Category: Sara Hatch
Simmons Once Again in a Race for His Party
By Sara Hatch
WASHINGTON, March 2-Republican Rep. Robert Simmons will once again face a tough race in the second congressional district, going up against Democratic candidate Joe Courtney, a former state representative. For both candidates 2005 was a good year for raising money. Courtney raised $531,714 and Simmons received contributions of $1.1 million, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
But even with twice as much money raised, it will not be an easy race for Simmons. Both Stuart Rothenberg, the editor and publisher of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report, and Charlie Cook, who publishes the Cook Political Report, have classified the second district as a competitive race.
Rothenberg said in an interview Tuesday that the race will be about money and “localizing the contest.” He added that “the great risk to [Simmons] is that a sizeable partisan Democratic wave is developing across the country and that it will simply hit the beaches of Connecticut too and he’ll be swept out.”
Rothenberg said that Simmons is a “good campaigner” and is getting money from other Republicans who know that Simmons is “vulnerable, so members are writing checks to him.”
“They know.if there are 10 or 12 Republican incumbents who are most vulnerable, he’s one of them,” Rothenberg said. “So it’s not surprising if he’s getting checks from John Boehner and Roy Blunt and Eric Cantor or whomever. He’s going to be one of the guys where senior Republicans, House Republicans who want to hold control of the body and want to hold their chairmanships.he’s one of the first places they’re going to look.”
As of Dec. 31, 2005, Simmons received $179,436 from so-called leadership political action committees, including $46,000 from current and former House leaders, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, a nonpartisan organization that analyzes federal election campaign data. He is a recipient of money from Retain Our Majority Program, which was started by Tom DeLay to help funnel money to candidates in extremely competitive districts. National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Ed Patru said that Simmons has been a recipient of money from the program in all of his races.
Patru said that Simmons’ campaign is one that will be closely watched by the Republicans but that Simmons is strong enough in the district to win.
“Rob Simmons biannually runs in a very, very competitive district,” Patru said, commenting on why Simmons has continually received Republican funds. “This is on paper a Democrat district.. He runs very strong campaigns and part of running a strong campaign means being well-funded, having the resources to be able to respond to your opponent’s attacks.”
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Jen Psaki said Simmons’ image in the district will pose the largest problem.
“You have Washington, D.C., Rob Simmons versus Connecticut Rob Simmons, and they’re two different guys,” Psaki said, and his inconsistencies and what she described as his “flip-flops” will hurt him in the fall.
Pskai added that Joe Courtney has run a good campaign and that “he had a very strong fundraising quarter and year last year.”
According to data obtained from PoliticalMoneyLine, Simmons received 16 percent of his campaign funds last year from political leadership PACs, an increase from his 12 percent share in the 2004 election cycle.
Courtney already has received support from Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., who donated $5,000. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., also donated $5,000, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., donated $2,000 from her leadership PAC.
Simmons received 51 percent of his money last year from PACs. By contrast, Courtney received 75 percent of his donations from individual contributors. Courtney received only $36,000 from organized labor to Simmons’ $74,000, but Rothenberg said that this is probably just early money and that these figures will balance later in the election cycle.
Simmons finished the year with $803,370 cash on hand and Courtney had $450,893 cash on hand, according to the filings with the Federal Election Commission.
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Senators, Witnesses Agree that America Is Not Competitive
By Sara Hatch
WASHINGTON, March 1-Hartford's University High School of Science and Engineering is part of a growing trend toward preparing students for the technology-dominated world they will confront in a few years, particularly in engineering, math and the sciences.
But it's only "a start, not a final destination," Joshua R. Tagore, a sophomore at the high school, told a Senate hearing here Wednesday on the proposed PACE-Protecting America's Competitive Edge-Act.
The measure, of which Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut is a co-sponsor, would, among other things, provide grants to create math and science high schools like the one in Hartford throughout the country, establish college scholarships for students who agree to become public school science and math teachers and offer money to train 10,000 new teachers.
In his testimony, Tagore said: "I believe that if more high school students are exposed to this kind of unique learning experience as a routine part of their high school careers - as I was in my freshman year - we could help to shape a nation of young adults who will gain an interest in careers involving math and science. In this new millennium, the future of our country depends on it."
Dodd, the senior Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Education and Early Childhood Development, said in an interview after the hearing: "Too often we're losing too many qualified, highly gifted people who blossom later in life; who don't show their talent in the first, second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth grade or even later, so we need to do a better job of tracking people, investing in people earlier on so we don't just write people off."
PACE is needed, he said, because it is "so critically important in the 21st century; that nations which have a workforce that is knowledgeable and gifted in the math, science and engineering fields are going to play a critical role in determining the economic success of the nations in which they live and so this is essential."
"And so if we don't do it soon . the abruptness of the change is startling," Dodd said. "You won't have the time to build back up because people are going to move on and therefore you may never recover from it."
The Hartford high school is one of about 70 in 25 states, with almost 12,000 students, that is part of the early college high school movement, and advocates expect those numbers to rise to 166 schools and more than 60,000 students six years from now.
