Category: Valerie Sullivan
Immigration Legislation in Washington Must be Comprehensive, All Agree
IMMIGRATION
New Bedford Standard-Times
Valerie Sullivan
Boston University Washington News Service
26 April 2007
WASHINGTON, April 26 —When federal immigration officials stormed New Bedford’s Michael Bianco Inc. factory in early March, detaining 361 Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition illegal immigrants and arresting the company’s owner and top managers, immigration reform once again moved into the legislative spotlight.
Within days, both Massachusetts senators had declared the immigration system “broken” and vowed to support laws that would improve it.
Today, many of those detained immigrants have been released and are awaiting hearings. The future of each is unknown; some face deportation, others asylum.
The future of immigration legislation in Congress is equally unknown – but by no means stagnant.
New immigration reform bills are introduced every month in Congress by members from across the country. But many of those bills “tend to focus only on enforcement measures,” Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said. “We need to take a more comprehensive approach.”
Both Sen. Kerry and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., voted last year for a bill that would have tightened border security by increasing the number of border patrol officers, constructing additional fencing along the southern border and creating harsher penalties for the construction of illegal border tunnels.
The bill also would have expanded the number of offenses resulting in mandatory detention and deportation, increased penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants, and created a temporary guest worker program that included a path to potential legal residency.
To reduce the backlog, the bill proposed increasing the total number of immigrants allowed to gain employment and legal status.
The bill, which collapsed into another bill sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., ultimately passed, 62-36, but died in the House Judiciary Committee before the end of the last Congress.
“Sen. Kennedy and Sen. [John] McCain [R-Ariz.] have shown the way forward towards sensible reform that provides both a path to citizenship for the illegal immigrants who are already part of the life of our communities, as well as smart, tough enforcement of our laws,” Sen. Kerry said.
Sen. Kennedy, according to his office, is negotiating the details of a new bill on the Senate side. Although the details are unknown, Sen. Kennedy has said, “Only a plan that offers a path to earned citizenship will fix our broken system.”
On the House side, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Newton, is co-sponsoring with Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., a bill that would increase the number of border and enforcement personnel, employ new unmanned aerial vehicles, cameras and sensors on the border, increase penalties for illegal immigrants within the United States, tighten employment verification standards and create a new worker visa program. The bill would also include an opportunity for earned citizenship and legalization.
The bill is not perfect, Rep. Frank said, but it does provide better solutions for the current situation.
Sen. Kennedy said he supports Frank’s bill. The support is reciprocal. “I’m really supportive of Kennedy and his approach,” Rep. Frank said.
Mr. Frank’s bill is similar to last year’s McCain-Kennedy bill before it was amended on the Senate floor. According to Jeanne Butterfield, the executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the new legislation “embraces the framework [of last year’s bill] and makes improvements to make it more workable.”
It “streamlines and simplifies” the complexities the Senate added to the bill and provides immigrants with “a very clear path to legalization” over six years, she said, and would provide a “robust” temporary worker program that had been scaled back by the Senate last year.
The proposed House bill also would eliminate a “punitive” judicial review process that the Senate added on the floor, Ms. Butterfield said, and offer “enforcement provisions that are pretty strong, but they smart and achievable…, using technology in a smart way, using border enforcement in a smart way and strengthening document requirements.”
Both Massachusetts senators and Rep. Frank argue that an overhaul of immigration laws should not focus solely on improving border security.
“I’m optimistic that soon we will have legislation in the Senate that strikes the right balance between protecting our security, strengthening our economy, and enacting laws that uphold our humanity,” Sen. Kennedy said. “The American people have waited long enough.”
The debate is not over whether change is needed, but what that change should be, and.
the Kennedy-Frank approach has drawn criticism from all sides of the debate.
“Currently we’re working very hard to fix” the Frank-sponsored bill, said Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, which protects and promotes the rights and opportunities of immigrants and refugees.
The organization advocates that any immigration legislation should reduce backlogs, allow for legalization of immigrants and protect all workers. “There are a number of fixes needed.”
Mr. Noorani said the bill includes a “trigger” mechanism that forces immigrants “to wait for a bureaucracy to fix itself before [they] can obtain legal status.”
“In essence, none of the legalization measures can be implemented until the enforcement measures [are implemented],” Mr. Noorani said. For example, border security measures must be implemented before any of the measures to move the legalization process forward for an immigrant can begin, he said.
Mr. Noorani also said the act should more “significantly strengthen worker protection provisions,” such as capping ever-increasing legalization fees.
He criticized the legislation for not drawing “a more clear line between the role of local police and federal police.” When local police regulate immigration, “it erodes the trust between local police and local communities,” he said, because illegal immigrants tend to not report crimes out of fear their legal status will be questioned. Mr. Noorani’s organization is also lobbying on potential Senate legislation, he said.
“Whether we’re looking at the raids [in New Bedford] or any community across the country, the fact is you have hardworking immigrants who are making small cities and towns [what they are], and our system does not allow them to emerge from the underground and get in line for citizenship,” Mr. Noorani said.
James Carafano, a senior fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, pointed to illegal activity as an indication that immigration laws are not effective.
“There [are] 15 million immigrants unlawfully living in the United States,” he said. “There are 500,000 people illegally crossing the border every year,” not to mention the backlogs of immigrants trying to become legal.
Mr. Carafano added: “There is no acceptable legislation in Congress.”
The only solution, he said, would be a combination of strengthening border security and enforcement of immigration laws to deter “people from coming in and living in the Unites States and creating legitimate legal opportunities to work in the United States.”
