Markey Commends Nuke Task Force Recs, Calls For Quick Implementation, Addl Measures

July 12, 2011:

Lawmaker has introduced legislation to overhaul nuclear safety in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear meltdown in Japan WASHINGTON D.C. (July 12, 2011) – Today, Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and Ranking Member of the Natural Resources Committee, issued the following statement in response to the release of the 90-day findings of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) task force reviewing NRC processes and regulations in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns. “I commend the NRC task force for this near-term look at the vulnerabilities of America’s nuclear fleet in the wake of the Japanese meltdowns,” said Rep. Markey. "The task force has been thorough and thoughtful in its review, especially in light of the condensed schedule for completing its report. “Because the task force has found that U.S. nuclear reactors are not sufficiently prepared to respond to catastrophic events or even simple power outages like the one that triggered the Fukushima meltdowns, America’s nuclear fleet remains vulnerable to a similar disaster. I urge the NRC to quickly move to order the adoption of the recommendations of this report as well as the full complement of lessons that can be learned from the Fukushima disaster before the issuance of any new nuclear power plant design or license, or approval of any relicense application.” The NRC Task Force recommended that the NRC first take interim measures (such as issuing orders), and then implement additional regulations, to ensure that there are: requirements to upgrade nuclear reactor protections for severe events (and combinations of events) such as earthquakes, tsunamis, fires or floods; requirements to strengthen protections against the sort of catastrophic loss of electricity that caused the meltdowns in Japan, including a requirement for reactor cores and spent nuclear fuel to be cooled for up to 72 hours following such a blackout; requirements for technologies to prevent or mitigate against the sort of hydrogen explosions that occurred in Japan; requirements to strengthen the currently voluntary emergency mitigation procedures for nuclear crises; and increased NRC overisght and enforcement of these regulations.       However, the Task Force did not make specific recommendations to alter the emergency evacuation zones for nuclear power plants, distribute potassium iodide to residents living within 20 miles of a nuclear power plant in compliance with a Markey-authored law, or move spent nuclear fuel into safer dry cask storage as quickly as possible. “The events in Japan underscore the need for our government to end its refusal to provide potassium iodide to the people that live within 20 miles of nuclear power plants,” said Rep. Markey. "We should not wait for a catastrophic accident at a nuclear reactor in this country to occur to implement this common-sense emergency preparedness measure.” In the wake of the Japanese disaster, Rep. Markey introduced H.R. 1242, the Nuclear Power Plant Safety Act of 2011. This legislation called for many of the same measures recommended by the NRC Task Force. Specifically, it contains provisions that will: Ensure that nuclear power plants and spent nuclear fuel pools can withstand and adequately respond to earthquakes, tsunamis, strong storms, long power outages, or other events that threaten a major impact. Require nuclear power plants to have emergency backup plans and systems that can withstand longer electricity outages. The Fukushima meltdown was primarily caused by the loss of external electricity to the reactor containment and the spent nuclear fuel and failure of the emergency backup generators. Specifically, this means 14 days worth of diesel fuel backup generators where most reactors currently have 7 days worth, and 72 hours for battery generators where most reactors currently have battery generators that work for only 4-8 hours. The Fukushima nuclear power plant had 8-hour battery powered generators. Require spent nuclear fuel to be moved into safer dry cask storage as soon as the fuel is sufficiently cooled to do so. Since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Rep. Markey has queried the NRC for more information on the implications for America’s domestic nuclear industry: Rep. Markey’s office recently released the report, “Fukushima Fallout: Regulator Loopholes at U.S. Nuclear Plants”, detailing several inadequacies of NRC safety regulations following the Fukushima crisis, including inadequacies related to the safety of spent fuel pools and the ability of nuclear power plants to mitigate the effects of and respond to a loss of electricity. Rep. Markey has also criticized the NRC for its apparent failure to follow the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires analysis of the environmental impacts of potential events such as the Fukushima disaster, prior to its approval of several applications to extend the licenses of currently operating nuclear reactors. He has also urged the NRC to halt all pending approvals including for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant, and the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant in New Hampshire, which has currently applied for another 20-year extension more than 20 years before its current license expires. During Congressional hearings in April related to the Fukushima meltdowns, Rep. Markey announced the NRC’s technical assessment that at least one of the reactors in Japan had suffered a meltdown that caused the fuel to melt holes in the reactor vessel, and uncovered inconsistencies in NRC’s inaccurate assertions that technologies to prevent the sort of hydrogen explosions that occurred in Japan were required to be in place in the U.S. And just days before the Japanese earthquake, Rep. Markey sent a letter to the NRC urging the resolution of safety concerns for the Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactor design, including those related to the ability of the reactor to withstand a severe impact such as an earthquake. The NRC has since identified additional problems with this design.

