Category: Fall 2008 Newswire
Lockheed Martin Marion to Receive $4.6 Million Contract
CONTRACT
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Courtney Hime
Boston University Washington News Service
September 24, 2008
WASHINGTON – Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Marion facility has been awarded a $4.6 million contract to build equipment that will help the National Weather Service better predict the weather.
The contract, announced Wednesday by the offices of Sens. John Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy and Rep. Barney Frank, will help fund production of up to 27,880 global positioning system radiosondes, balloon-borne instrument platforms for measuring pressure, temperature, wind and relative humidity. The information is then radio-transmitted to the Weather Service to use in making predictions.
Jack Hayes, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service, said the GPS radiosondes would offer more accurate information for predicting weather patterns.
“It’s very simple,” Hayes said. “You put more accurate weather information into our models, you’re going to get a more accurate forecast or a warning.”
Hayes said the accurate measurements would be helpful in colder months for preparing people for winter storms. The radiosondes, he said, would provide better rain, snow and thunderstorm forecasting, which would increase safety on land, sea and in the air.
Hayes said since 70 percent of all air traffic delays are caused by weather, the National Weather Service is hoping that deployment of the new radiosondes can lessen air traffic delays.
Tracy McNeil, spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin in Marion, said she is happy that a Massachusetts business is receiving the grant. The company, she said, is happy to support the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in producing radiosondes.
“NOAA’s been one of our biggest, one of our best customers, in this area for a long time in meteorological programs and in oceanographic programs, and we’re just really happy to support their mission with this product,” McNeil said.
In a press release on Wednesday, Sen. Kerry said the grant would have a positive impact in Massachusetts businesses and the environment. Rep. Frank echoed Kerry’s praise of the grant.
“These funds will benefit the economy of Southeastern Massachusetts and help the area continue to expand its leadership in innovative maritime and climate-related research,” Rep. Frank said in Wednesday’s press release.
Melissa Wagoner, a spokeswoman for Sen. Kennedy, said in a Wednesday press release that the senator was proud that the company, and Massachusetts, would be able “to support NOAA in keeping our nation safer from weather-related events.”
Sen. Kerry also said the production of the radiosondes would directly help Massachusetts.
“This technology will help us better understand the atmospheric and oceanic processes that determine the impacts of climate change on Massachusetts shorelines and communities,” he said.
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Bailout Gains Should Be Used to Pay Down Debt, Sununu, Gregg Say
SUNUNU
New Hampshire Union Leader
Jenny Paul
Boston University Washington News Service
9/24/08
WASHINGTON—The government’s $700 billion bailout proposal should include a provision to make sure that revenues from the program are used first to reduce the national debt, not to boost spending, New Hampshire Republican Sens. John Sununu and Judd Gregg said Wednesday.
The rescue plan would authorize the government to buy and eventually resell troubled mortgage-backed securities.
Gregg said he is circulating a proposal to ensure that returns on government investments won’t be spent on new initiatives or “pet programs.” He said the proposal has been “well-received” by the Senate leadership.
If the government spends $700 billion but makes $800 billion, Gregg said he would like to see the $100 billion profit go to paying down the federal debt, but would be open to allowing the profit to be used for other purposes.
“My druthers would still be to pay down the federal debt with anything you made here because we have a lot of debt,” he said. “It would be a constructive use of the money.”
Separately, Sununu said in a conference call, “Gains should be used to pay down the debt, not increase government spending. I think we need that kind of a commitment and a guarantee so that again taxpayers know that they’re being put first.”
The provision would show taxpayers that the government is committed to putting their interests first, said Sununu. He said oversight mechanisms also should be added to the rescue plan to protect consumers.
“Oversight is the best place to start, to look at ways to get the Government Accountability Office or an independent overseer involved in keeping track of the program, how it’s structured, the prices it’s paying for securities and, of course, whether taxpayers’ interests are being protected,” Sununu said.
Sununu said he is not opposed to restrictions on compensation for the executives of companies involved in the bailout and would look at specific proposals and “give them a fair consideration.”
“I think there’s a strong argument to be made for doing that when the government is stepping forward to provide capital directly to a firm that’s in distress,” he said. “The government should not be in the business of telling companies what they can and can’t pay employees as a general point, but if the government is stepping forward to save a company, to inject capital, as we did in the case of AIG [American International Group] or Fannie Mae, I think it’s certainly appropriate to raise the issue and to make any assistance conditional.”
