BKSH Hosts Senator Bob Bennett

 

WASHINGTON – On May 7, 2008, BKSH & Associates Worldwide was pleased to introduce our clients to Senator Bob Bennett (R-UT) during our monthly client briefing breakfast. Senator Bennett spoke about the shifting political landscape in Congress, the Congressional calendar for the remainder of the 110^th session, and addressed specific questions from clients on a variety of issues.

 

Senator Bennett was first elected to the United States Senate in 1992 and was reelected to a third term in 2004. As counsel to Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Bennett retains his seat on the Republican leadership team where he advises the leader on legislative strategy and policy priorities. The Utah Senator is at the center of national economic policy discussions as a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee and a member of the distinguished Joint Economic Committee. He also sits on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, where he is the ranking member for the Subcommittee on Agriculture and serves as the ranking Republican member on the Senate Rules Committee.

 

After a brief introduction from BKSH Consultant, Pat Templeton, Senator Bennett spoke about the changes affecting legislation from inside and outside of Congress. Inside, he addressed how the exploitation of the filibuster has dramatically shifted the pace of moving legislation to the floor. The Senator acknowledged the record number of cloture votes in this Congress as a key source of the decelerated legislative progress. As a result, the influence and role of the Minority has changed, providing it with more leverage than traditionally applied.

 

Outside of Congress, Senator Bennett stressed the impact of the information revolution and how it has transformed society via exceedingly faster information exchange. While this has fostered growth in a number of positive areas, it has also created new national and international issues to which Congress must adapt. He cited the subprime crisis as an example – practices causing this would not have been possible before the information revolution began because the instruments did not exist. The Senator then fielded questions from BKSH clients about the subprime mortgage crisis, energy issues, the Senate budget process, and health care. 

 

BKSH is looking forward to hosting its next event in early June, which will focus on the subprime market and relevant legislative efforts.