Furthermore, he said, any amnesty for illegal immigrants “should be off the table” because it would reward people for breaking the law.
Rep. Frank disagreed, arguing that trying to deport all of the illegal immigrants in the country would be impractical.
“Having 33,000 raids like the one we had in New Bedford is not a good idea, which is what it would take to get rid of everybody here,” he said. The solution, he added, is to “accept the people who are already here illegally but haven’t otherwise committed a crime, along with border security and better verification.”
Rep. Frank agreed that tighter border security and stronger penalties for illegal behavior are necessary. “If you’re caught crossing the border illegally, maybe the first time you get sent back, but the second time you get 60 days in jail,” he said.
“We need to put in a better tracking system of visas” as well, to deter people from coming to the United States on limited visas and then overstaying their visas, he said.
He emphasized the need for cooperation. “If we don’t all come together, we’re not going to get a good result.” he said. “Either [all of these changes] will happen or none of them will happen, and I think they will all happen.”
Mr. Noorani, for his part, said that when he thinks about the future of immigration, he thinks in days, not years.
“Quite frankly… I don’t think cities and towns across the country can weather the storm that has been caused by the type of immigration raids in New Bedford,” Mr. Noorani said.
###
WASHINGTON—When federal immigration officials stormed New Bedford’s Michael Bianco Inc. factory in early March, detaining 361 Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition illegal immigrants and arresting the company’s owner and top managers, immigration reform once again moved into the legislative spotlight.
Within days, both Massachusetts senators had declared the immigration system “broken” and vowed to support laws that would improve it.
Today, many of those detained immigrants have been released and are awaiting hearings. The future of each is unknown; some face deportation, others asylum.
The future of immigration legislation in Congress is equally unknown – but by no means stagnant.
New immigration reform bills are introduced every month in Congress by members from across the country. But many of those bills “tend to focus only on enforcement measures,” Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said. “We need to take a more comprehensive approach.”
Both Sen. Kerry and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., voted last year for a bill that would have tightened border security by increasing the number of border patrol officers, constructing additional fencing along the southern border and creating harsher penalties for the construction of illegal border tunnels.
The bill also would have expanded the number of offenses resulting in mandatory detention and deportation, increased penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants, and created a temporary guest worker program that included a path to potential legal residency.
To reduce the backlog, the bill proposed increasing the total number of immigrants allowed to gain employment and legal status.
The bill, which collapsed into another bill sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., ultimately passed, 62-36, but died in the House Judiciary Committee before the end of the last Congress.
“Sen. Kennedy and Sen. [John] McCain [R-Ariz.] have shown the way forward towards sensible reform that provides both a path to citizenship for the illegal immigrants who are already part of the life of our communities, as well as smart, tough enforcement of our laws,” Sen. Kerry said.
Sen. Kennedy, according to his office, is negotiating the details of a new bill on the Senate side. Although the details are unknown, Sen. Kennedy has said, “Only a plan that offers a path to earned citizenship will fix our broken system.”
On the House side, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Newton, is co-sponsoring with Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., a bill that would increase the number of border and enforcement personnel, employ new unmanned aerial vehicles, cameras and sensors on the border, increase penalties for illegal immigrants within the United States, tighten employment verification standards and create a new worker visa program. The bill would also include an opportunity for earned citizenship and legalization.
The bill is not perfect, Rep. Frank said, but it does provide better solutions for the current situation.
Sen. Kennedy said he supports Frank’s bill. The support is reciprocal. “I’m really supportive of Kennedy and his approach,” Rep. Frank said.
Mr. Frank’s bill is similar to last year’s McCain-Kennedy bill before it was amended on the Senate floor. According to Jeanne Butterfield, the executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the new legislation “embraces the framework [of last year’s bill] and makes improvements to make it more workable.”
It “streamlines and simplifies” the complexities the Senate added to the bill and provides immigrants with “a very clear path to legalization” over six years, she said, and would provide a “robust” temporary worker program that had been scaled back by the Senate last year.
The proposed House bill also would eliminate a “punitive” judicial review process that the Senate added on the floor, Ms. Butterfield said, and offer “enforcement provisions that are pretty strong, but they smart and achievable…, using technology in a smart way, using border enforcement in a smart way and strengthening document requirements.”
Both Massachusetts senators and Rep. Frank argue that an overhaul of immigration laws should not focus solely on improving border security.
“I’m optimistic that soon we will have legislation in the Senate that strikes the right balance between protecting our security, strengthening our economy, and enacting laws that uphold our humanity,” Sen. Kennedy said. “The American people have waited long enough.”
The debate is not over whether change is needed, but what that change should be, and.
the Kennedy-Frank approach has drawn criticism from all sides of the debate.
“Currently we’re working very hard to fix” the Frank-sponsored bill, said Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, which protects and promotes the rights and opportunities of immigrants and refugees.
The organization advocates that any immigration legislation should reduce backlogs, allow for legalization of immigrants and protect all workers. “There are a number of fixes needed.”
Mr. Noorani said the bill includes a “trigger” mechanism that forces immigrants “to wait for a bureaucracy to fix itself before [they] can obtain legal status.”
“In essence, none of the legalization measures can be implemented until the enforcement measures [are implemented],” Mr. Noorani said. For example, border security measures must be implemented before any of the measures to move the legalization process forward for an immigrant can begin, he said.
Mr. Noorani also said the act should more “significantly strengthen worker protection provisions,” such as capping ever-increasing legalization fees.