COMMITTEE GETS UPDATE ON EFFORTS TO BAR TERRORIST TRAVEL

July 13, 2011

WASHINGTON – Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Maine, Wednesday pressed Administration officials about continuing gaps in our defenses against terrorist travel, including inadequate security in visa processing, a large backlog of visa overstays in this country, and our failure to implement biometric information-sharing programs with our allies.

Entitled “Ten Years After 9/11: Preventing Terrorist Travel,” the hearing was the fifth in a series the Committee is holding to review the state of our nation’s terrorist defenses as we approach the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“Denying terrorists the ability to travel to our country from abroad and attack us was one of the fundamental recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission,” said Lieberman. “We have come a long way since 9/11 in preventing terrorist travel but we have much work to do to close remaining gaps.

“Implementation of the program at overseas consular offices that requires all visa applicants to be investigated is seriously lagging. The Department of Homeland Security and the State Department have identified 57 high-risk posts abroad, but of the 20 highest risk posts only nine have criminal investigators to provide an added layer of security to the visa issuing process.

“Only half of the countries whose citizens need no visa to enter the U.S. have signed electronic biometric information-sharing agreements required to participate in the Visa Waiver Program, and none of these agreements has actually been implemented.

“And, implementation of U.S. VISIT’s exit system has been one of our biggest failures, leading to large backlogs of potential overstays and uncertainty about whether people have left the country.  I am heartened that most of this backlog has been cleared in response to a our previous questions about it but I question why it took so long
“We will never achieve 100 percent security but we must continue our work to improve these shortcomings.”

Collins said: “The U.S. is spending billions of dollars to increase our security by preventing suspected terrorists from traveling to this country.  We have improved our watch lists and how we verify documents, among other refinements.  But as a new GAO report shows, we must also rely on the systems of our partner countries, which are hamstrung by troubling gaps ranging from corruption to counterfeit documents to poor record keeping.  As terrorist groups continue to innovate and probe our defenses, our partner countries must strengthen their systems.  Our safety is truly only as strong as our weakest link.”

The new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found significant gaps in the ability of many foreign countries to prevent terrorists from traveling to this country. GAO identified a lack of coordination among U.S. agencies charged with helping our foreign partners improve their capacity to detect fraudulent documents and fight corruption.

In the past 10 years, legislation authored by this Committee has created a number of programs and systems meant to enhance our government’s ability to identify terrorists and prevent them from traveling to our shores.

• The Homeland Security Act of 2002 gave DHS the authority to set visa policy and deploy Visa Security Units to overseas consular posts to provide an added layer of security in the issuing of visas.
• The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, among other things, called for a biometric entry and exit system for travelers into and out of the U.S., enhanced travel documents, and required consular officials to conduct personal interviews with all visa applicants. 
• The act also directed the President to negotiate agreements with other nations to share information on lost or stolen travel documents, and further strengthened our screening system by requiring that domestic and international airline passengers be screened against terrorist watch lists.  
• The Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 addressed a weakness in the Visa Waiver Program that allows travelers from certain countries to bypass the visa screening process and come directly to the United States. 

Witnesses at the hearing were: Rand Beers, Under Secretary, National Protection and Programs Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security; Janice L. Jacobs, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Consular Affairs at the State Department; David F. Heyman, Assistant Secretary, Office of Policy at DHS.

• JULY 12, 2011, 8:06 PM ET

Norquist Issues New GOP Marching Orders

 

By Jonathan Weisman

Antitax activist Grover Norquist, the keeper of the no-new-taxes pledge that virtually all Republican politicians have signed, has a new set of marching orders for the GOP troops, especially for the party’s presidential hopefuls: Enact Rep. Paul Ryan‘s budget plan.

Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

In an extensive interview with Wall Street Journal reporters and editors, the president of Americans for Tax Reform said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich ran into trouble with Republicans not so much because he called the Ryan plan “right-wing social engineering” but because he thought Republicans are looking for a “big thinker” with brave new plans. They aren’t, Mr. Norquist said.

“We know where we want to go,” Mr. Norquist said of Mr. Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity.” “We just need someone to sign the bills.”

That direction is not an easy one.  The plan by Rep. Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House Budget Committee, would convert Medicare from a government-run health plan to a system of vouchers that would offset senior citizens’ purchase of private health insurance policies. It would repeal President Barack Obama‘s health care law while maintaining almost all its cuts to Medicare. It would convert Medicaid and other entitlement programs to block grants to the states. It would cut nondefense discretionary spending dramatically, and it would maintain the tax levels set by President George W. Bush while cutting individual and corporate tax rates still further.