Sununu said congressional leaders want to consider bailout legislation by the end of the week. The plan is likely to be introduced in the House and then taken up in the Senate if the House passes it, he said.
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Registering to Vote More Complicated for Students
VOTING
New London Day
Dan Levy
Boston University Washington News Service
September 24 2008
WASHINGTON - For years one of the greatest challenges for political parties has been to persuade young people to show up at the polls on Election Day. Now, Democratic members of Congress and student rights groups are teaming up to make sure young people who do show up are able to cast their vote and have their ballots counted.
Students will encounter “disproportionate access barriers” to the polls this November and should know their rights in advance, said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the House majority leader, at a press conference Wednesday outside the U.S. Capitol.
Hoyer was joined by several congressional colleagues, including Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., who said that differing voter registration laws across the country make voting confusing for students who attend college outside their home states.
“We should be making it easier for students,” Schakowsky said. “Their impact on Election Day will only be felt if they’re allowed to vote.”
Former presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, urged students to cast absentee ballots in advance to avoid long lines at polling stations and to “find out if there are going to be any barriers” ahead of time.
Kucinich noted that some in his home state were concerned that voters whose homes were in foreclosure would be turned away the polls because they would no longer be considered residents.
Schakowsky said she had heard of students being told that their parents would no longer be able to claim them as a dependent for tax purposes if they voted outside their home district.
“That’s one of the lies,” Schakowsky said.
Connecticut is not one of the states that organizers of the press conference, which included the Student Association for Voter Empowerment and People for the American Way, were particularly concerned about. But officials and students at Connecticut College said they would make sure students were well-informed going into what is, for many of them, their first presidential election.
The New London college and the local voting registrar have a “good working relationship,” said Tracee Reiser, associate dean for community learning at Connecticut College. She said that her department is working with campus political groups to organize voter registration drives and information sessions on and off campus, and that the college would be running vans from residence halls to the polls from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.
Matthews Fairman, a 21-year-old senior who volunteers for the registration drives as a member of the Connecticut College Democrats, said his group encourages out-of-state students to register in New London, given the closeness of the 2006 congressional election, which Democrat Joe Courtney won by fewer than a hundred votes.
Still, Fairman expressed disappointment that the college has no Republican student group this year, which he said made political debates on campus “kind of lopsided.”
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New Media Technology Crucial in Getting Out the Young Vote
TECHNOLOGY
The Keene Sentinel
Joe Vines
Boston University Washington News Service
September 23, 2008
WASHINGTON – Shaun Doherty first met John McCain during the Arizona senator’s first campaign for the presidency in 1999, and is just as enthusiastic about him nine years later.
“Sen. McCain is someone who has really made sacrifices for this country throughout his whole life,” Doherty said. “He’s someone I like because he’s reform-minded.”
Doherty couldn’t vote for McCain in 2000. He was too young.
This year, in what experts predict to be a tight election, Doherty, now 20 and a communications student at Rivier College, is doing everything he can to make sure McCain secures New Hampshire’s four electoral votes. He has organized phone banks and door knocks as well as an event featuring McCain that attracted approximately 1,000 people.
Doherty attributes the success of these events to Facebook, the popular social-networking Web site. Doherty started a Facebook group called New Hampshire Students for John McCain, which allows users to exchange ideas through the group’s message board and easily send e-mails to hundreds of people at once.
“I think it’s a great way to keep up on the campaign for younger people who might not use the traditional means of the newspaper or the Web site, but they are on Facebook or MySpace,” Doherty said.
Facebook and MySpace aren’t the only social networking Web sites making an impact in the 2008 race, though. Both political parties have designed social networking Web sites. In February, the College Republican National Committee launched STORM, a social networking Web site designed to inform young voters about conservative political candidates.
The site features a reward system called “impact points.” Users of STORM earn impact points by registering other voters to the site or organizing get-out-the-vote activities. At the end of each month top impact point earners have won prizes such as a free iPod Nano or free housing at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.
The site has 132,000 users, according to Ashley Barbera, the committee’s communications director.
The Obama campaign also has a social networking site, mybarackobama.com, which functions almost the same way as STORM, but without the reward incentive.
The College Republican National Committee also designed a Web site called Where is the Red. The site followed four young Republicans on a cross-country road trip beginning on the East Coast and following a path west along contiguous Republican congressional districts.
