Category: Spring 2006 Newswire
Senators Call for Greater Transparency in Legislation
By Sara Hatch
WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 -Senators called for greater transparency in lobbying practices in general and, in particular, on earmarking of money for pet projects during a hearing Wednesday before the Senate Rules and Administration Committee.
In his opening statement to the committee, Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut., the committee’s senior Democrat, called for comprehensive, bipartisan lobbying reform legislation.
“Regulating the relationship between lawmakers and lobbyists in not new.,” Dodd cautioned, adding that “reform is an organic process, not an event.”
One of the witnesses before the committee, Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said that privately financed travel for members of Congress must end. “If Members of Congress can’t justify spending taxpayer money to do a fact-finding trip, they shouldn’t go and neither should their staffs.”
But Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., another witness, said privately financed travel is not always bad, especially when sponsored by nonpartisan organizations such as the Aspen Institute, but that there should be transparency in all privately financed travel, a practice he said he has always maintained.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a member of the committee, called for a ban on all gifts from registered lobbyists and a two-year waiting period for all former congressional staff members, not just senior staff, before they can lobby Congress.
On the subject of earmarking of appropriated funds and how transparent the process of earmarking should be, Sen. Trent Lott, the committee’s chairman, said he and Feinstein are sponsoring legislation that would allow a 60-senator majority to reject any item, particularly earmarks, in a conference report that has not been considered by either chamber
Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, a member of the committee, said, “I do not think earmarks are automatically evil.” Bennett, who is also the chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development and Related Agencies , said that on his subcommittee all earmarks must go through the chairman and senior Democrat of the appropriate authorizing committee before his panel will approve them.
Sen. Barrack Obama, D-Ill., testified that everyone must work against the abuses of lobbying, not one party or the other.
“All of us-Democrats and Republicans-are responsible for cleaning it up,” Obama said.
Obama and John McCain, R-Ariz., who also appeared as a witness, spoke in favor of full disclosure of earmarks and said that each earmark should be connected to the member of Congress who proposed it.
McCain and Obama made a splash in the past two days over an exchange of letters on lobbying reform. In his letter to Obama, McCain accused him of “self-interested partisan posturing” on ethics reform and said Obama was not really seeking a bipartisan compromise on the subject.
Obama, in his response, wrote that he was “puzzled” and had “no idea” why McCain was complaining, saying that he was committed to bipartisan reform.
At the hearing, McCain and Obama greeted each other warmly, and Lott joked, “Well, we got the moment we came to see.”
Both Obama and McCain made complimentary remarks about each other in their testimony and lightheartedly referred to each other as “pen pals.”
###
Shays Returns from Eleventh Trip to Iraq
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 - Rep. Christopher Shays (R-4), who returned to Washington Tuesday after spending the weekend in Iraq, said he is most concerned about Iraq's economy.
"It's costing too much to protect those who are trying to help the folks in Iraq," Shays said after his 11th trip to Iraq.
But he said that politically and militarily the Iraqis are making headway. "They're more likely to succeed than fail as long as you don't rush them," Shays said in an interview in his office Wednesday.
He also discussed misconceptions commonly associated with Iraq.
"This is a real country.. It's not just sand and oil," Shays said. He said Iraq is somewhat distorted by the broadcast media. "Put your hand like a telescope and look at the room," Shays said as he articulated the camera's limitations. "It's never the same - it's not like you're looking at a room where everything is frozen."
Furthermore, Shays said, the mass bombings are truly aimed at the American press. "Wherever the press is, that's where the bombings take place," Shays said. "The bombings are for the benefit of Americans - the public - not for the benefit of Iraqis."
Between meetings with Iraqi officials, Shays said he took time to meet with American troops. He assumed responsibility for 100 pounds of personal hygiene items collected for the troops by students at the Thurgood Marshall Middle School for Social Justice in Bridgeport. The students also sent cards and signed a poster wishing the soldiers in the 101 st Airborne Division a safe return home.
