Warner, Webb urge Obama administration to select Mid-Atlantic region as test range for unmanned aircraft systems
U.S. Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) on Wednesday sent a joint letter to the Secretaries of Defense, Transportation and the NASA Administrator urging them to select the Virginia/Maryland region to host an Unmanned Aircraft Systems test range.
The Senators pointed out that UAS design and testing already takes place in the area, and the region has the appropriate airspace and test ranges for the type of advanced testing and development that will be required. Read more
Webb, Warner push Senate to reject efforts to balance budget on backs of federal workers
U.S. Sens. Jim Webb (D-VA) and Mark R. Warner (D-VA) are urging Majority Leader Harry Reid to “reject any proposals that call for pay freezes or other forms of compensation reduction for federal workers, or significant reductions in the federal workforce” to offset the tax extenders that need to be passed by the end of this year.
Along with Sens. Ben Cardin (D-MD), Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), and Carl Levin (D-MI), the senators wrote to the Majority Leader on behalf of federal workers in Virginia who are currently in the middle of a two-year pay freeze.
“To ask these hard-working individuals – the very people who keep our food supply safe, our borders secure and develop life-saving technologies – to make further sacrifices is simply unfair,” the senators wrote. “Federal employees are facing the same challenges as other middle-class families during this difficult economic time. … While we can all agree on the importance of job growth and deficit reduction, we cannot balance the budget on the backs of federal employees who carry out the business of the American people every day.” Read more
Webb backs bill to protect heating assistance
Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) yesterday joined a bipartisan group of Senators to introduce the LIHEAP Protection Act, which would restore funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Earlier this year, the Obama Administration proposed a 45 percent cut in funds for the program, which is structured to help low-income families and seniors on fixed-incomes with their energy bills. The current House and Senate appropriations bills would only partially restore this severe cut.
“For thousands of seniors and low-income families across Virginia, home energy costs have increased beyond their ability to keep up,” said Sen. Webb. “This critical legislation will help ensure they receive the energy assistance they need to make it through the winter.”
According to the Manager of the Energy Assistance Program within the Virginia Department of Social Services, LIHEAP provided vital heating assistance to 144,726 households across the Commonwealth last year—an increase of more than 33 percent since 2008. A record number of households are widely expected to be served again in 2012.
If funding for LIHEAP is not finalized before winter, millions of households run the risk of not receiving assistance during the coldest months. Given the uncertainty regarding LIHEAP funding, some states have already begun lowering LIHEAP grant amounts.
Sen. Webb has been a strong supporter of the LIHEAP program. In 2007, he fought efforts by the Bush administration to cut LIHEAP funding in half and later worked to ensure swifter disbursement of funds during the historically cold winter of 2009 and early 2010. In December 2010, he joined a similar effort that successfully preserved LIHEAP funding for FY2011.
Webb, Warner announce $200M for economic development
Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner today announced that the U.S. Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology will invest $212,800 in GENEDGE ALLIANCE, a statewide manufacturing support program based at Patrick Henry Community College in Martinsville, Virginia. Both Senators have consistently supported federal funding in Congress for the program, which supports industrial and manufacturing jobs by helping private businesses across the Commonwealth compete and succeed.
“I have been a big supporter of this concept, where high-quality advisors help small and mid-sized companies compete nationally,” said Sen. Webb. “The GENEDGE ALLIANCE manufacturing program is a strong example of a public-private partnership that will strengthen Virginia communities and invigorate local economies.”
“The GENEDGE ALLIANCE is a good example of a smart federal grant program that consistently produces a measurable return on investment,” Sen. Warner said. “GENEDGE consultants have helped employers across the Commonwealth upgrade processes and increase their growth opportunities. This grant represents a targeted investment that will strengthen Virginia’s economy and workforce.”
