So a couple of lobbyists walk into a Congressman’s office. There’s nothing unusual about that in D.C. Barring weekends and federal holidays, I’d warrant there’s a lobbyist of some sort walking into one of the 535 member offices just about every day of the year.
Of course, it’s a little unusual to have a reporter sitting in the room.
Rep. Brad Miller was kind enough to let me sit in on part of his day Wednesday. That day included a visit from Floyd Stoner and James Ballentine, who represent the American Bankers Association.
Now, Stoner and Ballentine didn’t run screaming from the room when they met me, which I appreciated. But it seemed to me they were a little on edge, and probably not as blunt as they might have been had I not been sitting there scribbling in my notebook.
The pair is interested in the federal predatory lending legislation that Miller (and Rep. Mel Watt) plan to file once again. The bill would set limits on what banks can charge for loans to people with less than optimal credit and set boundaries for when loans just aren’t feasible. A snippet of the conversation:
“What we want to avoid is turning back the clock where if you don’t have A-plus credit, you get nothing,” Ballentine said, saying that if rules were too restrictive lenders help borrowers with less than stellar credit.
“We have been aware we, we will be aware we don’t want to regulate sub-prime lending to death,” Miller said, drawing on the example of North Carolina’s law to show that sub-prime lending can still happen in the face of regulation.
It went on like that for about 10 minutes, maybe a little longer.
Miller and his staffers characterized this as a “meet and greet,” an opportunity for the lobbyist in question to make their intentions known.
Now, I know the idea here is that instead of having someone who is going to work against whatever you do, you invite them to give their 2-cents on a pending bill and maybe they’ll help you get it passed. It happens quite a bit in Raleigh, where there’s a special room in the legislative office building where these stakeholder meetings typically go down.
So I know was supposed to be a cooperative occasion.
But it also had the feel of a couple of prize fighters sizing each other up, maybe at a weigh in or something. Except in the pugilistic exposition that is American politics, it’s not just two guys in the square circle. Rather, as many different parties as have an interest in a thing lace up their gloves and go at it.
Bits and pieces from Wednesday (and one from Tuesday):
- I’ve heard from Democrats and Republicans that the much ballyhooed plan to work five days a week put forward by the Democratic leadership is keeping them from visiting with constituents back in their districts. And this early in the session, they say, there’s not the work to justify it. Said Rep. Virginia Foxx yesterday, “We’re cramming two and half days of work into five.”
- In yesterday’s post I wrote about Rep. Howard Coble’s opposition to the minimum wage. On the Senate side, Sen. Richard Burr said he generally supports the idea of the raising the wage, but has a different take on how it ought to be done. Click here to listen to that clip.
- As I was stalking Miller today, I stopped in on the House Foreign Relations Committee where he is a member. The agenda for the day was to hear from and question former Sec. State Madeline Albright. She is not a fan of the administration’s Iraq policy.
“There are not a lot of countries looking at Iraq right now and thinking ‘I want my country to look like that.’ It’s not a great advertisement (for Democracy),” she said.
- Usually when I wander into someone’s legislative office, they have pictures of them standing with political heroes or allies. So I’m sitting in Watt’s office and he’s getting done criticizing the president’s Iraq strategy and I look up to see a picture of President Bush and Watt and their wives at a White House Christmas Party.
“I live the president on a personal level… we’re not enemies.”
More here tomorrow night.
