Category: Washington, DC
Fallout in Congress on Vaccine Shortage
WASHINGTON, Oct 13 – September was fading away when Stephen Ostroff, a senior official of the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sat in front of the Senate Special Committee on Aging and said, “October is the best month to get the flu vaccine, so let’s all roll up our sleeves and get vaccinated.”
Little did Ostroff and the CDC know that in October the country would face its worst flu vaccine shortage crisis ever.
On Tuesday, only two weeks after Ostroff’s team assured Congress that a record 100 million doses would be on hand nationwide to face this season’s influenza season, Rep. William Delahunt (D-Cape Cod) and 70 other House Democrats sent a letter to President Bush urging him to take emergency steps to ensure that flu shots would be provided for the most vulnerable, “the infants and the elderly.”
How did the country go from the biggest flu vaccine order to the biggest vaccine shortage?
After last year’s aggressive influenza season—when more than 100 infants died and 200,000 adults were hospitalized—the CDC decided to contract for the 100 million doses. The order went directly to the only two companies licensed by the Food and Drug Administration: California-based Chiron and Aventis Pasteur, a French company that manufactures flu vaccine in Pennsylvania.
Federal health officials had increased the number of doses from 83 million to 100 million because they didn’t want to face the same long lines that formed in flu clinics last year after a small shortage occurred.
For the 2004-05 influenza season, Chiron had negotiated to put about 50 million vaccine doses on the market. Aventis Pasteur would produce about 52 million, of which 4 million would go to a stockpile at CDC headquarters to be used in December –“if shortages occurred,” Ostroff told Congress.
On Oct. 5, with the flu vaccination season already in progress, the CDC was informed that British regulators had shut down Chiron’s manufacturing plant in Liverpool after finding several batches of contaminated vaccines.
The abrupt closing of the plant meant none of the doses Chiron had committed to supply would be delivered.. Suddenly, the bulk of the nation’s vaccine supply was cut in half.
A federal grand jury is investigating Chiron’s failure to supply the vaccine. The U.S. attorney in New York has issueda subpoena to the company, according to a regulatory filing posted by the company on Tuesday.
The shortage caught the government by surprise, officials said, even though in late August they learned of the contaminated batches and were told by Chiron that its supply would suffer some delay.
After learning of the shortage last week, the CDC, which tracks flu epidemics, quickly issued guidelines on who should receive priority in getting the vaccine. The center also urged state programs, public and private clinics and supermarkets to follow the “honor code” and to dispense the flu shot only to infants 6 to 23 months old, seniors 65 years and older, and adults with chronic diseases.
But Aventis by then had started shipping its supplies. By last week 30 million doses of its vaccine were sent to its clients. Aware of the shortage, people formed long lines to get a shot of the scarce vaccine. The majority of providers followed the CDC guidelines, but in some states the shortage prompted price gouging.
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, for example, said on Wednesday that doctors were being visited by opportunistic vendors who offered the flu vaccine for as much as 10 times the normal price.
Julie Gerberding, the director of the CDC, said Tuesday that price gouging was “immoral” and called for state-by-state prosecution of those who were profiting from the shortage.
The 70 House Democrats who called up on the President to take emergency steps to respond to the shortage, also called for a federal investigation of flu vaccine price gouging. “This is not a state-by-state issue, it’s a federal issue,” said Steve Schwadron, spokesman for Delahunt.
Delahunt’s office spokesman also accused the Bush Administration of “not paying enough attention” to the crisis and claimed “every day of inaction exacerbates the problem,” he said.
The letter called on the government to gather all the unused vaccine in the market and redistribute it to the neediest. “People are in panic, they are scared, and that is not right,” Schwadron said.
On Tuesday, the CDC unveiled a two-phase plan that would redirect the 22.4 million unshipped doses of Aventis vaccine to the neediest patients and to those states that were heavily reliant on the Chiron vaccine.
Gerberding said that initially 14.2 million doses will go to pediatricians, long-term care facilities, Veterans Hospitalsand state programs.
