Category: Spring 2009 Newswire
Energy Efficient Insulation Industry Would Benefit From Earmark
ASPEN
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Sarah Gantz
Boston University Washington News Service
March 7, 2009
WASHINGTON – Insulation made in Northborough can be found wrapped around a natural gas pipeline deep in the ocean off the coast of Brazil, packed around the electrical cables beneath the subway system in Beijing, and layered over the oil tank of a tractor in the French countryside.
“There is insulation everywhere—in aircraft, in homes, in appliances—you name it,” said Sara Rosenberg, director of government and strategic planning for insulation manufacturer Aspen Aerogels.
“Everywhere” is exactly where the company, headquartered in Northborough, wants to be. Since Aspen Aerogels was formed in 2001, its products have had “relatively exotic” uses, according to Don Young, the company’s chief executive officer. But with energy conservation in the national spotlight and strapped-for-cash homeowners looking to save, now Aspen Aerogels would like to expand the use of its insulation in residential and commercial buildings.
The building and contracting industry is a goldmine of a market that, if tapped, could increase Aspen’s client base tenfold, Mr. Young said. Problem is, at $2 per square foot, the 10 millimeter thick aerogel used by home and commercial contractors is just too expensive.
But a $1.5 million federal government earmark could change that. Mr. Young said the company would use the money, which is in the government spending bill passed by the House last month, to find more efficient and effective ways to manufacture its insulation.
In order to compete with conventional insulation, Mr. Young estimated the company would have to slash the cost of aerogel insulation by at least a quarter, maybe even a third. Aerogel is a flexible, silica-based insulation with the appearance of thick felt and the power to absorb up to eight times as much heat as conventional thermal insulation, according to the company’s Web site.
Affordable energy efficient insulation has national appeal, but in central Massachusetts, the benefits extend past the environmental conscience. A thriving green business in Worcester County could stimulate green practices and attract new green businesses to the area.
“I’ve talked a lot about creating green jobs, finding ways to encourage smart conservation and this fulfills both those goals,” said U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, who introduced the earmark in the fiscal year 2009 spending bill that would fund the government through Sept. 30. The bill, passed by the House Feb. 25, has not been passed by the Senate.
Aspen intends to invest the money in what Mr. Young calls fluid flow optimization—tinkering with the chemical combinations, pressure levels and pipe system involved in manufacturing aerogel insulation. Perfecting solution gelation, as Mr. Young describes the chemical-melding process, will result in significant production cost savings, he said.
“This grant will help us understand our process better” and improve its efficiency, Mr. Young said.
To install Aerogel insulation in an 800-square-foot apartment would cost about $2,000, and could save about $450 per year in energy costs, Mr. Young said.
Bob Levesque, the owner of Bob’s Insulation in Sutton, estimated that if he were to insulate the same apartment with a fiberglass material, it would cost about $600, including installation costs. His fiberglass insulation, a common household insulator, costs 72 cents per square foot, he said.
But investing in energy efficient technology can be well-worth the cost, according to Julie Jacobson, assistant city manager of Worcester.
“If it could have a residential application as well as a commercial application, that’s definitely something the city and any developer should be encouraged to use,” she said.
Last year, the city spent $800,000 on a dozen energy efficient lighting and waste disposal projects and saved $330,000 in energy costs, she said.
Building and home insulation is another energy-saving measure the city is looking into. She, like Mr. McGovern, said she hopes small energy-saving steps will snowball to a greener Worcester.
“It’s not just what we can do to save money,” Ms. Jacobson said. “It’s how we can grow and expand the industry.”
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Legislation Could Protect State’s Revolutionary War Battlefields
Battles
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
03/06/09
WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives passed legislation this week that would help preserve Revolutionary War and War of 1812 battlefields.
The bill, cosponsored by Rep. Jim McGovern, D-3, allots $50 million for the establishment of a national grant program to help acquire and protect battlefield sites.
