Sizing up the GOP-controlled Congress - Republican Party - Column

Discount Store News, Jan 2, 1995 by Ken Rankin

With the Republicans calling the shots on Capitol Hill, pro-business lawmakers are now in charge at most of the key House and Senate committees responsible for legislation affecting retailers.

The result: instead of battling a series of legislative brushfires in Congress, retail government relations specialists say they will be actively seeking positive legislation to benefit the industry and consumers.

Here's how the next couple of years figure to shape up, issue-by-issue:

* Labor legislation--Forget the "striker replacement" bill, restrictions on electronic monitoring of retail employees and the prospect of a stiff increase in the federal minimum wage. With Nancy Kassebaum (R-Kan.) replacing Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) at the helm of the Senate Labor Committee, and Rep. Bill Goodling (R-Pa.) chairing the House Education and Labor Committee, organized labor's influence in the 104th Congress will be reduced considerably.

* Taxes--President Clinton won't be able to muscle through any more stiff increases in business taxes with the Republicans running the Congressional tax committees. House speaker Newt Gingrich's (R-Ga.) pledge to place a capital gains tax cut high on the legislative agenda will warm more than a few retail chain hearts. But there could be a glitch: Ways and Means Committee chairman Bill Archer (R-Texas) is sweet on consumption taxes such as a national sales tax opposed by the retail industry.

* Health care--Health care reform financed through employer mandates is a dead letter in Congress. The President couldn't ram his bill through last year when the Democrats were in control and he certainly won't have the votes in the 104th.

But employer-mandated health coverage is still alive and kicking at the state level. The battle here in Washington will be over proposed legislation to relax provisions of the federal Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) that require states to obtain federal waivers before regulating employee health benefits.

* Commerce--Rep. John Dingell's (D-Mich.) ouster as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee means that Congress will be a considerably less hospitable place for Naderites, anti-business "activists" and other "counter culture McGoverniks." At the same time, prospects for product liability reform legislation figure to improve with Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) running the House Judiciary Committee.

* Trade--The GOP led the charge last year for passage of both NAFTA and GATT, and the 104th Congress should be more than willing to work with the Administration on further reductions in tariffs. One potential trouble spot, though, is the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. The incoming chairman--outspoken North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms--could become a roadblock to retail industry-supported legislation providing Most Favored Nation trade status to China.