Since 1992, Virginia’s GENEDGE ALLIANCE has provided comprehensive services that produce quantifiable results for the companies they serve. The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) works in conjunction with companies to provide high quality analysis that helps companies increase productivity, lower costs, identify growth opportunities, improve technology application, and strengthen production. For every $1 invested in GENEDGE ALLIANCE assistance and service, $36 has been returned to the client’s bottom line, and descriptions of many GENEDGE ALLIANCE success stories from across Virginia can be found here.
GENEDGE ALLIANCE is a network affiliate of NIST-MEP, a national network of more than 59 affiliate centers, bringing enterprise expertise to over 149,000 businesses across the United States. GENEDGE ALLIANCE field offices are located throughout Virginia and their partnerships with the Old Dominion University Business Gateway (ODUBG) at Old Dominion University and the Manufacturing Technology Center (MTC) in Wytheville support companies across the Commonwealth.
Webb, Warner critical of administration on offshore-drilling plan
A five-year oil and gas leasing plan announced today by the Obama administration omits Virginia from the plan. Virginia Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner responded by urging the administration to reconsider.
“Oil and gas exploration within the Virginia Outer Continental Shelf – if coupled with an equitable formula for sharing revenues between the state and federal governments – would boost domestic energy production, while benefiting the Commonwealth’s economy,” Webb said.
“I will be strongly urging the administration to take another look at including Virginia in its five-year plan. Sen. Webb and I will continue to pursue our legislation that updates the current map of the Outer Continental Shelf to better reflect Virginia’s share of offshore energy resources. Importantly, our legislation also would allow for revenue sharing between the state and federal governments,” Warner said.
In July, Webb and Warner introduced the Virginia Outer Continental Shelf Energy Production Act of 2011, which included revenue-sharing provisions and would expand the federal government’s map of the mid-Atlantic exploration area to more accurately reflect the extent of Virginia’s coastal resources. In 2008, Webb cosponsored similar legislation with Republican Sen. John Warner.
Webb pushes FEMA on Louisa denial
Sen. Jim Webb today asked Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator W. Craig Fugate to explain FEMA’s rationale for refusing to grant a federal disaster declaration to Louisa County following the August 23 earthquake.
“Louisa County has documented close to 1000 damaged homes, including a number of homes that were completely destroyed,” said Webb in a letter to Administrator Fugate. “More troubling, is the fact that the overwhelming majority of residents in this rural community lack adequate earthquake insurance protection, necessitating government assistance in a time of great need.”
The full text of Sen. Webb’s letter below:
Dear Administrator Fugate:
I write to express concern over FEMA’s recent refusal to grant Louisa County a federal disaster declaration following the August 23 earthquake in Virginia.
As you know, the 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Louisa County—felt by millions across the east coast—was the strongest quake to hit the Commonwealth in over a hundred years.
Louisa County has documented close to 1000 damaged homes, including a number of homes that were completely destroyed. The quake caused structural damage to churches, schools, and even caused the shutdown of nuclear power stations in North Anna. More troubling, is the fact that the overwhelming majority of residents in this rural community lack adequate earthquake insurance protection, necessitating government assistance in a time of great need.
In order to help this community overcome the devastation caused by the earthquake, I request that you provide my office the following:
1—a detailed rationale for your denial of disaster declaration for Louisa County;
2—your recommendations to the Commonwealth on how to effectively appeal and reverse FEMA’s original decision; and
3—identification of alternative funding mechanisms through FEMA and other federal agencies that can mitigate the disaster impacts on citizens of the Commonwealth.
Given the urgency of this issue to the citizens of Louisa County, I respectfully request that you provide me with a response as soon as possible.
Webb introduces legislation to stop technology drift to China
Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) today introduced legislation to stop technologies developed with the support of U.S. taxpayers from being given away to China or other countries.
Many American companies operating in China are required to transfer their intellectual property and proprietary technology to China as a prerequisite for doing business there. Many of these technologies were developed using U.S. tax dollars through grants, loans, loan guarantees and other federal incentives in order to make America competitive and create American jobs.
