Category: Liz Goldberg
Congress Works to Protect U.S. From Tsunamis
By Liz Goldberg
WASHINGTON, April 26 – Four months after one of the most destructive tsunamis in history killed thousands of people along the Indian Ocean basin, Congress is taking steps to try to prevent similar devastation in the United States should a tsunami occur.
The U.S. has a system to detect tsunamis-large, often destructive waves produced after underwater disturbances-in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and in the Caribbean Sea, but several bills are moving through Congress to expand and improve the detection system and reduce reaction times.
Immediately following last December’s Indian Ocean tsunami, President George W. Bush requested and was granted supplemental funds for this year to expand the U.S.’s warning system. The President requested additional money for the plan in his proposed 2006 budget, according to an official from the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Bush’s proposal calls for spending $37.5 million over the next two years to develop 32 new detection buoys, according to an Office of Science and Technology Policy press release. Seven of the buoys would be placed in the Atlantic and the Caribbean and the rest in the Pacific, said Greg Romano, public affairs director for the National Weather Service, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
These “next generation” buoys, part of the Weather Service’s Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis program, would be able to collect a wide range of data about the oceans, including tsunamis, and would provide more real-time information than the current buoys, said Scott Carter, a congressional affairs specialist for NOAA, who handles Weather Service legislation.
The new system would provide the United States with improved ability to detect coastal tsunamis, allowing responses within minutes. The new system would also “expand monitoring capabilities throughout the entire Pacific and Caribbean basins, providing tsunami warning for regions bordering half of the world’s oceans,” according to the science and technology office press release.
On the heels of Bush’s proposal, several tsunami warning bills were introduced in both chambers of Congress.
Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), co-chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, sponsored a bill exclusively focused on establishing an improved tsunami warning system.
Meanwhile, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), another member of the committee and chairman of its Fisheries and the Coast Guard Subcommittee, reintroduced legislation that would establish a comprehensive system to monitor the condition of the nation’s oceans and coastlines, including detecting tsunamis. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) co-sponsored the bill.
The committee has approved both bills, and they are expected to go to the Senate floor for debate soon, Carter said.
According to information about tsunamis on NOAA’s Web site, movement on the ocean floor sends water upward, and as the wall of water moves closer to shore and enters shallower water, the wave becomes compressed, slowing its speed but increasing the wave length and height, causing the pileup of water that crashes to shore. The process can repeat a number of times, with flooding occurring between waves.
While a tsunami can occur anywhere, one is much less likely to hit along the Atlantic Coast or in the Caribbean Sea than in the Pacific Ocean because the Pacific has deep, actively moving fault lines that shift to cause an upheaval of water and, thus, a tsunami, Romano said. Earthquakes registering 7.0 or greater on the Richter Scale are generally needed for a tsunami to occur, he said.
But the Atlantic and Caribbean areas are not without risk.
“We have in the Atlantic and Caribbean densely populated areas . so the potential impact should a tsunami occur is huge,” Romano said. “It’s important that people who live or work or visit coastal communities along any coasts understand that tsunamis could occur and that there are very simple actions that should be taken.”
For individuals, one of the most important things to do is to move inland or to higher ground, said Romano. Local communities can help prepare citizens for tsunamis through education and planning.
To that end, NOAA developed the Tsunami Ready Community program so communities can prepare for tsunamis by establishing an emergency operations center, notification system and hazard plan, according to information on NOAA’s website. The program is similar to NOAA’s Storm Ready program, which educates communities about how to handle tornados and other major storms. Once a community is Storm Ready, it would not take much to become Tsunami Ready as well, Carter said.
But only a handful of communities in New England are Storm Ready, including Fort Fairfield, Maine, and Hampton, N.H., and no place on the East Coast is Tsunami Ready. On the West Coast, where tsunamis are more likely to occur, only 15 or 16 communities are Tsunami Ready, Carter said.
“If communities don’t understand what to do when they get a warning or when an earthquake happens, it’s not going to do a lot of good,” Carter said.
Depending on weather and sea conditions, tsunamis can be of varying heights, and topographic differences can affect how far inland the waves travel. The Northeast region has the advantage of having higher levels of elevation than other parts of the country, Romano said.
“If higher ground is nearby, there’s not as much need to go as far inland” to escape the tsunami, he said.
