The End-game Strategy for Federal Metals Theft Legislation
Senator Klobuchar (D-MN) has been relentless towards passing her federal metals theft prevention legislation (S.394) during this Congress. Moreover, she has promised to continue her aggressive strategy of attaching her bill to any legislation going through the U.S. Senate. Subsequently, we have asked you to engage by contacting your U.S. Senators several times now to explain your concerns and ask them to oppose the bill.
You, as constituents are very important voices to each of these Senators because of your business ownership and community leadership, your political activity and your willingness to be a strong advocate for your industry at both the state and federal levels. Each time you have risen to the occasion and we have been able to deny her attempts to pass her legislation. The last such effort was during ISRI’s board meeting in Las Vegas last month. We will continue to call on you again and again until the U.S. Senate officially ends sometime in December and all bills die. And, we need more ReMA members to voice their concerns to their U.S. Senators opposing her bill.
While the Congress looks very unproductive from outside the Beltway these days with very low approval ratings from the public, Congress does pass a lot of non-controversial legislation to little fanfare or nightly cable TV coverage. Importantly, this is the type of below-the-radar screen legislation that Senators look for in which to attach stalled legislation or legislation that won’t garner floor time. In our case, Senator Klobuchar has attempted to attach her bill to an energy efficiency and a manufacturing bill so far. The bigger complication for us is when larger must-pass bills come to the floor such as appropriations or tax extenders that have many election-year enticements. It is imperative that you continually remind your U.S. Senators to oppose the Klobuchar amendment and deny her the ability to attach it especially in the waning moments of the 113th Congress.
It is also critical that we show Congress that our industry is taking proactive and concrete steps to help combat metals theft. This includes ISRI’s revamping of ScrapTheftAlert.com that includes many new important features for law enforcement; the establishment of a Law Enforcement Advisory Council (LEAC) comprised of law enforcement professionals, prosecutors, and private security; and your activities with local law enforcement. We also strongly urge you to not only meet with your U.S. Senators, but invite them to visit your scrapyards. These are all great strides we are taking as an industry, but members of Congress need to hear about all these efforts from you. So while their August recess may seem far away, now is the time to begin inviting them to visit your yard. Please contact a member of the ReMA government relations staff team to help you schedule these appointments with your elected officials.