Along the way, the students uploaded photos to Flickr, a social networking Web site and photo repository in which users can share personal photographs with one another. The students also uploaded video to YouTube, a site where users can share videos.
They also kept a journal using Twitter, a social networking site in which users communicate through blogging. When a user updates his or her blog, Twitter sends the update to everyone on the user’s friends list via an e-mail message called a Tweet.
Since social-networking Web sites debuted in 2004, voter registration among people 18 to 29 has increased exponentially, according to Stephanie Young, spokeswoman for Rock the Vote, a national nonpartisan organization created in 1990 to get young voters to the polls. According to Young, voter registration of people 18 to 29 doubled from 2004 to 2006 and tripled from 2006 to 2008.
“Young people are not happy with the direction of the country and they want to do something to change that,” Young said.
Rock the Vote’s Web outreach includes a Facebook message that users can send to their friends and a voter registration widget. A widget is defined as anything that can be embedded in a Web site, including advertising banners, “click here” links for downloading Web content and counters that track how many people have visited a Web site.
Rock the Vote also uses mobile text messaging to inform young voters who registered with the site about important dates such as registration deadlines. Young said that Rock the Vote plans to send a text message out on Election Day reminding young people to vote.
The use of mobile phone technology is critical in young voter outreach. Ben Hall, a 22-year-old social science major at Keene State College, signed up to be informed of Sen. Barack Obama’s vice presidential pick via mobile text message.
“I was definitely excited,” Hall said. “I was waiting to see if I was going to get [the text message] and checking the Drudge Report and Huffington Post.”
The Illinois senator made history when he became the first presidential candidate in history to announce his running mate by text message. The announcement of Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden as his vice president first went out at 3 a.m. on Aug. 23.
“Being in the 21st century, with the advent of the cell phone, most young voters don’t have a land line, so it forced all campaigns to be creative in the way we reach out to young voters,” said Larkin Barker, spokeswoman for the Obama campaign in New Hampshire.
Barker declined to say how many people signed up to receive the message but said it was in the “hundreds of thousands.”
Hall said he is enthusiastic about Obama’s candidacy because, he said, Obama was not part of the Washington crowd. “I think he’s a new face that we need” he said. “I feel like Washington is out of touch with regular Americans.”
As a member of the Keene State Democrats, Hall belongs to a Facebook group that supports Obama’s candidacy. He also uses databases of e-mail addresses that make it easier to send e-mails to large groups of people.
The use of mass messaging in both electronic and mobile forms also has made an impact on the 2008 race. Garth Corriveau, president of the New Hampshire chapter of the Young Democrats of America, said his chapter uses the e-mail database of the America Votes Coalition. The database contains names and e-mail addresses of union members, non-profit organizations and others interested in electing Democratic public officials.
Corriveau said the database was a helpful tool in electing young Democrats to the state legislature. “We’ve really been heavily emphasizing young Democrats helping young Democrats,” Corriveau said.
Young voters could play a key role in the 2008 election. According to Rock the Vote, people 18 to 29 make up one fifth of the country’s adult population. During this year’s New Hampshire primary, 18 percent of young voters went to the polls, a higher percentage than voters aged 30 to 39 and senior citizens, according to Rock the Vote.
Rock the Vote has registered more than 1 million young voters this election cycle, with a goal of registering 2 million, Young said.
Matt Segal, executive director of the Student Association for Voter Empowerment, a nonpartisan advocacy group dedicated to increasing civic education among young people, said he was confident young voters will play a big part in the election.
“I think that in 2008, young people are going to set the record straight and show that we are the swing demographic worthy of the candidates’ time, resources and energy because we can help them win,” Segal said.
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Fall River Named One of Nation’s 100 Best Communities for Youth
FORUM
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Courtney Hime
Boston University Washington News Service
September 23, 2008
WASHINGTON – Jamison Souza believes in the power of youth.
“People always come in and talk about how the youth are the leaders of tomorrow, but in reality they are the leaders of today,” he said “They have a voice, and their voice needs to be heard.”
It’s this mentality that brought Souza – along with four other Fall River residents – to the America’s Promise Alliance’s 100 Best Communities for Young People National Forum in Washington on Monday and Tuesday.