The schools partner with a college to provide what the Hartford high school describes as "a bridge to a college education," with students attending classes at an affiliated college and submitting those classes for credit to the colleges they eventually attend.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said students like Tagore are the future.
"He does things with technology that we never dreamed about," Burr said. "Not providing them the opportunity is the only mistake we can make."
Assistant Secretary of Education Henry Johnson said that there has been progress in grades K thorough 8 but that "too many students hit the wall when they get to high school."
Former North Carolina Gov. James Hunt also testified that America has fallen behind the world in competitiveness in math and science and that more must be done to change science and math education in the United States.
"We have so far to go, and the competition is about to clean our clock," Hunt said. "We are not competitive today."
Hunt added that though education has "historically" been a local issue, it needed to become a "national issue." He also urged greater financial support, floating the idea of phasing in the money now going to Iraq to help pay for these programs.
Dodd and other senators agreed that this cannot be done without more money being put into the program.
"We heard from Gov. Hunt--this can't be done on the cheap," Dodd said.
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Connecticut Delegation Ranks High on Environment
By Sara Hatch
WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 - The Connecticut delegation scored in the top five percent of all members of Congress on an environmental scorecard released Tuesday by the League of Conservation Voters. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., with a score of 90 percent, tied for the third-highest score in the Senate on key environmental votes during 2005.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., scored 70 percent, a 14-point increase from his combined score for 2003-04. Both senators were well above the national average of 45 percent for both the House and Senate.
The scorecard evaluates important environmental votes in the past year and whether members made what the league considers environmentally friendly votes.
"The entire delegation deserves praise for their record of bipartisan support for protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling and protecting public lands," Tiernan Sittenfeld, the league's legislative director, said in a press release.
The delegation's high ranking among the states on environmental issues was confirmed by Mark Sokolove, the league's press secretary.
Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., who voted against Arctic drilling, scored 61 percent. This was much higher than the average 11 percent score for Republicans in the House.
Curt Johnson, the senior attorney and program director for the Connecticut
Fund for the Environment, said the Republican Party "as a whole has turned its back almost entirely on the environmental agenda."
A statement issued by Dodd's office said he "believes that protecting our environment should be a top priority. But sadly, there are too many in Washington that fail to realize that. Sen. Dodd intends to continue to work to support initiatives that can make our environment cleaner for both the current and future generations."
Lieberman's communications director, Casey Aden-Wansbury, said that "throughout his career, he "has won high scores" from the league, and that his relatively low score in 2003-04 was because of "several votes he was forced to miss for family reasons." On only two votes did he differ from the league's position, Aden-Wansbury said, on the final vote on last year's energy bill and on a farm appropriations amendment.
The scorecard "casts an unbiased eye" on the House and Senate, said Tony Massaro, the league's senior vice president for political affairs and public education, at a press conference Tuesday.
Massaro said 2005 had been a year with "major legislative attacks on our government." He criticized the energy bill as one of the worst environmental bills to come out of Washington and said that "in the end, many members chose the powerful over the people."
The league addressed the larger energy issue in its scorecard, with almost half of the key votes in each chamber concerning energy policy.
"Everybody in the delegation understands that we need serious changes in energy policy," Dennis Schain, spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, said in a telephone interview.
"I think everybody understands that we need to find a new direction with energy policy," he said..
Connecticut, he said, faces energy problems at the pump and at home, including increases in the price of natural gas.
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Johnson, Other Moderate House Republicans Assert Their Agenda
By Sara Hatch
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16-Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., called Thursday for turning the health care industry from an "illness treatment system" to a "health preventive system."
Johnson, who chairs the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, proposed greater implementation of technology in health care and stressed that new advances go hand in hand with lowering costs.
"If we can manage disease more effectively, we can keep people out of hospitals and emergency rooms, which are the high-cost venues, and we can, using far fewer resources, enable people to have healthier lives," Johnson said.
Johnson spoke at a press conference called by the Republican Main Street Partnership, a group of more than 60 centrist Republican Senate and House members and governors to discuss its 2006 legislative agenda.
Johnson stressed that new technology can help physicians to better understand patient medical histories and thus provide better treatment.
Other issues on the Main Street Partnership agenda were education, ethics, high technology and innovation, and fiscal policy.
The group, in a statement, called for greater initiatives to bring math and science graduates back into the classroom as teachers, echoing a theme of President Bush's Jan. 31 State of the Union speech.
Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., a member of the partnership's board, said this year's agenda would also include continued work with stem cell research. In 2005, House Main Street Republicans helped overturn restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The legislation allows for funding for research on frozen embryos donated by couples who no longer need them for fertility treatments.
Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., the partnership president, responded to a question on the vulnerability of moderates in their districts, saying that because there are generally large numbers of Democrats among their constituents, "we sort of run scared all the time."
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Simmons, Connecticut Officials Question Homeland Security Funding
By Sara Hatch
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14-Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., has joined local officials from Connecticut in criticizing the Department of Homeland Security for the criteria it uses to decide which areas receive federal funds.
In a Feb. 9 letter to Undersecretary for Preparedness George W. Foresman, Simmons said that focusing heavily on population does not work when awarding federal homeland security money.
