Will the Die-Hards Please Pack It In? : Let’s get the vital desert bill on the road

It’s an election year, so even something that should be really easy isn’t.

Eight years of legislative wrestling have gone into shaping the enormously important California Desert Protection Act in Congress, which would preserve 6.3 million acres of fragile and magnificent desert in Southern California. Numerous compromises were made to accommodate miners, off-road vehicle drivers, cattle ranchers and the military.

Now five Californians in the House, all Republicans, are staging a rear-guard filibuster that could kill the bill in Congress’ haste to adjourn. They are Jerry Lewis of Redlands (the group’s leader), Al McCand- less of La Quinta, Duncan Hunter of El Cajon, Bill Thomas of Bakersfield and Howard P. (Buck) McKeon of Santa Clarita.

In April the act--which would create three new national parks, including the Mojave National Park--was passed overwhelmingly by the Senate, and House passage seems assured. But the House cannot vote on the bill until it votes on 45 pending amendments. To slow the process, the five Republicans are abusing the liberal rule for debate allowed for the bill, forcing lengthy debate and roll calls on each amendment, even ones with no opposition.

In two days of debate last month the House could dispose of only four amendments, and the leadership pulled the bill until after the July 4 recess. No vote has yet been taken on an odious amendment that would designate the Mojave park as a “preserve” rather than a park, thereby allowing hunting.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), has asked the House Rules Committee to impose a stricter rule to cut debate. The committee told him to try to work with Lewis first. The two have now spoken, raising hopes for the legislation when Congress takes it up again next Tuesday.

Lewis, an ordinarily pragmatic moderate who represents much of the desert area, complains that California’s senior senator, Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, never consulted with him. Some surmise the delaying tactics also relate to politics: Feinstein’s GOP challenger in the fall election, Rep. Michael Huffington of Santa Barbara, opposes the measure.

Enough. The bill has been honed and refined by eight years of political discourse and horse trading. Polls show that most Californians support it; the Senate liked it, a majority of the House is ready to vote “yes” and the President eager to sign it. The five die-hards should get out of the way.