The two students and three adults are part of Fall River’s Healthy Youth Task Force and the Fall River Extends Supportive Hands team (team FRESH, it calls itself), two groups that advocate for youth issues. Souza and fellow team FRESH co-adviser Christian McCloskey accompanied Ine Ogagan and students Mei Yu Fang and Lillian Phuong to the two-day forum.
The America’s Promise Alliance is a partnership of corporations, nonprofit organizations and other advocacy groups focused on promising America’s youth access to five essential resources: caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, effective education and opportunities to help others.
Souza and McCloskey said they came up with a “unique approach” to fulfilling the alliance’s promise.
“Other communities embraced the America’s Promise framework and brought it to the youth; we did it backwards,” McCloskey said. “Educate the youth on America’s Promise and have them bring it to the adults, to the community.”
After working to help youth in the Fall River community gain access to these resources, Team FRESH applied to have Fall River be one of the 100 communities recognized by the alliance. Residents of the winning communities were invited to the celebration in Washington.
As the two-day forum drew to a close, B.M.C. Durfee High School junior Phuong and sophomore Yu Fang said they have acquired new ideas for how to help Fall River.
“The whole experience has actually taught me a lot about what we can do,” Fang said.
Phuong, who was just named to the Governor’s Youth Council, came out of the forum with a renewed outlook.
“It takes more than one voice to make a big difference, but it only takes one voice to get it started,” she said.
Souza said talking with representatives from the other communities helped validate the work Team FRESH had been doing.
“It’s been very informative to see that a lot of the communities are doing similar things that Fall River’s doing,” Souza said. “It’s great to see that we’re on the right track.”
McCloskey added, though, that the competition reminded them they still had gaps where improvement was needed – especially in strengthening community partnerships and collaborations.
The team is planning a small gathering of youth and adults on Oct. 25 to begin developing a community agenda for youth.
“We need to identify all the necessary partners that are going to have to be a part of this effort,” McCloskey said
Both days of the forum consisted of workshops to discuss issues facing America’s youth. Monday night brought the community residents together for a celebration, which included opening addresses by Alliance Chairwoman Alma Powell and former Secretary of State Colin Powell as well as performances by American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino and the Howard Gospel Choir of Howard University. ###
Government Doesn’t ‘Have a Choice’ on Bailout Plan, Rudman Says
COALITION
New Hampshire Union Leader
Jenny Paul
Boston University Washington News Service
9/23/08
WASHINGTON – The government’s $700 billion bailout plan is essential to put liquidity back in the market, former Sen. Warren Rudman (R-N.H.) said Tuesday.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” said Rudman, who co-chairs the Concord Coalition, a non-partisan group that advocates the goal of a balanced federal budget. “Unfortunately, it’s not a free choice. It comes with a cost.”
The cost of the rescue plan could boost the federal budget deficit to $700 billion or $800 billion next year, which could devalue the dollar and increase inflation, Rudman said. The estimated deficit for fiscal year 2008, which ends next Tuesday, is $407 billion, according to a Sept. 9 report by the Congressional Budget Office.
“If we start running a $700, $800 billion deficit next year, then we’re going to have a definite effect on the dollar, which will go down,” Rudman said.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said Monday that the proposal—which would authorize the government to buy and eventually resell troubled mortgage-backed securities--would not cost $700 billion, noting that $700 billion is the initial authorization to spend, not the projected cost.
“It will clearly cost considerably less than $700 billion ultimately, because you’re going to sell these benefits,” Frank said at a press conference. “We’re acquiring things that we will sell. Nobody knows how much they will cost in the end…. It really depends on how well it works, because if the market recovers to a great extent, the assets recover, you get more money back.”
Rudman agreed that Frank was “talking within the realm of probability.”
“The net expenditure over the long term won’t be anywhere near $700 billion,” he said. “Certainly there will be substantial recovery.”
Rudman said there should be more accountability built into the plan regarding the governance of companies that are bailed out.
The cost of the bailout adds to a budget weighed down by long-term obligations to fund Social Security and Medicare, said Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition. He said the amount of debt involved in the rescue package could spur members of Congress to take another look at the budget and begin to close the budget gap by reducing government spending or raising taxes.
“People seem to think that you can go along living off of credit and hoping that nothing goes wrong, and that’s basically what the federal government has been doing,” Bixby said. “So I think that what we need to do after we get through this initial bailout is get down to work to make sure that the federal government isn’t in need of a bailout itself.”
