For the second time in two weeks, Washington's self-proclaimed pro-business Democrat U.S. Rep. Adam Smith has split with his party and sided with President Bush and Republicans on a major public policy issue.

On Thursday, Smith was one of five Democrats to help pass by a 226-203 vote an amended Patients' Bill of Rights that now caps lawsuits against HMOs.  Last week, he was one of 20 Democrats to side with Republicans on a preliminary vote on the Social Security privatization issue (see Tuesday's report below).

Smith is a prominent member of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), a business-oriented group of Democrats that has held sway on many issues inside the beltway since the party's crushing election defeat in 1994.  Because the U.S. House is relatively evenly split between parties, a handful of either side's members can break ranks and make the difference.  The DLC did this repeatedly during the Clinton Administration on issues ranging from international trade to tax cuts for the wealthy.  Now they are doing the same under the much more aggressively conservative Bush Administration.

Smith, Washington's 9th District Representative since 1996, has a lifetime 79% AFL-CIO voting record; 67% for the year 2000.

Approval of the patients' rights legislation Thursday was a major political victory for President Bush who, until this week's surprise compromise with key sponsor Rep. Charles Norwood (R-Ga.), faced the prospect of vetoing a very popular bill expected to sail through Democrat-controlled Senate.  Instead, he wins House approval of a version decried by the AFL-CIO and Democratic leaders as an "insurance companies' bill of rights."

"The agreement reached between Rep. Norwood and the White House is no compromise," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney in a statement Thursday.  "It creates additional protections for health plans and takes a step back in protections for patients."

"It's a hollow bill," said House Democratic Leader Rep. Richard Gephardt.  "I'm amazed at how much in league with the HMOs and insurance companies the Republicans are. This is not a patients' bill of rights. This is an HMO and health insurance companies' bill of rights"

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the chief Democratic sponsor of Norwood's original bill, urged colleagues to oppose the amended version, saying: "The president and Mr. Norwood propose creating a new federal law that applies to state courts just for HMOs. Under this proposal, HMOs retain a very special status and cannot be held accountable for their negligent and harmful actions in the same way your doctor or hospital is."

The Washington Post reports today that, in a White House meeting last week with Norwood, Bush lavishly praised the Georgia Republican for his skill in leading a band of rebels that had outmaneuvered Bush the day before on the patients' rights issue: "But Bush soon dispensed with the pleasantries. 'So now that I've kissed your [rear end], what do I have to do to get a deal?'  Bush asked, according to several sources familiar with the meeting."

This afternoon, Rep. Smith released the following statement regarding Thursday's vote:

The AFL-CIO named six new members to its Executive Council during its quarterly meeting being held this week in Chicago -- all the new members filled vacancies on the Council.  The 54-member AFL-CIO Executive Council is the highest-ranking leadership body in the union movement.  The new members are:

• Joe Hunt, President of the Iron Workers;
• Cheryl Johnson, President of the United American Nurses;
• Bruce Raynor, President of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE!);
• Cecil Roberts, President of the United Mine Workers;
• Ed Sullivan, President of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department;
• Clyde Rivers, President of the California School Employees Association (effective upon the issuance of the national union charter this week.)

The AFL-CIO paid tribute to six leaders who stepped down from the Council, recognizing the tremendous service that each has given to the union movement. The members who stepped down are:

• Robert Georgine, former President of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department;
• John T. Joyce, former President of the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers;
• Jay Mazur, former President of UNITE!;
• James Norton, former President of the Graphics Communications International Union;
• Robert E. Wages, former Executive Vice President of PACE;
• Jake West, former President of the Ironworkers.

