Category: Maite Jullian
Allen to Vote for Rescue Plan, Michaud Undecided
RESUCE
Bangor Daily News
Maite Jullian
Boston University Washington News Service
10/02/08
WASHINGTON – With the House likely to vote Friday on the financial rescue plan, Democratic Rep. Mike Michaud, who voted against the plan Monday, said Thursday he was undecided about how to vote on the Senate-approved version.
“We have a long way to go,” Michaud said in an interview. “The fact is that this is being rushed. [Treasury Secretary Henry ]Paulson and [Federal Reserve chairman Ben] Bernanke said we have to get things through. Any time we try to move with the fear factor, we don’t get good legislation.”
Democratic Rep. Tom Allen, who voted for the bill on Monday, said he will support the new version, and he urged House approval.
Allen, in a statement on Thursday, said that though he supported many of the changes that the Senate made to the proposal, he regretted so many were added.
“I do not believe it was necessary to laden this particular bill with unrelated measures,” Allen said. “Many of the provisions added by the Senate could have and should have been considered separately on their own merits.”
“It is imperative that Congress act responsibly to prevent any further deterioration to the financial underpinnings of our economy,” he said. “The plan the House rejected on Monday was not perfect, but it was a vast improvement over the proposal President Bush submitted.”
In addition to giving $700 billion to the Treasury secretary to buy troubled assets from banks, establishing an oversight board and authorizing safety measures for taxpayers, the Senate-approved version of the bill includes $111 million in energy-related and other tax breaks and a one-year increase in the cap on government deposit insurance from $100,000 to $250,000 per account.
It also would provide relief from the alternative minimum tax and authorize $8 billion in tax relief for those hit by natural disasters in the Midwest, Texas and Louisiana.
Michaud said he was pleased that the Senate version includes the deposit insurance increase but still had concerns about the overall plan. He criticized the Senate’s move to attach the tax package to the financial rescue plan.
“The tax package should not be included; this has nothing to do with the issue” he said. “These are more unfunded measures that would put a burden on future generations.”
Michaud said he would like to see provisions ensuring that taxpayers would recoup from the financial market and that the government act to address relief for homeowners from the mortgage crunch.
“We have to put that in there,” Michaud said.
He said he was scheduled to meet with the Democratic caucus and with House leaders on Thursday evening to discuss possible changes to the Senate version.
“I am still waiting to hear from the leadership,” Michaud said. “The other question is what bill would it be? The Democratic leadership has not made any comments. It could be the same bill [as the Senate version] or another.”
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McCain Campaign is Moving to Maine
CAMPAIGN
Bangor Daily News
Maite Jullian
Boston University Washington News Service
10/02/08
WASHINGTON –John McCain’s campaign announced Thursday that it will move resources and staff to Maine to challenge Barack Obama in the Democrat-leaning state.
“We are opening up an aggressive front in Maine, where we have strong numbers and where they split their electoral votes,” Mike DuHaime, political director of the campaign, said in a conference call.
Maine, which has four electoral votes, splits those votes by districts. Nebraska is the only other state in that situation.
The announcement came as the campaign decided to scale back resources in Michigan and move them to other states, such as Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
DuHaime and Greg Strimple, a senior campaign adviser, included Maine in a number of states they say were “not safe in any direction.”
They said Maine was one of several states where centrist Democrats have been successful, while underscoring that Obama is not one of them.
“Obama is the most liberal senator,” DuHaime said. “So we feel very confident in these states.”
According to the Associated Press, the McCain campaign checked advertising rates in Maine this week.
Strimple said that the campaign had its best fund-raising month in September since last year and therefore was looking for a “very aggressive last 30 days.”
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Snowe, Collins Glad Senate Bill Has Passed
BAILOUT
Bangor Daily News
Maite Jullian
Boston University Washington News Service
Oct. 1, 2008
WASHINGTON — Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine welcomed with gravity the U.S. Senate’s passage Wednesday night of a revamped $700 billion financial rescue plan.
“I feel like I did the right thing but I am sad,” Snowe said. “The American people didn’t deserve this.”
“It shows that when confronted with a serious economic crisis, the Congress can come together in a bipartisan way,” Collins said. “This legislation is necessary in order to avert an economic catastrophe that would have devastating consequences for anyone who relies on credit.”
Collins and Snowe said the modified version of the bill addressed the concerns they had.
“Compared to the Treasury proposal, there is much stronger oversight and accountability,” Collins said. “Those changes were critical to me supporting the bill.”
Both senators said they supported the Senate version of the bill that the House defeated Monday in part because of the additional protections for taxpayers, the curbs on executive compensation, and stronger accountability. The plan limits corporate tax deductions on executive compensation in excess of $500,000 and on golden parachutes.