While Shays said the troops were delighted by the students' gifts, he expressed concern over the length of time forces have spent in Iraq.
"Too many of them have been asked to do a second or third tour," Shays said. "We have to be careful to not overwork our troops."
Shays, who was joined by Reps. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.), John Doolittle (R-Calif.), and Katherine Harris (R-Fla.), said the main goal of the trip was to understand exactly how the war is going as well as how the reconstruction effort is progressing.
"I want to have an honest assessment of how we're doing, and I want to report back to people," Shays said in a telephone interview Friday afternoon before leaving for Iraq. "I want to have an impact."
Shays said he travels to Iraq every two or three months and he evaluates the country's progress by comparing each trip to the previous one. He said he aims to bring the issues into clear focus by evaluating three main areas - Iraq's economy, its politics and its security.
After a review, Shays said he is able to create a graph of all progress. For him, this technique provides a clear view of what America must do "different or better" in Iraq, he said.
While the results of his reviews are mainly for Congress and the Bush Administration, Shays said he also looks to give his constituents a clear view of the situation in Iraq
Shays also discussed the recent victory by Hamas in the Palestinian elections.
"I'm surprised that we were surprised" by the election results, Shays said. He attributes his lack of astonishment to an earlier West Bank trip. "I could see what was happening years ago," Shays said.
At that time, Shays said, he saw Hamas offering charity directly to needy students who had lost their educational grants. During this time, the Palestinian Authority was too busy dealing with political affairs, according to Shays. He said this experience demonstrated how Hamas has won friends.
On his next trip to Iraq, Shays said, he would like to evaluate Iraqi intelligence capabilities. He said Iraq needs good intelligence to win the fight against insurgents.
Delegation Thinks Budget Proposal is Good for New Hampshire
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 - New Hampshire residents will be benefiting from President Bush's proposed budget for next year, according to the state's all-Republican congressional delegation.
"It's good for New Hampshire, it's good for the economy," Sen. Judd Gregg said in a phone interview. Gregg said it was important for the government to focus on addressing "the problems of the baby boomers," which he believes this budget has done.
Gregg, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said he plans to concentrate on controlling entitlement spending. "That's where the problem is," he said.
In a statement on Monday, the day Bush submitted his budget plan to Congress, Gregg cited Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security as the mandatory spending programs that, if left unchecked, he said, would pose a threat to the economic security of future generations.
The President has proposed spending of almost $2.8 trillion for 2007, an increase of $61 billion over 2006.
"We must address the retirement needs of the massive Baby Boom generation, grapple with the skyrocketing costs of health care and find some balance that will not leave future generations with a bill they cannot pay," Gregg said in a letter to his colleagues Monday. By 2011, according to Gregg, the proposed budget would curb the growth in Medicare spending and create personal retirement accounts as part of the Social Security program.
And as for the potential cuts in entitlement programs that Gregg announced last week, he said in the interview, "I think we're going to have a pretty good challenge just trying to do what the president's proposing here."
Sen. John E. Sununu agreed that the budget proposal is promising. "I think overall it's a budget that's good for the economy and that's good for New Hampshire," he said in an interview . "We've had consistent economic growth in the last couple of years. We want to make sure that's maintained. New Hampshire is a very entrepreneurial state, so making tax relief permanent that encourages investments and new business creation is important to New Hampshire."
Sununu said controlling the growth of the federal government is in everyone's interest. "It's a budget that is very much in keeping with the New Hampshire tradition of fiscal responsibility," he said, "and I hope we can speak with that discipline as we go through the process."
In a statement, Rep Charles Bass said the President's proposal provides Congress with a starting point for consideration and debate. "Congress needs to craft a budget that reflects our continuing national priorities of securing our homeland, developing our economy, and reducing the growth of mandatory government spending," he said.