Massachusetts could benefit some from this reallocation; 462,000 doses, or 73 percent of its publicly contracted supply, was to have come from Chiron.
The CDC will keep 8.2 million doses to be distributed after the flu season starts to areas where the disease is more prevalent or where a large percentage of the high-risk population has not received shots.
But Gerberding acknowledged that not everybody in need of a flu vaccine will get one this year.
With the flu season just beginning, and “with isolated cases in the New York-New Jersey area,” according to CDC spokeswoman Christine Pearson, the agency is asking patients to seek medical help, when they get the first symptoms, “since there will be plenty prophylactic medicines available,” Gerberding said.
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Debate on Social Security Likely Tonight
WASHINGTON 10/8/04- One of the issues that is likely to come up during the final presidential debate which focuses on domestic topics is the future of the Social Security system, a subject in which both of New Hampshire's senators have a keen interest.
Social Security reform is also a subject in which there are sharp differences between the two presidential candidates. President George Bush has not proposed specific Social Security reform, but has said he supports the creation of personal retirement accounts. Sen. John Kerry opposes privatization of any kind for the Social Security system.
Many have suggested the Social Security system faces an imminent crisis but several policy experts interviewed for the article agreed that the system will be able to deliver benefits to current retirees for the next decade or so without problem. However, they say that reform in the coming years will be essential to ensure that younger workers receive benefits from the system when they are ready to retire.
"To call this a crisis is a little bit like saying your roof is going to blow off in 40 years. It may not be a problem for you or your children, but certainly will be a problem for the person 40 years down the road," said Gary Burtless of the Brookings Institution, a liberal-leaning think tank in Washington.
Current Social Security recipients' benefits are paid from the payroll taxes taken from the wages of working Americans. According to the Social Security Administration 2004 Trustees Report tax revenues will fall below program costs in 2018, meaning not enough people will be working and contributing taxes to cover the number of people who are retiring.
At this point, benefits could continue to be paid from the Trust Fund, the fund in which surplus from payroll taxes is collected, until 2042. But this isn't a fund in the sense that money is kept untouched for future generations. Currently the surplus raised from the tax is spent like any other tax, on government programs, and replaced by Treasury bonds.
Two of the most vocal proponents for Social Security reform have been New Hampshire's senators, Judd Gregg and John Sununu. Gregg, in 1999, sponsored the Bipartisan 21 st Century Retirement Security Act, which proposed allowing two percentage points of the current 12.4 percent payroll tax to finance personal retirement accounts. He reintroduced the measure last session but no action was taken on the bill.
A month ago, Sununu introduced the Social Security Savings Act, which would allow for 10 percentage points of the payroll tax on the first $10,000 of wages each year to be contributed to a personal retirement account. On wages above that, 5 percentage points could be shifted into the accounts. The plan is voluntary and people have the option of staying in the existing system. The plan has been ranked by the chief actuary of Social Security as achieving permanent solvency for the program.
Gregg said that though current retirees have nothing to worry about, the system is headed for a dramatic crisis, and those who are contributing to the system today will pay more than they ever get back if something is not done.
He said he has found that younger people, those under the age of 40, have been receptive to the idea of personal retirement accounts.
"People understand you can take some portion of the (payroll) tax and save it," said Gregg. "It will be their money and they will own the fund it is invested in."
Both Sununu's and Gregg's plans call for investment in funds that are regulated by the government for safety and soundness.
Sununu said that the long term returns on these investments has been steady through the years, and said every major poll he is familiar with has shown broad support for allowing workers to devote some of the tax to private savings accounts.
David John, of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, said Sununu's plan has one of the best administrative structures he's seen.
"The structure provides a simple, low-cost structure for these accounts," said John. "The worker would get the maximum value for their money. It doesn't allow gambling and provides some real retirement."
But one of the issues with the transition to personal retirement accounts, experts agree, is the short-term cost.
According to Burtless, the problem with allowing personal retirement accounts is faced in funding current Social Security recipients. If money is withdrawn from the system, someone has to make contributions or pay taxes that cover the existing system liability.
