Category: Jean Chemnick
How FEMA Changed
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 – In December of 1999, a homeless person overturned a candle in an abandoned warehouse in Worcester starting a devastating fire that raged for 20 hours and cost six firefighters their lives. Rep. Jim P. McGovern, D-Worcester, said the blaze exhausted not only the Worcester fire department but other area fire departments, as well.
McGovern last week recalled asking President Clinton for federal help. “‘I’m going to have James Lee Witt call you in two seconds, don’t move from that phone,’” McGovern recalled Clinton saying. “And he did.”
He said that Mr. Witt, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, asked what Worcester needed, even if it was a box of donuts for the volunteers.
FEMA’s contribution to the Worcester fire was part of what was viewed as the agency’s reformation. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the agency’s response to disasters had prompted many lawmakers to suggest disbanding it.
FEMA could “screw up a two-car parade,” then-Rep. Norman Y. Mineta said in 1989, referring to the agency’s response to a major earthquake in San Francisco that year. Sen. Ernest F. Hollings, D-South Carolina, called FEMA officials, “the sorriest bunch of bureaucratic jackasses,” after Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
But by the end of that decade, the agency had won over many critics. Now, in the wake of a heavily-criticized response to Hurricane Katrina, the agency is under fire once more.
After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks FEMA was made part of the new Department of Homeland Security, a move that has come under close scrutiny. But Mary Margaret Walker, a spokeswoman for FEMA, argued that local and state officials in Florida would say that FEMA was better able to work with them during last year’s hurricane season than during Andrew, adding that that proves having FEMA be part of Homeland Security is not a hindrance.
Richard Krimm, who served as FEMA’s associate director of response and recovery until 1998, said that changes were made at FEMA during the Clinton administration that helped turn the agency around. Clinton thought FEMA was important from the beginning of his administration, Krimm said, and appointed Mr. Witt, whom Krimm called the best emergency manager in the history of FEMA.
Mr. Witt had served as the head of the Arkansas Office of Emergency Services prior to his appointment, and is the only FEMA director to date to bring emergency management experience to the job. Clinton made Witt an ex officio member of the cabinet, and “people knew he had the backing of the president,” Mr. Krimm said.
As a result, other departments cooperated with FEMA. Mr. Krimm was with Mr. Witt during the Mississippi River flood of 1993, when Mr. Witt called the secretary of defense to ask for planes, and they came.
Mr. Witt was also the first FEMA director to explicitly state the agency’s mission which was to coordinate the federal government’s response to all hazards and to “reduce the risk to life and property,” noted Jerry Ellig of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia.
Departments were established under Mr. Witt to oversee preparedness, response, recovery and evacuation after a disaster, said Mr. Ellig, who recently wrote a study on FEMA. Lower-level inspectors were given the authority to assess damage and process claims, eliminating reviews, he said, but increasing accuracy. In all, four layers of management were eliminated under Mr. Witt.
But FEMA’s response to Katrina “could have been the early ’90’s again,”Mr. Ellig said. He said he does not know what changed, but that several possibilities presented themselves.
Maybe, as the administration claims, the disaster was so big that any FEMA would have been overwhelmed by it, he said. Or perhaps Joe Allbaugh, President Bush’s first appointee to head FEMA, who had famously called the agency an “oversized entitlement program,” had undone some of Mr. Witt’s innovations.
When FEMA became part of the Homeland Security Department in 2002, Mr. Ellig said, it was “one of the world’s largest mergers” and layers of management were added above FEMA. Maybe the extra bureaucracy made the agency less flexible.
Mr. Ellig and Mr. Krimm both point to an exodus of career FEMA workers during the Bush administration. Mr. Krimm said his former colleagues found Allbaugh “harsh,” and took early retirement or otherwise left the agency. Disaster reservists available to be deployed to disaster regions have been reduced by more than half since President Bush took office, said Mr. Krimm, and some funding has been reapplied to terrorism prevention.
