isn’t Romania. The United States does not allow for Mandatory Referendums, we have only ‘Informational or Optional Referendums’,” the President reminded the former senator.

“I know, I know, but if the percentages of approval are anywhere near what the text message survey revealed, it still might serve to put the House members on notice as to what their constituents would like them to do.”

“So you think the members of the House are concerned with what the wishes of their constituents might be?” the President asked with an ugly chuckle.

“You seem to have become more cynical than when I knew you as a senator,” Elliott observed.

“And you’re not?”

“We have eleven days,” Elliott murmured. “If we put on a major media blitz and file the Motion to Discharge on the 31
^st
day, in other words the moment the thirty days is up in Committee which is this Friday, then we can somehow force congress to delay the adjournment and then force a vote on the Motion to Discharge …”

The president chuckled. “You’re going to keep congress in session over Christmas?”

“If I must.”

“Fat chance. Don’t torment yourself. We don’t have time. It’s the damn one week layover provision that’s killing us,” Paul replied.

Elliott swore under his breath. “Layover so the members of the House can read the bill. They rarely even bother reading the bill; they just go along with committee recommendations.”

“I’ve only been part of one Motion to Discharge. Are you sure once it reaches the House floor it doesn’t allow for the amending process?”

“I’m ninety nine percent sure, but I’ll consult my rules manual and get back to you.”

“Okay.”

“Look Paul,” Elliott pleaded, “we can do this. There must be something we can do. Can you have your staffers contact the committee members and see what they’re up to? We have to try. I plan on going on the offensive first thing in the morning.”

“Knock yourself out. I’ll talk to the staffers, but don’t get your hopes up.”

Before they hung up Elliott said, “Paul, I still feel like there’s something we’ve missed.”

“What we’re missing is time. Once the House adjourns sine die, for the remainder of the year the bill is dead.”

‘And so am I’ though Elliott.

Chapter Twenty-One

The following morning Elliott woke early and went to work. Over coffee he flipped through the pages of the massive publication of Congressional Research Services rules and procedures and determined the Motion to Discharge didn’t allow for any amendments to be added to the bill which worked in his favor, but he found little else to give him hope. The former senator was angry, and this was becoming a no-holds-barred fight. He contacted Backspace and suggested a new video. The Internet wizard ran with it. He called Eddie Kelley and James Lally with explicit instructions regarding Sam Whitback, Ray Hutchinson and Nick Cobbings.

He then pulled up an article he’d cobbled together in support of H.R. 2239 with bullet points aimed at certain demographics. The elderly he approached with the funding of the Social Security lock box; the groups against war and the deficit hawks with the cutting of the military bases; the young with a general comment about the stock, futures and derivatives fees eliminating their obligation to provide funding for previous generations retirements, and a closing comment about there being a much brighter future in just a few short years He sent it to his printing company for fine tuning along with instructions to buy three pages in USA TODAY. At the bottom of the article was an attachment of a tear out and mail in coupon requiring the voter’s name, address, a statement warranting they were of voting age and a space to write a comment to their legislator. He included the mailing address and phone number for every member of the House of Representatives. He closed with a phrase meant to exhort the reader to make a change today and tell your friends to do so too.

By noon he was feeling weak and frustrated and needed to lie down for a while. As he closed his eyes he quietly wondered if he was going to wake up again.

Mr. Archie ‘Backspace’ Conner’s next YouTube video went viral faster than the first. It showed a dark haired young woman in a tank top and cut-off blue jeans with a backpack. She stated in a very clear voice, “Hey you, yeah, I’m talking to you; the guy in the suit sitting in Congress. There were over 65 million text messages in response to three political questions. Over 90% of them were ‘yes’ responses. What does that tell you? I’ll tell you. The American people have spoken. We’re here. We’re watching. We’re aware and we will be heard!! If H.R. 2239 dies in committee we will be looking at you!”

It ended with a shot of thousands of people, probably at a rock concert, standing up and cheering. The mail campaign over the next few days resulted in millions of letters and calls to members of the House of Representatives, but still the bill sat stalled in committee.

A second YouTube video went out just as the 30
^th
day dawned over H.R.2239. It was still not out of Committee. This video was brutally blunt. Eddie Kelley and James Lally had done their jobs well. They had managed to capture video of Sam Whitback conferring with a lobbyist outside the House Finance Committee meeting. They were even able to identify the lobbyist. They did the same for Ray Hutchinson and Nick Cobbings. Archie converted these to still photos and submitted them to major newspapers across the nations. The caption at the top read roughly the same for each photo. “Your House of Representative member Sam Whitback working closely with Buford Birnbaum, a lobbyist from Rogers, Cahalan and Birnbaum, to defeat your future; H.R. 2239.”

Below that followed another photo of Nick Cobbings and a lobbyist, while the third photo showed Ray Haley Hutchinson eating lunch at a posh restaurant with a lobbyist identified as Burt Donaldson. When the photos hit the New York Times on the morning of November 26
^th
every member of the House on Capitol Hill saw them. Those that were not depicted in the photos breathed a sigh of relief because they knew it could just as easily have been them. The three gentlemen that were shown were in an absolute fit and demanding to find out how this had come to pass.