He criticized the legislation for not drawing “a more clear line between the role of local police and federal police.” When local police regulate immigration, “it erodes the trust between local police and local communities,” he said, because illegal immigrants tend to not report crimes out of fear their legal status will be questioned. Mr. Noorani’s organization is also lobbying on potential Senate legislation, he said.
“Whether we’re looking at the raids [in New Bedford] or any community across the country, the fact is you have hardworking immigrants who are making small cities and towns [what they are], and our system does not allow them to emerge from the underground and get in line for citizenship,” Mr. Noorani said.
James Carafano, a senior fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, pointed to illegal activity as an indication that immigration laws are not effective.
“There [are] 15 million immigrants unlawfully living in the United States,” he said. “There are 500,000 people illegally crossing the border every year,” not to mention the backlogs of immigrants trying to become legal.
Mr. Carafano added: “There is no acceptable legislation in Congress.”
The only solution, he said, would be a combination of strengthening border security and enforcement of immigration laws to deter “people from coming in and living in the Unites States and creating legitimate legal opportunities to work in the United States.”
Furthermore, he said, any amnesty for illegal immigrants “should be off the table” because it would reward people for breaking the law.
Rep. Frank disagreed, arguing that trying to deport all of the illegal immigrants in the country would be impractical.
“Having 33,000 raids like the one we had in New Bedford is not a good idea, which is what it would take to get rid of everybody here,” he said. The solution, he added, is to “accept the people who are already here illegally but haven’t otherwise committed a crime, along with border security and better verification.”
Rep. Frank agreed that tighter border security and stronger penalties for illegal behavior are necessary. “If you’re caught crossing the border illegally, maybe the first time you get sent back, but the second time you get 60 days in jail,” he said.
“We need to put in a better tracking system of visas” as well, to deter people from coming to the United States on limited visas and then overstaying their visas, he said.
He emphasized the need for cooperation. “If we don’t all come together, we’re not going to get a good result.” he said. “Either [all of these changes] will happen or none of them will happen, and I think they will all happen.”
Mr. Noorani, for his part, said that when he thinks about the future of immigration, he thinks in days, not years.
“Quite frankly… I don’t think cities and towns across the country can weather the storm that has been caused by the type of immigration raids in New Bedford,” Mr. Noorani said.
###
Frank and New Bedford Fishermen Demand Improved Safety FISHING
FISHING
New Bedford Standard Times
Valerie Sullivan
Boston University Washington News Service
April 25, 2007
WASHINGTON, April 25 —In a hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Debra M. Shrader, executive director of the non-profit commercial fishermen’s advocacy group Shore Support Inc. in New Bedford, called for improved regulations of fishing safety.
“Fisherman have voluntarily taken on one of the most dangerous jobs in America,” Rep. Frank said.
He acknowledged the inevitability of tragedy among fisherman. “But we can do better,” he said.
Ms. Shrader has a special interest in the regulations, because her husband, Ronnie Shrader, is a scallop boat captain.
“There are some things about industrial fishing that [fishermen and their wives] know are matters of nature and man that we cannot impact,” she said. “I know each time we embrace each other for that last hug when we say goodbye, it could be the very last hug.”
But there are ways to decrease those risks, she said.
In her testimony before the House Transportation Committee’s Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation subcommittee, Ms. Shrader emphasized safety training, dockside and vessel inspections, and captains’ certification.
Rep. Frank also called for such changes.
In his testimony he outlined a series of recommended changes, including a fully-funded volunteer training program, increased funds to open up communication with the Coast Guard, expansion of dockside inspection, a vessel monitoring system, safety standards for smaller vessels and logging of monthly fishing vessel drills.
Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, who is the senior Republican on the subcommittee, echoed Rep. Frank’s concern about “this whole notion of the tension between safety” and prosperity, citing the conflict when fishermen must decide whether to turn around and go back to shore due to bad weather and choose to lose a day of fishing, or face inclement – and often dangerous – weather to hold onto the prospect of earning their livelihood that day.
Not all subcommittee members insisted on immediate changes. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., told one committee witness, “My fear is if Congress overreacts…. I know the consequences of overregulation.” He said he feared a backlash in the future, leading to a lack of regulation in response.
Most of the hearing, however, emphasized the need for improved safety regulations and methods by which to achieve them.
The North East has experienced its share of fishing vessel tragedies in recent years. On Dec. 4, 2004, the fishing vessel Northern Edge sank about 45 miles off Nantucket, killing five. In January of this year, four fishermen were lost in the New Bedford vessel Lady of Grace. In February, two were missing after the Newburyport-based fishing vessel Lady Luck disappeared 12 miles off the coast of Maine.
Kennedy Chief of Staff’s Passion for Public Service Began In New Bedford
MOGILNICKI
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Valerie Sullivan
Boston University Washington News Service
April 25, 2007
WASHINGTON, April 25 —Eric Mogilnicki spent the summer of 1982 in grocery store parking lots, urging voters to support Rep. Gerry E. Studds, D-Mass., by sporting a Studds bumper sticker on their cars.
One evening that summer, Mr. Mogilnicki and fellow campaigner Kevin Gallagher, both in their early 20s, attended a debate between Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sen. Gordon Humphrey, R-N.H., at Harvard University.
“There we were in our suits, with sunburn from spending the day out in a parking lot,” Mr. Gallagher said.
The ride back to New Bedford was filled with an elated discussion of Sen. Kennedy’s impressive oratory and debate skills, Mr. Gallagher said. “Kevin and I were both deeply impressed by Sen. Kennedy’s eloquence and understanding of the issue,” Mr. Mogilnicki said.