Leo Bosner, a 33-year veteran of FEMA, said the response division had been reduced from 60 employees to 40 over the past few years, with staff leaving and not being replaced, or being replaced with a “friend of a friend,” with no emergency management background. New staff is hired to work in Homeland Security, not disaster relief, said Mr. Bosner president of the FEMA Local of the American Federation of Government Employees.
Being part of the Homeland Security Department does not add much to the disaster relief department, other than “another layer of people who don’t know about emergency preparedness,” Mr. Bosner said.
In the 1990s his colleagues and he were proud to work in FEMA, he said, which was that rare thing: a “popular” government agency. Now he characterizes them as “demoralized and disgusted.”
“If I were a conspiracy theorist I’d think this was all part of a horrible plot,” said Mr. Bosner. “But I don’t. I just think it’s incompetence.”
Seven Hills Goes Its Own Way
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12-A five-year study of the Edison Schools concludes that gains made by the for-profit school management company's students eventually at least match the gains by students in conventional public schools.
Nevertheless, Seven Hills Charter School in Worcester is preparing to end its association with Edison after a decade because school officials feel that it can achieve greater results on its own.
The study, titled "Inspiration, Perspiration and Time," was released Tuesday by the RAND research group. The report's authors call the study impartial even though it was commissioned by Edison.
Edison Schools operates 103 schools across the country using a program that RAND researcher Brian Gill said included a rigorous curriculum and assessment, accountability and professional development programs for teachers and administrators. The company has management authority over the charter and district schools it runs and can have greater control over staffing, salaries and schedules than conventional public schools, depending on its contracts with individual school districts.
Mr. Gill and fellow researcher Laura Hamilton said the report showed that Edison Schools on average experience declines in achievement scores the first year they adopt the Edison model but make gains after that. After the first year, Edison students would make gains but still lag behind comparison schools for the first three years of operation. By their fifth year, the report said, Edison School students were "generally keeping up with, but not surpassing, comparison schools."
Nancy Van Meter, director of accountability and privatization at the National Federation of Teachers, questioned the importance of retention data that showed that 85 percent of schools stayed with Edison for four years, saying it was "not a shocker" that school districts did not break their contracts and pay penalties to Edison. She said that approximately 50 percent of the schools that have contracted with Edison in the last ten years are not Edison schools now.
Edison Schools have mainly appeared in inner-city areas like the Seven Hills neighborhood, although Edison chief academic officer John Chubb said the program is not especially designed for disadvantaged students. He said the program has a strong academic orientation with high expectations and is not a remedial program. He attributed the number of Edison Schools in poorer areas to parent dissatisfaction with public schools.
Mr. Chubb said the study reinforces "the importance of the integrity of the program" and the need for schools to adopt the whole model and not modify it to fit their own concerns. For example, he said, the Edison program calls for longer school days and a longer school year, which can be unpopular with teachers. The success of the program depended, Mr. Chubb said, on "the powers that be not giving in to pressures" such as the teachers' complaints.
Mr. Chubb said teachers should be paid for their extra commitment of time. Ms. Van Meter said that while Edison Schools generally paid a slight premium on starting salary for teachers, the amount did not cover all the additional hours. The RAND report and Edison Schools officials blame the initial dip in scores at converted Edison Schools partly on a lack of adherence to the program, and Mr. Chubb said the company now offers additional support to new schools to help them conform better. However, after a decade of taking Edison's core curriculum and personalizing it to better fit its students' needs, principal Krista Osborn said Seven Hills has "a pretty good understanding of what we need ourselves." Ms. Osborn said Edison was "extremely helpful" when Seven Hills was getting started, providing essential support services and helping to establish the curriculum. It is now more efficient for the school to provide its own administrative services, she said, and Seven Hills has pulled ahead of the Edison learning curve in curriculum as well. Ms. Osborn said Seven Hills has made a number of innovations on its own that seem to be yielding results for its students. For example, the school uses Edison's core "Success for All" reading program but has added extra "fluency tools" to help individual students improve their skills. In math, the school still uses Edison's "Everyday Mathematics" curriculum for most grades but has modified it to better prepare students for the more language-based math portion of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. Seven Hills is the only remaining Edison School in Massachusetts, and, Ms. Osborn said, "Our needs weren't catered to" by the company. "There is a strict belief [at Edison] that everyone should follow the same strategy at the same time and it will work," she said. She said Seven Hills' philosophy is to use the Edison curriculum as a starting place and go from there. Seven Hills' elementary school scores rank in the middle for Worcester, she said, but its junior high school is near the top.
