Committee Assignments
Will Help Welch Be
Effective Representative
By Peter Jewett

nInterviewed during his first two weeks in Washington, Congressman Peter Welch is clearly fired up about his legislative agenda. He lists as his principal goals legislation to help lower and middle class Americans, and bringing "common sense" to the nation’s strategy in the war in Iraq.

But getting to Washington is one thing, and being effective there is something else. Can Welch find a way to make a difference among 435 Congressmen?

Congress-watchers are impressed at the freshman's fast start. Most importantly, Welch has landed himself a pair of choice committee assignments, courtesy House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

First, Welch was appointed to the House Rules Committee which, despite its diminutive name, is hugely important. To paraphrase longtime Michigan Congressman John Dingell, in Washington, sometimes the procedure is more important than the substance.

The Rules Committee decides which bills get to the floor and when, and what amendments to the bills get votes on the floor and in what order. If there are multiple versions of a bill, it's the the Rules Committee that decides which version gets voted on.

Freshmen congressmen are not often showered with praise from their more experienced colleagues, but Congressman Welch’s seat on the Rules Committee has already made Welch a popular guy for other congressmen to come see.

Government Oversight

Welch’s other committee assignment is nearly as impressive, as he was appointed to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. That allows him a perch from which to oversee the entire federal government, helping to promote his goals of rooting out waste, fraud and abuse. The committee oversees all federal programs and any matter with federal policy implications, and is touted as the main investigative body of the House of Representatives.

The committee has focused on issues such as waste in Medicare and Medicaid, fraud in the Iraq reconstruction, and trying to foster openness in government.

Already, the Congressman has voted for several pieces of legislation that, in his estimation, would be common sense for most Vermonters.

For example, the first bill passed in the 110th Congress was an ethics bill, in which the House bound itself to act with more civility and order than the previous leadership had allowed.

The House has bound itself not to hold open votes over their allotted time, after a series of abuses of this power in previous years. The bill also bans altering committee reports after committee members have signed them and, perhaps most importantly, giving all members 24 hours to read the bills before being asked to vote on them.

Welch pointed out that during his time in the Vermont Senate, under both parties, these measures were commonplace. Welch said of these new procedures that "nobody and no party has a monopoly on the good ideas required to steer us forward," and that putting these measures in place would ensure that legislators respect one another and that all voices are heard before the members cast their votes.

Action Already

Welch also touted several bills that received significant bipartisan support once Congress was allowed to vote on them: raising the minimum wage, removing restrictions on stem cell research, and making the government directly negotiate prices on prescription drugs, instead of relying on insurance companies to act as middlemen.

Said Welch of the minimum wage increase, "In Vermont, and across America, we have a proud tradition of self-reliance and sense of community. We need to combine those two values—self reliance on one hand and community on the other—by rewarding work and making work pay."

Despite Congressman Welch’s party allegiances, he was quick to point out that in Vermont, Republicans and Democrats alike had supported these exact issues. Both Gov. Howard Dean and Gov. Jim Douglas have supported raising the state minimum wage above the federal level, which had not risen in ten years, as well as negotiating directly with drug companies.

Congressman Welch faults the previous congressional leadership for suborning the will of the majority of congressmen, and more importantly, the will of the American people. And though only a freshman from a tiny state, he seems to have made important strides in promoting a very different agenda.