Although Maine is not at great risk for tsunamis, Snowe is concerned about a broader range of oceanic detection issues, said Antonia Ferrier, her press secretary.
“Given that we are so economically dependent on our ocean, we need to do everything we can to make sure it is a healthy and productive resource for our future,” Ferrier said.
Carter said Snowe’s bill is more “comprehensive” than Inouye’s because the detections she has proposed would monitor such things as wave heights, salinity, wind and currents, which are important because linking all possible ocean data would allow for better forecasting.
The current focus on ocean detection systems could help Snowe’s bill pass this session.
“We are encouraged by having more people talking about warning systems. It elevates the issue to the forefront,” Ferrier said. “It is our hope that the Senate acts swiftly on the legislation.”
The Bush administration also is working on developing a global system for countries to develop universal standards and be able to share data collected from the world’s oceans.
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Students Lobby Sen. Collins for Federal Aid for Drug Convicts
By Liz Goldberg
WASHINGTON, April 14 - Wayne Toothaker Jr. says he knows he made a mistake in using and trafficking in drugs. But he does not think a lifestyle he put behind him a year ago should be preventing him now from getting financial aid for college.
"I learned my lesson," said Toothaker, who said he is in a drug rehabilitation program and has been clean for nearly a year. "I don't get involved with drugs or alcohol anymore. But because of that in my past, I can't get money to pay for college now."
But Toothaker said the changes he has made in his lifestyle are not taken into consideration when he seeks college financial aid.
"All they see is I have that drug conviction," he said.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), for one, agrees that Congress may need to take a second look at the law that is keeping Toothaker and others from financial aid.
Toothaker is one of more than 160,500 students who have been denied federal financial aid for college since 2000, according to statistics from Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a Washington-based organization that "neither encourages nor condemns drug use" but attempts "to reduce the harms caused by drug abuse and drug policies," according to the group's Web site.
Beginning in 2000, students have been required to disclose drug convictions when filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Student groups have been fighting the provision since it was added to the Higher Education Act in 1998, said Tom Angell, communications director for Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
Toothaker said he was sentenced to six months in prison for marijuana trafficking. The sentence was suspended, he said, and he is serving a year's probation.
"I'm doing so much better now," said the 23-year-old Brunswick resident, who has worked as a dishwasher at a sports bar for almost a year. "Everybody who knows me can see the difference."
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) introduced a bill on March 9 to repeal the provision when the Higher Education Act is renewed this year. The bill has 62 co-sponsors, including Rep. Tom Allen (D-Maine). Student governments at two universities in Maine are lobbying Sen. Collins to introduce a companion bill in the Senate, Angell said.
"She's been a leader on education issues in the past and she works well with folks on both sides of the aisle," Angell said of the organization's reasons for targeting Collins.
The General Student Senate at the University of Maine in Orono passed a resolution last week stating its opposition to the provision prohibiting financial aid for drug convicts, and the University of Southern Maine's Student Senate is expected to pass a similar resolution in a few weeks, Angell said.
In addition to the student groups, a "fairly broad coalition of higher ed and substance abuse organizations" have united to fight the law, Angell said, including the Maine Higher Education Council, the Maine Association of Substance Abuse Programs, the Maine Civil Liberties Union, the Maine Education Association, the Maine Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators and the Maine Association of Prevention Programs.
Several students met with a member of Collins' staff in Maine last week and said they "got some good signals" of support for the bill, Angell said.
"We really hope that it's all starting to come together and Sen. Collins will take action soon," he said.
In a statement, Collins said: "The law may be too sweeping in its scope and should be re-examined as part of the Higher Education Act reauthorization. We need to consider the rehabilitative effect of education for some people."
Angell said a few senators have expressed interest in supporting a Senate bill, including Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
A Durbin representative said the senator is "examining the issue." Other senators Angell named as supporters of the bill could not be reached for comment.
Toothaker, meanwhile, said he is ineligible to receive financial aid for two years after his conviction.
"In two years I could get the degree that I want," he said, referring to the associate's degree in information technology he plans to pursue at Southern New Hampshire University.
"I'm a smart person," he said. "I could really do something with that if I go to school."