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Left and Right Have Questions About Miers
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5--President Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court seat being vacated by Sandra Day O'Connor has senators saying they have questions they want answered before they decide how to vote.
The nomination would preserve the status quo of two female justices on the court, but it has long been expected that any Bush nominee would shift to the right the court's centrist ideological balance, in which Justice O'Connor has often acted as the swing vote.
In a press release, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) emphasized Ms. Miers' loyalty to Bush, whom Miers has worked for both in Texas, as the head of state's lottery commission, and in various positions at the White House. Kennedy wondered whether she could make independent choices, and where she stood on "protecting fundamental rights and liberties."
Sen. Kennedy last week voted against John Roberts to be chief justice on the grounds that Roberts had not shown enough commitment to protecting civil rights.
Kennedy also called on the White House to release documents from Ms. Miers' time there. Ms. Miers has never been a judge and therefore has no written decisions that might hint at her views.
"The Senate-and the American people-must have the same amount and quality of information in approving the nomination as the executive had in making it," Kennedy said.
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) echoed Sen. Kennedy's concern about the lack of information about Ms. Miers.
"Given how little we know about this nominee other than her work as the President's lawyer, the White House needs to disclose all documents requested by the Judiciary Committee," he said in a press release. "Questions need to be answered."
Social conservatives have questions as well. Many had expected a conservative nominee in the mold of Justices Antonin Scalia or Clarence Thomas, and are expressing disappointment that Ms. Miers does not have clear conservative credentials. Ms. Miers has contributed to both Democratic and Republican campaigns and has been praised by Senate Minority leader Harry Reid, although he has not announced how he will vote.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Worcester), who has no role in the confirmation process because he is not a senator, called Miers' resume "slim." However, he said he was heartened by the fact that conservatives like talk radio host Rush Limbaugh were not happy.
"Maybe they know something I don't," he said.
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McGovern Won’t Give Up Transportation Funding for Katrina
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5-Plans have been in the works for years to renovate an old wire factory in Quinsigamond Village and open it as Worcester's Blackstone Valley Visitors Center. The center would be a tribute to Worcester's role in the industrial revolution and would fix up an old building that is considered by many to be an eyesore. The Worcester Historical Museum may move into the new facility, and the area would include new restaurants, bike trails and green spaces.
But funding for the center, and for hundreds of projects like it throughout the country, has become more controversial since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit. That is because the project depends on $6.4 million in "earmarked" funds added to this year's federal transportation bill.
The bulk of the $286.5 billion in the transportation bill is distributed to states according to a preset formula. "Earmarks" are extra funds added to the bill for a lawmaker's specific local projects.
A handful of U.S. representatives, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), have indicated they will return all or part of their earmarks to help offset the cost of hurricane reconstruction.
Citizens Against Government Waste, a fiscally conservative watchdog group, is lobbying members of Congress to sign its "No Pork Pledge" to sacrifice their share of what the group estimates is $24 billion in transportation earmarks so that the money can be used to defray the costs of the Gulf Coast clean-up effort.
"What was wasteful before Katrina is still wasteful now, but the contrast is more obvious," Tom Schatz, the group's president, said in an interview. He said highway bill earmarks that pay for projects other than roads, like flowers and streetscapes and visitors centers, are proof that highway funding is "out of control" with pork.