Today, Mr. Mogilnicki is 46 and chief of staff to Sen. Kennedy. “I can scarcely believe 25 years have gone by since [then],” he said.
Mr. Mogilnicki’s hair may be gray now, but his passion for public service has never faded. “Sen. Kennedy was my hero of my childhood,” he said. “So coming to work with him was a dream come true.”
Mr. Mogilnicki grew up in the North End of New Bedford, where he was raised in a close-knit Democratic family, along with his two brothers, Robert and Stephen, who are now schoolteachers and live in suburbs of New Bedford. His father, Robert, who passed away in 2005, was a professor at Bridgewater State College. His mother, Georgette, worked as a teacher and then head of the Lower School at Friends Academy in Dartmouth, and still lives in New Bedford for part of the year.
“I had a wonderful childhood in New Bedford,” Mr. Mogilnicki said, recalling memories of Horseneck Beach, Buttonwood Park Zoo and coffee frappes at Frates Dairy.
Following elementary and middle school in New Bedford and high school at Friends Academy in Dartmouth, Mr. Mogilnicki attended Yale University. During college, he interned for Rep. Studds. When Rep. Studds won reelection, Mogilnicki joined his Washington staff as legislative assistant.
“I loved being down here,” he said. “Young people in Washington can do a tremendous amount of good.”
Mr. Mogilnicki returned to Yale for law school in 1983, and after graduating accepted a job as assistant attorney general under then-Massachusetts Attorney General James Shannon.
“As soon as I was done with [law school], I was back in public service again,” he said. “I was very proud to be an attorney general in the Massachusetts office. I had the opportunity to argue before the Supreme Court of Massachusetts several times.”
After his work in the attorney general’s office, Mr. Mogilnicki in 1991 joined a law firm in Washington. When Sen. Kennedy was looking for a chief of staff at the beginning of 2006, mutual acquaintances suggested Mr. Mogilnicki, who was both dedicated to public service and had ties to Massachusetts.
“For me, growing up in New Bedford, the idea that I could get to work 10 feet from Sen. Kennedy is just a remarkable honor.”
Mr. Mogilnicki and his wife, Peggy Dotzel, met while they were working at the law firm in Washington. They live in suburban Maryland with their two children, Annie, 8, and Sam, 6, but Massachusetts is “the place he still considers his home state,” Ms. Dotzel said.
Ms. Dotzel, who grew up in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., has found her husband’s love of New Bedford and Massachusetts contagious. “We go up there for family visits several times a year…. It’s been fun for me,” she said.
Son Sam is a fan of New England sports teams – even those he hasn’t seen – and daughter Annie “loves being up in Cape Cod or Horseneck. They know that they have a home away from home [in Massachusetts],” Mr. Mogilnicki said.
In addition to his love of Massachusetts, Mr. Mogilnicki’s passion for politics also has affected his children.
“I feel like I’m instilling in them some of the values that my parents instilled in me, that I’m helping them understand the way the world works… in a way that I hope means that they’ll be dedicated to trying to make the world a better place,” Mr. Mogilnicki said.
“He’s met my kids and he’s wonderful with them,” Mr. Mogilnicki said of Sen. Kennedy. “When it’s my birthday, he’s the one who leads the singing of Happy Birthday around the cake…. He’s terrific about thanking people, acknowledging their contributions, and he’s just fun to be around.”
If you listened to Mr. Mogilnicki, you would think his job was all good. But Tamera Luzzatto, chief of staff to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., knows well the challenges of such a position.
“There’s a saying that current chiefs of staffs don’t say ‘Congratulations’ to new chiefs of staffs. They say, ‘I’m sorry.’ ” she said.
But Mr. Mogilnicki is well-equipped for the challenge, she said. After working with him on issues both senators were involved with, Ms. Luzzatto said, “He can both be very aggressive and intense in the best sense of the word.” She said he also “is one of these people comfortable being friendly and warm.”
But the bottom line, Ms. Luzzatto said, is “if you work for Sen. Kennedy, you… work hard…. It’s a big order to fill to manage his operation in the Senate.”
Mr. Mogilnicki’s daily tasks include answering “the hundreds and hundreds of e-mails [Sen. Kennedy] gets,” briefing the senator on daily issues, previewing memos going to the senator’s desk and coordinating projects with both the Washington staff and people in Massachusetts.
In Mr. Mogilnicki’s words—“to make sure that the trains are all running on time and not crashing.”
His younger brother Stephen Mogilnicki said his brother is up to the challenge.
“From a very early age, Eric’s been an incredibly hardworking, dedicated individual who has always had extremely high standards for himself and has always been willing to give back to others in need,” he said Stephen Mogilnicki.
Peggy Dotzel said her husband is very fortunate and knows it. “I firmly believe…that not everybody gets the opportunity do something that is so near and dear to their heart,” she said.
“I know this has been the job of my lifetime,” Mr. Mogilnicki said, “and I’ll probably feel that way even 20 years from now.”
###
Kerry and Gingrich at Odds over Affecting Climate Change
CLIMATE
New Bedford Standard-Times
Valerie Sullivan
Boston University Washington New Service
Tuesday April 10, 2007
WASHINGTON, April 10 —Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich disagreed Tuesday over ways of dealing with global climate change, with Sen. Kerry advocating government regulation and Mr. Gingrich calling for voluntary change encouraged by government incentives.
While most government officials now acknowledge global climate change caused in part by human activity, the debate today is about how to approach the problem.
“It is a problem. We should address it,” Mr. Gingrich said.