The money would be distributed to local preservation groups and local governments in the form of matching grants that pay no more than 50 percent of the total costs needed to acquire the battlefield site. Officials from the National Park Service said that property owners have to be willing sellers.
Massachusetts has 26 Revolutionary War battlefield sites including the site of the New Bedford-Fairhaven Raid of 1778, which is not under the protection of the National Parks Service. In September of 1778 the south coast came under attack when 4,000 British troops burned homes and sunk ships.
“There are quite a few [battlefield sites] that are still around but are threatened by 21st century development,” said Tanya Gossett, preservation planner for the National Park Service Battlefield Protection Program. “A lot of times folks are not even aware of historic events that took place in those grounds.”
The National Park Service Battlefield Protection Program operates a similar program for Civil War battlefields.
Lawmakers said that urbanization, suburban sprawl and residential development have encroached on important battlefields all over the country. A report by the National Park Service said that out of 677 significant Revolutionary War and War of 1812 sites nationwide 177 are in danger of being destroyed.
Other Massachusetts endangered sites include Penobscot Bay, Nantasket Roads, Newburyport, Dorchester Neck and Charlestown.
“The battlefields of the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 provide a unique opportunity for Americans to experience where and how the epic struggle for our nation’s independence took place,” said Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., in a written statement. Holt sponsored the legislation.
Gossett said that the bill provides incentives for communities interested in historic preservation.
The bill will be placed in the Senate’s legislative calendar for consideration this spring.
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Lawmakers Aim to Prevent Waste in Stimulus Contracts
OVERSIGHT
Bangor Daily News
Drew FitzGerald
Boston University Washington News Service
March 5, 2009
WASHINGTON – Senators grilled federal auditors Thursday on ways to prevent waste and fraud as the government doles out the first portions of a $787 billion economic stimulus package.
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which is charged with the task of overseeing the billions of stimulus dollars aimed at saving and creating jobs and boosting consumer spending, asked federal inspectors how they would monitor the money, at least $58 billion of which has already been allocated to specific programs, according to the Office of Management and Budget.
Lawmakers said it could be difficult balancing efficiency with the need to spend the stimulus funds quickly, which most economists say is necessary if the money is to effectively boost the economy. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the senior Republican on the committee, pressed auditors to hire more talent soon.
“The federal hiring process is so encumbered with regulation that it’s very difficult for you to hire people quickly, even if they’re supremely qualified,” Collins told Department of Agriculture Inspector General Phyllis Fong. Collins said she is working with Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., on a bill to make it easier to temporarily hire more auditors.
Collins pointed to the federal Web site Recovery.gov, which has already received more than 1 million hits, as a sign of the stimulus program’s transparency and told the auditors she would like the site to expand to include more details on individual programs down to the state and local level.
“It’s going to take a little bit of time to reform the Web site, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction,” Collins said later in a phone interview. “The more eyes that we have on these expenditures, the better it will protect us against mismanagement, waste and outright fraud.”
The House version of the stimulus bill also contained a provision that would shield federal workers who expose corruption in stimulus grants and contracts, but Collins said Senate negotiators agreed to remove the protections from the bill, citing concerns over national security.
Instead, Collins co-sponsored a separate whistle-blower protection bill on Tuesday, but it does not guarantee employees the right to a jury trial to defend themselves against agencies that seek to suppress information on waste.
The omission could make stimulus spending less transparent as a result, Marthena Cowart, spokeswoman for Project on Government Oversight, an independent nonprofit organization that investigates corruption in the federal government.
“It’s just not enough,” Cowart said in a phone interview. “We can all count on some of this money being misused, and we need to ensure that federal workers who are on the front lines of this… have access to a jury trial.”
Cowart added, however, that Collins has consistently advocated for federal whistleblower protection.
Collins defended the change, saying the existing forum for whistleblowers to defend themselves, the Merit Systems Protection Board, is a better system than allowing workers to take the cases to expensive jury trials.