Mr. Schatz criticized President Bush for not setting a firmer cap on spending in appropriations bills and said his group supported a package that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn) is working on that would rescind all earmarked funds that had not yet been spent.
U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Worcester) earmarked the money for the Blackstone Valley Visitor's Center, and he isn't willing to give it up.
"If I didn't earmark this money, these projects wouldn't happen," he said. Rep. McGovern said that discretionary funds tend to go only to big cities. In Massachusetts, he said, most of the federal transportation funds the state receives goes to the Big Dig in Boston, while roads and bridges in Worcester and elsewhere go without repairs.
The Blackstone Valley project will bring well-paying jobs in construction and visitors to Worcester, he said.
Rep. McGovern advocates repealing the Bush tax cut for the wealthiest one percent of taxpayers, which, he said, would generate an additional $327 billion to offset the cost of hurricane relief, making it unnecessary to cut other funds. Mr. Schatz said there was no need to raise revenues, because there were so many opportunities to cut spending.
State Rep. John P. Fresolo (D-Worcester) said he had been working on the Blackstone Valley Visitor Center project for eight years and now has a verbal commitment from the statehouse leadership that the state's share of the cost-$1.6 million-will come through this year.
The center would be a "major accomplishment," Fresolo said, and that while it will have only a small staff, it will generate "countless" jobs in the area. He said the state has invested $300 million in Route 146, and it would be senseless to have it just connect to Route 290 without allowing tourists to turn off for the new visitor's center..
"Hopefully this will provide the economic shot in the arm the area needs," Fresolo said.
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Democrats Sense a Change in the Wind
WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 - House Democrats kicked off their midterm election effort for 2006, charging that in the 11 years since Republicans took control of Congress they have reneged on their Contract with America promises to end congressional corruption and balance the budget.
"George Bush and the Republicans have made a mess of things in this country," Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Worcester) said.
The House Democrats' campaign committee launched a new website Monday, called "Campaign for Change," to underscore their strategy for 2006. Wednesday night House Democrats had scheduled a fundraising event that they estimated would raise $1 million.
The strategy pronouncements came on the same day that then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) was indicted in Texas.
Mr. McGovern rejected the argument that Democrats lack ideas, citing Democratic platform items like "a real prescription drug bill" which would allow government to negotiate the price of drugs, affordable housing initiatives, and "progressive" tax relief, which he said would benefit the middle class and those aspiring to it.
Americans, regardless of their politics, are disgusted by the cronyism of the current administration, Mr. McGoven said. He pointed to appointments like that of Michael Brown, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Rep. John Olver (D-Amherst) compared the atmosphere surrounding the 2006 election to that of 1994, when Republicans took over the House for the first time in 40 years. "The Americans threw us out of the Congress.because. we were just continuing to move forward on an agenda that the country was getting tired of, which seemed to be bigger government," he said.
Mr. Olver cited the banking scandals that happened before that election, and said that Democratic initiatives like the assault weapons bill and President Clinton's healthcare bill were perceived by the public as overreaching.
Now, he said, the roles of the two parties were reversed: Failures in Iraq and the Gulf Coast, combined with a growing deficit and "incompetents in high places," have contributed to "a movement for change," he argued. He called the proposed GOP overhaul of Social Security their great overstep, akin to the Clinton healthcare bill.
"It's a question of whether or not people have had enough," Mr. Olver said. And if they haven't had enough, "We'll be in the minority again."
Sarah Feinberg, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, expressed cautious confidence about the Democrats' position.
"Anyone who suggests they know what will happen 13 months from now doesn't know what they're talking about," she said. "But I'd rather be us than them right now."
Carl Forti of the National Republican Congressional Committee said, "I think we're in great shape. primed and ready."
Mr. Forti argued that any attempt by Democrats to nationalize next year's election would fail, and he called national polls irrelevant. Voters vote for their own local congressman and incumbents are popular with their constituents, he said.
Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield) said Democrats had "a series of issues playing to our favor," especially Social Security. He added that Democrats should approach other issues with the same unanimity with which they responded to the Republican's Social Security plan.
Ms. Feinberg, speaking hours after majority leader Tom Delay was indicted by a Texas grand jury for an alleged conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, said that Republicans currently preside over the most ethically troubled Congress in history.
But Mr. Forti said Delay's woes will not bring about a repeat of 1994. "I don't know of a single congressman who has lost an election because of something another congressman did," he said.
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Worcester Sends Protesters to Washington
WASHINTON, Sept. 24 - "Being an organizer is a very nervous job," said Alex Broner, the senior geography major responsible for getting three vans full of his Clark University compatriots down to Washington, D.C., for Saturday's peace march. He was still grappling with van rentals and nailing down participants only a few days before it was time to leave, and he said there was still a chance it would all fall apart. "Once we get there and people are tear-gassing us I'll be so relaxed," he said.
But half-past midnight on Friday the little band of Worcester-area students and older community members (brought along partly for their driving prowess) finally rolled out of town, bound for the nation's capitol and equipped with signs, food, and very loud music to keep the drivers from falling asleep at the wheel.
Gray Harrison, who drove a van down fortified by Java Hut coffee, is a math and science teacher at a school he recently founded outside Worcester. "I got involved in the late '60's when I thought they might send me to Vietnam," Mr. Harrison said. He said that the Iraq War was like Vietnam, because both were "for imperialism, and not to keep our country safe."
He has protested in New York and Washington, and participated in weekly vigils put on by Worcester Peaceworks, where he said the supportive-beep to middle finger ratio has improved since the war began. His wife and daughter saved the $50-per-person cost of the trip by joining 30-40 protesters in Worcester's Lincoln Square.
They were coming down for the annual protest organized the groups International A.N.S.W.E.R. and United for Peace and Justice. The Clark University group was among the large numbers from across the country that descended on Washington to express their opposition to the war in Iraq, not to mention globalization, racism and other issues.
A few minutes after 10 a.m. the group settled itself beneath a tree on a lawn between the Washington Monument and the White House, known as the Ellipse. People were arriving, but far fewer than the organizers' projected 100,000.
A sound system blasted the news that Amtrak trains running south to Washington had been suspended due to an electrical problem. It was hinted broadly that this was a little too convenient to be a coincidence, but that would-be protesters in New York had overcome the attempt at sabotage by demonstrating spontaneously at Penn Station. "Fight the system. The electrical system," joked Mr. Broner.
The group sat in a circle, some lying down, others chatting or reading newspapers. Ksenia Varlyguina, who was born in Moscow but raised in Worcester, said she was mainly interested in protesting the IMF and the World Bank. She said they "help us, but don't really help the people they're supposed to with their policies." She was considering staying for Monday's lobbying day against those institutions.
Ben Kilpatrick held a sign that said "End the war against the poor in Iraq and New Orleans." He wore a University of New Orleans sweatshirt. Mr. Kilpatrick's family got out of that city a day and a half before Hurricane Katrina hit, and he's staying in Worcester for the time being, studying at Clark.
Clark biology and economics major Sarah Assefa grew up in Kenya and said she wants to go back there and work in economic development with the environment in mind. She disagrees with what she calls the "misallocation of resources" that the Iraq war represents, toward war and away from education and humanitarian programs.
"The war in Iraq is totally inappropriate," she said. "If we want security there are other ways to go about it."
By the time the speakers began, the crowd had grown. The Worcester protesters split up, some starting on a long march to the Dupont Circle neighborhood while others relocated to a space in the back of the crowd, next to three women and a man from western Massachusetts who call themselves the Matriots. The group began a year ago as a way of "putting the party back in party," as member Marybeth Home of Northampton put it. The Matriots (as opposed to patriots) have declared themselves a political party, and even had their first "unconventional convention" last Mother's Day.
