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Anti-Environmental "Riders" Could Trigger Government Shutdown
By Randy Showstack
WASHINGTON, DC, September 21, 1998 (ENS) - With appropriations bills to fund the U.S. federal government weighed down by dozens of legislative measures, or "riders," that conservationists
consider anti-environmental, some members of Congress say the best opportunity to delete the riders may be by mustering sufficient votes to show that any potential presidential vetoes could be sustained.
They warn that current and even additional riders could sneak through the cracks to become law, as Congress rushes to pass a budget before adjourning in early October. The risk of this increases as it appears more likely that at least some of the 13 appropriations bills could be combined into one omnibus spending bill or a continuing resolution to keep the government open.
 President Bill Clinton
But these members of Congress also say that President Clinton will stand by his promise to veto any legislation containing riders that are detrimental to the environment - despite the current crisis that is weakening his presidency, and the risk of a government shutdown.
"Given the time frame, it's going to be very difficult to finish the budget at all, much less with these controversial provisions," said Greg Wetstone, legislative director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a conservation organization that issued a report, "Riders on the Storm: Environmental Assaults in the FY 1999 Budget Legislation," last week.
"The risk of a federal government shutdown as a result of the environmental provisions right now is extremely high," he added. "The next few weeks are going to be pretty interesting."
The riders are "a poison pill" that will prompt Clinton to veto any legislation they are attached to, said Senator Max Baucus, a Democrat from Montana. He added that the riders are "undemocratic," and would not be approved as stand-alone bills.
Baucus had planned to introduce an amendment to remove eight riders attached to the Senate Interior Appropriations bill, before that bill was withdrawn by the Senate Republican leadership last week.
 Max Baucus
The Baucus amendment, which he promises to introduce to any omnibus bill that contains the riders, would delete language that allows road building through a federal wilderness area in Alaska, and doubles the industrial logging rate in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, among other measures.
Other riders attached to various appropriations bills include delaying pollution clean-ups and regulatory efforts, freezing existing corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for automobiles, and blocking efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Conservationists say the Endangered Species Recovery Act of 1997 is among the most potentially harmful riders, because it would weaken the Endangered Species Act. The measure, sponsored as a stand-alone bill and as a rider by Senator Dirk Kempthorne, a Republican from Indiana, is "terrible," said Brock Evans, head of the Endangered Species Coalition. "The only thing we
like is the title."
"What we fear," said Representative Frank Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey, "is the Republican leadership, essentially because of big business interests, continuing what has now become a stealth effort to put in all of these environmental riders in appropriations."
Representative Sherwood Boehlert, a Republican from New York, said some members of his party would support efforts by Democratic senators and the Clinton Administration to strike the riders, even while other Republicans lead the charge to pass many of them.
"The ultimate test will be down at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, because it's anybody's guess what is going to happen to the individual appropriations bills. I think they are all going to be melded into probably a great big omnibus bill at the end of the session," Boehlert said.
"And the White House has to stand strong and send very clear signals to one and all that this is unacceptable policy. It will have some strong support within my Republican ranks."
But as Congress winds down the current session and prepares for the November elections, nobody is sure which bills these riders may wind up attached to, and what the Administration response will be.
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