The Ryan plan, which passed the House in April and was rejected by the Senate in May, actually would expand the budget deficit in the short run, with tax cuts and the repeal of the health care law. But Mr. Norquist said the budget deficit is not the metric by which he measures the effectiveness of fiscal policy. The size of government is the only real measurement, he said. The deficit merely is the difference between how much money the government takes in and how much it spends.

“The difference between them is not particularly important,” he said.

Another Day ... Another Republican Bill To Harm The Environment

July 13, 2011 6:43 PM

Another day, another Republican bill to harm the environment while issues like deficit reduction, job creation, and bringing our troops home remain unsolved. This time around, House Republicans are attempting to repeal key provisions of the Clean Water Act that have been critical to improving our nation’s water over the last 40 years.

This “Dirty Water” legislation that Republicans passed earlier today would return us to state-by-state regulation of clean water, the failed model that was in place before the Clean Water Act was enacted. That’s why it is opposed by environmental groups and hunting and fishing organizations across the country. President Obama has issued a statement stating that this legislation “could result in adverse impacts to human health, the economy, and the environment through increased pollution and degradation of water bodies that serve as venues for recreation and tourism, and that provide drinking water sources and habitat for fish and wildlife.”

I strongly agree and voted against the bill.

The Clean Water Act divides responsibility for water pollution prevention between the federal government and state governments. This is an approach that has worked well for decades: the law directs the Environmental Protection Agency to set clear national standards for water quality, and then states are given the authority to implement those standards. But the Republican bill would substantially limit the federal government's ability to revise standards and to oversee the states' implementation of the law.

We cannot risk endangering our rivers, streams and lakes that sustain our health and economy. They provide the clean drinking water we need. They support fish and wildlife populations. And they support millions of jobs in the Bay Area and across the nation in the tourism, outdoor recreation, and fisheries industries.

Agreement on Debt Talks: Health Groups Dislike Proposals

July 13, 2011 By ChristianDems 

It will take EVERYONE standing up for the values we believe in to see justice in our health system and to make sure cuts don’t happen. Health care is a basic human need and right – if you are pro-life, that means you are pro-health-care-for-all!

From NY Times:

WASHINGTON — Budget negotiators have not found a way to avert a government default on federal debt obligations, but with their ideas to cut Medicare and Medicaid they have managed to provoke opposition from almost every major group that represents beneficiaries and health care providers.

The latest provocation was a list of proposed savings presented at the White House this week by the House majority leader, Representative Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia.

Mr. Cantor said Tuesday that the ideas had all been seriously discussed, with varying levels of Democratic support, in seven weeks of negotiations led by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

But with House Republicans adamantly opposed to new taxes, Democrats said they would not accept cuts in Medicare that reduced benefits.

Mr. Cantor’s list included 27 proposals that he said would save up to $353 billion over 10 years, in the context of a budget deal that could save anywhere from $2 trillion to $4 trillion over the same period.

Items on the list touched off howls of protest from lobbyists and Democratic lawmakers who saw details for the first time on Tuesday.

Some of the proposals would hit Medicare patients in the pocketbook, charging co-payments for home health care and clinical laboratory services like blood tests. One proposal would increase premiums and co-payments for beneficiaries with relatively high incomes. Another would require millions of recipients to pay more of the costs now covered by private insurance policies that supplement Medicare.

The Congressional Budget Office says the proposal could save Medicare up to $53 billion over 10 years, mainly by curbing the use of health care by people with supplemental coverage known as Medigap policies. Studies show that such policyholders use about 25 percent more services than Medicare patients who have no supplemental coverage, the budget office said.

But Medigap policies are popular with older Americans, who like the financial security they get from the extra insurance.

“The Medigap proposal would shift costs onto Medicare beneficiaries,” said Howard J. Bedlin, vice president of the National Council on Aging, a service and advocacy group. “Our fear is that many would go without the care they need and end up in a hospital emergency room, which costs Medicare more than proper treatment would have cost.”

Likewise, Mr. Bedlin said, the proposed co-payments for home health care would “significantly increase out-of-pocket costs for many low-income widows with multiple chronic conditions.”

When such co-payments were seriously considered in the past, Democrats wheeled some of the widows into the Capitol to denounce the idea.

Mr. Cantor’s list includes $100 billion in savings from Medicaid over 10 years — the same amount sought in a White House proposal that has caused consternation among some officials at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Laboratories were surprised to learn Tuesday of the proposal to start charging Medicare beneficiaries a $1 co-payment for each lab test. Lab tests and home health visits are now exempt from such cost-sharing.