Explains Ms. Home, the group aims to "bring feminine balance to a male dominated world," which she and her friends do wearing foot-tall wigs and fake fur-covered glasses.
Speakers at the rally included the Rev. Jesse Jackson and mom-turned-protester Cindy Sheehan. Afterwards, the protestors marched past the Department of the Treasury and the White House, chanting, "Iraqis die by the hour? What do we do? Fight the power." A man pushed his wheelchair which held a sign which read: "World War Two veteran for peace."
The march was peaceful, with police watchful but relaxed along the route. Police officials estimated that the protesters reached their 100,000 goal, while organizers said that they far surpassed it. A separate protest was scheduled Sunday for supporters of the war in Iraq.
As to whether the protest will have an effect on policy, long-time protester Carol Esler of Hopkinton said her views on that had changed over the years.
As a Vietnam protester in college she said, "There was a sense [with each protest] that 'this time we're going to do it.'" She said she believed that the demonstrations would change people's views in a lasting way.
Now, although Ms. Esler still thinks protest is effective, she said, "I know that we're going to have to keep doing this."
Federal and State Legislators Grapple with the Rising Costs of Gas
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 - Members of Congress can agree that America has a gas problem, but consensus fractures when discussion turns to solving it.
America's drivers were grumbling about gas prices even before Hurricane Katrina, but since the rigs and refineries of the Gulf Coast were damaged, prices have gone through the roof. The average price per gallon nationwide passed the three dollar mark, while some areas like Atlanta reported prices above five dollars. Hurricane Rita now threatens to push prices higher.
On Wednesday members of the Senate's commerce committee heard testimony on ways to ensure the supply of oil for their constituents.
"We can't supply our way out of this," Robin West, a former Reagan administration energy adviser told the legislators. "We must deal with the demand."
That sentiment met with broad bipartisan agreement, but the parties disagreed on how to close the gap.
Republicans complained that United States environmental laws prohibited drilling in areas where there are oil deposits, like the Arctic shelf. Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) applauded President Bush's decision to temporarily suspend certain environmental regulations while the Gulf Coast oil industry recovers from Katrina, and suggested they be discarded altogether.
Democrats blamed oil companies for not having built a refinery in America for 30 years. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said that companies were creating artificial shortages, and compared the situation to the California electrical crisis of 2001.
She told the story of an oil company in Bakersfield, Calif., that wanted to close a refinery rather than sell it because, company officials claimed, they could not find a purchaser. The state stepped in and found one easily, she said, adding that the company had only wanted to limit its competition.
Mr. West responded that oil refineries in the United States were "unprofitable," and that there was plenty of competition in the oil market.
Democrats said they favor empowering the federal government to go after what Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) called "predatory pricing." Ms. Cantwell and Ms. Boxer favored giving the Federal Trade Commission "courage" to investigate and subpoena oil companies if their prices seem to rise excessively over a period of time.
Massachusetts lawmakers also are grappling with the issue of fuel pricing, and some protections are already in place. Massachusetts has price-gouging legislation that goes into effect when the governor declares a state of emergency. Additionally, there are laws against "unfair practices" in the oil industry, and the state government has power to subpoena gas distributors and suppliers.
"We are working with [the] consumer affairs [department] to send inspectors throughout the state" to investigate 60 gas stations alleged to have marked up prices to take advantage of the Katrina crisis, said Corey Welford, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office.
The Massachusetts House is working on legislation to encourage Bay Staters to buy more efficient appliances and vehicles and also to aid elderly and low-income residents with their home heating costs this winter.
Dick Kennedy of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce said that local businesses would probably deal with the increased price of fuel by offering their employees ride-sharing programs and opportunities to work from home via internet.
"It will clearly have a substantial impact on the price of doing business," Kennedy said. Ultimately, he said, prices for consumer goods could rise if gas prices remain high.