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Celtics Celebrate Win with White House Visit
CELTICS
Worcester Telegram and Gazette
Rachel Kolokoff
Boston University Washington News Service
September 19, 2008
WASHINGTON – The Boston Celtics joined President George W. Bush at the White House Friday to celebrate the team’s 17th NBA championship. The president spoke briefly, honoring the sportsmanship that brought the team their first win in 22 years.
“I welcome the Boston Celtics team that has brought great pride to the Boston area,” Bush said. “As you know, I went to school up there and that was when the Celtics were awesome.”
Speaking to some 150 people including members of Congress, the armed forces and Celtics fans, the president said this year’s win surprised “the experts,” who did not think the team would end more than two decades of championship drought.
“At the beginning of last season, few would have predicted how this season would have ended,” he said. “After all, the Celtics had finished with the second worst record in the NBA.”
He and other baby boomers, he said, were “reminded of a great basketball rivalry” when the Celtics took on the Lakers in June, clinching the title in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
The president also praised the Celtics coaching staff including head coach Glenn “Doc” Rivers.
“He brought character to the club house,” Bush said. “He brought unity to the team and he helped bring the championship back to Boston.”
The president also praised the Celtics for their community involvement, including work done with The Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation and the Heroes Among Us program.
“It’s a really good idea and I thank you for doing that,” he said. “I want to congratulate you for worrying about children and literacy and using your special status in society to set a good example.”
In closing, he reiterated his congratulations and wished the team success.
“I wish you all the very best for the next season,” he said. “Should you win it, you can find me in Texas.”
After the speech, team president Paul Pierce presented the 43rd president with an autographed basketball and a personalized Celtics jersey with No. 43.
“On behalf of the Celtics organization we’d like to thank you,” Pierce said.
Pierce also announced the Celtics’ donation of $100,000 to American Red Cross) on behalf of the families and victims of Hurricane Ike.
“We’d just like to say thank you and it’s truly an honor,” Pierce said.
Seaman Brian M. Brooks, a 29-year-old from North Carolina, said that while he had enjoyed being a member of the military color guard for the Celtics in the finals, he was truly honored to be at this event.
“This is probably the best thing I’ve ever done,” Brooks said.
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World Champ Celtics Honored at White House
BASKETBALL
The Keene Sentinel
Joe Vines
Boston University Washington News Service
September 19, 2008
WASHINGTON− The 2008 NBA Champion Boston Celtics were honored by President George W. Bush in the East Room of the White House Friday, commemorating the franchise’s first championship since 1986.
“So, Celtic pride is back,” Bush said to a crowd of approximately 150 guests and members of Congress. “I went to school up there and those were the days the Celtics were awesome.”
Bush then spoke of Boston’s three stars, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, but emphasized that winning a championship involves the entire team. “You might recall, I was the owner of a baseball team, and I never knew what this felt like,” Bush quipped.
”And Doc Rivers, this guy can coach,” Bush said of the Boston head coach. Bush previously met Rivers when Rivers was a coach with the San Antonio Spurs and Bush was governor of Texas.
Following Bush’s speech, the team, dressed-to-impress in expensive-looking suits, had their picture taken with the President. “Mr. President, we just want to say it’s truly an honor to be here today,” said Celtics captain Paul Pierce. Pierce then presented the 43rd president with a basketball signed by the entire team and a number 43 team jersey.
Pierce also presented the President with a check for $100,000 made out to the Red Cross for the victims of Hurricane Ike, which ravaged Bush’s home state of Texas last week. The money was donated by the Shamrock Foundation and the Heroes Among Us program, a community outreach initiative established by the Celtics in 1997, according to the team’s Web site.
“We’re definitely honored to be here today. [The Celtics] treat us very well,” said Seaman Brian M. Brooks. Brooks, 29, of Jacksonville, N.C., is stationed on the USS Constitution in Boston. He said he was a member of the military color guard for some of the Celtics home playoff games. “It was definitely an honor to do that for the Celtics,” he said. “It’s kind of intense. The spotlight’s on the singer and you.”
“It was kind of surreal,” Celtics forward Kevin Garnett said following the ceremony. Garnett said he enjoys playing for the Celtics and team General Manager Danny Ainge. “I think as a player I probably didn’t appreciate it as much,” Ainge said, speaking about visiting President Ronald Reagan, after winning an NBA championship as a player with the Celtics in 1986.