"If you're going to have these individual retirement accounts, you still have to pay into the promise for people who are already retiring," said Burtless.
Evelyn Morton, national coordinator for economic issues for AARP, said the organization does not support taking money from the payroll tax to finance private accounts. She said she has found that people's initial reaction to the idea of private savings accounts is positive, but said they should be wary of transition costs.
"What they don't understand is that in order to finance these accounts, there's a transition," said Morton. "If you're 49 years old, you're not going to have as long to build up your account as a 25-year-old."
John said that if a system of personal retirement accounts is established, the additional money needed to pay retirees will be needed sooner than it is under the existing system, but the total amount that would be needed in decades to come would be significantly less.
Sununu's plan allows the prior contribution of those under 55 who opt for personal retirement accounts to be credited to future benefits. After the transition period workers would continue to pay a small amount into the trust fund to pay for disability and survivor benefits and guarantee minimum benefits.
"The proposal we've put forward ensures long-term solvency for Social Security," said Sununu. "To say that it [his plan] is expensive. is ridiculous."
Opponents of creating personal retirement accounts say that taking money out of the existing system and putting it into private accounts makes the solvency issue worse.
"Social Security is becoming the only thing you can count on," said Barbara Kennelly, president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. "The truth of the matter is everyone has 401Ks and we already have the ability to save and invest if we want."
Despite disagreement over whether personal retirement accounts are the right answer, most people admit changes must be made to insure the Social Security system's future solvency.
Celsius Warms Republicans Hearts
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 - Coming soon to a theater near you: the conservative response to Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11."
"Celsius 41.11, The Temperature at which the Brain Begins to Die" premiered Tuesday night in Georgetown to an invitation-only audience of more than 100 moviegoers who, clad in suits and cocktail dresses, gave the 80-minute film a standing ovation, complete with hoots and whistles.
"The country was ready for an answer to 'Fahrenheit 9/11'," said Charles Krauthammer, a Washington Post columnist who appears several times in the film, "and it got it."
The film, produced by Citizens United, a conservative lobby group in Washington, opened with and is dominated by images of 9/11, all set to the backdrop of the song, "Do you believe in anything strong enough."
"After seeing the impact of 'Fahrenheit 9/11' we decided that there must be a response to correct the record," David Bossie, president of Citizens United and former chief investigator for the House Committee on Government Reform, said in a press release.
The film is divided into two parts. In the first, prominent conservatives such as former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), Krauthammer and terrorist expert and Fox News analyst Mansoor Ijaz, rebut five justifications for being a "Bush-hater": President Bush stole the 2000 election, he didn't do enough to stop 9/11, the Patriot Act robs Americans of civil liberties, Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and he has a worldview that promotes hatred in the Middle East.
The second part is dominated by clips from John F. Kerry's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. The flip-flop theme is prevalent, as clips from his speech are juxtaposed with his Senate speeches and speeches he gave when he returned from Vietnam.
The filmmakers use scenes of violence in Iraq that include dead Iraqi civilians and the recent series of beheadings to draw a contrast between what they say is Kerry's lack of decisiveness in foreign policy and what they call Bush's decisive pre-emptive foreign policy.
The film was made in six weeks, and no one who appears in the movie saw it before its premiere Tuesday night. Washington lawyer Victoria Toensing, who discusses the Patriot Act in the film, said that her segments were filmed in August, as were many others, highlighting the rushed nature of the film's creation.
Summer Stitz, press secretary for Citizens United, said the group was currently negotiating where and when the movie would play but expected it would play in major markets across the United States. She said she would probably know the details by the end of this week.
Tuesday night's crowd left the theater all smiles and with a sense that they had something to combat Moore's film.
"I thought it really needed to be said," said Caitlin McQuilling, 19, an intern with Citizens United and a freshman at Georgetown University. "There has to be a dialogue, a political debate, to take the focus off Michael Moore."
