Category: Fall 2005 Newswire
Supreme Court Hears New Hampshire Abortion Law Case
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 — As protestors from both sides of the abortion debate gathered outside the Supreme Court Wednesday morning, New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte urged the justices to uphold the state’s parental notification law concerning abortion rights for minors.
The case, Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood, was the court’s first abortion rights case in five years and the first under Chief Justice John Roberts.
The New Hampshire parental notification abortion law, which was passed by the New Hampshire legislature in June of 2003, requires parental or guardian notification before abortions can be performed on minors. It was passed in the state Senate by 12 to 11 and the House by 187 to 181 and signed into law by then-Gov. Craig Benson. However, a federal judge issued an injunction blocking enforcement of the law two days before it was supposed to take effect.
The law provides an exception to the parental notification when the pregnant minor’s life is threatened. However, New Hampshire is one of only five states that do not provide exceptions for medical emergencies that are serious but not necessarily life-threatening. The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the lower court, finding the law to be unconstitutional because the health exception was limited to preventing the minor’s death.
“As the nation’s leading medical authorities have explained, delaying appropriate care for even a very short period can be catastrophic and puts the teen at risk of liver damage, kidney damage, stroke and infertility,” said Jennifer Dalven, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.
Dalven was asked by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg why it would have not been adequate for the court of appeals to have simply said that the New Hampshire law is unconstitutional because it “leaves no exception for emergency cases?”
Dalven said that this would not resolve the issue because “different medical emergency definitions” have been adopted by other states.
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor interjected, saying, “We’re dealing with New Hampshire law. Could you focus on this one?”
The oral arguments were intense and included Justice Stephen Breyer describing a dramatic hypothetical situation in which a pregnant teen goes to an emergency room at 2 a.m. in distress and a doctor decides that unless an abortion is performed immediately the patient will become sterile and only reaching voice mail when he calls a judge to receive permission for the procedure.
Ayotte argued that “the physician in those circumstances could perform the abortion” because the state would protect his medical judgment without prosecution.
According to Ayotte, “in that rare circumstance” when the minor needs an abortion to protect her health a doctor can end the pregnancy without fear of prosecution or civil lawsuits and that a physician who performed such an abortion would be “constitutionally protected.”
Justice David Souter, who is from New Hampshire, challenged her on the point. “What do you mean when you say it would be constitutionally protected?” Souter asked.
Breyer questioned her statement that a different state law would protect physicians in emergency situations. “How do we know that’s the law?” Breyer asked.
He said that people on both sides might disagree on whether the law offered such protection to the physician and mentioned the competing argument, that the life of the fetus is more important.
“Lot’s of people think ‘health exception’ is a way of getting abortion on demand,” said Justice Breyer. This view corresponds with the intent of the bill’s original New Hampshire sponsors who argued that a health exception would give doctors a loophole to avoid parental involvement in abortions.
However Dalven argued that without a health exception, the minor’s life is put in danger. “Once a minor arrives in the emergency room, it is too late for her to go to court,” said Dalven.
Justice Antonin Scalia considered what would happen if “a special office, open 24 hours a day,” with what he called an “abortion judge” on duty, could field all of the calls from physicians in these types of emergencies.
Proponents of both sides of the case consider it to be of great importance, although because of its narrow focus on the health exceptions it does not challenge the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that abortion is a constitutional right.
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Lieberman Encourages US-China Cooperation to End Dependence on Oil
By Mandy Kozar
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30-The United States and China could be headed for economic and national security clashes if they do not curb their dependence on oil in the coming years, Sen. Joseph Lieberman said Wednesday.
China's rapid economic growth has had a corresponding effect on its growing consumption of oil. According to the International Energy Agency, China consumes more than 6 million barrels of crude oil per day, second only to the United States, which, at more than 20 million barrels a day, leads the world in oil consumption.
In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, Lieberman described this global competition for oil as "one of the biggest sources of mutual frictions between the U.S. and [China]."
The two countries' growing consumption has both energy officials and lawmakers concerned about what this appetite for oil, if left unchecked, could mean in the future-particularly regarding national security disputes between the two countries.
According to the agency's International Energy Outlook 2005, "demand in the emerging economies rose by almost 1.9 million barrels per day, with China accounting for more than one-half of that increase." The agency projected that, if nothing changes, world oil consumption will increase from 78 million barrels per day to 119 million by 2025, with emerging Asian markets, including China, accounting for 45 percent of the increase.
During his speech, Lieberman warned that this growing dependency on limited resources "could lead to Sino-American confrontations over oil that could, in years ahead, threaten our national security and global security unless each of our nations reduces our dependence on oil."
Something needs to be done soon, he added, before "the race for oil becomes as hot and dangerous as the nuclear arms race last century."
Lieberman recently introduced legislation that calls for the United States to decrease its oil consumption by 10 million barrels per day by 2031 by developing alternative fuel sources and an energy-efficient transportation system.
William Martin, a former U.S. deputy secretary of energy, said that China, which has signed oil deals with Sudan and Iran, is also worried about growing competition over oil.
"If I'm China, and I'm looking around the world ... frankly I'm terrified of the United States," Martin told the gathering.
In preparation for recent talks with visiting President George Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao proposed promoting China-U.S. cooperative ties, including mutually beneficial work in the energy sector and strengthening communication about energy strategies.
"When both nations that are potentially combative have the opportunity to win without fighting . fighting would be a tragic failure of foresight and leadership," Lieberman said.
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Panda Cub’s Press Agent Says, “I Miss Keene”
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 -Carolyn Martin can watch cheetah cubs play from her office window.
It's a perk that comes from her job as director of public affairs and communications at the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park. Before that, her position as the press secretary for science for the Smithsonian allowed her to work in the famous Smithsonian Castle facing the National Mall. But despite such unusual surroundings, Martin still misses the sense of community that came from working and living in downtown Keene.
"I feel very connected to the Smithsonian and very proud to be here, but in terms of the city, I miss Keene," said Martin, who studied at Antioch University and worked as a reporter for the Sentinel from 1996 to 2003. "It's a beautiful, progressive community and I really enjoyed living there very much."