With their 131-92 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in game six, the Boston Celtics earned the franchise’s 17th world championship, the most championships by a franchise in NBA history.
The ceremony marked the final time President Bush will welcome an NBA championship team to the White House. “Should you win next year, you can find me in Texas,” he said.
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PROTESTS
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Courtney Hime
Boston University Washington News Service
September 18, 2008
WASHINGTON – Fifteen advocates for the rights of disabled persons were arrested in U.S. Rep. Barney Frank’s office Tuesday after trying to get his endorsement of their housing agenda.
Randy Alexander, an organizer for ADAPT, said his organization advocates for individuals with disabilities being allowed to live in their communities rather than in nursing homes. The group was in Washington hoping to gain support for their housing agenda, which calls for accessible, affordable, integrated housing, Alexander said.
ADAPT members met in Rep. Frank’s office because they believed the congressman had previously committed to acquiring 500 housing vouchers for people transitioning out of nursing homes and failed on his commitment, Alexander said.
Rep. Frank said the Financial Services Committee never had control over acquiring the vouchers. That responsibility, he said, fell to the House Appropriations Committee.
“To the extent that my committee could vote for the vouchers, we did,” he said, “but I never promised that I would get them.”
Despite the unmet commitment, Alexander said the group was primarily gathering Tuesday for the congressman’s endorsement.
“The folks that went into his office asked for him to support our platform,” he said. “Didn’t ask him to pass anything; didn’t ask for money.”
Bruce Darling, of Rochester, N.Y., was one of the 15 arrested in Rep. Frank’s office. Darling said the group requested to speak to the congressman but were told he was unavailable. When they refused to leave, Darling said the congressman suddenly appeared and began yelling.
“It felt more like he was lecturing us as opposed to looking at the platform,” he said.
Though Rep. Frank said he is in favor of the platform, he said he still told the group to leave because they were being disruptive. When they refused, he asked the Capitol Police to arrest them.
ADAPT members also were arrested in the offices of Sens. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Including the 15 in Frank’s office, a total of 52 persons were arrested.
Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, spokeswoman for the Capitol Police, said all of the arrestees were charged with unlawful assembly. While some were held longer than others, all were released on Tuesday.
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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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No Child Left Inside Bill Passes House
ENVIRONMENT
New London Day
Dan Levy
Boston University Washington News Service
September 19, 2008
WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives Thursday passed an environmental education bill, which included an amendment by U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, that emphasizes the importance of utilizing state and local resources.
The No Child Left Inside Act would allocate $100 million for state grants promoting environmental literacy, outdoor education, and active living in both classrooms and community spaces.
The program is a response to No Child Left Behind, President George W. Bush’s education reform package, according to the legislation. Critics say Bush’s plan emphasizes math and reading test scores at the expense of science and community-based learning.
Courtney’s amendment highlights the importance of incorporating existing state and local resources, such as parks and recreation services, into environmental programs. This addition would make the federal program complement Connecticut’s version of No Child Left Inside, implemented in 2005 by Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell, whose project Courtney praised on the House floor.
“This is completely consistent with efforts going on in Connecticut that are on exactly the same path,” Courtney said in an interview. “We want environmental education to take place in the environment.”
While the state program has an educational component, it is primarily concerned with “reconnecting families and young people with the outdoors” by showcasing the state’s parks, according to Dennis Schain, spokesperson for the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, which administers the program.
Unlike the proposed federal program, the state version does not include grants to schools and community organizations. Officials at New London Public Schools said they looked forward to the possibility of receiving additional resources to support the school’s environmental curriculum.
The President’s controversial education plan, introduced in 2002, had left the district concerned that “science and community-based learning was being neglected,” said Stephanie Morton, the school’s environmental program coordinator.
At elementary and middle schools in the district students maintain fruit and vegetable gardens, participate in youth conferences on topics such as recycling, and enjoy hands-on learning with the University of Connecticut’s Project Oceanology in Groton, according to superintendent Chris Clouet.
“We have strong environmental roots in New London,” Clouet said.
Courtney said he believes environmental education is ultimately about preserving science’s role in solving today’s climate and energy challenges.
“This is not all feel good stuff,” Courtney said. “We as a country really need to pull out the stops in terms of trying to create interest in the sciences as young as possible.”
The legislation also must be passed by the Senate before the end of the year in order to become law.
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