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Letters of Support for Shipyard Delivered to Washington
By Liz Goldberg
WASHINGTON, April 12 - With the Pentagon's announcement of suggested base closings little more than a month away, four members of the Seacoast Shipyard Association traveled to Washington Tuesday to deliver letters of support for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to members of the Maine and New Hampshire congressional delegations.
All four senators and four House members were on hand to receive the more than 10,000 letters, which they said would be passed along to the Pentagon later in the day. The shipyard is in danger of closing as the Department of Defense reduces the number of military bases in the United States.
"These are not just computer print-out letters," said Rep. Charles Bass (R-N.H.). "Every single one of these letters has a handwritten note."
The letters, which are printed on Seacoast Shipyard Association's letterhead, have been published in local newspapers for community members to clip and mail. They also are available on the group's Web site, www.saveourshipyard.org , said Pat Dowaliby, office manager, secretary and treasurer of the association. The bottom of the letter has blank space for senders to write a personal note, and each letter was signed.
The association has spent the past few months collecting letters to show community support for the shipyard, which it says has been recognized as the safest, most efficient and least expensive shipyard in the country.
As other members of the delegations chatted before the presentation, Rep. Jeb Bradley (R-N.H.) quietly read through a few of the letters.
"They express the same sentiment that I think we've been expressing," including noting the quality, speed and efficiency of the shipyard, as well as community support for it, Bradley said in an interview after the presentation of the letters.
Collins noted that the letters are not only from the shipyard workers but also are from business leaders and other members of the community.
"We have to give credit to the community for responding to it [the letter-writing campaign]," Ginny Griffith, business development manager for the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce and an executive board member of the Seacoast Shipyard Association, said after the event.
Collection of the letters will continue until an April 23 rally in several communities surrounding the shipyard, Griffith said. Members of the congressional delegations are expected to attend, she said.
Dale Gerry, who worked with the delegations and the shipyard in the three rounds of base closings in the 1990s and is a consultant for this round, said this is the most "concerted effort" he has seen from the members of each delegation.
"When you've got eight members of Congress together in the same room at the same time, that is a statement" of support, he said.
On May 16, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will reveal his recommendations for base closings. A nine-member presidential commission will review the list and submit its recommendations to President George W. Bush, who in turn will send his proposals to Congress. The legislative branch must then accept or reject the recommendations on an all-or-none basis.
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Cherry Blossom Princess Meets First Lady, Makes Contacts
By Liz Goldberg
WASHINGTON, April 8 - In the past week, Sarah Gamble has been mistaken for a contestant in the Miss America, Miss USA and Junior Miss pageants.
But Gamble has not worn the pink "Maine" sash during her travels around Washington for a pageant. Instead, the sash signifies Gamble's participation in this year's National Cherry Blossom Festival.
After being selected by the Washington-based Maine State Society, the 20-year-old Bethel native took a week off from her sophomore year at the University of Maine in Orono to represent her home state in the festival.
On Friday night, the Cherry Blossom Queen was to be chosen by the spin of a wheel. The queen will act as a U.S. ambassador, traveling to Japan for that country's own Cherry Blossom Festival. Both festivals are held each year around the time cherry blossom trees bloom. The trees in Washington were a gift from Japan in 1912 to signify friendship between the two countries.
During her time in Washington, Gamble said she and her fellow representatives have visited countless museums and lunched at several embassies.
"I have a new favorite pretty much every evening when I get back to the hotel," she said. "I'm studying to work in museums, so pretty much every museum has been exciting for me."
Gamble is majoring in history, with minors in museum education and dance.
The princesses also had their photo taken with First Lady Laura Bush and were given a tour of the White House by the head curator.
"I harassed him with questions the entire way around," Gamble said Thursday night during her remarks to the Maine State Society at a reception honoring her and Massachusetts princess Jennifer O'Halloran.
Between her fellow princesses - some of whom currently are working in Washington - and the museum trips, Gamble said she has made a number of contacts who will come in handy if she decides to attend graduate school in the area.
But Gamble does not expect to live in the nation's capital forever.
"I'm a Maine kid," she said. "I don't think I could live in a city for the rest of my life."
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Mainers Meet in Washington
By Liz Goldberg
WASHINGTON, April 8 - As soon as she walked into the room, Joan Boos was greeted by a smiling Charlotte Seamans.