Martin, who turned 50 in August, moved to Keene for graduate school in environmental studies at Antioch. Originally from Alabama, she had graduated from the University of Alabama and was a television news reporter in Mobile. While in Keene she met and married her husband, Robert Rand, who now works for the Washington Post Company in Washington, D.C. The two moved to Washington in June of 2003 when Martin was offered an opportunity she said she couldn't turn down.
"It's the Smithsonian!" said Martin. "My charge was to promote Smithsonian scientific research. It was a terrific opportunity to learn about all kinds of scientific research going on at the Smithsonian and then write about it and educate my former news colleagues about it."
However, shortly after she had begun her job as the press secretary for science she received a new job assignment: working for the National Zoo. She began working there in November of 2003 when it was under extreme press scrutiny and was even being examined by the National Academies of Sciences at the direction of Congress after a series of untimely animal deaths. Shortly after her arrival the then-current director of public affairs left and Martin was appointed to the position.
"It was quite a surprise and not what I expected when I left Keene," said Martin. "It's pretty cool. I hear all kinds of interesting things sitting here in my office with the windows open."
On July 9 Martin's job had a new twist added when Tai Shan, the zoo's famous giant panda cub, was born.
"Our panda cub is our really big star and he's just the cutest thing. I have seen him about three times now. He's not open to the public yet, but in my duties I have had to see him," jokes Martin. "It's been terrific!"
It was Martin's science and reporting background that drew her to the position with the Smithsonian and she has found the zoo very rewarding in that area.
"We have 2,400 animals here - 400 different species, and about a quarter of our animals here are endangered animals," said Martin. "We're only one of a few zoos in the country who have science departments. We have scientists on staff here who do a good bit of scientific research for conservation and reproductive science."
Her scientific knowledge has impressed those who work with her at the zoo. John Gibbons, who works in the public affairs department of the zoo, came to the Smithsonian institution after working with the Massachusetts Audubon Society, a conservation organization in Boston. After speaking with Martin he was pleased with her scientific knowledge and environmental interests.
"We shared a profound scientific and environmental conservatism background," said Gibbons. "It was wonderful for me to realize right off the bat that Carolyn was coming from a background steeped in science, research, and environmental conservation."
Martin and her husband still return to Keene to visit friends and family. And they miss events like the Pumpkin Festival. However while Martin does miss her friends and the "sense of connectedness and place" she felt in Keene, she enjoys her job at the zoo.
"It is just a great daily learning experience," said Martin. "I like a challenge and I'm certainly challenged here."
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Barney Frank: What It Means to Be a Liberal
WASHINGTON, Nov. 22-Barney Frank is outraged. And he wants everyone to know why.
Standing in front of a gaggle of reporters and congressional staffers in a small room on Capitol Hill, he grips the podium tightly with one hand and uses the other to gesture sternly at a chart that illustrates the source of his indignation-the sky-rocketing pay rates for corporate executives.
"I have not discovered a race of super-beings," he says, "who deserve this astronomical compensation."
Though the issue isn't as headline-grabbing as terrorism or avian flu, Frank speaks zealously and doesn't mince words. Even when answering questions from reporters, his responses are tightly reasoned and display the exhaustive knowledge and lightning-quick wit that have led him to be named one of Congress' brainiest and funniest congressmen in a recent Washingtonian poll of Capitol Hill staffers.
"He's always intense," said Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) who has served in the House with Frank for seven years, and has known him for more than 25 years. "He knows how serious this is. The issues we deal with down here are not jokes and the impact things have is very real. He understands that."
Since Frank was first elected to the House in 1980-the same year Ronald Reagan won the White House-he has seen the Democrats lose control of Congress, defended a president in impeachment proceedings, and witnessed nationwide ideological shifts. Throughout it all, however, he has remained a constant force: fiercely intellectual, devastatingly sharp, and, above all, unabashedly liberal.
Being a liberal "means you are for an economic policy which seeks to reduce the inequality that the capitalist system produces," Frank said, explaining a political position that has not always been popular during his tenure in Congress.
"It means that you think the government should protect people against being treated poorly because of some characteristic of their personality that shouldn't be a problem for anybody else."
Frank's political passions come, at least in part, from his upbringing. Born in 1940 in Bayonne, N.J., Frank was raised by parents he describes as "very political." On Saturday nights, the family-Frank is one of four children-would buy the Sunday editions of the major area newspapers. Everybody, Frank said, read the papers.
"We had the enormous good fortune of being raised by parents that took politics seriously," said Frank's sister Ann Lewis, the director of communications for Friends of Hillary, Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-N.Y.) re-election effort. "Growing up we knew that who governed was important-talking about it, thinking about it-it was something that mattered."
One of Frank's earliest political memories is watching the Senate organized crime hearings held by Senator Estes Kefauver in the early 1950s on television and later the Army-McCarthy hearings.
After graduating from Harvard University in 1962, Frank did graduate work in political science before joining the staff of newly-elected Boston mayor Kevin White in 1968. In 1972 he was elected to the Massachusetts state legislature, where he served for eight years. He also completed a law degree at Harvard before winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1980, replacing Father Robert Drinan, who retired.
Despite his election, 1980 was a bad year for the Democrats. It was a landmark election in which many senior congressional Democrats lost bids for re-election and the balance of power shifted from Democrats to Republicans.
"[It] was the worst year for the Democrats before 1994," Frank said, drawing a comparison to the year in which Republicans regained control of the House for the first time in nearly 50 years. "A lot of liberals got defeated that year.and Reagan was in there and he was very popular."
Though the political climate was tending towards the right, the decidedly left-leaning congressman quickly made his mark, earning a reputation for a disarming sense of humor, thorough knowledge of the issues, and remarkable debating abilities.
"I consider him one of the best, if not the best legislator, in the entire Congress. He is probably the best debater," said Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.), a fellow congressman of Frank's for 19 years, and a colleague on the Financial Services Committee.
When President Clinton was impeached in 1998, Frank was one of his most vocal defenders.
"Not only was he smart, but he weathered his own scandal and knew what tricks were coming," said Bart Everly, a filmmaker who got to know Frank while filming a documentary about the congressman in the late 1990s.