100 Million Vaccines on Hand for the Flu Season
WASHINGTON, Sep. 28 - One hundred million influenza vaccine doses will be available nationwide for this year immunization campaign, a record number prompted by the shortfalls that led last season to long lines of people waiting for their shots.
From last fall to this spring, influenza killed more than 36,000 people and caused 200,000 hospitalizations, according to the latest National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures.
In Connecticut, where the flu symptoms hospitalized countless people, elderly residents are already worried about the vaccine's availability.
"We started to get calls daily in early September," Nancy Turner of the New London
Department of Health and Social Services, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "It is mainly seniors worried about a shortage in the supply."
The preoccupation is shared by other states. The memories of the long lines and the tales of family members debating who should get the last vaccine have been refreshed as the flu season arrives.
Testifying before a congressional committee Tuesday, Stephen Ostroff, the deputy director of the CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases, linked the shortfall to an unusual early onset of the virus and to the fact that vaccine manufacturers had cut down their supply after two earlier mild flu seasons.
The CDC believes 185 million doses - 85 million more than will be available -- would be necessary to provide immunity to all the people whose health status makes them more susceptible to serious complications by the flu Ostroff said, but added that the hundred million shots would meet the demand.
But, in case of shortage, the CDC has purchased 4.5 million shots, Ostroff told the Senate Special Committee on Aging.
Ostroff recommended that people 65 and older or with chronic illnesses, should get the vaccine. Medicare covers 100 percent of the cost for people on its rolls.
"Only about 64 percent of those over age 65 were immunized for influenza in 2002," he said. Of the 36,000 Americans who died from the flu last season, 32,000 were 65 or older.
This year, the CDC has broadened the vaccine recommendations to children 6 to 23 months old, their families and their caregivers because babies are at increased risk for influenza-related hospitalization.
From October 2003 until January of this year, 93 children died from chronic diseases that started as flu. One such incident involved a Connecticut 11-year old who had not been vaccinated and died last December, according to the Connecticut Department of Public Health.
Influenza is an infection of the respiratory tract that is highly contagious, spreading from person to person through coughing and sneezing. The main symptoms are fever, headache, dry cough, sore throat, runny nose and muscle aches.
This season, more than 95 percent of the flu vaccines will be offered by the private sector. In Connecticut, the Department of Public Health will provide it only to children eligible for Medicaid's Vaccine for Children Program.
Health officials say the best months to get the immunization shot are October and November, though it is never too late. "Now it is the time," Ostroff said. "Let's roll up our sleeves and get vaccinated."
Indian Museum Lacks Northern New England Artifacts
By Thomas Rains
WASHINGTON – There are 800,000 pieces in the collection of the Museum of the American Indian that opened here this week, but visitors from northern New England may have trouble finding many pieces from their neck of the woods any time soon.
The entire collection includes only seven artifacts from Maine, five from Massachusetts and two from New Hampshire, according to museum public affairs assistant Leonda Levchuk.
And, of the 800,000 pieces, only about 10 percent of them are on display at any given time, said Levchuk, who could not confirm if any of the northern New England pieces are currently displayed.
“Possibly the projectile points” are on display in the Window on Collections, she said, referring to a part of the museum that gives visitors a glance at other parts of the assortment of artifacts not featured in any of the core exhibits.
Nine of the 14 pieces from the three states – including both pieces from New Hampshire – are identified as projectile points. These could have been arrow tips, spear points or scrapers.
Maine’s other pieces include an Abenaki-Penobscot wampum necklace, which is made of seashells, two birch bark boxes and covers of Abenaki-Penobscot and Micmac origin. The other Massachusetts pieces include a Pennacook cornhusk basket and a Mahican wood and metal club.
Generally, the museum’s collection comes from areas of the United States outside of the Northeast. Pieces from the Pacific Northwest, the Great Lakes region, the North American plains and both southwestern and southeastern United States make up much of the collection, while a “substantial array of materials” comes from Central and South America and the Caribbean, according to the museum’s Website.