"There's my neighbor!" Seamans said.
But the two were not in their hometown of Calais, Maine. They were at a reception at the Fort Myer, the Army base across the Potomac River from Washington.
Though the women lived two streets away from each other while growing up in Calais, they did not meet until years after they both moved to the D.C. area and joined the Maine State Society.
"It was a small world back there," said Seamans, 72, who was a student in one of Boos' sister's classes while in school in Calais and now lives in Alexandria, Va., and works as a receptionist.
Boos' and Seamans' away-from-home meeting is not an uncommon society occurrence, members said.
"Everyplace else there's six degrees of separation and I think in Maine it's two and a half degrees," said Lewis Pearson, the 73-year-old society treasurer and newsletter editor.
Boos, who moved to Silver Spring, Md., in 1943, said she enjoys reconnecting with fellow Mainers.
"Maine people, we're not from big cities, and I think the small towns keep you kind of close," the 80-year-old said.
THE MEMBERS
The Maine State Society is a social organization that was founded in the 1890s and has remained one of the nation's most active state societies, currently boasting a membership of more than 1,000. The society is made up of Mainers who moved to the D.C. area and want to socialize with fellow "Mainiacs."
But not all of the members still live in Washington. About 60 members reside in Maine and a number of others are scattered across 26 states and two other countries, Pearson said.
"A lot of people pass through here for one reason or another - for work, military, what have you - and they maintain their membership," he said.
With the annual $10 individual or $15 family membership, all members, regardless of their current residence, receive "The Maine Event," the society's monthly newsletter, enabling them to stay up-to-date with local news. Pearson said he and his wife, Marjorie, find local tidbits to include in the newsletter by reading their subscriptions to the Bangor Daily News and the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, as well as by receiving news tips from members.
"By reading the newsletter and talking to the people, going to the events, you hear about different things going on that you probably wouldn't have heard about otherwise," Seamans said.
THE EVENTS
In addition to keeping up with the happenings in the state, society members get together to socialize about eight times per year at events that include a Congressional Breakfast with the full Maine delegation, a lobster dinner, a baked bean supper, biannual cleanups of Maine Civil War gravesites at Gettysburg National Cemetery and Thursday's Cherry Blossom Princess Reception.
The society also awards the annual Big "M" Award to Mainers who have made significant contributions to the state and its citizens. A separately chartered nonprofit organization that is run by society members has provided, through 2004, 60 scholarships totaling more than $66,000 to Mainers studying at colleges in the state.
In the late 1940s, the society also had a Halloween party, remembered Don Larrabee, an 81-year-old retired journalist from Portland who now lives in Bethesda, Md.
"Sen. Margaret Chase Smith came out to the party and she was participating too, I remember, bobbing for apples too," he said in a telephone interview.
The society has had a number of special events over the years, including a concert by country star Dick Curless, which was arranged by then-president and former Maine governor John Reed.
"He [Dick] was brought up in my hometown and he came with his band and it was one of the best events we ever had," Reed said. "It was kind of the highlight of my three years as president."
This year's May 14 lobster dinner (which, it was announced on Thursday, will include blueberry pies for a real at-home feel) will feature entertainment from author, radio host and "Yankee humorist" John McDonald, Pearson said.
The lobster dinner is the society's most popular event, usually attracting a few hundred people each year, Pearson said.
The Congressional Breakfast is also well attended, particularly by the Maine congressional delegation.
"An incentive for them to show up is a lot of people in the society have maintained their voting registration back in Maine," Pearson said.
The delegation is involved in other events as well, Pearson said. Rep. Mike Michaud (D) escorted this year's Maine Cherry Blossom Festival Princess, Sarah Gamble, to the festival's congressional reception Wednesday night.
THE APPEAL
Since Dave Moulton left Scarborough and moved to Washington in the late 1970s, he has traveled around the world and heard many accents. But going to society events allows the 57-year-old retired security director to hear the accent that is most familiar to him.
"I don't particularly have an accent but I like to hear that accent every once in a while," the Mitchellville, Md., resident said in a telephone interview.
Dee Dee Fusco, the 1981 Maine Cherry Blossom Princess, said she enjoys other classic characteristics of Mainers.
"The people from Maine are fun, they're loving, they're intelligent and they've accomplished great things historically," she said.
