You’ve got to feel for the President’s loyal pal, Don Evans, whose colossal bureaucracy oversees everything from the health of the atmosphere to the well-being of the airwaves.
Days after White House chief economist Greg Mankiw did a Bobby McFerrin number on overseas outsourcing (with a mea culpa for an encore), Evans appeared before a House appropriations subcommittee. Even before being asked to defend proposed cuts to tech and manufacturing programs, Evans sat obediently while Rep. Frank Wolfe (R-Va.) launched into a rant on why China’s suspect human-rights record must be part of a debate otherwise dominated by the United States’ $125 billion trade deficit with China and China’s inflexible currency regime.
Evans got more of the same last week during an appearance before a GOP-controlled Senate appropriations panel.
In an election year, it is of little consequence that Evans could, if he chose, boast of big strides U.S. wireless firms are making in China (not withstanding the U.S.-Sino Wi-Fi security standard spat). It matters little that the White House is working to secure spectrum for third-generation wireless systems, since layoffs always trump grand, inside-the-Beltway policy initiatives.
Meantime, the Bush administration is under pressure from wireless and high-tech sectors to dissuade China and South Korea from mandating technical rules that discriminate against vendors from the U.S. and elsewhere. But that’s USTR’s problem, not Evans’.
Adding a new manufacturing czar at the Department of Commerce is unlikely to do the trick for Evans. The only thing that matters is that stinging 2.7 million figure, the number of private-sector jobs lost since Bush became president. It doesn’t play well on either side of the aisle when, combined with a $500 billion budget deficit and a $500 billion trade imbalance, all that’s left is thankless jobless recovery.
It could be worse for Evans. The former Texas businessman is a master at defusing lawmakers’ angst with his low-key folksy, straight-talking style.
Actually it does get worse. At the White House, a nasty debate has ignited on the Bush administration’s lack of a broadband policy. It is a major-league food fight between conservatives that was started by Democrats. It all began after Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)-Bush’s opponent this November-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and seven other Dems urged Bush in a Jan. 16 letter to craft a national policy on broadband services.
The missive triggered a slew of letters, with conservatives bashing each other on how to respond to America’s ranking behind South Korea, the Netherlands, Denmark and others in broadband penetration.
But all the back-and-forth is pure folly, since we know-with Super Tuesday’s ruling by the D.C. Circuit as further proof-that the Supreme Court has ultimate province over broadband policy. It is heady stuff, just the kind of issue Justice Scalia might find makes for good conversation on his next hunting trip.