While there is no doubt that the American Indians in the Northeast played a major role in the history of the United States, the museum is based entirely on the personal collection of one man: a rich New Yorker by the name of George Gustav Heye, Levchuk said. Because of this the collection is based on Heye’s personal whim, not on geographic or tribal representation.
Heye, who died in 1957, often traveled out west and was “rabid in his collection,” Levchuk said. He “would buy anything,” she added, which is the reason the museum has so many pieces from South America.
However, the museum is “always looking to accept new things,” Levchuk said. That can be a struggle, especially when dealing with Northeastern tribes, because their artifacts are the oldest and most sought after.
“The artifacts are very precious and very scarce,” said Gayle Andrews-Chamberlain of the northeastern relics, adding that many of them are still being fought over by the tribes.
Andrews-Chamberlain, in Washington for the opening of the museum, is a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Cape Cod, but now lives in Tallahassee, Fl.The number oftribes in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire that are federally or state-recognized today is small, but some people, including Andrews-Chamberlain, think this is not important.
“If you practice customs and understand who you are, you don’t need to be recognized,” Andrews-Chamberlain, whose tribe is not recognized, said. “The benefit, though, is sovereignty,” which means they are not subject to American laws.
In addition to the small number of recognized tribes, “Native Americans,” according to The Almanac of American Politics, make up less than one half of one percent of the population in these New England states.
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Michelle Hopey contributed to this story.
Growing Up Indian is “Cool”
WASHINGTON, Sep 21 - Brianna Rocha, an 8-year-old Eastern Indian Pequot from Moosup, walked along the Mall guided by her tribe's leader, Chief Hockeo, to express how "proud" she is to be an Indian.
Brianna-dressed in regalia costume and wearing her hair braided and a beaded headdress with the name Pequot inscribed in yellow-said she does not feel her tribe is endangered and she can't recall having experienced discrimination.
On the contrary, she said her classmates think it is actually "very cool" to be an Indian.
At Washington's Mall, Brianna and her friends, Chenoa Sebastian, 9, and her brother Marcus, 11, were amazed by the colorful procession of their people, thousands of Indians who gathered here to celebrate the inauguration of the eagerly awaited National Museum of the American Indian.
Brianna is part of the seventh generation of the Eastern Pequot, a tribe that has its reservation in North Stonington and was federally recognized in July 2002.
More than 40 Eastern Pequot members traveled to Washington to "represent the tribe," Chenoa explained.
According to The Eastern Pequot chairwoman, Marcia Jones Flowers, the tribe has 1,135 members spread through New England.
A dozen of their representatives on the Mall ditched class Tuesday, but they did so with the blessing of all their teachers.
"Almost all of them must write papers later to explain to their classmates what they saw here in Washington," Flowers said.
Teenager Shianne Sebastian, of North Stonington, attends Wheeler Middle School, but she said she came to Washington because she did not want to miss such a historical event. But she promised her classmates and her teacher "lots of pictures."
"I am here because I want to show who I am and I want to be proud of it and keep the traditions alive," Shianne said.
Shianne, Sherelle Sebastian and Natasha Gambrell constitute the tribe's teenagers dance group. They have learned how to perform the Blanket Dance, and they show their art every chance they have.
All have won awards in the Native American Drum and Songs World Championship, a contest held annually by the Mashantucket Pequots.
Brianna's mother, Dawnrae Rocha, has taught her daughter the Blanket Dance too. "It is like a butterfly coming out the cocoon," Brianna said. Dawnrae Rocha interjects that the lesson of the dance is the blossoming of a teenager, the portrayal of her change from girl to woman.
The group's dance rehearsals; the annual powwow, which the Pequots celebrate the last weekend of July; and their relations with other tribes make these teenagers different.
Ceremonies help them keep up with their heritage, one they say they are proud of.
"We are the people who were here before the colonists; we come from a long way," Shianne said. Nevertheless the Pequots remain in the same land their ancestors occupied before the Europeans came.
Amid their tradition, the young people learn to respect their elders and listen to the elders' stories of the past.