“What we can do is ensure taxpayers are protected and these protections are embedded in this legislation,” Snowe said. “Then we’ll have to find out who is responsible. Somebody has to be responsible.”
The major changes to the House bailout plan is a one-year increase in the cap on federal deposit insurance, from $100,000 to $250,000, for banks and credit union accounts, and the extension of business and individual tax breaks that had expired.
The Senate financial rescue plan’s extension of tax breaks for businesses and individuals includes tax credits for the production and use of renewable energy sources.
Snowe said she supported the tax package attached to the plan but expressed doubts regarding the future of the plan.
“I don’t know if it’s going to work for or against us,” she said. “I guess somebody thought it would help us.”
The major provision of the bailout plan, giving $700 billion to the treasury secretary to buy troubled assets from banks, remains unchanged, as do provisions establishing an oversight board and creating safety measures for taxpayers.
The rescue plan is now headed to the House, where lawmakers are expected to vote on Friday on the modified version of the bill. Maine’s Democratic Reps. Tom Allen and Mike Michaud split their votes on the original bailout plan Monday when Michaud joined the majority in defeating the measure that Allen supported.
The bill’s failure that day echoed in the financial markets with the Dow Jones industrial average plunging by 778 points, the most ever for a single day.
Snowe and Collins hope the House will pass the modified version Friday to avoid further consequences on American families and the economy.
“I am absolutely worried about the consequences if it doesn’t pass the House,” Snowe said.
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Fair Trade Protest at Sen. Collins’ Bangor Office
FTA
Bangor Daily News
Maite Jullian
Boston University Washington News Service
9/26/08
WASHINGTON -- About 30 protesters delivered 24,000 pink slips to Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ office in Bangor on Friday and asked her to oppose the U.S.-Columbia free trade agreement awaiting congressional approval.
The Maine Fair Trade Campaign, a coalition of 51 organizations and unions across the state, said the pink slips – a piece of paper given to a worker as a layoff notice – symbolically represented the 24,000 manufacturing jobs lost in Maine since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The protesters said another free trade agreement would put at risk thousands of other jobs in Maine.
“The problem with free trade is that it is sending our jobs overseas,” Daphne Loring, a Maine Fair Trade Campaign coordinator, said. “People are suffering, the middle class is squeezed. The last thing we should be considering is the extension of the NAFTA to Columbia.”
Collins was the only Maine member of Congress who did not take a position on the issue, either supporting or opposing it, Loring said in a telephone interview.
“Collins is supposed to represent Maine working families,” Loring said. “We need her to represent us in Washington. We need the entire delegation to support us.”
Jen Burita, Collins’ spokesperson, said that the senator had opposed some trade agreements, such as the Central American Free Trade Agreement, and supported others, such as the Chilean Free Trade Agreement.
“In deciding whether or not to support trade agreements, Sen. Collins always evaluates the impact on Maine workers and examines the labor and environmental provisions in each pact,” Burita said.
If approved, the agreement would eliminate tariffs and other trade barriers between the U.S. and Columbia.
Both governments signed the Trade Promotion Agreement in November 2006. The legislative branches of both countries need to approve it before it can be enacted.
The Colombian Congress approved it last year. President Bush sent it to the U.S. Congress last April but the bill did not get out of committee in either the House or the Senate. As a result the bill will likely die, as Congress is on the verge of adjourning.
Protesters denounced the risks of unfair trade agreements, for American manufacturing and service jobs.
“We hear about the loss of 25,000 manufacturing jobs but this is just the beginning of the trade agreements’ effects,” Alec Maybarduk, a staff member of the Maine State Employees Association, said in a telephone interview. “We wanted to send a clear message today, especially with the economic context. Right now, we are feeling the effects of deregulation on financial markets but we’ve felt that in manufacturing jobs for years.”
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No Hasty Vote on the Bailout Plan for Maine Members of Congress
MAINE REACTION
Bangor Daily News
Maite Jullian
Boston University Washington News Service
9/24/08
WASHINGTON – Maine’s U.S senators and representatives all share the same point of view on the $700 billion bailout plan and the Bush administration’s efforts to have it approved by the end of the week: the Congress should not act in haste.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on Tuesday and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday that delaying passage of the plan would cause a recession and increased joblessness.
But members of Congress, across party lines, are concerned about giving $700 billion to the Treasury without a thorough analysis of the plan and inclusion in the final version of guarantees of oversight and safeguards for taxpayers.
“It is not reasonable for the administration to ask Congress to rubber-stamp the proposal,” Republican Sen. Susan Collins said in an interview. “It is important that Congress takes time to carefully review the plan. It could potentially put at risk as much as $700 billion of taxpayers’ money.”
Paulson’s original plan has especially been criticized for its lack of oversight and concerns for taxpayers who are going to finance the bailout.
