Category: Ryan G. Murphy
McGovern Rejects Modified Endangered Species Act
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 – The House Thursday passed a controversial bill that opponents said would critically weaken the 1973 Endangered Species Act.
Rep. James McGovern joined 192 other members, predominately Democrats, with a handful of moderate Republicans, in voting against the legislation. It passed 229-193 and will now move to the Senate.
Introduced last week by Resources Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), the 74-page bill would compensate landowners if the government blocks development to protect endangered species.
“We don’t pay power plants not to violate clean air laws or provide incentives for businesses to comply with minimum wage standards,” Mr. McGovern said on the House floor. “But under this bill, we would pay land owners to not break the law.”
Mr. McGovern added in an interview: “A lot of big developers want to be able to develop wherever they want. They’re not concerned about protecting endangered species and rare plant life. They want complete freedom to do whatever they want to do.”
The bill also proposes to eliminate critical habitat areas – – currently protected from harmful actions by federal agencies — and to give the secretary of the interior the responsibility of interpreting which scientific data are appropriate for legal decision making.
“The bill before us essentially guts the Endangered Species Act,” Mr. McGovern said during floor debate. “With the largest deficit in American history, is this the right time to open a slush fund that will funnel millions of dollars to developers and businesses while undoubtedly resulting in the extinction of unique animals and habitats in this country?”
Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) proposed an amendment to eliminate compensation to landowners for vetoed developments, strengthen recovery plans for endangered species and create a board of advisers for scientific decision making, but it was voted down 216-206. Mr. McGovern voted in favor, calling it a responsible way” to modernize the endangered species law. He added in an interview that the Boehlert-Miller proposal was “not perfect, but it’s a reasonable alternative.”
Supporters of Mr. Pombo’s legislation say that modernizing an outdated law is important for limiting federal regulation on local land.
Those opposed say the current law has saved hundreds of species from extinction.
“This is one vote in a series of votes that has attempted to roll back environmental protection laws,” Mr. McGovern said. “This Republican majority has been hostile to the environment.”
WPI to Receive $2 Million for Medical Defense Technology
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 - The Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Center for Untethered Healthcare could receive $2 million as part of this year's defense spending bill.
The legislation was approved by the Senate appropriations committee Wednesday morning and is currently being debated on the Senate floor. The bill, which is expected to pass, would provide $440.2 billion in new spending for the Department of Defense.
Massachusetts organizations specializing in defense, health, security, naval and other military technologies would receive $145 million.
The Untethered Healthcare Center at WPI would use the $2 million for sensor and communications technologies that support health care for soldiers on the battlefield.
"This is a very important step in completing the $10.5 million project," said Dennis Berkey, WPI's president. "I'm very proud of this project and I'm proud to know that Congress has supported us, knowing that this is important technology."
The center's project, known as "Real Time Troop Physiological Status Monitoring," produces sensors and communication devices that allow health to be monitored at a distance.
For example, if a soldier is wounded on a mission, sensors on his or her body would send a wireless signal to a command post or hospital, according to W. Grant McGimpsey, a chemistry professor at WPI. This signal would allow medical professionals to monitor the soldier's pulse, core body temperature, vital signs, blood oxygenation and position. In turn, preparations for the soldier's healthcare could be made long before he or she is given medical care.
"We have the ability to identify a soldier's condition and give it to doctors and first responders," McGimpsey said.
Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) were instrumental in including the school in legislation and Rep. James McGovern (D- Mass.) helped moved the bill forward in the House last May, a school spokesman said.
"This bill is a tribute to the excellent defense work done in Massachusetts and demonstrates Congress' strong support for our efforts," Mr. Kennedy said in a press release.
The $2 million for the school is part of $29.5 million that has been earmarked exclusively for defense medical technologies in Massachusetts. Other organizations receiving money for defense medical technologies include: the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, Boston ($7.5 million); Biopure, Cambridge ($4 million); Schepens Eye Research Institute, Boston ($4 million) and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston ($12 million).
Other Massachusetts organizations expected to receive money through this bill include: Boston University ($9 million for security technology); American Superconductor, Westborough ($8 million for naval technology); General Electric ($10 million for military technology); Raytheon, Andover ($10 million for military technology) and Malden Mills, Lawrence ($14 million for military technology).
Neal Backs Irish Republican Army Disarmament
WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 - Congressman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) Wednesday praised the Irish Republican Army's weapons disarmament after meeting with a top Sinn Fein political leader.
On Monday, international weapons inspectors announced the IRA's complete disarmament, marking the potential end of a violent era in Northern Ireland's history.
In the last 35 years, more than 3,500 people have been killed as a result of political and religious upheaval in Northern Ireland, with the IRA responsible for numerous assassinations and bombings.
Mr. Neal and other legislators said that the disarmament was a strong move toward peace in Northern Ireland and a potential catalyst for negotiations between the Catholic Sinn Fein party and the majority Protestant Democratic Unionist Party.
