FINAL Informal Article
05/04/06

Deficit Reduction Act Challenged Again in Lawsuit Brought by Rep. Conyers

In a move that once again challenges the constitutionality of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, S. 1932, Rep. John Conyers Jr. on April 28 filed a lawsuit to put in place a restraining order preventing the execution of the law. Conyers is the U.S. House Judiciary Committee ranking member.

Conyers, along with 10 other members of Congress are behind the lawsuit that asks that the bill be proclaimed unconstitutional and not law. Among the other members in the lawsuit is Rep. George Miller, D-CA, who also serves as ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Identical Versions Must Pass

The legislation is in question because identical versions of a bill must be signed by the House and the Senate before the president signs it into law. However, this was not the case with the Deficit Reduction Act, which was signed into law on Feb. 8 by President Bush. Prior to the signing, and according to Democrats, different versions were passed by the House and Senate. The version passed by the House contained 36 months of funding for durable medical equipment; the Senate version specified 13 months.

President Bush and Margaret Spellings, secretary of state, and others who are responsible for the legislation's budget cuts are named in Conyers' lawsuit, Democratic aides said.

Those In Need are at Stake

According to an April 27 press release from his office, Conyers said, 'Once again the Administration is playing fast and loose with the Constitution. Anyone who has passed the sixth grade knows that before a bill can become a law, both Houses of Congress must approve it. That the Bush Administration is now saying otherwise underscores the Constitutional crisis we are facing in this country. Over 200 years of legal precedent dictate that such discrepancies can be handled through simply refiling the paperwork, or re-voting the whole bill. Because the bill cuts billions of dollars to the Nation's most needy, the Republican leadership prevented a re-vote at all costs.'

In the same press release, Miller stated, 'Republican leaders were in such a rush to ram this bill through Congress and get the President to sign it that they violated the Constitution in the process. And they were in a rush because this was a very, very bad bill. They wanted to spend as little time as possible having to explain their backwards priorities -- like cutting $12 billion from financial aid programs for college students -- to their constituents.'

Conyers' lawsuit follows others filed on the same grounds. Jim Zeigler, a Mobile, AL, elder law attorney and Republican activist first filed suit Feb. 13 to challenge the legislation's constitutionality. That action was followed by a lawsuit brought on the same grounds March 21 by Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group based in Washington.

A date has not yet been set for Conyers' case to be heard. It was filed in the Eastern District Court of Michigan, case No. 2:06-CV-11972, with Judge Nancy Edmunds scheduled to preside.

A host of problems for the federal student loan program began in February when, as part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, more than $12 billion was cut to the federal student loan program. Along with those cuts were interest rate increases and changes to student loan consolidation such as the elimination of in-school and spousal consolidation options, and the retention of the single holder rule.

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