Rep. Jeb Bradley said in an interview that the President set the right tone by seeking to reduce the nation's deficit while maintaining strong national security. Bradley, a member of the House Budget Committee, said he was "looking forward to the hearings process and working on it, and moving it forward and reducing our nation's deficit while we continue to strengthen the military and grow our economy."
When the budget goes before the House committee, Bradley will be looking out for issues that affect New Hampshire residents, he said, such as the home heating assistance program, and the nation as a whole, such as special education funds.
He said that he will also be looking at larger issues, such as how the budget proposal will affect "the deficit, how we slow the rate of growth of government programs, how we strengthen our nation's defenses and how we grow the economy."
###
Higher Test Scores Hold Promise for N.H. Students
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7-Public high school students in New Hampshire took more advanced placement exams last year but scored slightly lower on those tests, according to a new survey.
From 2000 to 2005, on the other hand, both participation and scores increased significantly.
Between 2004 and 2005, there was a two-tenths of a percent increase in the number of AP exams taken by the state's public high school students and a 4.9 percent decrease in the number of exams scoring a 3 or higher. The scores are ranked from 1 to 5, with 5 equivalent to an A in a college-level course and a 3 indicative of the ability to be successful in college, according to University of California at Berkeley and the National Center for Educational Accountability.
However, the good news is that there have been significant improvements since 2000. According to the report, since 2000, the number of AP exams taken by New Hampshire public school students has increased by 1,120.
The report, released by the College Board, the association that administers the AP program, found that since 2000 the number of exams in New Hampshire receiving a grade of 3 or higher increased by 598, exams taken by low-income students increased by 48, exams taken by African-American students increased by 1 and exams taken by Latino students increased by 26.
A 1999 study by the U.S. Department of Education said participation in AP courses was "the best indicator of whether a student would successfully complete a bachelor's degree," according to the report.
On hearing about the increase in test scores, Rep. Jeb Bradley, R-N.H., said, "That's very good news." Echoing the President's State of the Union message that the United States needed to continue to stay educated to remain ahead of other countries, Bradley said, "We need to have an educated work force to remain competitive in the global economy, and if test scores are increasing. then that's good news."
The AP test results appeared in the College Board's second annual Advanced Placement Report to the Nation. The report showed an increase in every state of the percentage of high school students earning a grade of 3 or higher in college-level AP tests.
This survey of results comes after a recent release by the New Hampshire Department of Education that said 45 percent of the state's high school students plan on attending college, up from 40 percent in 2002.
###
Maine Delegation Outlines Their Positions on Wiretapping
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 -- President Bush's domestic wiretapping program has stirred up a lot of controversy, and the Maine congressional delegation has doubts about the program's legality.
"Revelations that the U.S. government has conducted domestic electronic surveillance without express legal authority indeed warrants congressional examination," Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe said in a statement after the program became known about in December. "I believe the Congress - as a coequal branch of government - must immediately and expeditiously review the use of this practice."
Sen. Snowe and four Senate Democrats sent a letter at the end of last year encouraging the Judiciary Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence to hold hearings.
The Judiciary Committee started its hearings Monday with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testifying. The intelligence committee is scheduled to hold a closed hearing on Thursday.
Snowe, a member of the intelligence committee, said she looked forward to learning more about the legal justifications for the National Security Agency's program at Thursday's hearing. "The NSA's domestic electronic surveillance program raises profound questions about the executive branch's authority as it pursues our enemies in the war on terror," she said in a statement Tuesday.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also is in favor of bringing the issue to Capitol Hill with hearings.
"There is no question that there are terrorists that want to strike our country, and it is important that the Administration have the authority to use all the tools necessary to detect those plots," Collins said in a statement. "It is also important, however, that we have in place a system of checks and balances to ensure that our efforts to protect Americans from terrorist attack do not infringe upon our personal liberties."
Rep. Michael Michaud, D-2 nd District, also supports the Senate hearings, and said he believes the administration had plenty of tools within the existing law to defend the country.
