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Hot Legislation
Thomas brings you the hot bills expected to receive floor action in Congress each week.

Immigration
The Net National Costs of Illegal Immigration: An interesting article that shoots a few holes in the logic of Buchanan's border plans.

With Bob Dole apparently coasting to the Republican nomination, our eyes reluctantly turn back to the mundane business of the U.S. Congress. What with all the mania over the Republican campaign, one might be pardoned for forgetting that politicians don't just campaign, they actually get some things done in office. Or at least they try.

Congress has reconvened after an inactive winter, and Republican leaders like Speaker Newt Gingrich and Majority Leader Richard K. Armey are nervous about the year ahead. While their Contract With America helped Republicans win back Congress in 1994 and provided compelling momentum for a number of fast legislative victories in the House of Representatives, for many Congressional Republicans the Contract has lost much of its precious luster. Although Republicans scored a string of fast victories in the House on issues like Welfare reform, Medicare and tax cuts, many of their initiatives either became mired in the Senate or have been vetoed by President Clinton. (Their standoff with the President continues to leave the government without a budget, and federal agencies are due to shut down again if both sides fail to reach another compromise.)

Republicans fret that despite their sound and fury, they'll have few concrete accomplishments to offer voters when they campaign for re-election this November. They'll also have to dodge charges that they governed overzealously, pursuing a negative agenda that was too eager to roll back environmental regulations and to cut programs like Welfare, Medicare and Medicaid while approving a $240 billion tax cut. (Just last week, image concerns forced Republicans to abandon a regulatory reform bill that would have limited environmental laws.) Some Democrats have even begun to talk hopefully about reclaiming control of the House in 1996. More generally, the Republicans' holy budget-balancing crusade has been undermined by their party's primary campaign, in which the debate shifted away from the deficit -- thanks largely to Steve Forbes' popular flat-tax, supply-side optimism which essentially ignores deficit issues.

As a result, Republicans have been more willing to compromise and water down bills on their agenda so they can be more easily passed and notched in the GOP belt. They are now focused on a few important bills that appear likely to pass in the coming weeks. Here's a look at how they're shaping up:

IMMIGRATION REFORM

Nuts and Bolts: The House and Senate are working on similar bills designed to reduce the number of immigrants who enter the U.S. each year. The House bill, sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-TX, seeks to lower the number of legal immigrants to America from about 800,000 to 535,000. The Senate is focusing primarily on ways to limit illegal immigration through tighter border patrols and limitations on the eligibility of illegal aliens for federal aid. The Senate bill is sponsored by Sen. Alan K. Simpson, R-WY, a leading Congressional expert on immigration.

Status: The House Judiciary Committee approved its version of the bill last October. The Senate Judiciary Committee is currently debating its measure.

Inside Scoop: The Senate is currently wrangling over how much impact on legal immigration its bill will have. Last week Simpson was forced to drop an amendment that would have cut down on the ability of American companies to hire skilled foreign workers, and one that would have set up a system to verify that job- and benefit-seekers were not illegal aliens. Despite vocal criticism of immigration today -- including the campaign rhetoric of GOP presidential candidates like Pat Buchanan -- a coalition of business, religious and pro-immigration interests have been strong enough to blunt Simpson's efforts. A frank speaker, Simpson explained his retreat in the face of opposition last week by saying: "I just got tired of dealing with it."

LINE-ITEM VETO

Nuts and Bolts: An idea that is well-supported by both parties and outside as well as inside Congress. The line-item veto would allow the President to selectively veto specific parts of Congressional bills without killing the entire legislation. Supporters say this would allow the President to cut pork that Congress could not keep out of its bills, and would prevent entire bills from being vetoed, as they sometimes are, due to a controversial amendment that may have little relation to the original legislation.

Status: The House and Senate each passed similar versions of the bill early last year, but have been slow to reconcile differences in a conference committee. The committees began to reconsider the bill in November and are likely to send it back to the two chambers for a final vote soon.

Inside Scoop: As you may have guessed, the molasses-slow pace at which the Republicans have wrapped up a popular and easily-passed bill has something to do with the fact that the new power would currently be enjoyed in the White House by a Democrat. But now that Republicans are looking for something to put on their campaign resumes, they can no longer afford to let such a bill languish.

PRODUCT LIABILITY REFORM

Nuts and Bolts: This bill would revise laws governing the liability of companies who make products that somehow injure consumers. Hoping to end million-dollar settlements for people burned by scalding-hot McDonald's coffee, bills passed by the House and Senate would limit punitive damage awards. The Senate would limit damages a small businesses could be forced to pay to $250,000. Larger companies could be forced to pay more. The House would impose a more comprehensive cap in all civil cases, and would include medical malpractice liability limits.

Status: The House and Senate passed versions of the bill in March and May, but a conference committee did not take them up until December. Conferees are now said to be wrapping up their differences and preparing to send a final version back for a vote.

Inside Scoop: The bill emerging in the conference committee looks more like the narrower Senate version. Sen. Slade Gorton, R-WA is the chief sponsor of that bill. Rep. Christopher Cox, R-CA, is a leading supporter of the House version.