The AFL-CIO Executive Council also passed resolutions on a number of subjects including: stopping domestic violence at work; HIV / AIDS, both domestically and around the world; Justice for the Charleston 5, a group of union dockworkers in South Carolina who have been unfairly discriminated against and punished for their union activities; public officials' support for workers' freedom to choose a union; immigrant workers' rights; and eliminating non-compete agreements in the broadcast industry.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney released the following statement Tuesday supporting passage pf the Employment Non-Discrimination Act:

The AFL-CIO strongly urges Congress to pass the AEmployment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA),@ an important civil rights bill that will take the long overdue step of prohibiting employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.  Current federal law bars employment discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion, national origin, or disability, but -- unfortunately and unfairly -- not sexual orientation.

Since no federal law prohibits employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, it is currently legal to fire or refuse to hire working men and women in 38 states because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation.  As a result, working people are now being denied employment on the basis of something that has no relationship to their ability to perform their work.

The AFL-CIO strongly believes that discrimination based on sexual orientation is inconsistent with the principles of equal opportunity and equal employment our movement has fought for so long.  We are proud to join with a wide array of civil rights organizations, religious institutions, responsible employers, and bipartisan political leaders in urging Congress to enact the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

Last week, a preliminary congressional vote occurred that a group supporting Social Security privatization said "provided hope for eventual bipartisan support of individual accounts."  The amendment designed to cripple President Bush's Social Security commission failed with every House Republican opposing it along with 20 Democrats, including Washington's 9th District Rep. Adam Smith.

"The fact that so many Democrats broke with their party and give at least preliminary support to the commission's efforts, provides hope for eventual bipartisan support of individual accounts," read a statement from The Cato Institute following last week's vote.

Rep. Smith has been a vocal critic of "borrowing" from the Social Security Trust Fund and last week's vote is hardly a litmus test of support or opposition to privatization.  That being said, Rep. Smith was the only Washington Democrat to vote "No."  (A call to his D.C. office requesting an explanation for this vote was never returned.)

The amendment to the Treasury Postal Appropriations Bill would have prohibited the White House from implementing any report issued by the President's Social Security privatization commission. With the Commission unanimously supporting investing public Social Security dollars into the volatile stock market, Democrats are working to use every available channel to protect the retirement program. The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), is the first such effort following the commission's mid-term report issued last week.

For more information, read our July 20 posting: Bush issues "sky is falling" Social Security report.

Democrats who opposed last week's Filner amendment were:

Allen (ME)
Berry (AR)
Boyd (FL)
Cramer (AL)
Dooley (CA)
Hall (TX)
Hill (IN)
John (LA)
Kind (WI)
Moore (KS)
Moran (VA)
Peterson (MN)
Roemer (IN)
Schiff (CA)
Skelton (MO)
Smith (WA)
Stenholm (TX)
Tanner (TN)
Taylor (MS)
Traficant (OH)

The United Farm Workers will lead a march this Sunday, August 5 of farm workers, supporters, students, religious leaders, organized labor, community and fair trade advocates to demand reform in the state's apple industry.  YOU ARE INVITED to join the thousands expected to attend the Yakima march on Sunday, August 5 beginning at 10 a.m. at Miller Park (north of 3rd and Avenue "E").

Buses from Seattle to Yakima are available and will depart from the Seattle Labor Temple, 2800 First Avenue, at 7 a.m.  Call Gladys Romero at 206-355-5685 for more information.

Please download, print, copy, post and distribute the Aug. 5 Fair Trade March flier (218 KB PDF file, free Acrobat Reader required) to help spread the word about this important event.

Washington’s apple workers continue to live in poverty on wages of $7,654 per year.  Meanwhile, smaller family-owned farms are going bankrupt and farm workers are losing their jobs because of international trade policies that reward agribusiness, but promote the race to the bottom for working conditions.

A new study of NAFTA’s first seven years shows farm incomes plummeted and bankruptcies escalated in the U.S., Canada and Mexico— while U.S. food prices increased 20%.  Now the Bush Administration wants Fast Track authority to expand the failed NAFTA model throughout the Western Hemisphere with the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

It’s time to take to the streets of Yakima with the message: Fair Trade means Amnesty for Immigrant Workers, Collective Bargaining Rights, Fair Wages and Fair Prices.