"They talk of the Pequot War of the 1600s, and that way we don't forget our history," Shianne said.
But Brianna, Shianne and the rest have a difficult duty: to carry on with the Indian culture and the Eastern Pequot tradition in modern times.
Far from their tribe's land, Lillette Hill, a freshman studying political science at Temple University in Philadelphia, says she does all she can not to lose track of the Pequot.
"For us the tribe is a sense of family, a sense of togetherness," said Hill, who came to Washington for the museum opening. "We learn about the traditions since we are babies, and I am sure my children will learn them too."
New National Museum of the American Indian Opened
WASHINGTON, Sep. 21 - With a colorful and joyful procession, thousands of Indians celebrated Tuesday the eagerly awaited opening of the National Museum of the American Indian.
Dressed up with deerskin regalia and wearing high feather headdresses, representatives of over 300 tribes gathered here for an event that marks a "recognition" of their historical contribution to the country and a "starting point" to heal the wounds of the past.
It was for Native Americans a big day for pride.
"It is goose pumping, your eyes moister. It gets down to your soul," described yesterday former Wampanoag Mashpee's Chief, Earl Mills. "Looking at a sea of people and seeing that 99% of them are Natives is exciting," he said.
The procession honored the tribes and so does the new museum, which focuses not only on the history and traditions of the first inhabitants of the Americas but on their lives and current struggles.
Located on the Mall, the Smithsonian Institution's 18th museum is only steps away from the U.S. Capitol, "a symbolic setting to honor the traditions and achievements of the Native people," said Lawrence Small, the Secretary of the Smithsonian said last week.
The Smithsonian 18th is the largest museum in the world dedicated exclusively to Native Americans, plus it lets them tell their side of the story.
Almost a hundred representatives of the Wampanoag, both the Mashpee and the Aquinnah, traveled to the opening of the museum, which expects to get over 4 million visitors a year.
The Massachusetts representation walked proudly along the Mall and listened to the prominent American Indians that inaugurated the building, among them Alejandro Toledo, the indigenous president of Peru and U.S. senators Ben Nighthorse of Colorado and Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii.
The procession was followed by several performances which included story telling, music and arts and crafts exhibitions. In total, the capital has planned for a six-day long festival tribute to the museum opening.
Pottery Harvard professor and Mashpee Ramona Peters and regalia maker, Anita Peters, were both present in the festivities schedule.
In a recent interview on the phone, Peters said she was grateful for a museum that "honors our history" but concede she would have liked to see more of the Wampanoag in the exhibition.
"After all we were the first contact people. It was my nation that met the pilgrims," she said.
THE MUSEUM.
In the five story curvilinear museum, made of rough limestone, the Smithsonian institution displays more than 8,000 indigenous objects.
Richard West, the director of the museum and a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma, recommended that visitors always look "beyond the objects."
The shows "are presented with amazing and thoughtful details designed to help understand the Natives," West said, pointing out that the main theater, with its twinkling constellations and wooden walls, was designed to represent a clearing in a forest, a typical Native American story-telling enclave.
When visitors enter the building, they will find the Potomac rotunda that soars 120 feet to a skylight. Visitors will then take an elevator to the fourth floor, to sit in the dark of the Lelawi Theater, a 120-seat circular space, where they will see and hear in several screens and the ceiling a 13-minute multi-media experience introducing the Native Americans and their concerns about sovereignty and land.
The Museum has three main areas: "Our Universes," a portrait of how Native Americans understand the world and give meaning to their lives through their group ceremonies; "Our Peoples," where selected communities share their history--a space that will change from time to time to represent the majority of the tribes; and "Our Lives," an exhibit of how some groups deal with the question of identity.
In the corridors with they will find on display various artifacts, from costumes to jewelry to arms or toys. A show with works by contemporary artists completes the walk.
Visitors also can sample typical indigenous meals such as buffalo burgers and fried bread at the cafeteria.