In 1987, Frank publicly revealed that he was gay and was re-elected with 70 percent of the vote in the following election. In 1990, Frank was reprimanded, but not censured, by Congress after it was revealed that he had employed as a personal aide a male escort who was living in his house and running a prostitution service. Following his punishment by the House, Frank received 66 percent of the vote in the next election.
"All of his skeletons were out of the closet," Everly said. "Other people were scared of the Republican attack machine." But not Frank.
Frank has been re-elected 13 times, garnering at least 70 percent of the vote most years. Last year, he received 78 percent of the vote in his bid to represent the state's Fourth District in Congress.
Though Frank is known for standing firm on his principles, his colleagues note that he is also a fair negotiator.
"I think of Barney as being pretty much a moderate to liberal member, but I don't think of him as an ideologue," said Shays, a moderate Republican who often attempts to reach out to Democrats to find consensus on issues. "He's very comfortable finding the center ground."
This combination of ideology and pragmatism has made Frank a frequent spokesman for his party. As ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, he has a reputation for working productively with Rep. Michael Oxley, the committee's Republican chairman. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) calls Frank a "warhorse-someone we repeatedly go to to carry the banner for the Democrats."
Frank also has the respect of trade and labor groups.
"Anytime there have been issues [important to New Bedford], he's been very responsive," said Jim Mathes, president of the New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce. "You'd be hard pressed to find someone with better constituent service."
Frank's popularity extends even beyond the borders of his district. On a recent visit to the capital, Nicole Harrington of Lanesboro in western Massachusetts stopped by Frank's office even though he is not her representative.
"It's really admirable for someone to be in his position and be so open about his choices," Harrington said.
And among the donors to Frank's re-election campaign are award-winning authors, Broadway producers, and notable playwrights from places as close as Cambridge and as far away as California.
"He espouses many compassionate ideals that I share and respect," said Robert Lopez, a contributor to Frank's campaign and one of the creators of the Broadway musical Avenue Q . "He has also been an outspoken opponent of the increasingly rabid right-wing Republican majority."
Frank's style-a businesslike approach to politics leavened with moral outrage and sharp sarcasm-may be one reason for his wide appeal. At a recent press conference, he spoke in detail about the laws that govern executive compensation, but it wasn't until he noted that a particular idea "makes intelligent design look like really hard science" that he really won the room.
Speaking about the ongoing debate surrounding the intelligence that supported the decision to go to war in Iraq, Frank has quipped that "the problem with the war in Iraq is not so much the intelligence as the stupidity."
"He's so bright that he is able to understand what people are saying, then . he is able to throw it back at you in ways that can tie your tongue," Shays said.
This sense of humor has been apparent in Frank since his youth, said Lewis, and is not just a part of a public persona.
"What you see in public is what we see in private-he is smart, he is funny, he is quick-he is also extra warm and loving to children in the family," Lewis said.
Indeed the walls and shelves of Frank's office display framed pictures of his nieces and nephews and their children. A handmade, and well-worn, paper nameplate on his desk reads "Uncle Barney" in a childish scrawl.
Family, said Frank, has been important to him politically as well as emotionally. In the early 1980s, his mother appeared in campaign ads for her son, his brother was his campaign manager and his younger sister acted as campaign treasurer, a position she still holds.
"My campaigns are a family affair," Frank said.
Frank is occasionally perceived to be surly, a phenomenon some attribute to his intensity and an impatience with those who are less serious about important issues. He doesn't say goodbye before hanging up the phone and he eschews small talk.
"He doesn't suffer fools gladly and he doesn't go in for niceties," said Everly, adding that "I think it's fun for him on a certain level."
It is, then, in keeping that Frank is brutally forthright about his political opinions. The congressional vote on the Terri Schiavo case was "one of the most unpopular things I've seen this place do in a long time," he said, and the war in Iraq has been "incompetently handled." Tax cuts? "A disaster for the country."
And while other politicians play it coy about their ambitions to higher office, Frank openly admits that he was planning to run for John Kerry's Senate seat if Kerry had won the presidency.
Though Frank said that President Bush "used the prestige and political leverage that he gained from Sept. 11 to move the country further to the right than it wanted to go," the congressman also expressed hope that Americans were starting to understand and object to some of the administration's policies.
"I think where we are is a period of awakening," Frank said. "Saying 'I did it because George Bush needed me' has now become a liability more than an asset."
Frank said that he thinks this political evolution will give Democrats an "increasingly good chance" to regain control of the House next year, an event that would make him the chairman of the Financial Services Committee.
"That's a dream job for me," Frank said, "to get us back to the housing business and working with the financial services industry constructively while also helping consumers."
Frank hopes he'll get that chance soon, but in the meantime he'll keep using his signature brains and wit to fight the Republicans from the trenches.
"I think Barney is the quintessential legislator-he's good at it, he enjoys the process, he's well-respected by everybody, even those who don't agree with him," Capuano said. "And he's fun."
Doctor Who Dedicated His Life to AIDS is Now the Head of the Department Preparing for Avian Flu
WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 -- Anthony S. Fauci credits his Jesuit education with teaching him social responsibility. His years at Holy Cross College, and earlier at a Jesuit high school in his native New York, were long on philosophy, languages and ethics, but relatively short on sciences.
"I loved it," said Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health for more than 20 years.
In selecting a career, specifically medicine over science, Dr. Fauci said he was guided as much by the fact that he was a "people person" as by his aptitude for science.
"I particularly like the idea of discovery and problem solving, and that intellectual philosophy that goes along with science," he said.
Dr. Fauci is now a science administrator and lab director, as well as a policy adviser to the highest echelons of the U.S. government on such topics as AIDS, bioterrorism defense, and flu. If the much-discussed bird flu becomes a global pandemic, he will be one of the top advisers to the president. However he continues to see patients in the institute's clinic twice a week, a commitment that is all but unheard of among directors of the NIH institutes.
"Every institute director says they do some [patient care]," said Samuel Broder, former director of the National Cancer Institute, "but it's ceremonial." He said Dr. Fauci was the only institute director who still dons a white coat and treats patients on a regular basis.
"My fundamental identity is as a physician," Dr. Fauci said. "I cannot not see patients." His continued involvement with patients also makes him a better medical administrator, he said, and keeps him in touch with reality.