Alan B. Mertz, president of the American Clinical Laboratory Association, a trade group, said that collecting the co-payments from beneficiaries would be “a huge administrative hassle.”

The average lab test costs $12 or $13, Mr. Mertz said, and labs typically “do not have a face-to-face relationship with patients.” In many cases, he said, “we will not be able to collect the money, or the cost of collecting it will be more than the amount of the co-payment.”

Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin and chairman of the House Budget Committee, said the din of criticism was disappointing.

“These are not big Medicare savers,” Mr. Ryan said in an interview. “They do not save a lot of money in the whole scheme of things. If we come to a political paralysis over a few hundred billion dollars, the credit markets will really start turning on us.”

The Obama administration said Tuesday that instead of cutting benefits or increasing co-payments, Congress should increase the power of an independent agency, created by the new health care law, to make sweeping cuts in the growth of Medicare spending.

At a hearing of the House Budget Committee, Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said the new agency, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, would be a backstop to ensure a sharp reduction in the growth of Medicare spending per beneficiary.

Mr. Ryan said the 15-member board was “just a mechanism to take power out of the hands of politicians so they can absolve themselves of responsibility for the inevitable price controlling and rationing that is to come in Medicare.” Such rationing, he said, “is not necessary if you do fundamental Medicare reform.”

Klobuchar calls out oil companies to give up subsidies

Written by

Larry Bivins

 

6:26 PM, Jul. 12, 2011

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Amy Klobuchar urged oil companies Tuesday to follow the lead of the ethanol industry and give up government subsidies to help defray the nation’s burgeoning deficit.

In a speech on the Senate floor, Klobuchar said oil companies have been receiving tax breaks for almost 100 years. In the past decade, she said, the five largest oil companies have netted close to $1 trillion in profits, with the industry’s profits up 30 percent in the first quarter of 2011 compared to the same quarter last year.

Over the next decade, the oil industry tax breaks will cost taxpayers $50 billion, Klobuchar said.

“The oil companies no longer need those tax breaks, and we can’t afford them when we look at the debt we’re facing,” Klobuchar told colleagues. “The question isn’t about whether the oil companies deserve the profits. It is a question about whether a hugely profitable industry should continue to enjoy lucrative tax advantages at a time when our nation can least afford it.”

The Minnesota Democrat’s remarks came as President Barack Obama met again with congressional leaders to try to forge a deal to prevent the federal government from defaulting. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said unless Congress allows the government to borrow more money, the United States will not have enough revenue to pay all its bills as of Aug. 2.

Republicans have balked at raising the $14.3 trillion limit on the national debt without substantial cuts in spending. Democrats have countered that any debt-reduction plan must include revenue increases, such as elimination of tax breaks for the wealthy, along with spending cuts.

At the center of the debate is what to do about entitlement programs such as Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. Most agree costs for the programs are growing at unsustainable levels.

Klobuchar told colleagues that partisanship on the issue can be overcome, and she offered as a model a recent compromise worked out between herself, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., to end government subsidies for the ethanol industry.

Under the agreement Klobuchar and Thune announced last week, the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit would expire on Aug. 1. The deal still must be voted on in the Senate and would need to be approved by the U.S. House. The credit, which provides companies 45 cents for every gallon of ethanol blended with gasoline, costs taxpayers $400 million a month.

The deal calls for $1.3 billion of the savings this year, about two-thirds of the total, to be dedicated to deficit reduction.

“The ethanol industry came to the table and offered up over a billion dollars in savings to reduce the deficit and supported a compromise that is a model for reducing government subsidies going forward,” Klobuchar said. One reason the industry and its Senate supporters came to the table was an earlier Senate vote showing broad bipartisan support for eliminating the ethanol tax break.

Stephen Comstock, tax policy director for the American Petroleum Institute, said the industry agrees it can do more to help address the nation’s economic crisis, but doesn’t think relinquishing tax breaks should be part of the equation.

“We believe the solution to our jobs and deficit problems should not be punitive tax increases when our industry can contribute over the long term by letting us produce more of our own vast domestic resources here at home,” Comstock said. “Let us create more American jobs, increase our energy security and actually send more revenues to federal, state and local governments.”

Last week, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minneapolis, spoke for nearly 45 minutes on the Senate floor about the need for a balanced approach to addressing the debt crisis. Franken said the question centers on who should be asked to bear the burden, Exxon Oil or a Minnesota girl whom he identified only by her first name of Evelyn. She was born with cystic fibrosis and suffered liver failure at age 10 and has to rely on Medicaid for her medical expenses.