Gene Dodaro, the acting comptroller general of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, told the committee his agency would monitor spending in 16 states that make up two-thirds of the nation’s population over the next few years but will largely rely on other states’ own auditors to root out waste in the program. Maine is among the states that will face less federal oversight.
The state government will hire one to two new employees in addition to auditors in the state controller’s office to ensure that stimulus projects in Maine meet federal requirements for efficiency and transparency, said David Farmer, deputy chief of staff for Gov. John Baldacci.
Baldacci also launched a Web site where Mainers can look up general information on where stimulus money is being spent in the state.
“We will be up to the task of doing this,” Farmer said.
In the 1st Congressional District, there will be a “recovery czar.” Rep. Chellie Pingree announced Thursday that Jackie Potter, former chief of staff to former Rep. Tom Allen, will help Maine businesses and individuals take advantage of stimulus funding.
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Shaheen, Gregg attend White House Health Care Summit
Photos by Caroline Bridges
HEALTH SUMMIT
New Hampshire Union Leader
Jillian Jorgensen
Boston University Washington News Service
March 5, 2009
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama invited a group of lawmakers—including Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H.—and insurance, labor and medical officials to the White House Thursday to discuss how to reform the country’s health care system.
In his opening remarks to the group of more than 100 attending the summit, Obama called the “exploding cost” of health care “one of the greatest threats not just to the well-being of our families and the prosperity of our businesses, but to the very foundation of our economy.”
“Our goal will be to enact comprehensive health care reform by the end of this year. That is our commitment. That is our goal,” Obama told the group.
The president called a seat at the summit “the hottest ticket in town.”
After the opening remarks the group split into “break-out sessions” before offering the president comments and questions.
Shaheen said in an interview after the summit that at the break-out session she attended, the participants – ranging from Democrats to Republicans, labor, small business and pharmacology representatives to advocates for AIDS patients and Native Americans – agreed on the need to move to a system focused on wellness rather than illness, to promote primary and preventative care, and to address the health care workforce, which is lacking doctors and nurses.
“We need to look at what works, look at the outcomes, look at evidence-based treatments and procedures. And when we do that, that will help drive down costs,” she said.
Gregg said the meeting was constructive, but that not much consensus was reached.
“It would be difficult to get much consensus in a first meeting like this,” he said in an interview after the meeting.
Gregg said he believed reform was possible in the next year or 18 months if taken in parts, but that to do one massive overhaul in that time would be more difficult.
“I think it’s a possibility, if you don’t try to do the whole thing at once. If you just take some chunks of it and try to address those issues I think you could make some strides,” he said.
For the summit’s closing remarks, Obama entered with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.,who has been away from Washington while fighting a malignant brain tumor.
“I'm looking forward to being a foot soldier in this undertaking,” Kennedy said. “And this time, we will not fail.”
Shaheen agreed with the sentiment.
“Failure is not an option. We’ve got address this, we’ve got to address the individuals and families who are struggling because they don’t have health care and the businesses who can’t be competitive because of the cost of health care,” she said.
Shaheen said the president pointed out in his closing remarks that Congress would be in control of the details of the plan.
“It’s going to be the Congress that really puts the details on health care reform and that really fleshes that out,” she said.
She said the proposals for reform in the Senate have so far been bi-partisan. She added that representatives from the business, hospital and pharmacology industries and labor officials were also prepared to get down to work.
“The feeling was that all of the players who need to be at the table understand the urgency of addressing this issue,” she said.
Gregg said making wealthier people pay a fair share of their Medicare premiums, allowing people to take advantages of facilities that are producing higher quality care at a lower cost, and increasing investment in health information technology were areas where there was a great deal of bi-partisan support.
But he was not without his concerns.
“I’m worried about a lot of things, but I’m most concerned about undermining the quality of health care and the research efforts in this country, by having the government overly nationalize the system,” he said.