But his demanding schedule leaves him little time for seeing patients. As institute director, Dr. Fauci must oversee and advocate for research on a very broad spectrum of health issues. A typical week will find him talking to Tim Russert on "Meet the Press," for example, or speaking to National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" on its "Science Friday" show.
Perhaps because of his background in the humanities, Dr. Fauci is regarded as a good communicator by his colleagues and friends. They say he is exceptionally good at explaining complex ideas-like the differences between bird flu and seasonal flu, for example, or the need for long term preparedness for cyclical epidemics of influenza-in terms that are easy to understand.
Charles A. Dinarello, who worked with Fauci at the institute and is now a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado, calls him "a layman's spokesman." Whether he is speaking about HIV or pandemic flu, said Dr. Dinarello, Dr. Fauci is able to talk at the public's level, offering "knowledge without fear."
Dr. Broder echoed Dr. Dinarello's praise, noting that Dr. Fauci does not talk down to the public, and that people sense they can trust him.
As the institute's director, Dr. Fauci oversees many projects, but his own lab work is focused on AIDS. He has been an AIDS researcher since the disease was nothing more than a puzzling group of symptoms showing up in gay men from major U.S. cities.
In 1981, Dr. Fauci was researching the immune system at the institute, studying autoimmune diseases like lupus and vasculitis. In June of that year he read about the first few cases of what would be called HIV in a report put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By July, it was clear there were enough cases that the disease was not a fluke.
"That was the turning point of my career, if not my life," said Dr. Fauci. He stopped his former research, to the dismay of many of his colleagues, and his lab began to focus solely on HIV.
It continues to be the focus of his lab work to this day. For the past 21 years since the virus HIV was discovered, Dr. Fauci has been studying the mechanisms by which the body destroys the immune system, hoping to find a way to stop it.
Dr. Fauci called finding a vaccine for HIV "one of the most difficult scientific problems." He explained that the best vaccine is a small dose of the infection itself which the body then fights off and "remembers," storing antibodies that will make it resistant the next time it meets that virus. That idea of a vaccine assumes that a majority of people can spontaneously recover from the disease in question. No one has ever spontaneously recovered from HIV.
Dr. Fauci said that is why his lab is working to understand what makes the body incapable of fighting HIV. Until that is found, there will be no vaccine.
The frenetic pace that Dr. Fauci's work requires has its trade-offs. "I don't sleep very much," he said. He works "outlandish hours," he said, coming in to work at 6:30 a.m. and often working until 10 or 11 p.m. six days a week.
When his three teen-aged daughters got old enough, the family made it a point to start eating together at 9:30 every night, a practice Dr. Fauci described as "not particularly healthy," but which allowed him to finally have a nightly dinner with his family. Lunch can be a tiny carton of Ben and Jerry's "Cherry Garcia" ice cream between meetings.
"We've kind of gotten used to it over the years," said Dr. Fauci's wife Christine Brady, a medical ethicist at NIH. She works full-time as well, and the family had a live-in babysitter for many years, she said.
Drs. Fauci and Brady met when a patient of Dr. Fauci's needed a Brazilian Portuguese translator and Dr. Brady who had spent time working in Brazil, spoke the language. A few weeks later Dr. Brady was walking down the hall and Dr. Fauci asked her to see him in his office before she left for the day. She thought it was about the patient. Instead, he asked her out to dinner.
Dr. Fauci is generally admired by his colleagues as someone who cares deeply about his work and the people it effects, but there was a controversy in 2002 concerning the ethics of some research the institute was involved in.
This centered on nevirapine, a drug administered to women with HIV in Africa to prevent them from passing the disease to their infants. A doctor inside the institute, Jonathan Fishbein, contended that research done on the drug in Africa was so flawed that health officials had to take blood samples from patients to determine whether they had been administered the drug. He charged that top officials, including Dr. Fauci, had information about side affects from the drug that was not reported to the Food and Drug Administration and the White House in a timely manner.
A panel from the National Academies' Institute of Medicine, a non-profit organization that advises the nation on health matters, examined these claims this year, and determined that while there were flaws, they did not lessen the effectiveness of the drug in stopping the spread of AIDS in Africa. "They agree with what we originally said," Dr. Fauci said.
Dr. Fishbein, who was terminated, said he could not comment because of a pending law suit.
Despite this controversy, Dr. Fauci is regarded by many of those who work with him as a dedicated scientist and humanitarian. Clifford Lane, acting deputy director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said of his boss, with whom he has worked since 1979, "As a scientist, Dr. Fauci is motivated to discover new things, as a physician.to improve the health of his patients, and as an institute director, he is strongly motivated to make new developments in medicine."
Sidebar
"There's a constant, metaphorical battle between microbes and human beings," said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, "And every once in a while you get a potential for real catastrophe, like pandemic flu."
Flu, Dr. Fauci said, is totally unpredictable. History can provide a guide, but no guarantees. Every year the world population is exposed to what he calls "seasonal flu," which changes slightly each year, a process known as "drifting." Since 1968, the seasonal flu going around has been H3N2.
To keep up with drifting, Dr. Fauci said, vaccines change slightly year to year.
But ordinarily the changes in the virus are small enough that past years' exposure offers people some protection, and there is no major public health risk. Even so, Dr. Fauci, 36,000 people are killed each year, just by seasonal flu.
A pandemic occurs when "a brand new virus, to which we've never been exposed, attacks the human race," said Dr. Fauci. This has happened three times in the last century. In 1918 there was a catastrophic pandemic, which caused 50 million deaths worldwide, half a million to 700,000 in the United States. It was the worst pandemic mankind had ever experienced, including the Black Plague, he said.
The years 1957 and 1968 saw pandemic flu as new strains of the virus emerged, but each was relatively mild compared with 1918.
The bird flu, which has killed more than 60 people in Southeast Asia and recently appeared in China and Indonesia, is a "potential candidate for pandemic flu," he said, because the human species has never been exposed to it. It is H5N1, a wholly different strain from seasonal flu. If it mutates to be spread efficiently from person to person, he said, it could be a threat.
The likelihood of a pandemic arising any one year, Dr. Fauci said, is very small, but the likelihood of it happening sometime is virtually inevitable.