“In order for us to agree to balance the budget, everyone has to pay,” Franken said. “Who’s in a better position to give? Exxon or a little girl in Minnesota named Evelyn.”

Klobuchar, in closing her remarks Tuesday, reminded colleagues of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility report that said the solution to deficit reduction should involve shared sacrifice.

“We know this deficit isn’t going to fix itself,” Klobuchar said. “We all know we can’t just close our eyes and click our heels and wish our debts away.”

Senate Democrats Outline Stark Reality Country Will Face if GOP Forces Default on Debt

JUL 14, ’11
 12:27 PM

Senators Chuck Schumer (NY), Ben Cardin (MD) , Mark Begich (AK) and Chris Coons (DE) warned this morning of a calamitous outcome if the GOP forces the U.S. to default on its debt for the first time in history. The chart below illustrates just how difficult it would be for our country to pay its bills (explanation of chart below).

Download full-size PDF version of these charts.

Senator Schumer, explaining the stakes as shown above, said –

“We are definitely going to want to pay Social Security benefits, and that takes 50 billion dollars off the table.” [He took the Social Security tile off the obligations chart and placed it onto revenue chart]

And we have to make sure America’s seniors continue to get healthcare so we need to pay for Medicare and Medicaid. There goes another $50 billion [He took the Medicare/Medicaid chart off of the obligations chart and placed it onto the revenue chart]

So now we have 72 billion left.  We have to pay our troops, keep our promise to America’s veterans, and fund our  defense priorities. That is going to take us almost up to the limit.  [He then took the troops, veterans, and defense tile off of the obligations chart and placed it on the revenue chart]

And we still have the interest on our debt, and that takes up most of the difference. [He then took the interest on treasury securities tile off of the obligations chart and placed it on the revenue chart]

We wouldn’t have a dime for Student loans, the FBI, Cancer Research, IRS refunds, or border patrol agents… What from this list are you going to remove to fund these jobs that keep America safe?

Do you want to stop paying hundreds of thousands of troops? [He removed the troops tile]. Do you want to stop paying 60 million social security recipients? [He removed the social security tile] That is the choice, and the consequences we face if we don’t raise the debt limit.”

As Senator Coons put it, “This is the most predictable financial disaster in our history. Let’s avoid it.”

Senator wants shareholders to have a say

THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2011

BY HERB JACKSON

WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT

THE RECORD

Corporations would have to get shareholder approval for campaign spending under a bill U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez unveiled Tuesday in response to a 2010 Supreme Court ruling.
Corporations had been barred from spending on federal campaigns before the 2010 Supreme Court ruled last year they could fund non-profit groups running issue-based advertising.
That kind of spending, however, is largely shielded from public disclosure laws governing campaign contributions, and Democrats have tried unsuccessfully to get Congress to approve new laws requiring disclosure of such spending.
The measure proposed by Menendez, D-N.J., and Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., would require corporations that want to spend on campaigns to secure approval annually of a campaign budget from shareholders. Corporate boards of directors also would have to approve, then make public disclosure, of any expenditures of more than $50,000.
"We must be certain at the very least that if corporations are allowed to spend unlimited funds on elections — something I personally oppose but nonetheless we are dealing with the realities of the Supreme Court's decision — they are doing so only after their shareholders have had an opportunity to weigh in," Menendez said in a news conference.
Menendez, who is seeking reelection next year, said that while chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee he saw corporate funding of $70 million to $75 million against candidates he supported.
He said it was "fundamentally wrong" that corporations could make decisions on United States policy by influencing elections.
"I can see very easily as someone who's trying to undo the $21 billion in tax breaks to the big five oil companies how they would like to influence an election to make sure that those with my views are not around, and those with their views to keep those corporate tax breaks stay," Menendez said.
According to filings available from the Federal Election Commission, Menendez is the only New Jersey candidate raising money to run for Senate next year. He said his quarterly report for the period ending June 30, which will become public later this week, will show he raised $2.1 million and had about $5.5 million on hand for the campaign.
He rejected the suggestion he was trying to handicap a potential opponent by seeking limits on corporate spending.
"We're operating under a system where there are limits … up to $5,000 for an individual," he said.
The bill, he said, deals with "tens of millions of dollars being spent by a corporation, should they choose to do so, to influence an election or a series of elections. So that's fundamentally different," he said.

The debt ceiling panic mode

By The Last Word Staff

  -  

Wed Jul 13, 2011 10:04 PM EDT

Lawrence explains why the normally disciplined Congressional Republicans are now in all-out panic in the most difficult negotiation they have faced to date with President Obama.

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