Letter writing and phone calls to various representatives spiked at 22,000 an hour. The House Finance Committee reported the bill to the floor unchanged, which was a remarkable event, but both the President and Elliott knew it was meaningless until the House Appropriations Committee reported it to the floor as well.

Elliott spoke with the President.

“It’s half the battle won,” Elliott said. “Now all we need to do is get the Appropriations Committee to do the same.”

“It’s a small step, but a move in the right direction,” the President agreed. “What it really means is your newspaper and YouTube approach scared the heck out of Hutchinson.”

“And Hutchinson knows if he reports the bill first it makes him look good. The bill could still die in the Appropriations Committee, so it takes the heat off of him,” Elliott theorized.

“And the Appropriations Committee is where defense firms and military suppliers and all their ancillary suppliers get their bread buttered, so it will be harder to bring it out of that committee. And Sam Whitback, the chair of the Appropriations Committee can be one mean son of a bitch. I’ve seen him in action.”

“All we can do is wait and see what Appropriations does,” Elliott concluded.

Four days later the two men had their answer. The 30
^th
day in the Appropriations Committee came and went with no release of H.R. 2239. It had died in committee.

Elliot was tempted to call the President suggesting there was something they could do, but he knew it was hopeless. They could file the Motion to Discharge, but the bill had to sit in layover for a week before they could vote on it. And with Sine Die Adjournment, the final day of the year for this session of Congress, less than six days away they were simply out of time. They had lost. Over the course of the evening while watching the news, he poured himself several stiff drinks. It didn’t seem right that America went blissfully on heading towards financial Armageddon and the evening news didn’t even mention it. There should have been some sort of comment regarding H.R. 2239 and the fact that it had disappeared without so much as a whimper. He fell into a fitful sleep on the couch with the T.V. droning on into the night.

He awoke with a start at about four in the morning. He knew there was something that had been bothering him, nagging in the back of his mind and now he knew what it was. ‘Sine Die Adjournment’ is what the President had said. The final day of this term of Congress was but six days away and that could make all the difference. He rushed into his library and searched the shelves. Again he perused the pages of the Congressional Research Service’s Rules and Procedures and found what he was looking for.

“If after 30 days the committee has not sent the bill in question to the floor the member who sponsored the bill can file a Discharge Petition to release it from committee for full consideration of the House. If 218 members, a true majority of Congress, sign the Discharge Petition then the bill can be considered by the full House after waiting seven days. The bill can only be heard on ‘Special Procedure Days’, the second and fourth Mondays of the month when the Discharge Petition would be considered as ‘Privileged Business’, meaning it would be the first order of business for the day. The 7 day waiting period, or the layover period is waived during the last 6 days before ‘Sine Die Adjournment’ and then can be heard immediately.”

Elliott almost leaped for joy. With trembling hands he dialed Representative Bruce Bennett’s cell phone number.

“Hello,” a sleepy voice answered.

“Bruce, Bruce? Elliott Eastman here.”

“Good lord Elliott, do you know what time it is?”

Elliott glanced at his watch and noted it was four fifteen in the morning.

“Yes, sorry, it’s four in the morning, but this can’t wait. Listen, I’m going to read you something.”

Elliott read the caption from the Rules of Floor Procedure and then asked, “Do you know what this means?”

“Not really.”

“How many days are left in session?”

“I don’t know what, five or six.”

“So tomorrow we’re within the six day window of Sine Die Adjournment.”

Elliott could hear the bed covers rustle as Bennett sat up in bed.

“So this means …”

“Tomorrow is the fourth Monday of the month and the day for hearing the Discharge Calendar. Motions to Discharge are Privileged Business and as such are the first business of the day. Here’s what we have to do. This is going to be tough. Once the Speaker, Nick Cobbings, figures out what you’re doing he’ll not recognize you again. Have you got others in the House you can trust?”

Bruce thought for a moment, not really sure where the conversation was going.

“Yes, there’s always the Minority Leader Jay Stephens, the Democrat from Oregon, and the Minority Whip Earl Bishop, a Democrat from Wisconsin.”

“Cobbings is a savvy vet and if he’s under as much pressure from the lobbyists as I think he is, he‘ll be wary of calling on those two. He’ll know they will likely push for an approval of HR 2239. Who else can you count on?”

“There’s Representative Kathy Morris Rodgers, a moderate Democrat from Washington who has been around a long time and knows the ropes. And Rosa Sparks, a Democrat from Connecticut we can rely on. They have both read the bill in its entirety and enthusiastically endorse it.”

“Good, very good. Can you contact them and make sure they will support you? If they agree to support you then ask them to contact every Democrat they can and inform them that we need their help on a very important vote tomorrow. Tell them they must be there.”

“Consider it done,” Bruce, now fully awake, replied swiftly. “I’ll get back to you as soon as I’ve spoken with them.”