"The historical significance of this announcement on the island of Ireland cannot be minimized," said Mr. Neal, co-chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs. "The confirmation of full and final IRA weapons decommissioning will have a swift and dramatic impact on the Northern Ireland peace process."
Neal and other members of Congress met Wednesday with Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein's number two leader.
The Democratic Unionist Party has questioned whether the IRA's disarmament is for real, arguing that the IRA should have lived up to its promise to disarm in May 2000, in accordance with a 1998 joint Catholic-Protestant peace accord.
The IRA refused to start disarming until October 2001 and then stopped the disarmament process for two years, hiding most of its weapons in rural areas of the Republic of Ireland.
On Tuesday, the Democratic Unionist Party and its leader, Rev. Ian Paisley, said they do not believe that the IRA has fully disarmed and accused the organization of hiding information.
The unionists also said that they have no intention of cooperating with Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA, anytime in the near future.
"Ian Paisley's intransigence will be put under the magnifying glass of world opinion," Mr. Neal said in a telephone interview. "It appears to me that the only person on the entire island of Ireland not in support of [peace from disarmament] is Ian Paisley."
At a press conference on Wednesday, Mr. McGuinness stressed the importance of unionist cooperation in facilitating political unity in Northern Ireland.
"We now have a golden opportunity to more forward in the realm of politics on the island of Ireland," Mr. McGuinness said. "We have the opportunity to replace conflict with peaceful politics dialogue. Irish Republicans want to make peace. I urge that Ian Paisley embrace this opportunity in the interest of all our people."
McGovern Rejects Republican Push for Bipartisan Katrina Committee
WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 -Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., emphatically rejected a resolution the House passed Thursday calling for a bipartisan congressional committee to investigate the federal government's preparedness and response to Hurricane Katrina. The resolution passed, 224-188, and has yet to be agreed upon in the Senate.
McGovern joins a long list of Democrats who have opposed a bipartisan congressional committee composed of House and Senate members. Democrats have favored an independent commission, similar to one formed for9/11. They also have expressed strong displeasure with the government's response to Hurricane Katrina.
"The federal response to Hurricane Katrina was absolutely unacceptable," McGovern said during House debate. "The American people deserve to know what went so terribly wrong and what we must do to make sure it never happens again."
Before the vote in the House, McGovern said he expected the resolution to pass and forecast a similar result in the Senate.
"It'll pass," he said. "Republican leadership is telling Republicans to 'vote or else.' There's a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things. Partisanship is the wrong way to do things."
McGovern also said that if legislation forming a bipartisan committee was adopted, Democrats would boycott the committee altogether.
"[Senate minority leader] Harry Reid and [House minority leader] Nancy Pelosi have already said that they will not appoint any Democrats to the committee," McGovern said. "We're not going to participate in this sham."
Democrats fear that a bipartisan committee run by Republicans would jeopardize the minority party's role in the investigation. Democrats also have said that an independent investigation would avoid the role that partisan politics has played in Katrina's aftermath thus far.
"After the flood comes the whitewash,." McGovern warned. The committee would be required to report its findings on local, state and federal responses by Feb. 16.
Republicans have argued for a bipartisan committee that avoids placing blame in the hurricane's wake and focuses on finding answers about what went wrong. Republicans also have said that Democrats will have an equal say in the investigation under the regular rules of the House.
"The minority members of the select committee will have the same rights to call witnesses," said Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), who introduced the resolution Wednesday to create the bipartisan committee. "This resolution provides that our select committee should operate in concert with a similar Senate committee to get to the bottom of what went wrong."
McGovern supported an alternative plan offered by Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) to form an independent commission.
"Let me be clear, Mr. Speaker," McGovern said on the House floor. "The purpose of this commission established in Mr. Hastings' bill is not simply to assign blame. Rather, an independent commission would take a tough, honest approach to an incredibly complicated problem."
McGovern added, "This commission will show whether or not, as I believe, FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] lacked appropriate leadership and then recommend ways in which the agency can better be prepared, both in terms of personnel and resources."
McGovern said that the independent 9/11 commission was effective and a "meaningful force for change," and noted three problems with a bipartisan congressional committee: that representatives' time could be better spent with the immediate recovery, that Republicans would be "investigating" other Republicans and that some of the problems on the Gulf Coast included "bad funding choices made by Congress itself."
"What the American people deserve at the end of this process is a document that doesn't necessarily agree with everything I say, or doesn't cover the president's back," McGovern said, adding that Americans need a document that "actually helps fix the problems that Hurricane Katrina exposed."
Additional LIHEAP Funding Requested
WASHINGTON, Sept. 15- Reps. John Olver, James McGovern and Richard Neal have called for increased funds for a federal home energy assistance program.