He was also concerned about “creating an atmosphere where there’s no incentive for people to be thoughtful purchasers of health care, and we just pass all the cost on to the taxpayers and the debt.”
During the closing remarks, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., asked Obama if he thought the method proposed by Gregg and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., for fast-tracking entitlement reform might help in the overhaul of Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.
“Although he didn’t endorse it, he didn’t say that he was opposed either,” Gregg said. “It was in play as far as he was concerned.”
Gregg said he agreed with Obama that Social Security was an easier fix than health care, because it was less complex. Using the Conrad-Gregg approach, “we could do Social Security before the end of the summer. That would be a nice win. It would be a very bipartisan event,” he said.
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As Congress Prepares Budget, Sub Suppliers Descend on Capitol to Secure Funding
SUBMARINE
The Day
Katie Koch
Boston University Washington News Service
3/5/09
WASHINGTON—It was hard to miss the victorious mood at Thursday’s Submarine Industrial Base Council breakfast, where submarine builders and suppliers from across the country mingled with members of Congress to kick off a day of visits to members’ offices on Capitol Hill.
Last year’s record-breaking $14 billion contract for eight new Virginia-class submarines, to be built in part by Groton’s Electric Boat, was cause for celebration and record-breaking turnout at the council’s 17th annual meeting, organizers said.
“The feeling in the room was definitely much more upbeat,” said Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, who spoke to the nearly 200 attendees.
But there wasn’t much time to rest on their laurels. With President Obama’s proposed budget still vague on defense spending—and with more-immediate priorities looming in the midst of the economic crisis—industry representatives came to Washington prepared to push for two new priorities: increased funds for research and development and a program to design a replacement for the aging Ohio-class Trident submarine.
“Even though awards have been made…the new administration has put a hold on everything,” said the council’s co-chairman, Dan DePompei of DRS Power Technology in Fitchburg, Mass. “Block 3 funding [for the Virginia-class subs] is pretty safe, but R&D could be questioned.”
Obama’s budget outline would set the Defense Department’s basic budget, which excludes war costs, at $533.7 billion—a 4 percent increase over this year that barely keeps pace with inflation. By contrast, George W. Bush increased the department’s budget by 74 percent from 2001 to 2008.
After an era of heightened spending and ambitious defense projects, council members said, they must now market their services as long-term investments in the country’s economic prosperity and national security.
“There is an economic impact across the country for what we do, and we need to reinforce that message with Congress,” Electric Boat president John P. Casey said in an interview.
He said Congress and the Navy need to start thinking now about replacing the Ohio-class submarines, the first of which is set to be retired in 2029.
“We’re not early, we’re not late, but we need to start now,” Casey said.
Courtney said an Ohio-class redesign program would bring more entry-level design jobs to Electric Boat. In the past year, the company has added about 200 engineers and 400 designers to its workforce, many of them younger employees whose ranks had thinned at Electric Boat over the years.
“It’s really been exciting to see, on the design side, younger workers going through the doors in the morning,” Courtney said in an interview. “Trying to hold onto our young people is a profoundly significant issue in our state.”
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., stressed the urgency of keeping research-and-development funding levels high to keep pace with emerging naval powers like China.
“If you have any doubts about whether this is Cold War technology, just ask other nations that are eager for this technology,” Dodd said after speaking to the council. “It would be awfully shortsighted to find out the whole world was right and we were wrong.”
Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., the senior Republican on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, assured the council audience that Navy procurement programs would not face the chopping block when Congress starts debating the budget in April.
“The Appropriations Committee will be supporting these programs, and we’re looking forward to that Trident submarine,” Young said to applause.
Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., cautioned that as the Navy falls behind in the number of submarines in its fleet, the submarine industry must work even harder to ensure that Congress will pay for the “complex engineering and precise craftsmanship” necessary for an updated fleet.