“If taxpayers supported the development of the technology, they own a piece of it and it can’t just be given away,” said Webb. “Federal dollars that go toward R&D funding, loan guarantees, and public-private partnerships in order to help develop the next generation of technologies here are supposed to be making American businesses competitive and generate American jobs—not to help develop other industries, such as those in China.”
“In cases where technologies are developed with the support of the American taxpayer, my legislation prohibits companies from transferring the technology to countries that by law, practice, or policy require proprietary technology transfers as a matter of doing business,” continued Senator Webb. “The transfer of publicly supported proprietary technologies by American firms to China — and potentially other countries — clearly and unequivocally places the competitive advantage of the American economy at risk.”
Examples of China profiting from U.S. taxpayer-funded technologies:
· General Electric has transferred valuable aviation avionics technology to state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China. The U.S. government has long supported the aviation industry through procurement initiatives and federal research projects. The fruits of U.S. taxpayer support will now be incorporated into Chinese commercial airliners, in line with Beijing’s desire to develop an internationally competitive aircraft industry that could rival U.S.-based Boeing. (Source: The Washington Post)
· Westinghouse Electric has transferred more than 75,000 documents to Chinese counterparts as the initial phase of a technology transfer agreement in exchange for a share in China’s growing nuclear market. These documents relate to the construction of four third-generation AP1000 reactors that Westinghouse is building in China. U.S. taxpayers supported the development of the AP1000 as well its predecessor, the AP600, through decades of nuclear energy research and development at the Department of Energy (DOE). Moreover, the DOE Nuclear Power 2010 program provided years of government support for the design and licensing of this reactor. (Source: The Financial Times)
· Ford Motor Company is looking to share certain proprietary technologies for electric vehicles in exchange for selling cars in China. The electric vehicle sector has enjoyed significant federal R&D funding, loan guarantees, and public-private partnerships funded by U.S. taxpayers. In 2009, Ford Motor Co. received a $5.9 billion loan guarantee from the Department of Energy to advance its vehicle technology manufacturing program. (Source: The New York Times)
A U.S. Chamber of Commerce report warns that China’s “persistent” intellectual property theft is “compounded by the indigenous innovation industrial policies which compel technology transfers in order to have access to the China market.”
In a January 2010 letter to Obama Administration officials, the heads of 19 U.S. business and industry associations—including the Business Roundtable, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Chamber of Commerce—wrote of “[s]ystematic efforts by China to develop policies that build their domestic enterprises at the expense of U.S. firms and U.S. intellectual property.”
Webb joins in legislation to make gun regs consistent on federal rec lands
Sens. Jim Webb (D-VA) and John Boozman (R-AR) today introduced legislation to make gun regulations consistent across all federal recreational lands by bringing Army Corps of Engineers rules in line with other federal agencies. Last Congress, legislation was signed into law allowing individuals to possess firearms in the National Park Service and National Wildlife Refuge System, provided they are not breaking state laws or otherwise prohibited from possessing the firearms. However, current regulations prohibit these same rights on many of the lands operated by the Army Corps.
“Gun owners need to know that they can exercise their Second Amendment rights when they are legally camping, hiking or fishing in our nation’s parks and recreational lands,” said Sen. Webb. “This bipartisan bill would provide consistent rules for all federal lands rather than the current patchwork of regulations where the Army Corps has different rules than the Parks Service.”
“Gun owners must be allowed to defend themselves on federal lands. This is important to protecting our constitutional rights and we owe it to law abiding gun owners to address this national gun issue,” said Sen. Boozman.
The Recreational Land Self –Defense Act would prohibit the Secretary of the Army from enforcing any regulation that keeps an individual from possessing firearms on Army Corps Water Resource Development projects or facilities. The legislation would not change the current legal prohibition of guns and dangerous weapons in federal facilities, such as the Corps Head Quarters, Engineering Research Facilities, and lock and dam buildings. The House of Representatives recently passed similar legislation as an amendment to the Energy and Water Appropriations bill (H.R. 2354).