“Even if we could stop all the emissions [of so-called greenhouse gases] tomorrow, and we can’t, and we know that, damage will continue…. That’s why this is urgent,” Sen. Kerry said.
The two spoke at a Capitol Hill meeting sponsored by New York University’s John Brademas Center.
Mr. Gingrich said the solution must be a partnership between environmental interests and economic interests, with economics playing a key role. He called for “rewarding entrepreneurship, reshaping the market and investing in technology.”
But Sen. Kerry compared such actions to asking Barry Bonds to investigate steroids or letting Enron handle pensions. “You can’t just say, ‘Let the market regulate itself,’ ” he said.
Mr. Gingrich acknowledged the conflicting interests. “If you ask [countries] to choose between the environment and economic growth, [countries] are going to choose economics,” he said.
“I would agree you would get more change more rapidly with an incentivized market” rather than a laissez-faire approach, he added.
He said that his proposal would offer “pleasure” to businesses and countries to encourage them to act in a way that is positive for the environment and that Sen. Kerry’s plan would offer “more pain” to force countries to act..
Sen. Kerry reminded the audience that there has been “no single environmental crisis” in the history of the United States that has been “resolved voluntarily.”
Mr. Gingrich said that Sen. Kerry “wants to impose [a standard] by government coercion” and that his approach would be unlikely to attract China and India. “No strategy which does not bring in China and India” will work, he said.
The environment, Mr. Gingrich said, is “a powerful, emotional tool for bigger government and higher taxes.”
“This is a very challenging thing to do if you’re a conservative…. Even if you know it may be the right thing to do, you end up fighting it” to avoid higher taxes and bigger government, Mr. Gingrich said.
Mr. Kerry said he appreciated Mr. Gingrich’s “candor” in “acknowledging the conservative dilemma.”
After the debate Sen. Kerry said, “Massachusetts used to burn whale oil for fuel, then it transitioned to wood, then to fossil fuels, and now our state is slowly beginning to use renewables. But it can’t begin and end there.”
“Unless we make significant reductions in our energy consumption and fuel use, our summers will be warmer and longer, the sea-levels will rise, greatly increasing the risk of coastal flooding in places like New Bedford and the rest of our state’s shoreline,” he said. “These are not just possibilities for some far away place – but for right here in Massachusetts.”
Despite their differences, Sen. Kerry and Mr. Gingrich predicted a successful end to the climate change challenge.
“It’s very important to recognize the adaptability of humans,” Mr. Gingrich said. “I think that we have to have optimism…. The human race has an enormous ability to adapt.”
Added Sen. Kerry, “The American genius will meet this challenge and we will do what we need to do to pass this planet on to your kids in better shape than it was given to us.”
###
Government Waste is Down, Watchdog Group Says
CAGW
New Bedford Standard-Times
Valerie Sullivan
Boston University Washington News Service
March 7, 2007
WASHINGTON, March 7 —Government waste is down, Citizens Against Government Waste said in its 2007 Pig Book released Wednesday.
Thomas A. Schatz, the non-partisan, non-profit group’s president, said the dollar amount of pork-barrel projects in the federal budget is “the smallest it’s been since 1999.”
Mr. Schatz attributes the downturn to the efforts of members of Congress to reduce earmarks Still, Mr. Schatz said, pork-barrel spending – which his organization defines as inappropriate earmarks tucked into larger bills that bypass established budgetary procedures – has been by no means eliminated. “What we’re seeing is members still getting their projects passed through the back door,” he said. “This is what we have to watch out for.”
Unlike previous annual reports, this year’s was confined to the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security. The only appropriations bills Congress passed last year were for those two departments. Money for all other agencies and programs were included in an omnibus spending bill enacted this year after congressional leaders imposed a moratorium on earmarks.
The 2007 report questioned the funding of a Martha’s Vineyard port under the umbrella of defense spending. Port security grants increased 29 percent over the previous year. But a 2005 audit by the Department of Homeland Security shows that some of the grants “appear to be for a purpose other than the defense of terrorism,” Mr. Schatz said. The Martha’s Vineyard port does not appear to meet grant eligibility requirements, according to the audit, Mr. Schatz added..
“The culture of earmarks must be stopped,” Mr. Schwartz said. Describing pork-barrel spending as the “gateway drug” to government waste, he called for more transparency. “We’d like to see the request forms,” Mr. Schatz said.
Another highlight of the report’s findings was a project to improve the shelf life of vegetables. The project, tucked into the defense bill, carries a price tag of $1,650,000. The report also identified another $1,350,000 allocated for research on obesity in the military. “We thought they took care of that in basic training,” Mr. Schatz joked.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who spoke at the Citizens Against Government Waste‘s press conference, said that prudent spending is an important part of the way an administration operates. “I think the Republican Party lost the 2006 election because of our failure to control spending,” he said.
If he was elected president, “We might even have Porky over to the White House to announce earmarks,” Sen. McCain said, referring to the organization’s mascot. Citizens Against Government Waste also brought two live pigs to the conference and handed out snouts and rubber pig props.
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who also spoke at the conference, expressed his hope “to educate the public that earmarks… are bad for the country.”
“We’re supposed to evaluate and authorize spending,” he said. “We’re supposed to vote on it on the House floor, and if another member doesn’t like it, he can come down and debate it…. Eliminating earmarks will allow Congress to work like it’s supposed to.”
Mr. Schatz called earmarks a “relatively recent” phenomenon and said he was confident the “founding fathers were against them.” The members of Congress who are proponents of earmarks that are not publicly disclosed “know this funding would not survive the light of day,” which is why it is kept hidden, Mr. Schatz said.