“We can’t take it for granted that other members of Congress are as passionate and knowledgeable as we are about submarines,” said Langevin, co-chairman of the Congressional Submarine Caucus.
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New Bill Would Allow Drug Imports From Canada
PRESCRIPTIONS
Bangor Daily News
Drew FitzGerald
Boston University Washington News Service
March 4, 2009
WASHINGTON – Americans could save as much as $50 billion in prescription drug costs under a revived Senate proposal that would allow pharmacies to import FDA-approved medicines from other countries, according to Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.
It is “absolutely unconscionable” that high drug costs have forced patients to ration their prescriptions, Snowe said Wednesday at a press conference announcing the legislation. Snowe was an original cosponsor of the bill, a version of which was first introduced five years ago by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.
“Had that bill become law by now, many Americans would have access to lower drug prices that are already available in many industrialized nations,” Snowe said.
Snowe said allowing U.S. pharmacies to import cheaper drugs from countries like Canada would save consumers $50 billion and cut $10 billion in direct costs to Medicare and Medicaid over the next 10 years.
The latest legislation, which the senators have not yet officially introduced, would authorize the Food and Drug Administration to review and register foreign companies to export drugs to the United States.
Federal law currently prohibits pharmacies from importing prescription drugs, though individuals can travel to other countries and bring the drugs back themselves, said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., another co-sponsor of the bill.
Previous efforts to end that import ban failed in the face of Bush administration opposition, but Snowe predicted swift passage of the legislation. “There is no question that we can get it done this year,” she said.
President Barack Obama co-sponsored a failed version of the bill when he was in the Senate and his administration backed the idea in its budget proposal last week.
A spokesman for Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the senator would have to read the legislation but noted she cosponsored similar legislation in 2007. Aides to Reps. Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said both supported the idea.
“I think there’s a tailwind here that wasn’t here previously,” Dorgan said.
Pharmaceutical industry representatives criticized the proposal, saying it cannot prevent counterfeited drugs entering the country.
“If the recent recall of foreign products has taught us anything, it is that Congress must better equip and fully fund the FDA so that it has the resources to do its job,” Ken Johnson, vice president of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said in a statement. “Now is not the time to weaken the Agency by moving forward with prescription drug importation.”
Snowe said the current inspection system does not do enough to ensure drugs’ safety, but she said the proposed bill would fund and enforce FDA inspections of drug manufacturers in other countries from start to finish.
“There will be inspections of every facility and approval by the FDA for every facility… [from which] we import these medications,” she said. “We just don’t say, ‘We certify the safety.’ We set up a standard for that safety regime.”
Pete Wyckoff, a co-chair of the National Coalition of Consumer Organizations on Aging, said the bill’s safety measures would make most drugs Americans consume safer than they are now.
“This has been vetted,” Wyckoff said. “The reason the pharmaceutical industry is so worried is because this can really make a difference in international prices.”
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Hodes Sets Record for Fundraising for U.S. House Race in New Hampshire
HODES FEC
New Hampshire Union Leader
Aoife Connors
Boston University Washington News Service
March 4, 2009
WASHINGTON – Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) during his 2008 campaign raised more than $2 million, according to year-end reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
This is a record for fundraising for a U.S. House race in New Hampshire, said Dante Scala, head of the Political Science Department at the University of New Hampshire. In 2006, when he raised $1.6 million, Hodes also set a record, Scala said.
It was a very crowded campaign field in 2008, Hodes said. “We had the presidential election, the Senate election and the House elections; so I knew it was important to have the financial means to compete.”
Scala said, “Hodes is a prodigious fundraiser; he did it in 2006 against an incumbent and he set the agenda again in 2008. Looking forward he could contend at a higher level because he is very good at raising money and can scare off challengers.”
Hodes can threaten opponents because “it is hard to contend against him,” Scala said. “He has set himself up for 2010 as a serious runner for the Senate.”
Hodes said the campaign was based on having the financial means “to tell stories. It’s a combination of having the means, the professional organization and the tools to communicate with the people of New Hampshire.”