"While I share the President's commitment to securing our country from those who wish to do us harm, I firmly believe that our surveillance programs must be conducted within the law," Michaud said in a statement. "Our law and intelligence communities need the necessary tools to ensure that critical information is obtained that would help prevent future attacks. However, we have legal safeguards in place, including the FISA Court, that exist to ensure that we can gather intelligence in a lawful way. We should not be circumventing these safeguards."
The secret court was created under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Rep. Tom Allen, D-1 st District, said he welcomes the Senate Judiciary Committee's investigation. "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' defense of the program was evasive and incomplete," Allen said of Gonzales' appearance before the committee on Monday. "Further and broader investigation is clearly needed."
"The law is clear: the National Security Agency cannot conduct surveillance of Americans' foreign communications without a court-approved warrant," Allen said in a statement Tuesday. "The President's program of warrant-less surveillance may violate basic Fourth Amendment rights and has troubling consequences for our democracy. The Constitution forbids any government official, including the President, from waiving or ignoring fundamental liberties as a matter of convenience or policy."
###
Connecticut Organizations Look to Effects of Budget Cuts
By Sara Hatch
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 - The effects of the almost $40 billion that Congress has cut from budgets of social programs are yet to be seen on a national scale, but some local Connecticut organizations are already starting to gauge how they will deal with these cutbacks.
The deficit reduction bill the House approved by a narrow margin Wednesday
cuts spending over the next five years for entitlement programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, welfare and student loans. But only some Connecticut businesses and organizations will feel the effects immediately.
One of the larger cuts is for $6.4 billion from Medicare. The Connecticut Association for Home Care Inc. represents approximately 75 percent of Connecticut home care agencies, which rely upon Medicare for a large portion of their earnings. President and CEO Brian Ellsworth questioned how these agencies will cope with the cut, which freezes the amount that Medicare pays the agencies.
"Well, I mean, most home care agencies, to varying degrees, are dependent on Medicare for their financial stability, " Ellsworth said. "That's one of the two big payers in home care, and agencies' costs are going up for things like salaries because of nursing shortage, health insurance, energy costs, so on, so forth. So to have our rates frozen at a time when our costs are increasing, escalating in many cases, creates a financial hardship for agencies who are going to now have to scramble."
Student loan subsidies took an even bigger hit. The bill cuts $11.9 billion in student loan subsidies and would increase interest rates for student loans from 5.3 percent to 6.8 percent. The interest rate change would not affect students directly since they do not pay off their loans until after they graduate.
While no cuts are made in Pell grants to college students, school officials note that after inflation, the value of the grants will actually be reduced.
Connecticut College, a liberal arts college in New London with an enrollment of 1,900, faces problems as it looks to how to deal with the new cuts. Elaine Solinga, the school's director of financial aid services, said Wednesday in a phone interview that this will not affect students this academic year. One of the main missions of the college's financial aid department is to make sure that every student admitted can attend, she said.
"We're packaging our students without the increases in the loans; we're not going there," Solinga said.
"Connecticut College is a strong supporter of making sure students graduate with what we call reasonable debt, and so we're not going to add to that," she said. "Without additional grant funding for our highest-need students-that translates into an additional cost to the institution and that may have an impact on increased tuition for the next fiscal year."
Some Connecticut College students, like Christopher F. Bothur, a junior majoring in economics, international relations and Chinese, said these cuts and possible changes in interest rates are affecting his plans after graduation next year.
"I would like to go to grad school, but I can't be putting myself further in debt," Bothur said in an interview Thursday. "So at this point it's almost like slowing down the process of me trying to get my education done, and I'm going to be dealing with these loans for the next couple years at the least, not to mention if I have to take out more loans for when I get the next level of schooling."