“More can be done,” he said. “We’ll be watching, and the taxpayers will be watching.”
###
Massachusetts Aces Education Report Card
EDUCATION
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Valerie Sullivan
Boston University Washington News Service
February 28, 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 —Massachusetts finished at the top of the class in a state-by-state report card on educational effectiveness released Wednesday by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The Bay State received more A’s than any other state in the nation in in the nine categories that the report examined.
Overall, however, the states “aren’t making the grade… and are failing America’s children,” said Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who said that the education system has become a “critical national emergency.”
The report, designed to identify “the leaders and laggards in education,” analyzed existing data rather than conducting new studies, said Arthur J. Rothkopf, senior vice president and counselor to the chamber’s president. It was produced in association with a pair of think tanks, the liberal Center for American Progress and the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
Massachusetts ranked first among all 50 states in academic achievement as measured by the percentage of 4th and 8th graders who scored at or above the proficiency level in math and reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exam.
According to the report, 22 percent of low-income 8th graders in Massachusetts scored at or above the proficient level on the exam, earning Massachusetts another A in academic achievement of low-income and minority students. The national average for low-income 8th graders was 13 percent.
Massachusetts also received an A for return on education dollars.
“Some states appear to spend their [funds] far more efficiently than their peers,” said Frederick M. Hess, the American Enterprise Institute’s director of education policy. Massachusetts is one of those states, said the report, which controlled for student poverty, students with special needs and the cost of living.
Massachusetts also landed at the top of the report’s “truth in advertising” ranking, identifying the state as exceptionally honest in its reporting of student proficiency. Massachusetts also received A’s in rigor of standards, postsecondary and workforce readiness, and a category examining teacher workforce polices. The state received a B for its efforts to collect and report high-quality education data.
While 90 percent of Massachusetts principals reported a major degree of influence over new teacher hiring, the state only earned a C in flexibility in management and policy. The C is due partially to Massachusetts’ lack of an accredited, Internet-based school. “We favor as much innovation as possible,” Mr. Rothkopf said. The category was one of three not graded on a curve.
Mr. Donahue said statistics tell a story that is “concerning.” According to the report, most of the nation’s 4th and 8th graders are not proficient in either reading or mathematics. About a third of all 9th graders do not graduate from high school within four years. Those who do are often unprepared for either college or the workplace, the report said.
“We say again and again that [America is] going to lead the world. …[but] then the business community leaves [education] to the politicians,” Mr. Donahue said.
He added: “The continued success of the American economy … [and] the vitality of the American dream” is on the line.
Mr. Donahue recommended implementing business practices in education: improving management, collecting better data and encouraging innovation. School principals should have more power, he said.
“The current conditions… are intolerable… and the United States is falling behind,” John D. Podesta, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress and former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, said at the news conference. Mr. Podesta cited a 2002 UNICEF Report that ranked the United States 18th out of 24 nations in terms of education. The cause of our failure is “good intentions” but “insufficient reforms,” Mr. Podesta said.
Mr. Podesta said that teacher quality has the biggest impact on learning. He suggested improving starting pay to attract talented teachers, as well as removing ineffective teachers.
Mr. Donahue saluted teachers who are “dedicated, knowledgeable professionals dedicated to improving the lives of their students,” but said that incompetent teachers are too often protected by rules of tenure. Tenure, he said, was designed to protect those teaching controversial subject matter – not provide a safety net for sub par teachers. “Teachers would be much better respected, better paid, if they admitted a small percentage of their ranks needed to be removed,” Mr. Donahue said.
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President’s Budget Will Not Pass, Say Massachusetts Congressmen
STUDY
New Bedford Standard-Times
Valerie Sullivan
Boston University Washington News Service
Feb 22, 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 —If approved, the Bush administration's proposed budget would result in cuts in a number of programs across Massachusetts, according to a new study.
The administration's budget would mean “significant cuts” in domestic social, educational and environmental programs, according to Sharon Parrott, director of welfare reform and income support at the liberal Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
Between 2008 and 2012, according to the center's study, cuts in Massachusetts would include:
* $146.8 million from federal elementary and secondary education programs;
* $74.8 million from vocational and adult education programs;
* $94.7 million from low-income home energy assistance;
* $103.6 million from state and local law enforcement programs;
* $133.4 million from community development block grants.
“The president basically is opposing cuts in important programs that keep the country going,” said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Newton.
The center estimates are based on the assumption that each state would shoulder percentages of the cuts equal to the percentage of funding that state already receives in each program.
“It’s critical that Massachusetts is given the tools it needs to continue leading the nation in education, health care and the life sciences,” said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
For Massachusetts, the proposals would mean “important services being withheld, important research not being done… illness not being treated,” Rep. Frank said.
Added Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass: “If President Bush gets his way, families in Southeastern Massachusetts will feel the effects.”
The outcome would be "slashing funding to our schools and local fire and police departments… severely cutting funding for critical anti-terror safety programs… cut budgets for children's health care and decrease funding for small businesses," Sen. Kerry said.
Brian Riedl, senior budget analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative public policy think-tank, called the report a “scare-tactic” designed “to frighten members of Congress” from passing any of the president’s proposals.
“The center has produced a sky-is-falling set of projections based on a place holder number that has no legal and statutory impact and whose final legislation will not even be determined by the current Congress,” Mr. Riedl said.
From a policy standpoint, Mr. Riedl said, “the numbers [after 2008] are meaningless,” because programs are budgeted annually. “President Bush and the current Congress have absolutely no control over how much will be budgeted in 2012.”