“If the plan looks like the first Paulson proposal, I would vote against it,” Democratic Rep. Mike Michaud said in an interview. “We shouldn’t act in haste. We ought to continue working and do whatever it takes to get it right. We have to make sure that all our concerns are answered.”
The Maine representatives and senators also said that taxpayers’ interest ought to be included in the plan.
“My overriding priority is to protect the financial security of the families and small businesses,” Democratic Rep. Tom Allen said in a statement. “I am working with members of Congress from both parties to craft a response to this crisis that minimizes taxpayer exposure.”
Democrats, as well as some Republicans, want to require the government to get a stake in companies that are helped so that taxpayers would get a return if those companies make a profit.
“I don’t think taxpayers should be responsible to bail out Wall Street,” Michaud said. “We have to make sure taxpayers are protected.”
Collins and Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, with several colleagues, asked in a letter to House and Senate leaders that any “financial rescue” legislation provide for an independent inspector general to monitor and report on Treasury’s activities.
“We need to include sufficient regulatory reform to prevent it from happening in the future and sufficient oversight so it doesn’t result in propping up Wall Street executives’ salaries that have contributed to this crisis,” Collins said.
The Maine delegation also condemned Wall Street companies that acted out of greed and put the country in this financial crisis.
“We must assure that there are consequences for the companies and the executives that led us into this crisis,” Snowe said in a press release.
Michaud said that “golden parachutes should be eliminated” and Collins and Allen said they favor limiting excessive compensation for executives.
Snowe said the government should rethink the regulation of financial markets.
“This must also begin the process of reforming our regulatory framework across our financial markets,” she said. “Looking forward, we need increased accountability and transparency for all our markets, not just some, as it has been the case in the past.”
Michaud said Congress has to ensure good corporate governance, unlike in the past.
“If it had been regulated, we wouldn’t have gotten to that point,” he said.
Congress had been scheduled to adjourn Friday so that members could go home to campaign. But with the serious concerns remaining about the bailout plan, Congress is likely to remain in session at least through the weekend.
“I feel strongly that we should not adjourn,” Collins said. “There are still questions about how it would work and even if it is an appropriate response.”
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Senate Defense Bill Includes Projects in Maine
DEFENSE
Bangor Daily News
Maite Jullian
Boston University Washington News Service
9/19/08
WASHINGTON – The Senate approved on Wednesday night a $612.5 billion defense budget for 2009 which includes provisions that would fund defense programs based in Maine and support the work of several Maine companies.
The bill “includes a number of provisions that recognize the value of Maine's defense industry to our national security, as well as key shipbuilding provisions that are critical to Bath Iron Works, the Navy, and our overall national security,” Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.
The House version of the bill, passed last May, allocates $531.4 billion to national security programs in the 2009 fiscal year budget, which starts October 1.
Members of a conference committee will be appointed shortly to work out the differences between the two bills before sending the revised version to the Senate and House for a final vote.
“With the limited amount of time remaining in the Congress, this is a must-pass bill, and I am pleased that we we’re able to move this priority legislation through the Senate,” Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe said in a press release.
The Senate bill includes $20 million for the construction of a training facility at the Bangor Armed Forces Reserve Center and more than $9 million for Maine’s Army National Guard for a medical data system used in the field in Iraq that allows for real-time data management and analysis via hand-held devices. The system was developed by Global Relief Technologies in Kennebunk and Orono.
Another $3 million will go to the development of an infrared detection system designed by Orono Spectral Solutions in Orono and $3 million to develop software that will allow for the secure transmission of data developed by Angel Secure Networks, Inc. based in Orono.
The University of Maine would receive $4.5 million for several national security research and development programs, including lightweight tent insert panels to provide protection to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sen. Collins proposed several key provisions that were included in the bill, such as $2.55 billion to fund several major military projects, including the building of destroyers and combats ships to be built by the Maine-based company Bath Iron Works.
“I am particularly pleased that the final Senate bill contains my request to include $20.6 million for a new drydock support facility at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery,” she said.
“As most of these important provisions are not included in the House bill, I will work to ensure that the Senate provisions prevail,” Collins said in a statement. “It is my hope that conference negotiations will begin as soon as possible.” Collins will be a member of the conference committee, according to her spokesperson Jen Burita.
Sen. Collins also co-authored a bi-partisan provision, written with Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Evan Bayh, D-Ind., to transfer to Iraqis the responsibility to pay for major reconstruction projects, salaries and training of their troops and other expenses.
“There is no reason why the Iraqis cannot bear more of the cost of securing, stabilizing and rebuilding their country,” Collins said in a press release. “No more American funds should be spent for major reconstruction projects.”
The bill also includes a 3.9 percent pay raise for service members and money for improved mental health services for the military.