"We must have good genes," she added with a laugh.
Fusco was born in Washington but lived in Maine for part of her childhood and also vacationed there.
The 42-year-old, who now lives in Stafford, Va., and is director of development for the main campus libraries at Georgetown University, said she always feels comfortable at society events.
"This is almost like coming home," she said.
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Bill to Fund Research for Lyme Disease Moving Through State Legislature
By Liz Goldberg
WASHINGTON, April 6 - As Lyme Disease Awareness Month approaches, a bill to request federal funds for research of the disease is expected to pass in the New Hampshire legislature - and the idea is gaining support in Congress.
Sen. Joseph Kenney (R-Wakefield) sponsored the bill (SCR4) in the state legislature. The Senate approved it on March 10, and the bill remained in the House Subcommittee on Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs on Wednesday. Kenney said that he expects the House to pass the bill soon and that Gov. John Lynch (D) told him Tuesday that he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk.
Kenney said he has not been in contact with members of the New Hampshire congressional delegation, calling it "a little bit premature" for a bill to be introduced in Congress.
Spokespersons for Sens. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) and John Sununu (R-N.H.) and Reps. Jeb Bradley (R-NH) and Charles Bass (R-NH) said that the state bill would be reviewed if it passes and that it was too early to comment on any legislation that might be introduced in Congress.
Pat Smith, president of the Lyme Disease Association, a New Jersey-based national nonprofit organization devoted to research, education, prevention and patient support for Lyme disease, said she thinks the chances of getting federal money for Lyme disease research are better this year than ever before.
"We're hoping this year that all of them [members of Congress] are going to be a lot more receptive because the disease is really spreading all over now," Smith said, adding that every state except Montana has reported cases of the disease.
A quarter of a million cases of Lyme disease are reported each year, Smith said. In New Hampshire, there were 226 cases reported in 2004, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted to people through bites by deer ticks, which can travel on animals other than deer. Most patients are treated successfully with heavy doses of antibiotics if the disease is caught in the early stages, but if left untreated, the disease can cause neurological problems, memory loss and arthritis, among other chronic problems.
"It's no longer something that can be swept under the rug," Smith said. "Everyone knows of someone or some animal that has Lyme disease."
She said a few federal legislators themselves have contacted her after members of their own family contracted Lyme disease.
The growing number of local chapters of the Lyme Disease Association - now at 15 or 16 - have helped educate state legislators about the disease, Smith said.
New Hampshire does not have a chapter, but Kenney said he is encouraging the state's affected constituents to form a chapter to raise public awareness of the disease.
Even if federal funds are not provided, Kenney said, his bill has been successful in educating Granite State residents about the disease.
"In many ways, we've already accomplished what we've set out to do," he said.
But Smith said federal money is needed to run tests to help those already infected with the disease, as well as to find ways to stop the spread of the ticks that carry the disease.
"Nobody knows the answers to those questions, and we need research directed to that," she said.
In 2002, Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) co-sponsored a bill aimed at raising awareness and increasing research into Lyme disease. The Senate passed the bill unanimously, but it was not considered in the House.
Smith said she hopes a bill will be introduced this year similar to the 2002 bill but with "stronger language" and more emphasis on research.
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Coalition, Senators Oppose “Nuclear Option”
By Liz Goldberg
WASHINGTON, March 16 - Maine's two senators should continue to oppose changes to Senate rules that would eliminate filibusters to block confirmation of federal judges, an ad hoc coalition said at two media events in Maine Wednesday.
The Fair and Independent Federal Courts Coalition is an informal group of organizations formed last year to monitor judicial appointments, inform citizens of the importance federal appellate court decisions can have for their everyday lives and encourage Senators Olympia Snowe (R) and Susan Collins (R) to uphold the right of the Senate to debate the appointments, said Sarah Standiford, executive director of the Maine Women's Lobby, the founding member of the coalition.
"What many folks don't understand is the vast array of areas where the federal court system can have an impact in our lives," Standiford said, citing legal decisions by appellate court judges on such subjects as reproductive rights, workplace discrimination, disability rights and sexual harassment. "People from every walk of life in Maine should be concerned about this issue."
About five people attended the Bangor event and about 20 attended the Portland event, those in attendance said. Representatives of women's rights, health, labor, environment and other groups spoke at both events, which were held in front of the federal court buildings in both cities.