Brian Allen, business manager for the Worcester School District, said the district had been forced to freeze funds earmarked for books and classroom supplies to help pay $150,000 extra in fuel costs. That money will only pay half that projected amount, but Allen said he is hopeful that the cost of gas will go down and part of the money will still be available for crayons, pencils and the other things Worcester schools need.
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Sinn Fein Leader Meets with Congressmen to Discuss Disarmament
WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 -- Gerry Adams, president of Northern Ireland's nationalist Sinn Fein party, met with members of Congress Thursday to discuss the Irish Republican Army's promised disarmament and to condemn recent rioting by Unionists in Belfast.
Massachusetts Democratic Reps. Richard Neal and Jim McGovern were among the ten Democrats and one Republican to attend the meeting, which Mr. Neal, the co-chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs, hosted.
Sinn Fein once advocated violence as the sole means of bringing about its goal of a united, independent Ireland. In July the IRA, which for three and a half decades employed terrorism to drive the British out of Northern Ireland, announced that it would pursue its goal through political channels only. A private "decommissioning" of the IRA's arms was planned, to be witnessed by international observers, a Catholic priest and a Protestant pastor. Now, Mr. Adams said, "responsibility lies squarely with the Unionists" to bring about peace.
Unionists, predominately protestants, have been rioting in Belfast for the past week, attacking mainly British soldiers. Mr. Adams said hundreds of Catholic homes had also been attacked, and he called upon Unionist leader Ian Paisley to condemn the violence and bring the mobs under control.
Mr. McGovern said he had had several good meetings with Mr. Adams over the years and was hopeful the IRA would fully disarm. He gave former President Bill Clinton credit for having been very involved in the Irish issue, and he questioned whether Bush was "actively engaged.," But he expressed hope that the conflict could be ended soon. "The violence has been going on for a long time," he said. "There are going to be pitfalls in the road toward a lasting peace."
Neal has been involved with the Irish issue for 30 years and is one of the leaders of Friends of Ireland, another House group. He said Congress unanimously supported full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which called for decommissioning of arms and shared power in Northern Ireland, and he added that he was satisfied with the work of Bush's special envoy to Northern Ireland, Mitchell Reiss. He said he hoped the IRA would be disarmed within the next few weeks.
While Rep. Neal acknowledged that "my sympathy is with the nationalist cause," he said that a lasting peace would ultimately depend on the prosperity of both of Northern Ireland's communities.
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Department of Peace a Message but a “Major Uphill Battle”
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 -Massachusetts Reps. Jim McGovern and John Olver are again among the co-sponsors of a bill to create a cabinet-level U.S. Department of Peace, which would both promote nonviolent strategies to address international conflicts and seek to end domestic violence and crime in this country.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio and the bill's author, made it a centerpiece of his presidential campaign last year. First introduced after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and again after the Iraq war began in 2003, the bill has never been referred to a committee or voted on, and while it has 53 co-sponsors, Rep. McGovern acknowledged that getting it passed would be "a major uphill battle."
"What better time than the present climate?" asked Doug Gordon, a spokesman for Mr. Kucinich, when asked about the bill's timing. "It is important for the American public to know there are dozens of members of Congress who are seeking another direction for our country." And Mr. Gordon insisted that the bill is not just a message but is intended to become law.
Rep. McGovern said he hoped the bill would spur discussion on Capitol Hill about strategies for peace. He called the debate before the Iraq War one-sided. "There was no discussion on how to solve the conflict without war," he said. Rep. McGovern said he was not a pacifist, but "there are ways to solve a conflict without invading another country."
Nicole Letourneau, a spokeswoman for Rep. Olver, said he supported the bill because "its heart is in the right place." She said he believes that the department would promote peace nationally and internationally. She acknowledged, however, that while Rep. Olver's office had received one or two supportive letters from constituents, it had not seen a large grassroots effort in support of the bill.
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