The legislators made their requests in a pair of letters. One, sent September 8, called for an additional $900 million for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program this winter, while the other asked that its 2006 fiscal year funding be raised to $4 billion.
The program helps low income, elderly and disabled residents pay their heating bills.
"As you consider additional emergency supplemental funding in response to this disaster we urge you to give serious thought to the wider effects this catastrophe will have beyond the shades of the Gulf," the legislators, as well as 55 colleagues, wrote to President Bush in the September 8 letter.
The letter noted that the nation was "feeling the squeeze" of energy prices even before Katrina hit and as winter approaches, there may be a "looming crisis for our cold weather states," particularly those in the Northeast. The additional funds for the program, called LIHEAP for short, would help offset the cost of a future disaster similar to Hurricane Katrina.
"As a result [of Katrina], we can expect to face the most expensive winter heating season in history across the country," the letter said. "It is also our responsibility to address the wider ramifications of this natural disaster and avert another crisis down the road by providing additional LIHEAP emergency funds."
Neal added: "The president declared an emergency in the Gulf. This problem is not limited there. The hurricane is going to cause a disruption throughout the country."
Fifty members from both parties signed the second letter, sent on Wednesday to two House and Senate appropriations subcommittee chairmen and ranking members, requesting an increase in funding to $4 billion in the 2006 fiscal year. Currently, the House bill allots $2 billion for 2006, while the Senate has yet to approve its bill.
"Without LIHEAP millions of senior citizens on fixed incomes, working families with children and persons with disabilities from one end of the country to the next would be forced to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table," the legislators wrote. "In the richest country in the world, no one should ever have to make that unacceptable choice."
To qualify for the program, a household's gross income may not exceed 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. A family of four, for example, would need to have an income below $38,700 to qualify.
The Energy Information Administration expects residential per-household expenditure for fuels this winter to increase 71 percent for natural gas, 17 percent for electricity, 31 percent for heating oil and 40 percent for propane compared to last winter.
"There needs to be a backup plan," Neal said. "People had trouble paying there bills last year and if you add an increase in fuel costs, that only compounds the problem."
Since 2001, the price of heating oil has increased to $1,261. In 2005, the average recipient received $318 in assistance.
"More than ever, Massachusetts residents are going to need help when they get their heating bills this winter," Olver said. " We need to make sure this winter that families don't have to make a choice between heating their homes and purchasing necessities like food or medicine."
Central Mass. Fire Departments to Benefit from Federal Grants
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 - In the past month, the federal government has awarded $198,743 to the Boylston, Northborough and West Boylston fire departments through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program for equipment, training and facility modifications.
The Homeland Security Department gave the Boylston department $45,670 for equipment and training, awarded Northborough $93,366 for personal protective equipment and gave West Boylston $59,707 for facility modifications and personal protective equipment.
"It's great to have this money," said West Boylston Fire Chief Jack Chandler. "We've applied for it the last three years and this is the first time we've got it. I told the guys on Tuesday night that we'd be getting some new equipment and they we're pretty excited."
West Boylston plans to use the grant for a vehicle exhaust removal system as well as 10 sets of brand new personal protective equipment.
The grants do not cover the entire amount of the departments' requests, however. Boylston's grant application, for example, listed its budget for operations and safety at $48,073, about five percent more than the grant. The department will need to find the $2,403 difference.
"In this regard, the fire department is not winning the lottery, if you will," said Brian Cowan, director of the federal program. "There is still a serious investment that needs to be made at the local level as well, whether it's through tax dollars or independent funding."
The same is true for Northborough and West Boylston. Northborough's budget for operations and safety was listed at $98,280, and West Boylston's was $62,850. Both departments will need to make up the five percent difference from other sources.
The grant program, started in the spring of 2001, has a yearly budget of $715 million. Fire departments across the nation make specific requests for such things as training, equipment, personal wellness programs for firefighters and modifications to the fire stations.
"This program is obviously a huge help for these fire departments," said Cowan, the program director. "The grants are able to help them with their daily operations and safety concerns."
Cowan said that in their applications, fire departments needed to convince the reviewers that there was a specific need for equipment and no financial means to buy it. Additionally, the departments needed to reveal a plan for improving their operations.
"It's not only important for big cities to get federal funding but smaller towns as well," said Rep. Jim McGovern. "When disaster strikes, it doesn't discriminate as we've seen with Hurricane Katrina. Not only was New Orleans affected, but many small towns on the Gulf Coast as well, so it's important that these smaller fire departments get the federal assistance they need."
About 70 percent of the firehouses awarded grants were, like Boylston, exclusively volunteer. Both Northborough and West Boylston are a combination of volunteer and career firefighters.
Boylston Fire Chief Joseph Flanagan and Northborough Fire Chief David Durgin were unavailable for comment Wednesday. Durgin was attending a fire training course in Worcester and Flanagan has been assisting with hurricane relief on the Gulf Coast.