Scala said, “Hodes showed in New Hampshire how quickly political fortunes can change by beating a Republican in 2006 and raising so much money in 2008.”
According to candidate reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Hodes raised $2,030,790 in the 2008 race and $1,648,323 in 2006.
The leading industry contributing to Hodes’ 2008 campaign was the finance, insurance and real estate sector, which gave $351,400, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group that tracks money in politics. This includes contributions by PACs as well as by individuals associated with those businesses.
Scala said since Hodes is on the House Financial Services Committee, “it’s a typical pattern that particular industries in that sector would give him funds and hope he would listen to the issues of concern to them.”
Top contributors in 2008, according to the Center for Responsive Poltics, included PACs and individuals associated with the law firm Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, $14,050; American Bankers Association, $11,500; and Dartmouth College; $10,300.
“The money Hodes raises comes from a diverse group that includes unions, business and an ideological base,” Scala said.
Hodes received $14,975 in contributions from the Human Rights Campaign, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) group.
Hodes received the fourth-highest amount given to a House candidate by the Human Rights Campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The contributions are based on a candidate questionnaire and a congressional scorecard, said Trevor Thomas, deputy communications director for the Human Rights Campaign.
“We look at a host of issues, to see where the candidate stands on key issues like HIV/AIDS, civil rights protections and sexual orientation,” Thomas said. “Hodes had a very good LGBT voting record, with 85 percent in the last Congress.”
The voting record was based on 11 votes during the 110th Congress that indicated where the House member stood on issues important to the Human Rights Campaign, Thomas said.
The campaign endorses incumbents with strong LGBT records, Thomas said. Hodes’ score of 85 trailed that of then-Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., who scored 100 and received $25,923 from the organization for his successful campaign for the U.S. Senate.
“I don’t vote ever with any thought in mind about what it means for contributions; I vote to serve the people of New Hampshire” Hodes said. “We all come from the same place and should be treated equally in the eyes of the law.”
During the 2008 election cycle, the Human Rights Campaign Political Action Committee contributed $5,000 to Hodes campaign in the primary election and another $5,000 in the general election, Thomas said.. The maximum contribution a PAC can give during an election cycle is $10,000.
The organization gave an additional $4,975 to the Hodes campaign during the 2008 election cycle. These funds were written off as retired debt from the 2006 cycle since the $10,000 limit was never reached in 2006, according to Thomas.
“Hodes is a reliably liberal vote…. It makes sense that such a candidate would be supported by the HRC,” Scala said.
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Gregg Wants Earmarks Removed While Shaheen Votes to Keep Them
Earmarks Vote
New Hampshire Union Leader
Aoife Connors
Boston University Washington News Service
March 4, 2009
WASHINGTON – New Hampshire Sens. Judd Gregg (R) and Jeanne Shaheen (D) voted in opposite directions Tuesday on the McCain amendment that would freeze all earmarks in the $410 billion spending bill for the 2009 fiscal year.
The Senate voted 63-32, rejecting the amendment introduced by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to remove all earmarks and continue funding federal programs at 2008 levels. The bill, which according to opponents isladen with pork, includes an 8 percent increase in spending from 2008 levels, doubling the rate of inflation.
McCain’s amendmentl would have eliminated almost 8,500 earmarks and cut roughly $32 billion from the spending bill.
Gregg, who voted for it, said, “Sen. McCain’s amendment would have continued funding for several federal departments at last year’s lower spending levels and, in my view, was a constructive way to restore fiscal discipline to this spending measure.”
He added at a time when “individuals, families and businesses across our country are tightening their belts, it is only appropriate for Congress to do the same.”
Earmarks are for incredibly important projects in New Hampshire that need funding, said Sen. Shaheen, who voted against the amendment. But she added that earmarks should be more transparent and it should always be clear which member of Congress requested each earmark so that they are accountable for them.