The coalition opposes the so-called nuclear option, which Republican senators have threatened to use to win approval of President Bush's judicial nominees. Under current rules, 60 votes are required to break a Senate filibuster, under which opponents of legislation can prevent a vote by speaking for hours, if not days, and refusing to yield the floor-or merely threatening to do so.
Under the nuclear option, Republicans would object to the constitutionality of the filibuster, obtain a favorable ruling from the presiding officer-presumably Vice President Dick Cheney-and vote to uphold that ruling, a vote on which a simple majority of 51 would be sufficient, in effect, to end unlimited debate of judicial nominees.
With 55 Republicans in the current Senate, Bush's court nominees would be likely to move through more easily. But Democrats, expressing fear that the nuclear option could stifle the voice of the minority forever, threatened Tuesday to all but shut down Senate proceedings.
Sen. Snowe, a moderate Republican who has long opposed use of the nuclear option, said she also was concerned about the impact a change could have on her party in the future.
"I believe that the 'nuclear option' is short-sighted and that Republicans should remember that some day we will again be in the minority and will want to have the filibuster available to protect our rights," she said in a statement.
Sen. Collins spoke out definitively on the issue for the first time Tuesday.
"I am very concerned about the overuse of the filibuster, but I am also concerned that a rule change will further charge the partisan atmosphere to the point that we will not be able to conduct business," she said in a statement.
Standiford said the coalition will continue its work with the two senators and plans to publish an advertisement in the Portland Press Herald next week signed by hundreds of local lawyers who are against use of the nuclear option.
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Senators Get Educated on Social Security
By Liz Goldberg
WASHINGTON, March 3 - As the debate on the future of Social Security continues, a bipartisan group of influential, moderate senators are taking an active role in educating themselves on the intricacies of the program and possible solutions for ensuring its solvency in the future.
Since the 109 th Congress convened in January, the Senate Centrist Coalition, an informal group of center-leaning senators, has met three times to hear presentations from groups with differing views on Social Security.
On Tuesday, six senators, including co-chairpersons Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), heard a presentation by Al Hubbard, President Bush's assistant for economic policy, on the White House's stance on Social Security. Previous meetings included discussions with three Washington-based policy think tanks: the Brookings Institution, a liberal-leaning policy organization; the Cato Institute, a libertarian group and the Heritage Foundation, which promotes conservative policies, to hear their views on the issue. Specific information about the presentations was not made public because the meetings were held behind closed doors.
The coalition was started after partisan conflicts between a Republican Congress and President Bill Clinton over balancing the federal budget briefly shut down the government in 1995. Since then, the group has generally met weekly to "exchange ideas" and have "open and frank conversations" in a civil manner about complicated issues, said Antonia Ferrier, Snowe's press secretary. The group does not have an official membership, but a core group of about 15 senators usually attends, she said.
In past years, the coalition has come up with alternative budget programs, Ferrier said. The group also exerted influence in helping to push for enactment of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill, said Sandy Maisel, director of the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
Maisel said the members who frequently attend the coalition's meetings "have the potential to have a great deal of influence" in the current Senate which is closely divided with 55 Republicans, 44 Democrats and Jim Jeffords, a Vermont Independent who usually votes with the Democrats.
"All they need is a swing group of about six or seven, and then they can be very influential," he said.
But Ferrier said the coalition's influence on the Social Security debate remains to be seen.
"The group is not coming up with any shadow Social Security policy or anything like that," she said, noting that no Social Security proposal exists yet. "At this point it's really an educational process."
Still, that educational process could have a powerful impact on the senators' decision-making.
"I think many of us will formulate our conclusions on any reform plan that emerges using the ideas and information that spring up in our meetings," Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), a co-vice chairman of the group and frequent coalition attendee, said in statement.
Snowe has vocally opposed creating private accounts for retirement and serves on the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over Social Security. She also expects the information the coalition gathers to have an impact in the debate.
"As the Senate moves forward on this crucial issue, I am confident that members of the Centrist Coalition will provide the Senate with the careful consideration and reasoned debate necessary in the effort to strengthen Social Security," she said in a statement.