Simmons said he would oppose all funds for the Urban Areas Securities Initiative, the program through which federal grants are awarded to urban areas across the country that satisfy the department's criteria.
Simmons is chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment.
Spokespersons for the department did not respond to queries on the urban areas grant program and the criteria the department uses to judge which cities get the federal grants.
But in a Jan. 3 news release, the department said it intends to focus more on risk assessment in allocating funds in the current year.
Simmons called into question the population qualifier-200,000 minimum population-to be considered for any of the urban security grants. In his budget for fiscal year 2007, President Bush proposed $838 million, an increase of $80 million, for urban areas grants while calling for cuts across the board in antiterrorism grants.
"New London is not a large city, but it is located in a developed area," Simmons said in an interview Tuesday.
"When you talk about risk-based, you're talking about more than population," Simmons added.
Simmons stressed that New England cities, unlike those in some other areas of the country, do not grow beyond their boundaries, so that their urban areas are really composed of several cities and towns.
He said that he would not vote for more funds for the Urban Areas Securities Initiative without changes to the legislation.
"We ain't voting for this thing if it's not changed; it's just that simple," Simmons said. "I want [the administration] to know that I will not support their formula for allocating homeland security dollars. I will not support it," Simmons added.
Reid Burdick, New London's emergency management director, said in an interview Tuesday that the New London area is at higher risk than some areas with larger towns because of its large older population and because it is a major traffic hub.
The New London metropolitan area has a population of more than 200,000 and includes within its borders a submarine base, a submarine builder (Electric Boat), and two active nuclear power plants in Waterford.
"It's too bad that neither the state nor the federal government really doesn't recognize us" as a high-risk area, Burdick said.
Richard Brown, New London's city manager, said that he has been pleased with the state's homeland security agency but has been disappointed with the federal government's homeland security policies.
"On the federal level, I think the funding allocations are grossly inadequate," Brown said. "There is a tendency, it seems, at the federal level, to fund simply some very large urban areas or have a base formula that is so generic and population-based that there are some very wide open areas that seem to have no risk at all that are being funded, perhaps on a higher per capita basis then some of our urban areas."
Brown added that New Haven, the only Connecticut area that ever received urban areas grants, has been dropped from the program and has not received such federal money since the 2004 fiscal year. This issue was addressed by Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, on which Lieberman is the senior Democrat.
"The factors [the Homeland Security Department] uses to determine risks have changed from year to year," Lieberman said in a Jan. 3 statement, "meaning one year a city qualifies for funding, as New Haven did in 2004, and the next year it doesn't qualify, or a city is deemed at high risk one year and the next year it is not. This is not the way to help states and localities systematically develop the essential capabilities they need to keep citizens safe."
Deputy Commissioner Wayne Sanford of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security said that all funds from the federal government under the urban areas program go directly to the urban areas, bypassing his office entirely.
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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."
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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.
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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."
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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."
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Lieberman Out to Overhaul Lobbying in Washington
By Sara Hatch
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 - The one word on everyone's lips in Washington these days is lobbying. Journalists are writing about it. Members of Congress are worried about it. And Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) is trying to reform it.
Lieberman is a co-sponsor of a lobbying overhaul bill introduced by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in response to the indictments of lobbyist Jack Abramoff and one of his associates. Sen. McCain testified before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, of which Lieberman is the senior Democrat, in a hearing Wednesday on lobbying reform.
In an interview after the hearing, Lieberman said Abramoff's behavior amounted to "an outrageous corruption of what's supposed to be a constitutional right that people have to be represented before the government, but it was all about money.
"It was not only spreading money around to members of Congress in a way that was obsessive or raises suspicions about whether you can buy legislation here, but he really extorted and conned a lot of his clients, including particularly the Native American tribes, out of unbelievable amounts of money which they didn't need to pay."
Lieberman received $1,000 in a campaign contribution in the 2001-02 election cycle from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, one of Abramoff's clients, but no money from Abramoff himself, according to capitaleye.org, a money-in-politics newsletter published by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
In his remarks before the committee, Lieberman stressed that this is the time for action and that the practices that have gone on in the past cannot continue.
"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 Congress must act. And we will," Lieberman said. "In government, we must hold ourselves, and be held to, a higher standard - to do not just what is legal, but what is right."
Lieberman added that this is more than just about money; it is also about restoring trust.
"The behavior of Mr. Abramoff and his associates undercuts that trust and sends the message that in Washington, results go to the highest bidder, not to the greatest public good," he said.
Lieberman and McCain said their bill is aimed at requiring fuller disclosure of gifts and other benefits lobbyists provide to members of Congress but would avoid what they characterized as more radical proposals for a total ban on congressional involvement with lobbyists.
Their bill also would double the cooling-off period to two years for members of Congress, senior congressional staff and some executive branch officials who wish to lobby Congress after leaving government service.
All of the senators on the committee called for a bipartisan commitment to lobby reform.
"We know the response must be bipartisan," Lieberman said.
He added, "We cannot and will not let partisanship or institutional defensiveness stop us from achieving that goal."
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