Sen. Gregg, a member of the Senate Appropriations committee, has included a number of earmarks to benefit many New Hampshire projects. These include $3 million for the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership, $686,000 to provide broadband to the North Country, $856,000 for health care centers, $1.5 million for Operation Streetsweeper, and $750,000 for the New Hampshire Drug Task Force.
Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonprofit organization with a mission to eliminate waste and inefficiency in federal government, states that the Appropriations Act for fiscal 2008 included 11,610 pork projects costing $17.2 billion. They refer to a pork project as a line-item in an appropriations bill that provides tax dollars for a specific purpose outside of budget procedures.
During his campaign, President Obama pledged to put an end to ”business as usual in Washington,” promising transparency and an end to wasteful spending.
The pork-laden 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act was passed by the House Feb 25 by a vote of 245 to 178. New Hampshire Reps. Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes voted for the legislation.
The bill includes almost $8 billion for more than 8,500 pork projects included by individual members of Congress. Many department budgets have been increased by the bill including education, health and human services and transportation.
McCain’s amendment was supported by 30 Republicans and two Democrats.
In support of the McCain amendment, Sen. Gregg said, “Even as the federal budget deficit reaches record levels, my Democratic colleagues continue to add new government spending that will pass on a massive debt to our children and grandchildren that they cannot afford.”
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Renewable Energy Experts Ask Congress for Support
ENERGY
Wsee-35 Web site
Lindsay Perna
Boston University Washington News Service
March 4, 2009
WASHINGTON – Banks and automobile companies are not the only ones looking for more green from their government.
Renewable energy experts nationwide appealed to Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper (D-Pa.), Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) and other members of the House Small Business Committee for “must-have” support as bio-fuel plants suffer in a staggering economy.
At a hearing of the committee, the energy representatives asked for an extension of biodiesel tax incentives, a loosening of credit for struggling ethanol plants, and an overall commitment to the industry.
The current regulations on biodiesel include a temporary tax refund to consumers using biodiesel from vegetable oils, animal fats and food grease. After extending the energy policy act twice in the past five years, the incentive will expire Dec. 31, 2009.
“Current law sends the signal to the marketplace that the federal commitment to biodiesel is tenuous—the temporary nature of the incentive undermines overall confidence in the stability of the industry,” said Manning Feraci, the vice president of federal affairs of the National Biodiesel Board.
Feraci and the other four members of the panel testifying said that biofuel demand dwindles as oil prices dive. This creates an unappetizing market for investors un-willing to make a leap for this oil replacement.
Already, two-thirds of ethanol plants are not operating due to a stifling credit flow and minimal long-term investment, Feraci said.
Stating that renewable energy initiatives have a potential to create more than 78,000 jobs, Feraci elaborated on the benefits the nation would reap if they invested in the vitality of the industry.
Biofuel has displaced more than 20 million barrels of petroleum in 2008, according to Brooks Hurst, a board member of the Paseo-Cargill Biofuels Plant in Missouri.
After the hearing, Rep. Dahlkemper said, “We really want to move towards energy independence here—something that is already constructed, ready to produce—but we are not giving companies the incentives they need to make it viable financially.”
The congresswoman said she thinks credit will fall into place after the industry is revitalized.
“Private investment would jump at the chance to be part of this market but if the market’s not there—it’s a demand issue right now that I think is the crux of the whole thing,” she said.
She said it is a top priority as foreign dependence on oil creates national security and economic issues.
“We can talk about solar and wind and so many other things,” she said. “But this is already there; we just have to move it along a little bit.”
Though Thompson said he would like to see those tax incentives stay, he said the country needs to utilize petroleum and natural gas instead of ethanol from corn.
“It is my true belief that…we can't move right into alternative energies, because they are not productive to do that,” said Thompson. “If our goal is to eliminate dependence on foreign oil...this is not a bridge that will get us there for many many decades.”