Museum staff member Ceni Myles, a Native American from Connecticut and a half Mohegan, didn't think the under representation of the North East should deter visitors from New England.
Myles said this was a time for all Native Americans to celebrate.
"With native people, there is no need for borders," said Myles. "This is a space for all natives to share and learn from each other."
Unemployment Benefits Amended, Extended
WASHINGTON - The House passed an amendment to the Community Services Block Grant Bill Wednesday night that if passed in the Senate and signed into law by the President, will extend unemployment benefits by six months to those whose benefits have expired.
The amendment, sponsored by George Miller (D- Calif.), was passed 227 to 179 with 27 members abstaining from voting. In arguing for support of the amendment Miller said, "This Congress stands by as 375,000 people lost their benefits in the month of January. We knew it was going to happen. We went home for Christmas. What kind of Christmas did these people have when they knew that their benefits were going to run out? What kind of Christmas did these hard working families have?"
"Most of them have worked their whole lives, played by the rules, tried to do it the right way, tried to raise their families; and now all of that is at risk and we sit with $17 billion in the trust fund, and they say go to the states." A lot of the states, he said, are out of money.
On the other side of the debate, Rep. Boehner (R- Ohio ) replied, ".at the 11 th hour we get this cynical attempt to talk about extending unemployment benefits. It has no business on this bill. As I said before, this is an authorization. There is no money attached to it; and for goodness sakes, no unemployed worker in America ought to count on anything happening out of this bill because it will never be funded."
Rep. Tierney (D - Salem ) said he didn't think the Republicans had a good argument against the amendment. "Many of the Republicans that voted against it tried to make the point that they thought this was not the proper procedure to go about it," he said. "We were forced to go this route because of their inability or unwillingness to help regular people that are unemployed.who want to work and just have not been able to but need those resources to survive."
He also said that an added benefit of extending unemployment benefits is that America would gain 1.73 dollars in economic balance for every dollar that was put into unemployment.
"I think it's a serious statement that finally we've got some members on the Republican majority side to recognize the economic situation. We're just not creating jobs."
He said that they voted for this amendment because they're recognizing that the people who are making money in this country are people who own stocks and are CEOs of companies. "That doesn't necessarily translate down to regular Americans. Regular Americans are the ones who haven't gotten their jobs back," he said.
Norwalk ‘s Own Takes on DC’s 911
By Brian Dolan
WASHINGTON -Michael Latessa, who for six months has run Norwalk 's police and fire communications center, soon will take over as chief of the troubled 911 emergency system in Washington , D.C. , officials announced Monday.
"Second to the chief of police and chief of the fire department, this is the most critical appointment to the city," said Tony Bullock, spokesman for Washington Mayor Anthony Williams. "We have had longstanding problems with our 911 system."
Last year, one man died in a fire when four 911 operators did not answer their phones and two others "unplugged" five minutes early, according to The Washington Post. The fire consumed one building and damaged three homes.
"Part of [Latessa's] job will be to improve our response time, but the good news for him is that he will be running a state-of-the-art, best-in-the-nation 911 system," Bullock said. "We are also at the crossroads of building a new facility in the range of $50 to 60 million.
"We have the added burden here of protecting not only the city, but also all the federal buildings, like the Capitol, while coordinating with other federal agencies, which is a complicated arrangement," Bullock said. "This is especially true in the post-September 11 environment."
On Monday, Williams appointed Latessa to the position, which has been officially vacant since October. Howard Baker resigned from the job last year after acknowledging he used a racially derogatory term during a meeting with subordinates.
"We have made significant strides in improving our 911 services, but Mike is the right person to take us to the next level," Williams said in a statement. "I am pleased that we are able to bring him here to the District, and I'm confident that he's going to manage this operation so that we are not just meeting, but exceeding our performance goals."
Latessa said the new position is similar to the job in Norwalk , which he began last July.
"The only obvious difference will be the size of the job," Latessa said.