One change in the student aid programs will help students borrow more money. Stafford loan limits will increase from $2,625 to $3,500 for first-year students and from $3,500 to $4,500 for second-year students. The Stafford loan program allows students to borrow at a more affordable rate instead of reaching out to more expensive alternative loans, Solinga said.
Congress has also voted to cut $6.9 billion from Medicaid. Jane Baird, advocacy director for Connecticut Children's Medical Center, said Thursday that 42 percent of the children who are treated at the hospital are Medicaid recipients.
That is "5 times the rate of the average Connecticut hospital," she said, adding that the center "is really the safety net for kids in Connecticut."
The Medicaid budget reduction would mean that states would no longer be required to provide early and periodic screening, diagnostic and treatment for children on Medicaid, according to a letter sent before the House vote to Rep. Robert Simmons, R-Conn., from two officials of the Children's Medical Center. Martin Gavin, the interim president, and Edward Lewis, the board chairman, urged Simmons to vote no on the bill. Simmons was one of only 13 Republicans to vote against the bill, which passed, 216-214.
###
Lieberman Proposes Legislation to “Clean up Washington”
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 -Sen. Joe Lieberman is calling for "immediate action" on a Democratic-sponsored bill that would clean up what the party's Senate leader has termed "the Republican culture of corruption."
"We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reach agreement on a broad set of reforms that will reduce the cynicism with which many of the American people view their government," the Connecticut Democrat said in a Wednesday press release he issued along with Sens. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2006 would prohibit members from accepting transportation or lodging on trips sponsored by non-profit organizations with links to lobbyists.
The bill, introduced by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Jan. 20, would prevent members of Congress and congressional aides from accepting gifts from lobbyists.
Currently, contributions and gifts, such as prepaid travel and lodging, from lobbyists are not included in the Senate's "banned gifts" list.
"The status quo stinks and cries out to us to lead the way to clear the air," said Lieberman in his press release. "Mark my words: Congress will come together this year to reform our lobbying laws and remove the cloud of suspicion currently hanging over this institution."
Introduction of this legislation comes as Congress faces severe scrutiny for its dealings with lobbyists.
Speaking of the recently convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Lieberman said at a Jan. 25 Senate hearing on the bill, "The consequences of Abramoff's crimes are so antithetical to our way of governance and so embarrassing to Congress that Democrats and Republicans, House members and Senators, agree that Congress must act."
The hearing was before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, on which Lieberman is the senior Democrat.
Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), who recently proposed similar reform legislation in the House, said in a December press release that the Abramoff scandal raised the need for increased fiscal transparency.
"Sunshine tends to have a cleansing effect," Shays said.
Lieberman's bill would inject "sunshine" into the Senate by amending the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 - a law that requires lobbying firms to register their employees as lobbyists.
The proposed legislation would mandate quarterly instead of twice-yearly filings of lobbying disclosure reports and require senators to disclose all "paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying."
It would call on Congress to install an online, electronic database to contain lobbying disclosure information. The public would be able to view the database over the Internet.
It also would double the time to two years that former government officials must wait before becoming lobbyists.
Bass Endorses Shadegg as Majority Leader
WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 - Rep. Charles Bass, R-N.H., yesterday joined Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., in endorsing Rep. John Shadegg, also from Arizona, in his race to become the next House majority leader.
"Senator McCain is Congress's recognized leader for budget and campaign finance reform and government operations reform," said Bass at a news conference Wednesday. "I think it's a great moment for John Shadegg to be able to get Senator McCain's endorsement."
McCain said, "I know that John Shadegg, who I have had the honor of knowing for more than 25 years and had a close working relationship with, is committed to reform."
"We have to fix the way that we do business," said McCain, referring to the current Washington lobbying scandal and the link between lobbyists and government spending.
Bass echoed McCain's sentiments and said Shadegg is the leadership candidate who is the most serious about reform.