The Army Corps is the nation’s largest federal provider of water-based recreation, overseeing 400 lakes and river projects, 90,000 campsites and 4,000 miles of trails. For a state-by-state listing of Corps-operated lands visit
http://corpslakes.usace.army.mil/visitors/visitors.cfm.
Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Tom Coburn (R-OK) are original cosponsors of the legislation, which is strongly supported by the National Rifle Association.
The text of the bill is available here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/65785124/The-Recreational-Land-Self-Defense-Act.
Webb: Stop sending China money
Sens. Jim Webb and James Inhofe, chair and ranking member of the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee, called on Friday for an end to U.S. development aid to China, now the world’s second-largest economy.
Since 2001, the U.S. has provided more than $275 million in direct assistance to China for projects such as expanding internet access and improving public transportation. In addition, China receives billions from multilateral institutions like the United Nations, to which the U.S. is among the largest contributors.
“With more than $3 trillion in foreign exchange reserves and a double digit economic growth rate, China certainly has the financial resources to…care for its citizens without relying on U.S. assistance,” the senators wrote to appropriators. “As the committee reviews current appropriations bills, we would request that in FY2012 you end all U.S. aid to China—other than programs that assist the people of Tibet or promote respect for human rights and democracy in China—and direct our representatives at international organizations to work to end multilateral aid to China.”
China currently owns $1.2 trillion of U.S. Treasury debt and has launched its own multi-billion dollar foreign assistance program to rival the U.S.
Both the United Kingdom and Australia announced this year that they will no longer provide direct assistance to China.
Webb joins group of senators urging end to ethanol tariffs, subsidies
A bipartisan group of 12 senators, led by Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), today sent a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kent.) urging them to make full elimination of costly ethanol subsidies and tariffs a priority.
In June, a measure offered by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and co-sponsored by Sen. Webb that would have terminated the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) and tariffs on imported ethanol, passed with bipartisan support in a 73-27 vote and would have saved taxpayers $6 billion annually.
Earlier this month, a compromise on ethanol subsidies was reportedly reached in the Senate. Although the deal would have ended the blender credit subsidies, it proposed to create new subsidy programs to support ethanol infrastructure.
“The Senate recently voted overwhelmingly to adopt an amendment offered by Senator Feinstein to terminate the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) and tariff on imported ethanol by July 1, 2011,” the Senators said in their letter. “In keeping with the results of the recent vote, we should ensure that both the VEETC and import tariff are ended as soon as possible.”
“In light of current ongoing negotiations over reducing the budget deficit, we urge you to bring the original Feinstein-Coburn amendment before the Senate again in the near future, to ensure that the approximately $6 billion in taxpayer money that is annually spent to support ethanol production is terminated.”
In response to the senators’ letter, Virginia Poultry Federation President Hobey Bauhan commented, “Ending federal ethanol supports will not only save billions in tax dollars, but will also reform misguided food to fuel policies that have devastated U.S. producers of meat and poultry by artificially increasing feed costs and harmed consumers with higher food costs. We commend and thank Senator Webb and his colleagues in the Senate who recognize that ethanol has failed to impact our dependence upon foreign oil or provide any environmental benefits.”
Sen. Webb has long been concerned about the negative effects of ethanol protections in the United States on other sectors of the economy. He has co-sponsored several legislative measures to repeal ethanol subsidies, including an amendment to tax legislation that would redirect funding from ineffective ethanol subsidies and tariffs toward advanced energy technologies and U.S. deficit reduction.
Webb calls for provisions to include Virginia in offshore energy bill
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., today called for the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to incorporate his Virginia Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Energy Production Act in pending offshore energy legislation this week.