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Frenetic Days for Sen. Susan Collins are Just a Way of Life
WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 - Sen. Susan Collins typically wakes up at about 6:45 a.m., is in the office by 8:30, and often does not leave until after eight at night. She takes a thick briefing book home with her and works for another two hours before plunking down to bed at about midnight.
"There are times when I look at the size of the briefing book and I groan because I know it's going to be a late night," she says.
"The volume of work, particularly now that I'm chair of a major committee, is huge and it requires constant work to keep up," she says. "There's generally no time in the day to do it."
What is a typical day on Capitol Hill for Maine's junior senator? Collins agreed to be followed by a reporter on Wednesday, Nov. 16. Collins knows the halls of Congress better than her staffers do. Her frenetic daily schedule is reflected in the swift pace at which she walks. And she thrives on her demanding schedule.
9:50 a.m.
Sen. Collins has already attended a breakfast on the House side, cleaned out her briefing book, and prepared for today's hearing of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which she chairs.
After the hearing, there are back-to-back constituent meetings and then floor votes. Tonight she will attend a dinner about U.S. competitiveness that will go until nine. Collins, who has gone to a dinner every night this week, was hoping to skip the one, but, she says, after Majority Leader Bill Frist sent her a personal email encouraging her to go there really was no other choice.
Collins has homes in both Bangor and Washington. In Washington she lives a 10-minute walk from the Capitol in a townhouse with one room per floor and the kitchen in the basement. Her friends call it "the doll's house," she says, because it is so small. On weekends she commutes ? sometimes it takes up to five hours ? to her home in Bangor, always traveling back on Sunday rather than Monday to make sure not to miss a vote if a flight is delayed.
Soon it is time to leave for the hearing and she hustles down the halls of the Dirksen Senate office building.
Collins is part of a walking club with Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). Thursday mornings at 7 a.m. they walk from the Capitol to the Washington Monument and back. Trying to get into shape, Collins says, has led her to join a women's-only gym in the Senate, where she walks on the treadmill and lifts weights.
Just prior to the hearing, the seventh in a series investigating the government's poor planning and response to the disaster, Collins greets the witnesses ? executives from the private sector ? in the small room behind the hearing area. They will testify today about how their companies prepared and responded to Hurricane Katrina more effectively than the government.
Collins, wearing a deep purple suit with black velvet trim around the collar, a thick silver chain around her neck and low-heeled black pumps, soon has the male executives laughing.
"I even had someone at the Department of Homeland Security concede that Wal-Mart saved more lives than FEMA and the Red Cross combined," Collins says after the two-hour hearing has concluded, her heels clip-clopping hurriedly back to her office.
Noon
"Oooooh."
Sen. Collins is genuinely surprised when she is greeted upon her return to her office by a large bouquet of colorful flowers. "Now, I have no idea where these gorgeous flowers came from."
Her excitement drops a barely-noticeable notch after silently reading the card, as if for a moment she might have been hoping for something more interesting.
A group of former Merchant Marines known as the Just Compensation Committee was obviously pleased with how Collins co-sponsored a bill to have Merchant Marines who were deployed during World War II receive veterans benefits.
Collins needs to prepare for a 12:30 luncheon with executives from Maine-based New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc., which is the last remaining athletic shoe maker in United States. But she always seems to have a few minutes to chat.
Collins has two cars: a green 1998 Honda Accord that she drives while in D.C. and a white 1997 Subaru Outback that she uses in Maine. "I tend to drive my cars until they die," she says. "Some of my friends would say I'm overly frugal."
On one side of her office is what Collins calls her "Heroes Wall," which includes a picture of moderate Sen. John Chafee (R-R.I.) who took Collins under his wing, she says, and also a signed picture of Margaret Chase Smith, Collins' role model, who served in the Senate from Maine from 1949 to 1973.
Collins now really needs to do some work.
12:25
Sen. Collins, her chief of staff and press secretary head out to her luncheon in the Capitol. Her black pumps have been replaced by New Balance running shoes that were made at the factory in Norridgewock.
The underground subway that connects the Senate office buildings to the Capitol looks like the people-mover at Epcot Center in Disney World. As the subway twists and turns, Sen. Collins talks about her favorite place to eat, the River Drivers Restaurant in Millinocket. She loves the lobster-stuffed haddock and the lollipop lamb chops.
It turns out that the lunch started at noon, not 12:30. Sometimes I need a clone, she says.
We are rushing around the back halls of the Capitol, the kind of places only someone like Sen. Collins, who worked for former Sen. William Cohen for 12 years, would know about.
"Do we know where we're going?" she asks her staff as she leads the pack to the luncheon room.
"No," is the answer.
"Good job you guys," she tells her staff. "I'm the one who knows where we're going."
Collins greets the 20 or so New Balance executives, who are there to discuss trade issues. The lunch is closed so the trailing reporter is ushered outside the room with the press secretary Kevin Kelley, a former New England Cable News correspondent who reported from Portland prior to arriving in Washington just this past summer.
She's a perfectionist, Kelley says about Collins. "She is never unprepared."
1 p.m.
Sen. Collins needs to do a satellite interview from the Senate recording studios located in the basement of the Capitol at 1:40. She does not have time to return to her office in Dirksen so she heads to her "hideaway" instead. A hideaway is an office just off the Capitol dome that is awarded to senators based on their seniority. Only about 60 senators have them.
We climb the winding, spiral stairway up to the office. Inside the office the ceiling is sloped. There is a picture on the wall? taken in 1996 just after Collins had won the Republican Senate primary ? of Collins with the first President Bush and Mrs. Bush at their compound in Kennebunkport. "It was quite thrilling," she says of having lunch with the former president.
1:35
Sen. Collins is on her way to the basement of the Capitol for the interview with WAGM, a Presque Isle television station, about the future of the weather forecast station there.
1:45
The senator emerges from the interview room once again in her black pumps as the deputy press secretary ferries the New Balance running shoes back to her office in a blue gift bag.
As she walks back to her office, Collins talks about being a woman in the Senate.
Initially a female senator has to prove that she belongs here, Collins says: "After you jump over that initial barrier I think your colleagues accept you. By and large I just don't think about it."