The 5th District congressman said that there are other more efficient forms of renewable fuels.
“It takes as much energy to create corn ethanol as what corn ethanol produces—so it’s a break even and we are taking from our food stock,” he said. “Biomass ethanol that uses landfill—there's a win-win.”
For Michael Maniates, an environmental science professor at Allegheny College in Meadville, said in an email that extending tax incentives for biodiesel is only fair as the nuclear and oil industries have already seen billion-dollar tax incentives.
“If we're going to see alternatives flourish, they need to be afforded the same support. Anything else stifles competition and innovation and is plain unfair,” Maniates said.
However, Maniates said that the ethanol industry already receives heavy subsidies and should not be rewarded with loans until production becomes more “energy positive.”
“They should be mothballed until oil prices rise or until the industry is able to shift production away from corn-fed fuels and towards more environmentally and energetically positive sources like woody biomass and switchgrass.”
“It may take more energy to raise the corn and process it into liquid fuels than the energy in the liquid fuel itself,” he said.
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Adm. Allen Stresses need for Modernization in Annual Address
Photos by Caroline Bridges
COAST GUARD
The Day
Katie Koch
Boston University Washington News Service
March 3, 2009
WASHINGTON—Anticipating a tight budget in the midst of the current fiscal crisis, Adm. Thad W. Allen, Coast Guard commandant, said Tuesday that the Coast Guard must focus on modernizing its communications and processes before upgrading its fleet.
Modernization remains “job one” for the Guard, Allen said. But, he emphasized, the process “is not budget driven. It is driven by the motivation to change and adapt to ensure future readiness.”
Allen’s remarks came as Congress debates the federal budget submitted last Thursday by President Barack Obama, who vowed to streamline the defense budget in his address before Congress last week.
Allen pointed to increased use of the web to communicate both within the Coast Guard and with the public as an important area of modernization.
He mentioned the Guard’s new partnerships with Google, YouTube and other major Web sites, as well as a new Facebook page, that are part of his goal to build an “effective and secure presence in cyberspace.”
“While funding levels set general limits on what is possible,” Allen said, “our internal organizational structure, our ability to create effective doctrine and our ability to plan and execute operations must be optimized to make the best use of every dollar appropriated.”
Still, Allen did not downplay the “deteriorating condition” of the Coast Guard’s fleet. Cutter availability for missions is decreasing, he said, as older vessels like the Dallas and the Gallatin are removed from active duty to repair structural decay. Meanwhile, the cost of operating the Guard’s major cutters is increasing.
“Time is a merciless thief, and it is stealing readiness with each passing year,” he said.
The recently passed stimulus package allocated $98 million for the Coast Guard to replace some aging equipment and upgrade older facilities. But despite that additional funding, Allen warned, high demand for the Guard’s services could ultimately strain it to a breaking point.
“The good news…and bad news is there’s never been a greater demand for our services,” he said.
In the meantime, Allen acknowledged, manpower shortages in the Guard must be addressed to meet high demand for the Guard’s services.
“This notion of doing more with less needs to leave our lexicon,” Allen said in a question-and-answer period after the speech.
“One of our combatant commanders recently told me, ‘You know, the Coast Guard is like a great fighter that punches above his weight,’ ” Allen said. “I appreciated his comment, but it’d really be nice to move to a higher weight class.”
Allen was aggressive in asserting that, despite the formidable budgetary and logistical challenges the Coast Guard still faces, it has made significant progress in his two-and-a-half years at the helm.
“This is not the same Coast Guard that existed even one year ago,” Allen said.
Allen emphasized that the Coast Guard has begun to implement acquisition reforms “not only for Deepwater but for all initiatives,” and that the progress made in that area over the past two years “needs to be recognized.”
He said the Coast Guard took the lead in streamlining communication between planners, technical experts and acquirers for the recently completed USCG Cutter Bertholf and will do so for future cutters, boats and aircraft.
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