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Maine to Get Grants for Public Safety and Criminal Justice
GRANTS
Bangor Daily News
Maite Jullian
Boston University Washington News Service
9/18/08
WASHINGTON – Maine agencies this week received federal grants that will help prevent drunken driving, improve highway safety and reduce the number of DNA samples awaiting analysis at the State Police crime laboratory.
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Thursday that the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety will receive $1 million for drunk driving prevention and $100,000 for motorcycle safety.
“We received all our grants for the 2008 fiscal year,” Lauren Stewart, director of the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety, said. “We are happy. The last couple of years we received around half a million dollars.”
The funds, shared with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, will go to local law enforcement officials throughout the state to enforce alcohol traffic safety and drunk driving prevention programs, and to reinforce training and education programs for motorcyclists.
“In 2005, 23 percent of all drivers aged 15 to 20 who died in motor vehicle crashes had a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher,” said Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, in a press release. “I strongly support this grant program and its objective of curbing the scourge of drunk driving.”
The South Portland Bus Service also will receive $294,000 from the Federal Transit Administration to buy a replacement bus.
“These funds will address major transportation issues,” Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, said in a joint statement. “Maintaining highway safety and improving public transportation services will keep Mainers connected and safe.”
The Maine State Police crime laboratory also received two grants this week.
The Justice Department announced that the laboratory will receive $98,000 as part of the Forensic DNA Backlog Reduction Program which is intended to reduce the number of unanalyzed DNA samples in criminal cases under investigation.
Another $126,000 will go to the compulsory DNA testing of convicted offenders.
Elliot Kollman, crime lab director, said that more money could be used.
He said that the funds have been going down for the past five years because they are intended to reduce the number of cases awaiting analysis.
But as the demand for DNA testing has been increasing, in part because law enforcement officials have become more aware of forensics and use it mainly today for “property crimes” such as burglaries, the number of unanalyzed cases is close as what it was 5 years ago.
“We had 300 to 400 DNA submissions about five years ago and we already have 700 this year,” he said. “Even if we have increased our capacity, we still have 200 cases waiting analysis now. We are pretty much where we were 5 years ago. If we still had 400 cases’ submissions, we wouldn’t need the amount we need now.”
Finally, the Penobscot Nation will receive a $37,000 grant to implement a registry for the tracking and monitoring sex offenders.
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More Money for Home Heating Assistance
LIHEAP
Bangor Daily News
Maite Jullian
Boston University Washington News Service
9/17/08
WASHINGTON—Maine will receive more than $7 million in additional home heating assistance for low-income families as part of an emergency contingency fund.
Maine’s congressional delegation announced Wednesday that the administration will immediately release $120.7 million nationwide from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which provides aid to vulnerable people to help pay their energy bills.
The state’s two senators and two representatives wrote separate letters to the administration earlier in the month asking for additional funds.
Though they said they welcomed the administration’s decision, they added that increased spending remains necessary and that they will keep pushing for additional funds for fiscal year 2009, which begins on Oct. 1.
Rep. Michael Michaud (D) said in an interview that of the $121 million released, more than a fourth, or more than $33 million, will go to New England states, which are identified as needy because of the large number of eligible families that use oil to heat their homes.
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) said in a press release that Maine received $46.5 million the current fiscal year, the most the state has ever received.
She said that she was “pleased” but that the current economic crisis and the increase in energy prices require a more significant increase in the low-income aid program, which totaled $2.57 billion in fiscal year 2008.
“While release of these funds is a positive step forward, we must do more to mitigate this crisis by fully funding the … program at $5.1 billion,” she said.
Rep. Tom Allen (D) said in a statement he is also working to secure full funding for the program.
Sen. Susan Collins (R) said in a press release that she sent a letter last week to Senate appropriators requesting the inclusion of $2.5 billion for next year.
According to Sen. Collins, the program assists 4.5 million low-income families nationally each year, which represents only 15 percent of Americans eligible for assistance under the program. To be eligible the family must earn no more than 150 percent of the poverty level or 60 percent of the state median income. About 48,000 Maine families rely on the program.
Reps. Allen and Michaud said that they also were working on changing the eligibility requirements so that more families would benefit from the program.
“Economically people are hurting,” Michaud said. “They are going to be in desperate need this winter. It is really important that Congress looks at expanding eligibility requirements.”
Allen said in a statement that he also filed legislation to create a $2,000 refundable tax credit for fuel costs and a tax credit for small businesses for the amount they spend on fuel above the Labor Day 2004 price and to raise the Internal Revenue Service’s standard mileage rate to 60 cents.
“Congress must take even bolder action to provide relief from high prices to families and small businesses in Maine and across America,” he said.
While Maine’s delegation pushes for additional funds, President Bush’s proposal for the fiscal year 2009 budget actually reduces funds for the program by 22 percent. The regular fund would be cut from $1.98 billion to $1.7 billion and the emergency contingency fund from $590.3 million to $300 million.
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