Her social life, she says, consists of a lot of friends. She is also quite close to her five siblings and her parents who live in Caribou where she grew up.
"I have the flexibility to, with my schedule, work very hard that I would not have if I had children," she says later.
2:05
Once back at her office in Dirksen, the senator returns phone calls.
2:35
Collins heads back to the Capitol for the second time that day for three roll call votes. Constituents who have come to meet with her will be brought over to the Senate reception area just outside of the Senate floor in the Capitol.
"You can never be sure what your schedule is going to be like," Collins says. The votes were not scheduled until about 1 p.m., she explains.
Waiting for the subway once again, she bumps into Sen. Herb Kohl, the Wisconsin Democrat who also owns the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team.
"She's a great senator," Kohl says. "She's respected by people on both sides of the aisle equally well. She's not only smart but she's got a nice common sense about her, an everyday quality that people relate to."
"She's single, I'm single," he adds.
3:10
Sen. Collins meets the members of the Maine chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons.
"I think she's done a wonderful job for the people of the state of Maine and seniors in particular," says Les LeFond, state president of the association.
3:45
Next, Collins meets with Phoenix Research, a newly established Maine company that has developed a research ship specializing in mapping and coastal and marine geology. The ship will be ready for charter in 2006. Collins tells Phoenix that when they are ready she will draft an introductory letter to government agencies and some universities in Maine that might be interested in contracting out the vessel for research purposes.
4:15
The press secretary gets word on his Blackberry (which does not work in all parts of the Capitol) that there may be more votes; some may go as late as 11 p.m.
Meanwhile Collins sits outside the floor of the Senate chatting with Newsweek reporter Howard Fineman.
4:25
Back to Collins' office. How does she relax?
She loves to cook - blueberry muffins and cakes, chicken with Mediterranean salsa and "a really good" apple tart ? and she loves to watch the food network on Saturday mornings.
Does she ever get awed by the famous members of the Senate?
"I feel awed when I see the Capitol building lit up at night. I don't feel in awe of the people that I work with," she says. "I feel like they're my colleagues."
Upon returning to her office, Collins says that she will return a call to a reporter, meet with her legislative director about a tax bill and prepare for a hearing she will chair tomorrow. By the time she is through it will be time for the dinner she is to attend at 6:30.
As is fairly typical, she will get home at about nine, and as always, go through her briefing book for two hours before bed.
But wait: Change in plans.
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) has spoken about the need for an independent commission to investigate the response to Hurricane Katrina. The GOP leadership has asked Collins to go to the floor and talk about her committee's findings on the matter.
"I may do it," she says, "it depends on the time on the floor."
Is it always this busy?
"Honestly, it's usually even busier."
Senator Collins' Favorites
Favorite book : "Empire Falls" by Richard Rousseau. "I loved that book. He combined a sense of Maine with both humor and tragedy all in one book."
Book she is reading now: Collins tends to have a book going in both Maine and Washington. In Washington she is reading "The World is Flat," by Tom Friedman. In Maine she is reading "Wicked," by Gregory Maguire.
Favorite movies: "Casablanca" and "The Wizard of Oz."
Favorite political figure: Margaret Chase Smith, William Cohen (for whom she worked for 12 years) and John Chafee of Rhode Island.
Favorite fast food: "I'm not a big fast-food person" but if she had to pick she would say Quiznos chicken sub on a whole wheat bun with zesty grill sauce.
Favorite restaurant: The River Drivers Restaurant in Millinocket.
Favorite drink: Iced tea with lemon.
Favorite vacation spot: Her camp at Lake Cold Stream Pond in West Enfield.
Favorite things to do to relax: Kayaking, cooking (she loves watching the food network), and reading.
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Shays’ Rebellion
By Mandy Kozar
WASHINGTON, Nov. 22-Congressman Christopher Shays' day was not even close to being over when he walked into his office on Capitol Hill around 5 p.m. last Thursday to do press interviews.
Members of the House had spent all day debating proposed Republican spending cuts that would slice funds for programs like Medicaid, food stamps and student loan subsidies. The negotiating went on into the wee hours of Friday morning.
In the end, only 14 Republicans voted against the spending cuts and Shays was one of them. The budget reductions were approved by the House and now negotiators are trying to work out the differences with a less stringent Senate version of the bill.
In person, Shays is polite and somewhat soft-spoken. During an interview he leans forward to listen and is attentive to the staffers in his office. When he speaks, he appears thoughtful and earnest. At times he is passionate, but he does not raise his voice.
And yet, his voice is heard all over the Capitol.
In the 18 years that Shays has served Connecticut's Fourth District in Congress, he has become known as an outspoken centrist who is not concerned with placating either Republican congressional or White House leaders. Recently, Shays and a group of about 20 other moderate Republicans made news for opposing the GOP leadership over a number of issues, but Shays' rebellion is nothing new.
Last week, the House spending cuts for 2006 brought the centrist resistance, along with Shays, into the spotlight.
Many Republicans were calling for cuts on numerous programs as part of a deficit reduction package which would have included authorization for oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. That provision especially drew criticism from Democrats and moderate Republicans. Rep. Charlie Bass (R-N.H.) led the opposition, circulating a protest letter. Shays, along with fellow Connecticut Reps. Nancy Johnson (R-5 th ) and Rob Simmons (R-2 nd ) signed the letter and the provision was eventually eliminated from the legislation.
Even with Alaskan drilling no longer an issue, leadership had to work hard to gain the votes they needed thanks to the resistance of Shays and his fellow moderates. The spending cuts narrowly passed the House 217 to 215, and the vote revealed a divided Republican Party.
It exposed some of the "inter-party squabbling" recently plaguing the Republican Party, said Danielle Doane, director of House relations at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
"The problem is the budget reconciliation was the first time the conservatives really were pushing conservative policy and I think that rankled a lot of the moderates," said Doane.
Conservative Republicans were unimpressed with this centrist rebellion.
"The moderates are 'fiscal conservatives' until they actually have to cut something," Doane said. "Chris Shays is a self-declared budget hawk. He wants to cut spending, he's on the Budget Committee, he's always talked about 'no deficit.' I mean, he says all the right things."
