Baby's First Bill

As readers can see, I'm testing out a new "theme" for my blog. I love the picture of the Powwow River at the top and the dark colors, but I'm not crazy about the layout. I welcome feedback from my readers!

There's a young man in my office who, as he says, is "low man on the totem pole." As the last one added to the staff, he has to be ready to do anything in order to move up. I think he'll do fine. He's bright and even-tempered and from what I can tell, a highly competent person. He's also funny as hell. But, he is sometimes the focus of jokes in our office "pod" - or our small cluster of work spaces. Last week he was working on his first bill. I think he was the first one to actually say, "baby's first bill," and then probably regretted it. He was lightly harassed about it for the rest of the afternoon. I suspect it was something akin to what goes on in junior high school locker rooms, but with a bit more sophistication, given where we are and what we're doing. This is why I have been keeping my bill writing on the down low, you know, with the exception of announcing it every week in staff meetings.

All of this is by way of introducing readers to the concept of how bills are written. I can't speak in specifics, but I can speak in generalities of things that I have learned from hanging around the halls of the Senate Office Buildings, by speaking to other fellows, and by watching staffers interact.

Let's start here, with School House Rocks - I'm Just a Bill. This is how we all think that laws are developed and passed, and indeed, in the vaguest possible sense, they are. But, there's so much more.

I worry that my readers might be getting ready to cringe at this point, but there's no need to cringe. I'm not going to weave a story of woe, because those stories have already been told. The concern that lobbying groups write bills has already been covered by NPR, the Washington Post, and many others I presume. There are some concerning stories out there, like those about groups like ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, writing bills. This may be going on, but I'm in the field of social welfare, or what Congressional staffers call, "human services." (I suppose this term sounds less loaded than "social welfare.") Social welfare lobbyists and advocacy groups do not usually have deep pockets, so corruption is much less of a concern.

There are blogs and other news stories tell more balanced stories of how bills are written and why Congressional staffers do lean  on lobbyists and other stakeholders when writing laws. Why do they do this? First of all, staffers cannot be experts in everything. They certainly do have areas of expertise, but those folks who are in the trenches understand the issues much better than those on the Hill. School House Rocks is right to some extent: Laws do start with an idea. Then they move to becoming a concept which is written down into a one-pager. This one pager is primarily circulated internally, among those who have some expertise in a given area, such as Congressional Research Service (CRS) staff. CRS  is the nonpartisan, research arm of Congress. They have highly skilled, trained staff, with deep knowledge about specific issues and the federal policies and regulations that are related to those issues. When I arrived on the Hill I said in jest that CRS staffers were like having research assistants, but who were happy to do their work and good at it. I think that I got a blank stare back from folks. It was warranted. CRS staff are the go-to people on all issues that Congressional staffers encounter. They are the experts.

So, when one is drafting a bill, one consults with CRS, the leadership in one's office, staffers in other offices, and one talks to a lot of stakeholders - or interested parties. This usually includes professional societies and advocacy groups. These are the folks who know the issues and know what their constituents want changed in federal law. It is my experience that the stakeholders who come to the Hill to meet with staffers are highly knowledgeable, have often been a staffer, and they have a deep interest in working with staffers to find a solution to problems. Once this is all done, the concept paper is floated up to the Senate/House Legislative Counsel.  "Leg Counsel" is a division within each house of Congress that is responsible for writing bills. They are experts on the legalese. They are attorneys who know every minutia of the most complex pieces of legislation and they will ask questions regarding how your concept will fit into or expand existing law.

The excitement begins when Leg Counsel sends the first draft back to the staffer. But, it also comes with a host of questions and the round of phone calls, emails, and other communications begins again: talking to stakeholders, CRS staff, and so forth, in order to get answers to those questions. Once a bill is nearly finalized, then one begins looking for co-sponsors. One is also working on the "messaging" of the bill - writing a summary statement that can be used by the member of Congress and floated to constituents, and getting final permission from staff leadership that the idea is a go.

This all happens just in the drafting stage of the bill - long before it gets assigned a number or is "dropped." And, definitely before press releases happen or before stakeholders officially sign on. It sounds just exhausting, doesn't it? It can be exhausting. It is a waiting game a lot of the time - waiting for people to get back to you, to resolve differences in understanding of current law, proposed law, and figuring out whether the new proposal creates more problems than it solves.

So, baby has a new bill. Let's hope it comes with a baby shower and a whole lotta support. Too bad Dr. Spock didn't write the book on this one...I think I could use it!