Norwalk Mayor Alex Knopp said Latessa's appointment comes as no surprise to him and will not impede the department Latessa leaves behind. "I think this outcome only confirms we made the right choice when we hired [Latessa]," Knopp said. "The fact that the officials of D.C. thought he was qualified shows we picked the right person."Latessa , 49 , began his public safety career more than 30 years ago as a part-time firefighter in Wellesley , Mass. He continued as a dispatcher in Durham , N.H. , from 1973-77, while attending the University of New Hampshire.
From 1977 to 1982, he worked for the emergency medical services bureau in the Missouri Division of Health Bureau of E.M.S. From 1982 to 1985, he was chief of emergency medical services in St. Louis , and from 1985 to 1988, he was EMS director for Lee County, Fla. and the award Under under his direction, the emergency team won the National EMT Paramedic award.
For the next decade, Latessa w as director of the Public Safety Department in Manatee County , Fla. In the five years preceding before he came to Norwalk , he worked for a commercial billing company and for a large manufacturing company as health, safety and security director and . He also served as a reserve deputy sheriff, devoting about 15 hours a week to developing his law enforcement background.
"Mike was a good guy, a good listener, and a good leader," said Mark Edenfield, chief of emergency medical services in Manatee County . "He took our ambulance fleet from eight to twelve vehicles and oversaw seven different divisions, including animal control and administrative work."
Latessa's new position carries an annual salary of $111,000, Bullock said. He is scheduled to begin work Feb. 9.
"We think he is superbly qualified," Bullock said, "and are sorry to steal him away from the good people of Norwalk ."
Shays says Patriot Act Essential, Marriage Amendment Expendable
By Brian Dolan
WASHINGTON -Rep. Christopher Shays (R-4 th District) said in an interview Wednesday that President Bush was right to support the USA PATRIOT Act to combat terrorism but wrong to use his State of the Union address to disparage gay marriage.
Bush should not have threatened a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage "because he's the President of the United States and there are bigger issues," Shays said. "There's energy, and the environment, the war on terrorism."
Shays said he would not support such an amendment, though he voted in 1996 for the Defense of Marriage Act, which gives states the right to deny recognition to gay couples married in other states.
In his address to Congress Tuesday night, Bush said the government must continue to give homeland security and law enforcement officials every tool they need to defend the country from terrorist attacks.
"One of those essential tools is the PATRIOT Act, which allows federal law enforcement to better share information, to track terrorists, to disrupt their cells and to seize their assets," Bush said. "Key provisions of the PATRIOT Act are set to expire next year. The terrorist threat will not expire on that schedule."
Shays, a member of the Select Homeland Security Committee, said the PATRIOT Act is essential and criticized those who are "negative" about the law without being specific. Critics argue the law infringes on civil liberties, in part by allowing law enforcement officials to conduct searches of homes and businesses without informing the owners.
"People should not be critical of the PATRIOT Act--we need good intelligence if we want good security," Shays said.
"If we think you are a terrorist, we are going to want to trace your calls and see what you are reading at the library without telling you we know you are a terrorist. We are not going to look at what books you are reading-not unless you're checking out books on weapons," Shays said.
Sen. John Sununu, R-NH, said Congress called for some key provisions of the law to expire at the end of 2005 not because concerns of terrorist threats would disappear, but because these were new powers that may need to be modified.
"I think we should extend some provisions, but I think we should change some provisions," Sununu said in an interview after the president's speech Tuesday night. "I introduced legislation to change or modify notification for 'sneak-and-peek' search warrants and subpoenas from libraries."
"Some wholly support [the PATRIOT Act]. Some, like me, favor some changes. Some people want to repeal the whole thing, which isn't very smart," Sununu said.
Section 215 of the act "allows the FBI to obtain orders for the production of any 'tangible things' (which can include library, travel, genetic, health, business or firearms records) without any meaningful standard of judicial review and no mechanism for the person affected to challenge the order," Anthony D. Romero, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a press release Wednesday.
"Last year, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Section 215 has not been used, raising the question of why the Bush administration believes such sweeping law enforcement powers are essential for the war on terrorism," Romero added.