“Outer Continental Shelf production has strong support among Virginians and their political leadership,” Webb wrote the Committee’s Chairman and Ranking Member. “I look forward to working with you to ensure that all of Virginia’s OCS energy resources are developed in a timely fashion, through a fair distribution of revenues between the federal and state government, and in an environmentally sound manner.”
In his letter, Webb also urged the Committee to expand revenue sharing provisions beyond oil and gas, to include marine renewable technologies. He also emphasized the importance of creating a more equitable OCS map for Virginia, and ensuring those resources are included in the Department of Interior’s energy production plan.
Webb has long been a proponent of opening Virginia’s outer continental shelf to oil and natural gas exploration as part of a comprehensive approach to addressing our nation’s energy needs. In 2008, he cosponsored legislation with then-Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) to allow the Commonwealth to conduct energy exploration activities in the outer continental shelf with revenue-sharing provisions. Earlier this month Senators Webb and Mark Warner introduced the Virginia Outer Continental Shelf Energy Production Act of 2011.
Webb to GOP: Don’t destroy the U.S. economy in order to save it
Posted by afp on July 27, 2011 · 2 Comments
The markets have already warned us. Businesses are already postponing investments. We know the consequences of inaction; they are predictable: Borrowing costs for businesses and individuals will escalate. Interest payments on the debt will grow, and already anemic job growth will decline. Our nation will run the risk of another financial catastrophe and possibly a return to recession. As Chairman Bernanke recently stated, the outcome would be “calamitous.”
Many Americans are struggling. Far too many remain out of work. They cannot be asked to absorb the shockwaves of yet another failure to act. It is time for both sides and both chambers to find common ground.
Reasonable and responsible editorials from across the country have endorsed the Majority Leader’s proposal. Well-meaning people on all sides have shown genuine concern. Most all of us share those concerns about the implications of not acting.
There are in the other party some individuals who view themselves as revolutionaries in the best sense of the word. They appear less concerned with the here and now than with where they want to take the country in the future. We all understand that the two are connected and that looking to the future is vital to the country. The question, though, is the harm that might be caused by precipitous action.
Columnist George Will wrote a column a few days ago likening the Tea Party movement of today to the beginning of the Goldwater-Reagan conservative era–that the Goldwater movement of 1964, even though it did not bring Senator Goldwater to the Presidency, was the first step toward the conservative revolution that culminated in Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980.
Mr. Will wrote, and I am going to quote a couple of sentences, “The Tea Party, the most welcome political development since the Goldwater insurgency in 1964, lacks only the patience necessary when America lacks the consensus required to propel fundamental change.”
Mr. Will goes on to say, “If Washington’s trajectory could be turned as quickly as Tea Partiers wish, their movement would not be as necessary as it is.”
Those are Mr. Will’s words; that is Mr. Will’s considered opinion. That may be so, and it may not be so, but the first rule of good governance is to do no harm. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make cuts. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look toward some of the directions that the debate has taken us. But it means be careful when you are dealing with the fragility of national policy at a time like this. Some things sound better in a speech to a room full of activists than they actually are in the reality of how you govern and the practicality of how you actually bring about change where change is needed.
Senator Goldwater did not attempt to torpedo the economy in order to get his way. Ronald Reagan, in whose administration I proudly served, raised the national debt eighteen times—more than any other president.
I fought in Vietnam as an infantry Marine. I am very proud of that. Those of us who did fight in Vietnam all remember the regretful quote of one infantry officer who lamented that during one battle he had to call in heavy artillery and airstrikes on a populated village, that he had to “destroy a village in order to save it.”
I do not think the Republicans, who are using this issue as a lever to bring about their view of radical change, want to look back at a fractured economic recovery, a downgraded credit rating for the world’s number one economy, a citizenry that has become more angry and less capable of predicting its own financial future, and then say, as if all of this were not predictable, that they destroyed the American economy in order to save it.
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with budget debate, debt ceiling, jim webb, senator jim webb, u.s. economy