But, she said, whenever spending cuts are proposed, he never supports them. "And I think that's a problem a lot of moderates have, they shy away from putting any specifics to their rhetoric and that's the problem," she said.
The spending bill was not the first time Shays has found himself out of sync with the Republican leadership.
In April, the Washington Post dubbed him "The Loneliest Republican" when he was the first in his party to call for the House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to resign over questionable campaign fund practices prior to his indictment in September on charges of conspiring to introduce illegal corporate contributions to Texas state legislature races. And more recently he has been very vocal about ethical issues plaguing the Bush administration.
"The American people deserve better than a top government official perjuring himself and obstructing justice," Shays said in a statement after Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, was indicted for obstruction of justice and perjury.
He also opposed President Clinton's impeachment, supports stem cell research and abortion rights and recently he urged Congress to consider an anti-torture law despite the administration's threat to veto any such legislation.
Although other moderate Republicans and Democrats support his outspokenness, there are those who do not.
Criticism has come from the conservative Club for Growth, an organization of fiscal conservatives that has drawn up a list of moderate Republicans they refer to as "Republicans in Name Only," or RINOs. Shays is on that list.
"That's offensive to me, that someone defines what a Republican is by what they are," Shays said.
Many of Shays' colleagues, in fact, support his actions as evidence of his dedication to his district.
"He's very independent," said Congressman Frank Wolf, a Virginia Republican. "I admire his outspokenness. I think every member should be outspoken. You have to represent your district. And Chris does that very well."
And he has received like support closer to home.
"He cares about what happens here, he has a very strong sense of commitment," said Connecticut State Senator Judy Freedman (R-26). "He is very honest and has a lot of integrity."
Last year, Shays won re-election to his ninth term with only 52 percent of the vote, the smallest margin of victory he has received since winning office in 1987 and a much closer race than he faced in 2002. Shays' Democratic leaning 4th District, voted for Al Gore for president in 2000 and John Kerry in the 2004 presidential race. Shays learned a long time ago, he said, that "to represent my district, I would never be Speaker of the House. They come in conflict."
His candor has not gone without repercussions.
Despite being one of the most senior Republicans on the committee, Shays was denied chairmanship of the House Government Reform Committee because he was a chief sponsor of a leading bill to overhaul the campaign finance system-a position that did not impress conservative leadership.
The congressman pointed out that although he supports a number of issues that may be stereotyped as Democratic, such as abortion rights and gun control, he does not think his party affiliation is in question.
"Who said supporting stem cell research doesn't make you a Republican?" Shays asked.
If anything shows the extreme divergence in opinion surrounding Shays, it is the biennial superlatives poll conducted by Washingtonian magazine. In 2004, congressional staffers voted Shays both first place for "Gutsiest" and second for most "Spineless" member of Congress.
Shays, however, would probably reject the partisanship this vote no doubt reflects. The congressman is used to reaching out, as he said, "to both sides of the aisle" and much of his legislation reflects the bipartisan support that he said makes the most successful kind of legislator.
"I believe that we need to be Americans first and Republicans and Democrats second," he said.
Sununu Calls for Patriot Act Reform
WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 - Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) is embroiled in a dispute over the renewal of the U.S. Patriot Act and has joined a bipartisan team of lawmakers who say they plan to block reauthorization of the law on the grounds that it infringes on too many civil liberties.
The clash ensued after the House and Senate met in conference last week to compromise on certain provisions of the Patriot Act set to expire at the end of the year. After the conference committee issued a report outlining the new compromises, Sununu and his colleagues in the Senate sent a letter to the House and Senate leadership expressing their concerns.
"If further changes are not made, we will work to stop this bill from becoming law," wrote the senators.
Some Democrats in the Senate have threatened to filibuster the new act when it comes to the floor. The original Patriot Act, passed in the wake of September 11, expanded the government's surveillance and prosecutorial powers.
Sununu and his colleagues are critical of certain provisions in the law that they say erode civil liberties, like the government's unfettered access to sensitive business files and library records and the "sneak and peek warrants" that allow law enforcement agencies to conduct secret searches of people's homes or businesses and inform them later.
Senators, along with Sununu, who are threatening to oppose the reauthorization of the law are Larry Craig (R-Idaho); Richard Durbin (D-Ill.); Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.); Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Ken Salazar (D-Col.), a bi-partisan and ideologically diverse group.
They were joined Friday in a press conference by House members Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y); Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.); John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Connie Mack (R-Fla.). The group outlined their concerns and emphasized their desire to protect the nation from terrorism without encroaching upon the fundamental rights of Americans.
"Time and time again we have said we are focused on a few areas of a very large piece of legislation," Sununu said at the press conference. "We think we can work out bipartisan compromise, reasonable compromise in each of these areas that doesn't in any way undermine the ability of law enforcement to deal with a terrorist."
Sununu also criticized the Justice Department for championing the Patriot Act and failing to properly advise President Bush.
"I have spoken with senior members of the Justice Department not weeks ago, not months ago, but as much as a year ago, raising some very specifically-crafted concerns," said Sununu. "And there has been opportunity after opportunity to deal with these well in advance, and they have failed to do so. I don't think a number of key advisors have served the president well, because this is important to protect civil liberties and still fight the war on terrorism."
Sununu's stance on the Patriot Act puts him at odds with his Senate colleague Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security and supports renewal of the law.
"The Patriot Act is one of those tools that is crucial to the war against terrorism while also containing a variety of safeguards to help protect individual rights," Gregg said in a statement to the Union Leader. "We must be able to use the Patriot Act for what it is designed: collecting intelligence on terrorists."
But Gregg said he is hopeful that a compromise can be reached.
"While I recognize that concerns have been raised regarding some of the provisions in the bill, I am hopeful that agreement can be reached on a number of the issues of concern before the bill comes before Congress for a final vote," Gregg said. "Furthermore, mechanisms have been included in this conference report to ensure that further review and alteration of the bill can be considered within a set time frame."
Although Sununu voted for the Patriot Act when it was first introduced in 2001, he said he now believes that certain provisions of the law have served their purpose and should be allowed to expire at the end of the year.
"It was necessary legislation given the importance of the time," Sununu said in an interview. "That is why it was crafted carefully with sunsets."
