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Source: http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/nation/15995624.htm
House control shift aids autism study; research bill expected to pass under probable new head of committee
By Randy Lee Loftis
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS - Democratic control of the House if Representatives changes the nation's environmental agenda and affects a related topic that has stirred strong feelings: research on autism.
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, won his race, but with his party out of power, he will lose the chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
That has raised hopes for those advocating House approval of a bill that Barton blocked this fall. His decision to prevent a vote on the nearly $1 billion autism package, which includes $45 million for research on possible environmental causes, infuriated parents of autistic children nationwide.
Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., who will probably be the new committee chairman when the Democrats take control of the House next year, wants a House vote on the autism legislation. But Mike Bernoski of Arlington, Texas, father of a 3-year-old with autism, said advocates want action during the lame-duck congressional session before the year's end.
"We feel very positive that next year we can get this done," Bernoski said. "But this legislation's not going to be any different 12 months from now. The difference is by then we'll have another 36,000 kids with autism who won't have the benefit of the bill."
The old and new chairmen have nearly opposite environmental voting records.
In 2005, the League of Conservation Voters, the environmental movement's political arm, gave Barton a zero rating and Dingell 89 out of a possible 100.
The American Land Rights Association, which opposes restrictions on mining and other commercial activities on federal land, gave Barton a 100 in 2005 and Dingell a zero.
Barton's record includes:
_Pressing the Environmental Protection Agency in 2003 and 2004 to leave Ellis County out of a regional smog plan that required pollution cuts from North Texas' biggest industries. Mike Leavitt, then head of the EPA, rebuffed Barton and put Ellis County in the plan.
_Holding hearings this year challenging the scientific basis of global warming.
_Seeking exemptions from environmental rules for refineries, limits on pollution lawsuits involving the gasoline additive MTBE, and extensions of federal deadlines for fighting urban smog. Each attempt failed.
Dingell's record includes:
_Pushing tougher clean-water laws and protection for endangered species and their habitats.
_Calling for an investigation of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force - the kind of probe that, as chairman, he could order.
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© 2006, The Dallas Morning News.
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Ron here again. It is worth noting that the Combating Autism Act of 2006 passed the senate unanimously. Were it to have been brought to a vote in the house, even before the mid-term elections, all indications are that it would have passed easily. Congressman Joe Barton has single-handedly prevented that vote by holding it up in committee. I realize that this kind of thing happens all the time; I still remember my Schoolhouse Rock education on the long and winding road that a bill takes before ever becoming a law. I also readily acknowledge that this is a personal hot-button issue for me. But I would like to think that even if I didn't have an autistic child, I would still be outraged by this action by Joe Barton. Although he was easily re-elected with more than 60% of the vote in his Texas district, at least he loses his chairmanship because of the change in control of the house. I just hope that this bill can come to fruition during the upcoming lame-duck session, since there is no reason for it to have to wait another year. This is a good bill, it deserves to be passed.
House control shift aids autism study; research bill expected to pass under probable new head of committee
By Randy Lee Loftis
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS - Democratic control of the House if Representatives changes the nation's environmental agenda and affects a related topic that has stirred strong feelings: research on autism.
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, won his race, but with his party out of power, he will lose the chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
That has raised hopes for those advocating House approval of a bill that Barton blocked this fall. His decision to prevent a vote on the nearly $1 billion autism package, which includes $45 million for research on possible environmental causes, infuriated parents of autistic children nationwide.
Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., who will probably be the new committee chairman when the Democrats take control of the House next year, wants a House vote on the autism legislation. But Mike Bernoski of Arlington, Texas, father of a 3-year-old with autism, said advocates want action during the lame-duck congressional session before the year's end.
"We feel very positive that next year we can get this done," Bernoski said. "But this legislation's not going to be any different 12 months from now. The difference is by then we'll have another 36,000 kids with autism who won't have the benefit of the bill."
The old and new chairmen have nearly opposite environmental voting records.
In 2005, the League of Conservation Voters, the environmental movement's political arm, gave Barton a zero rating and Dingell 89 out of a possible 100.
The American Land Rights Association, which opposes restrictions on mining and other commercial activities on federal land, gave Barton a 100 in 2005 and Dingell a zero.
Barton's record includes:
_Pressing the Environmental Protection Agency in 2003 and 2004 to leave Ellis County out of a regional smog plan that required pollution cuts from North Texas' biggest industries. Mike Leavitt, then head of the EPA, rebuffed Barton and put Ellis County in the plan.
_Holding hearings this year challenging the scientific basis of global warming.
_Seeking exemptions from environmental rules for refineries, limits on pollution lawsuits involving the gasoline additive MTBE, and extensions of federal deadlines for fighting urban smog. Each attempt failed.
Dingell's record includes:
_Pushing tougher clean-water laws and protection for endangered species and their habitats.
_Calling for an investigation of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force - the kind of probe that, as chairman, he could order.
---
© 2006, The Dallas Morning News.
------------
Ron here again. It is worth noting that the Combating Autism Act of 2006 passed the senate unanimously. Were it to have been brought to a vote in the house, even before the mid-term elections, all indications are that it would have passed easily. Congressman Joe Barton has single-handedly prevented that vote by holding it up in committee. I realize that this kind of thing happens all the time; I still remember my Schoolhouse Rock education on the long and winding road that a bill takes before ever becoming a law. I also readily acknowledge that this is a personal hot-button issue for me. But I would like to think that even if I didn't have an autistic child, I would still be outraged by this action by Joe Barton. Although he was easily re-elected with more than 60% of the vote in his Texas district, at least he loses his chairmanship because of the change in control of the house. I just hope that this bill can come to fruition during the upcoming lame-duck session, since there is no reason for it to have to wait another year. This is a good bill, it deserves to be passed.
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