But 2012 estimates aside, the center’s study said Massachusetts stands to lose millions of dollars of funding in 2008 alone. The study said adult and vocational education would be cut by $13.7 million, Environmental Protection Agency programs by $15 million, low-income energy assistance by $16.3 million, public housing assistance by $12.8 million, state and local law enforcement by $20 million.
The 2008 estimates “are relevant… however, non-security discretionary spending has grown 40 percent under President Bush already,” Riedl said. “Clearly these programs can afford to level off for a year or two.”
In 2008 alone, community service and development block grants still stand to lose a total of $38.4 million in federal funding.
Block grants benefit cities and communities, Rep. Frank said. “Instead, [the president is] asking for money to start a man mission to Mars,” Rep. Frank said. “I am sure we will reject many of the cuts he proposes.”
Head Start, a program that helps economically disadvantaged preschoolers develop early math and reading skills, would be cut by $3.7 million in 2008, with cuts totaling $39.9 million by 2012, according to the center.
“Head Start programs have already coped with funding cuts by spending fewer dollars per child,” Ms. Parrott said. Ultimately, continued cuts would lead to decreased spending on “teacher salaries, classroom materials, and specialized services to children with disabilities,” Ms. Parrott said.
Democratic members of Congress have vowed to ignore Bush's budget. In the annual budget process, the president submits his proposal to Congress which then develops its own budget.
“I promise to do everything in my power to prevent the President's reckless recommendations from moving forward,” Sen. Kerry said.
Sen. Kennedy is also determined to halt the proposals. “This budget would continue us down the wrong path, but fortunately the new Congress is determined to change course – and will,” Sen. Kennedy said.
Rep. Frank agreed. If the president's proposals were to pass, the results “would be devastating… and they're not going to happen,” Rep. Frank said. “Even if the Republicans were in power, they wouldn't have accepted some of these terrible cuts in employment and domestic programs.”
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Rep. Frank Content to Stay in the House
FRANK FEC
New Bedford Standard-Times
Valerie Sullivan
Boston University Washington News Service
08 February 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 8—Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) raised more than $1.8 million for his 2006 House race in which he was unopposed “because I thought I might … run for the Senate” in 2008, he said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
But now that he is chairman of the Financial Services Committee Rep. Frank is content to stay in the House. “As chairman of the committee, I can do more than I could as a freshman senator,” he said.
Filings with the Federal Election Commission show that Rep. Frank raised significantly more money in the past two House election campaigns, up from $432,544 in 2002 to $1,872,924 in 2006. In 2004 he raised $1,319,498—more than twice the average raised by Democrats running for a House seat.
The money attracted all the more attention because Rep. Frank’s opposition in 2004 was only a write-in campaign by television talk show host Chuck Morris. Rep. Frank received 78 per cent of the vote.
Massie Ritsch, the communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, said Rep. Frank had little need for extra campaign money. “The fact is, the incumbent has an almost certain chance of winning,” Mr. Ritsch said. The center tracks money and politics.
Rep. Frank was not alone among Massachusetts House members with Senate plans. Take Democratic Rep. Marty Meehan, for example, who currently “has more cash on hand than anyone else in the House,” Mr. Ritsch said. “That’s almost certainly because [Rep. Meehan] thought there might be an opening in the Senate.”
Post-election, Rep. Meehan had more than $5 million, while Reps. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and William Delahunt (D-Mass.) each had approximately $2 million.
“A significant increase in a House members’ election fundraising often indicates aspirations of a Senate campaign,” Mr. Ritsch said.
In 2004, with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) running for president, the representatives were gearing up to fill the Senate seat that might soon become vacant.
The possibility didn’t end with Sen. Kerry’s 2004 loss to President Bush. “We then had the possibility after [Mr. Kerry] lost [the 2004 presidential election]… that he would announce in 2006 that he would run for president instead [of a Senate seat] and in that case… I would have again [considered a] run for the Senate,” Rep. Frank said.
But when Sen. Kerry announced in January that he would not run for president in 2008, Rep. Frank made other plans for the money. Days after the Kerry announcement, Rep. Frank said, he gave $250,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Given the Democratic majority in the House and his new position as chairman of the Financial Services Committee, Rep. Frank said he has other priorities now.
Mr. Ritsch confirms the importance of Rep. Frank’s new role. “He just has exponentially more influence now that the Democrats are in control,” Mr. Ritsch said.
Rep. Frank plans to wield that influence from the House. “I can do more in this job than I can in the Senate,” he said.
Rep. Frank’s fundraising power is higher than ever. “Now that he’s chairman of the Financial Services Committee, his fundraising will shoot up…. His top industries are already related to financial services,” Mr. Ritsch said.
In 2005-2006, 55 percent of Rep. Frank’s funds came from individual contributions. Political action committees, or PACs, were responsible for 43 percent of his funds, with financial services sectors leading the way.
“The FIRE [finance, insurance, and real estate] sector gives more money than any sector…. It’s a plum assignment,” Mr. Ritsch said of Rep. Frank’s chairmanship. In the 2006 election cycle, 85.9 percent of his PAC contributions came from businesses. State Street Corp., a Boston-based financial services company, and UBS AG, a financial services company headquartered in Switzerland, were Rep. Frank’s top contributors, with each giving $17,000 in contributions from their employees and their PACs.
Mr. Ritsch said he didn’t foresee Rep. Frank’s fundraising returning abruptly back to its 2002 levels. “You raise the money because it’s there,” he said. “Because you can. Because it’s being offered. You never know when you’re going to need it…. The election really never stops. The campaign really never stops.”