House Republicans will select a new majority leader in a secret ballot in a closed session Thursday afternoon (TODAY). Shadegg of Arizona and John Boehner of Ohio are challenging Roy Blunt of Missouri, who has been acting majority leader since Tom DeLay stepped down after being indicted in Texas on money laundering charges.
Bass, who was one of the first to call for the House Republicans to elect new leadership, said, "This is really about changing Congress." Bass circulated a letter last week urging his fellow Republicans to support Shadegg's bid for majority leader.
A moderate Republican, Bass said the more conservative Shadegg understands that without the moderates, the Republicans would not be the majority. "I think as the next majority leader, John Shadegg would bring moderates in as advisors to talk to him about scheduling and other priorities," said Bass.
The two men were both elected to Congress in the landmark 1994 election, the so-called Republican revolution, which gave the GOP a majority and control of the House of Representatives for the first time in almost 50 years. Shadegg in his campaign for majority leader has said that the party needs to return to the principles of smaller government and fiscal responsibility that it ran on in 1994. He has also stressed issues of ethics.
A number of political observers have pointed out that Blunt and Boehner both have strong ties to the Washington lobbying community.
Shadegg is the most likely candidate to push a bold ethics reform package, something that would strengthen the Republican Party, Bass said.
"Regardless of who wins this election tomorrow, I plan to work with like-minded members of Congress on the reform agenda," said Bass in an interview after the press conference. "Regardless of who wins the election, I think the ball is rolling."
Bass said that he fully expected that Shadegg would at least make it to a second ballot in the House. "In the course of my discussion with moderates," said Bass, "not one of them has said that I made a dumb decision to endorse John Shadegg, not one of them."
###
Blumenthal Calls for a Halt of Consolidation
By Sara Hatch
WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 - Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal asked Congress Wednesday for federal legislation to rein in the rising cost of gasoline, blaming much of the problem on the energy industry.
"If I have one message for you today it is: We need help.. We need help and we're not getting it," Blumenthal told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Blumenthal outlined a six-step plan to ameliorate the problems that are affecting many states, including Connecticut.
He called for a one-year moratorium on oil industry mergers; a joint federal-state investigation of the industry; more examination of mergers in highly concentrated markets; a ban on zone pricing, the selling of gasoline at prices that vary by location; expansion of refinery capacity and enacting of minimum inventory levels; and more work toward conservation and lessening dependence on oil.
In a written statement presented to the committee, Blumenthal agreed with President Bush's remarks in his Tuesday State of the Union speech that America must wean itself from its addiction to oil.
"We are becoming more, not less, dependent on oil," Bush said. "Many solutions to this dependence will also result in cleaner air, so we should pursue these goals with more vigor than ever.. We must increase our commitment of resources to development of alternative fuels and energy-efficient technologies such as fuel cells."
The President also said that America can "move beyond a petroleum-based economy.and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past."
But Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, disagreed.
"I don't think you can solve oil problems unless you solve problems with the oil companies," Schumer said at the hearing. "The President said last night that Americans were addicted to oil, but this administration is addicted to oil companies, and we're not going to achieve energy independence until the administrations breaks its addiction."
Rep. John Larson (D-1, CT), who has been active in energy legislation, said in a statement that "consolidation has been a boon to the oil industry and a hardship on the American family. Such a basic necessity to our economy as fuel should not be concentrated in so few hands without some oversight replacing the controls of market competition.
"Americans are hurting from skyrocketing gas and oil prices while ExxonMobil and other corporations set record upon new record profits. Something must be done to help families, and that's why I have called for a tax on these excess profits."
###
By Sara Hatch
WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 - Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal asked Congress Wednesday for federal legislation to rein in the rising cost of gasoline, blaming much of the problem on the energy industry.
"If I have one message for you today it is: We need help.. We need help and we're not getting it," Blumenthal told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Blumenthal outlined a six-step plan to ameliorate the problems that are affecting many states, including Connecticut.