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Michaud’s Actions for Social Security Preservation Lead to Campaign Contributions
By Liz Goldberg
WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 - Rep. Mike Michaud's consistent voting record against creating private accounts for Social Security recipients and against major changes to Medicare led to several campaign contributions last year from a group whose announced purpose is to preserve both programs.
The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, a political action committee (PAC) that raises money to contribute to the campaigns of candidates who share its views, gave the Maine Democrat a total of $4,000 in the last election cycle, $3,000 of which went toward the general election. During his first run for office, in 2002, the committee contributed $1,000 to Michaud's campaign. The maximum amount a PAC can contribute is $5,000 per race per candidate.
Nationally, the committee contributed $494,000 to 219 House and Senate candidates during the 2003-04 election cycle.
The committee's PAC board compiles a scorecard listing how candidates voted on Social Security and Medicare issues, said Max Richtman, the committee's executive vice president and the PAC board's chairman. The board also looks at the role the candidate has played in moving or stopping such legislation, as well as how competitive the race will be.
Michaud scored a nearly perfect score in the board's analysis, Richtman said, and his introduction last year of a proposed constitutional amendment to prevent the establishment of private social security accounts also made the board look favorably upon him.
"His voting record was extremely good, and after looking at the politics . we thought he had a very competitive race and we wanted to help as much as we could," Richtman said.
Michaud won a second House term in November, defeating Republican challenger Brian Hamel, 58-40 percent.
The board analyzes incumbents differently from challengers because incumbents have a voting record, Richtman said. Challengers, he explained, must fill out questionnaires stating their stances on issues that concern the committee and must meet with the PAC advisory board, which then makes recommendations to the full PAC board.
The committee's contributions did not have any effect on Michaud's position on Social Security or Medicare because he has been opposed to changes in those programs for years, said Monica Castellanos, Michaud's press secretary.
"We've been talking about this for a very long time," she said.
Michaud will continue to fight President George W. Bush's plans to create private Social Security accounts, Castellanos said. He reintroduced the proposed constitutional amendment to ban the accounts last week and is holding seven town hall meetings across the district this week, actions that are likely to ensure the continued financial support of the committee.
"We're basing our support on his demonstration of his commitment to our issues," Richtman said.
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Genetic Nondiscrimination Bill Passes Senate
By Liz Goldberg
WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 - The Senate Thursday unanimously passed a bill that would ban discrimination by employers and insurance companies against people who are genetically predisposed to certain illnesses. The vote was 98-0. It is the second time in as many sessions that the bill, sponsored by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), has been passed unanimously.
"It is of critical importance that people do not feel afraid to use available technologies that could save their lives just because they are worried about losing their health insurance and their jobs," Snowe said in a statement.
Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.) introduced a genetic nondiscrimination bill in the House in 2003 and se plans to introduce a "very similar" bill soon, said Eric Burns, Slaughter's communications director.
Although the earlier House bill never moved out of committee, it had bipartisan support, with 242 co-sponsors, and was supported by the White House, Burns said. Those who opposed the bill did so because of the concerns of business and insurance groups, he said.
The Republican leadership is "more beholden to the special-interest groups than to the American people in passing this legislation," Burns said, adding that the American people are "clamoring" for the legislation now that genetic testing has become more widespread.
The House Education and the Workforce Committee, which held hearings on the bill last year, had concerns that the legislation could be redundant or could create additional problems, said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for the committee.
"We had several witnesses testify last year about the steps the federal government, as well as the states, have already taken to address the issue of genetic nondiscrimination in the workplace," Smith said. "Before Congress enacts additional mandates, it's important and appropriate to discuss whether any legislative proposal would have unintended consequences on both employers and workers."
Smith said the committee will continue to monitor the issue.
Slaughter is optimistic that the House will pass the bill this time, Burns said.
"I think it's going to be hard for the Republican leadership to just stonewall [the bill], particularly when the only objections seem to be coming from special-interest groups," he said.
Snowe, in a statement, called on the House "to join us in making the protections in this act a reality and prevent such discrimination from blocking Americans' access to the promise of modern medicine."
Reps. Thomas H. Allen (D-Maine) and Michael H. Michaud (D-Maine) both co-sponsored Slaughter's bill in 2003 and plan to co-sponsor it again, barring any major changes to the language of the bill, their press secretaries said.
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