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Pelosi: Father Drinan a ‘Relentless and Modest Champion’
DRINAN
New Bedford Standard-Times
Valerie Sullivan
Boston University Washington News Service
1 February 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 —Hundreds of friends—including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), faculty and students of Georgetown University Law Center and about 40 Catholic priests—celebrated the many hats worn by the Rev. Robert Drinan at a funeral mass for him Thursday.
Father Drinan preached “sometimes from the pulpit, sometimes from the House floor, sometimes from Georgetown, but always through example,” Speaker Pelosi said in her eulogy.
Father Drinan, who died Sunday at the age of 86, was the first Roman Catholic priest to serve as a voting member of Congress. Elected in 1970 from Massachusetts, he was reelected four times before stepping down after the Pope barred priests from holding legislative positions.
He was praised for his unceasing energy—right through the last year of his life as a professor at Georgetown Law, where he had taught since leaving Congress. His life was characterized by “the work of justice, not the… pursuit of a career,” the Rev. John Langan said.
Because of a congressional event following the funeral, eulogists were asked to “observe the House rule of brevity rather than the more generous rules in the other chamber.” The joke drew laughs from the crowd, which included Massachusetts House members Barney Frank, Edward J. Markey, James P. McGovern, and Stephen F. Lynch.
Father Langan again elicited laughs from the crowd when he noted that Father Drinan is in a place now where justice can be achieved “without lawyers” and the leaders are “beyond impeachment”—the latter a reference to Father Drinan’s role in President Nixon’s looming impeachment and his opposition years later to President Clinton’s impeachment.
Speaker Pelosi emphasized Father Drinan’s compassion, especially for children, calling him “one of our greatest champions of human rights.., a relentless and modest champion… eager to help, slow to claim credit.”
She recalled Father Drinan’s optimism for the future of the United States, quoting a speech he gave at her alma mater, Trinity University in Washington, the day before she was sworn in as speaker: “God has great hope for what this nation will do.”
Sen. Kennedy noted Father Drinan’s inspirational effect on young people during his time in Congress, including the young John Kerry. Of Father Drinan’s 10 years in Congress, Sen. Kennedy said, “He was like a meteor across the sky.”
Mentioning Father Drinan’s well-known opposition to the Vietnam War, Sen. Kennedy said, “We miss him more than ever in the halls of Congress today when that cruel history is repeating itself…. He held up America to our consciences both in and out of Congress.”
“To look back over the sweep of his incredible life is to see the vivid truth of what lone individuals… can do when they set their minds to change,” Sen. Kennedy said.
Sen. Kennedy also touched on Father Drinan’s role as a teacher not only to Georgetown law students but to everyone with whom he came in contact. “Of all the hats he wore, none fit him better than that of teacher, and we’ll never forget all that he… taught us,” Sen. Kennedy said.
Before serving in Congress Father Drinan was dean of the Boston College Law School.
Georgetown University President John DeGioia recalled Father Drinan’s human rights missions—how he told “the stories of those whose voices those in power could not or would not hear,” and how he was a “champion for those who could not fight.” .
The funeral mass was held at St. Aloysius Church, nine blocks north of the Capitol, with Georgetown Law students as the pallbearers. A second funeral mass will be held Saturday at St. Ignatius Church in Chestnut Hill, Mass., followed by a burial at Campion Center, Weston, Mass.
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Mayor Lang Attends 75th Winter Meeting of U.S. Conference of Mayors
MAYOR
New Bedford Standard-Times
Valerie Sullivan
Boston University Washington News Service
January 24, 2007
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 —Attending his first winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, New Bedford Mayor Scott W. Lang was struck by the universality of the problems he and his colleagues face.
“Every issue that New Bedford faces is a microcosm of the issues that every urban area faces,” he said.
The winter conference, taking place this week, is designed to bring mayors together to share ideas, improve federal-city relationships, and develop federal policy to meet local needs.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi , Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) , who is running for president, and Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) are expected to address the group.
The mayors split their time between working on their committees and attending seminars and lectures of other committees addressing various issues they all face.
“The great thing about the conference is that no matter what standing committees you’re on, you also have the ability to step in and take in the resources of the other committees,” Mayor Lang said.
Wednesday, Mayor Lang attended a seminar on public safety, sponsored by the Criminal and Social Justice Standing Committee.
“Public safety, violence, youth gangs [are issues] permeating all of American society and specifically the urban areas,” the mayor said, calling them issues “that clearly every mayor in attendance here is concerned about.”
He highlighted the need to combine education with job training to create productive members of society—young people who are able “to apply their skills in the work place” for both existing jobs and those that evolve in the future.
He also emphasized the importance of tourism in fostering economic development. “We continue to build New Bedford as a destination rather than a pass-through,” Mayor Lang said.
The conference is scheduled to hold a press briefing Thursday dealing with climate protection and the environment. “The energy issue is important for everyone,” Mayor Lang said, mentioning New Bedford’s effort to balance saving money and being “friendly and helpful to the environment.”
He said that the great number of communities pooling their best practices at the conference would help them more easily solve their shared problems.
“We have a lot of cooperation… people are very mindful and very committed to working together and solving these problems,” Mayor Lang said.
Mayor Lang also met with officials at the Portuguese embassy in Washington.
“I wanted to present myself as the mayor of New Bedford and give the greetings from the city and talk about the Portuguese community,” Mayor Lang said.
He called his time at the conference “a power-packed two days of being able to get the best information and resources for the city I can to get.”
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