He called for a one-year moratorium on oil industry mergers; a joint federal-state investigation of the industry; more examination of mergers in highly concentrated markets; a ban on zone pricing, the selling of gasoline at prices that vary by location; expansion of refinery capacity and enacting of minimum inventory levels; and more work toward conservation and lessening dependence on oil.
In a written statement presented to the committee, Blumenthal agreed with President Bush's remarks in his Tuesday State of the Union speech that America must wean itself from its addiction to oil.
"We are becoming more, not less, dependent on oil," Bush said. "Many solutions to this dependence will also result in cleaner air, so we should pursue these goals with more vigor than ever.. We must increase our commitment of resources to development of alternative fuels and energy-efficient technologies such as fuel cells."
The President also said that America can "move beyond a petroleum-based economy.and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past."
But Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, disagreed.
"I don't think you can solve oil problems unless you solve problems with the oil companies," Schumer said at the hearing. "The President said last night that Americans were addicted to oil, but this administration is addicted to oil companies, and we're not going to achieve energy independence until the administrations breaks its addiction."
Rep. John Larson (D-1, CT), who has been active in energy legislation, said in a statement that "consolidation has been a boon to the oil industry and a hardship on the American family. Such a basic necessity to our economy as fuel should not be concentrated in so few hands without some oversight replacing the controls of market competition.
"Americans are hurting from skyrocketing gas and oil prices while ExxonMobil and other corporations set record upon new record profits. Something must be done to help families, and that's why I have called for a tax on these excess profits."
###
The House Votes to Cut Social Spending
WASHINGTON, Feb. 1-Both Maine Representatives joined all of their fellow Democrats Wednesday in voting against the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. But supporters of the bill narrowly prevailed, 216 to 214.
The act will cut over five years $39 billion in social programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and student loans. There is also a $56 billion tax cut bill pending, which Democrats say effectively cancels out the savings from the Deficit Reduction Act.
The new law will cut $12.7 billion from federal student aid at a time when college is not getting any cheaper. The average student leaves school with $17,500 in debt.
The House had approved a nearly identical version of the bill in December by six votes, with Maine Reps. Michael Michaud and Tom Allen voting against it. The Senate passed the bill on Nov. 13 by 52-47, with both Maine senators voting against it.. "The House is about to consider a proposal that is one of the worst that I have seen in my years so far in Congress," Michaud said in a statement before the House vote. "They call this bill the Deficit Reduction Act, but that is nothing short of a deception; $38 billion in budget cuts, combined with $56 billion in tax cuts, means a $17 billion increase in the deficit."
Of the $12.7 billion in student aid cuts, some $9 billion will take the form of higher interest rates. Rep. Allen said that President Bush and his party were sending a very different message from the one enunciated Tuesday, when the President, in his State of the Union speech, said this country needed to stay competitive with India and China in a new world market. "I think if you're concerned about international competition, you don't start by making it harder for young people going to college," Allen said.
The Campaign for America's Future, a liberal non-profit organization that pushes for "progressive social change," said in a statement that a Department of Education study showed that some 4.4 million students over the next decade would be unable to attend four-year public universities for lack of funds. During the same period, some two million students would be unable to attend any post-secondary education facility. By 2020, this will lead to a shortage nationally of 12 million college-educated workers. The new law will cost Maine college students an additional $1,799 a year, according to the Campaign for America's Future.
"This bill will make it harder for students from working families to go to college," said Robert Borosage, the organization's co-director. "This measure makes deep and harmful cuts to student loans that will not even pay for the new tax breaks planned for the wealthy." Michaud and Allen agreed that there are better ways to reduce the budget deficit than by cutting health and education programs.
"We desperately need to restore a sense of fiscal discipline in our nation's capital," Michaud said in a statement. "Not only will this budget plan balloon a federal debt that has already passed $8 trillion-the equivalent of $27,000 for every man, woman and child in the country-but it also contains devastating cuts to programs that are important to Mainers."
###
