Reasonable Disagreement: Two U.S. Senators and the Choices They Make by Karl A. Lamb

Author:Karl A. Lamb [Lamb, Karl A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781000118865
Google: fTzJzQEACAAJ
Publisher: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2013-01-15T13:10:38+00:00

Thus Lugar’s libertarian concern for freedom over regulation was tempered by Edmund Burke’s vision of society as a living organism.

Lugar’s convictions were also engaged in the work of the Committee on Agriculture. At issue was the question of amending the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Assigned the duty of determining the safety of some thirty-five thousand chemical pesticides, the Environmental Protection Agency had accumulated a huge backlog of applications for safety certification. Lugar claimed that good government intentions created intolerable delays and costs for the farmer. Since all the products were combinations of some fourteen hundred chemicals developed and produced by four or five large corporations, the proposed legislation seemed reasonable. It directed the EPA to concentrate on the fourteen hundred chemical ingredients, rather than the thirty-five thousand combinations. The revised FIFRA was signed by Jimmy Carter on September 30, 1978.

While Dick Lugar’s initial legislative efforts were devoted either to championing conservative causes, or to making specific governmental activities palatable to conservatives, Paul Sarbanes’ first legislative initiative centered on serving Maryland. His first achievement was to guide through the Foreign Relations committee, and then the full Senate, the first change since 1790 in American provisions for the immunity of foreign diplomats from prosecution. Diplomats and their staff members involved in automobile accidents were persuaded by their insurance companies to invoke diplomatic immunity, leaving the accident victims without compensation and the insurance companies enriched by their already collected premiums. The victims were usually citizens of Maryland, the District of Columbia, or New York, where consular offices are concentrated.

Sarbanes presided over one-day Foreign Relations Committee hearings on May 24, 1978. A representative of the insurance industry objected to the stipulation that diplomatic officials be required to carry liability insurance when operating vehicles, vessels, or aircraft, and that injured citizens be enabled to proceed directly against the insurance companies although their clients might be protected by diplomatic immunity. Sarbanes mildly asked if the insurance companies had ever refused to issue policies to diplomats on the grounds that claims could be avoided through the invocation of diplomatic immunity. The lobbyist retired into silence.

Sarbanes then presented amendments to the House bill to a meeting of the full Foreign Relations Committee. The changes were adopted by voice vote without change and reported favorably. Sarbanes introduced the legislation for Senate debate on August 17; four senators spoke in favor of the bill; the Senate passed the law by voice vote. The House of Representatives concurred in the Senate changes on September 18, and President Jimmy Carter signed the Diplomatic Relations Act of 1978 on September 30.

The result would clearly benefit those few Marylanders injured in accidents by foreign diplomats, but the new law was not one to make headlines. Paul Sarbanes demonstrated his mastery of the details of the issue, his understanding of the legislative process, and his willingness to take on the rather thankless housekeeping tasks that are part of modern legislation. It was a good first bill for a freshman senator beginning to climb the seniority ladder of the majority party.

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