"Sunsets" are dates built into the Patriot Act which schedule certain provisions of the law to expire unless they are renewed by Congress.
Given the standards he and his colleagues wish to set, Sununu said, "I really don't believe anyone can clearly describe a situation that would prevent law enforcement from doing its job effectively."
The future of the debate remains uncertain as some of the Democrats in the Senate have threatened to filibuster the bill and Congress is facing not only the expiration of the law at the end of the year, but its imminent Thanksgiving recess.
"And yet here we are, effectively the day before everyone hopes to be heading home for the holiday," said Sununu at Friday's press conference. "This just shouldn't be."
Funding Would Assist Missing Child Program
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 -A branch of "A Child Is Missing" may soon be established in Massachusetts' 1 st Congressional District.
The House recently approved $240,000 for the program, which assists law enforcement agencies during the first few hours after a child or elderly adult is reported missing. The money would be used to search for missing children and elderly, conduct child safety programs and assist law enforcement agencies throughout the 1 st district.
The money is included in the 2006 fiscal year Science, State, Justice and Commerce appropriations bill, which the House approved Nov. 9. The Senate must now pass the bill.
To locate a missing child or elderly adult, A Child Is Missing uses an advanced telephone computer system that sends an automated emergency message to residents and businesses in the area where the missing person was last seen. The computer can call about 1,000 locations per minute and give a description of the missing person and telephone numbers to call.
"This system, as tested by law enforcement, has the potential for saving those first few precious hours," said Rep. John Olver, D-Amherst, a member of the Appropriations Committee,. "This funding will go a long way--all towns and law enforcement agencies in the 1st Congressional District, as well as the rest of Massachusetts, will benefit from this program."
A Child Is Missing, a national nonprofit organization started in 1997, is branching its way across Massachusetts. The program has led to the recovery of missing persons in Abington, Brockton, Framingham, Kingston, Longmeadow and Pepperell .
In the past 44 months 126 recoveries have been recorded and verified by law enforcement officials nationwide, said Claudia Corrigan, vice president and national expansion director of the program.
The program assists in all types of missing cases - abductions, lost children, runaways, lost senior citizens and lost physically and mentally challenged persons.
The Molly Bish Institute for Child Health and Safety at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner will conduct training for area residents about the program in the near future.
"We've been working with Congressman Olver in setting up meetings with A Child Is Missing representatives to learn more about what they need," said Lea Ann Erickson, director of community relations at the college. "The college will essentially serve as a subcontractor by facilitating the training."
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Northeast Corridor Could Cause Problems for Connecticut
By Tara Fehr
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17-The firing last week of Amtrak President David Gunn may now lead to the splitting off from Amtrak its Northeast Corridor service, which runs trains between Boston and Washington.
In September the Amtrak board voted to take preliminary steps toward spinning off the corridor service, but Gunn did not agree with it and was fired
The Amtrak board favors cutting the Northeast Corridor service from Amtrak and turning corridor operations over to a private consortium.
"The Amtrak board of directors has become a front for the Bush Administration and people who want to destroy Amtrak," Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said at a hearing Tuesday by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's railroads subcommittee on the governance of Amtrak. "When Mr. Gunn refused to go along with the 'Bush Board' on actions that would cripple the railroad, most notably the Northeast Corridor, he was fired."
In a press release announcing Gunn's dismissal, the board said the rail service needed to "intensify the pace and broaden the scope of its reform."
"David Gunn has helped Amtrak receive much-needed financial and organizational stability," David Laney, chairman of the board, said in his testimony at the hearing. "At the same time, the Amtrak board cannot keep looking at the rear-view mirror."
So, where does this leave the Northeast Corridor?
Amtrak carried about 1.4 million Connecticut passengers in 2004, up from 1.2 million the previous year, according to the company's fact sheet.
The Connecticut rail system is among the most congested tracks in the country, said Chris Cooper, Connecticut Department of Transportation spokesman. The New Haven line, with 110,00 riders per day, carries more passengers between Connecticut and New York City in a year than the rest of Amtrak does nationally. The Northeast Corridor track also runs through a part of the state with the oldest bridges and overhead electrical systems.
"Connecticut is one of the 13 colonies, so all of our infrastructure and transportation corridors are among some of the oldest [in the country]," Cooper said.
Track maintenance costs about $300,000 per mile annually when the track is in good condition, said Jim Cameron, vice president of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council, a citizens group representing riders of the Metro-North and Shore Line East rail lines. Shore Line East commuter trains are operated by Amtrak. Cameron is also a member of the Coastal Corridor Transportation Investment Area, which was established by the Connecticut General Assembly in 2001.
Connecticut invests its own money in the state's railroad system. The fleet replacement program, for example, introduced by the governor in the 2005 legislative session, will deliver new cars. The state also is building new stations and improving the rail infrastructure.
"Connecticut is on pace, between its fleet replacement plan, new stations and infrastructure upgrades, to have a first-class system within about three years," Cooper said. But the state is concerned with the Amtrak board's preliminary proposal, he said.
"The bottom line is Connecticut is making significant investments in rail," he said. "We do not want to see a proposal that would represent a step backward from the progress we are making."
But federal funding has been scarce, and actions taken by President Bush, who did not allocate money to Amtrak in his fiscal 2006 budget proposal, and the Amtrak board, when it fired Gunn and introduced the Northeast Corridor plan, have some lawmakers worried.
"The funding problem is a safety concern," said Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., noting that railroads are always underfunded.
The Senate and the House rejected the President's proposal to deny funds to Amtrak, and now the system could receive $1.3 billion, according to the Transportation appropriations bill conference report, Nadler said
"Affordable, reliable, and safe rail service in the Northeast Corridor is vital to the lives of the people of Connecticut who depend on it for their daily transportation and livelihood," said Rep. Robert Simmons, R-2 nd District.
Cooper said that the state recognizes the importance of its rail system and hopes that Amtrak also will see it.
"The best scenario for us would be that Amtrak recognize the importance of rail travel, particularly commuter rail travel in Connecticut, and not do anything to impede our progress from making sure we have a safe, reliable system that could handle the growing capacity that we see every month in terms of increased ridership," he said.
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