Warner proposals on transit safety, development incorporated into Senate bill
U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) joined colleagues on both sides of the aisle in passing legislation out of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs to make improvements to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s public transportation programs.
The legislation included new safety standards championed by Sen. Warner in the wake of a fatal 2009 Metro accident, and incorporates Senator Warner’s legislation authorizing grants for localities to promote transit-oriented development.
The bill passed on Thursday includes critical provisions aimed at establishing minimum performance standards for public transportation systems, strengthening enforcement powers and providing states with resources for training and oversight. It draws on legislation that Senator Warner introduced earlier this Congress with Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.). Continue reading “Warner proposals on transit safety, development incorporated into Senate bill” »
Allen to appear at Staunton breakfast on Friday
U.S. Senate Candidate George Allen will be a guest at a dutch-treat breakfast at Shoney’s in Staunton on Friday at 8:30 a.m.
Those who plan to attend can order from the menu or enjoy their breakfast bar.
The get-together will take place in the private dining room.
Allen raises $1M for Senate campaign in fourth quarter
The George Allen for U.S. Senate campaign announced today a strong fundraising total in the fourth quarter of 2012, raising $1,062,132 in the period beginning Oct. 1 and ending Dec. 31.
The end of the year report will show that the Allen campaign raised over $4.5 million in 2011 and will start 2012 with $2,037,405 cash-on-hand.
“Susan and I are greatly appreciative of the encouragement and support we have seen from people in every region of Virginia. The mission of our campaign is to bring Virginia’s voices and values to the U.S. Senate,” said Allen. Continue reading “Allen raises $1M for Senate campaign in fourth quarter” »
Tea Party group blasts Allen on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
The Virginia Tea Party Patriots, a coalition of over 40 independent tea party groups in Virginia, issued a press release today challenging George Allen’s assertion that he is a Tea Party conservative focusing on the former senator’s failure to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2005, three years before the 2008 financial crisis.
The release highlighted Allen’s decision in 2005 against backing proposed legislation that would have strengthened oversight of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac government-sponsored enterprises that operate in the mortgage business. Continue reading “Tea Party group blasts Allen on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac” »
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.” Continue reading “Webb, Warner push Senate to reject efforts to balance budget on backs of federal workers” »
Tea Party group endorses Allen
Today George Allen received the endorsement of over more than 100 Tea Party leaders from across Virginia for his candidacy for the United States Senate seat currently held by Democrat Jim Webb.
Allen is a heavy favorite to win the Republican Party nomination to run for the Senate in 2012. He faces a field of challengers that most prominently includes former Virginia Tea Party leader Jamie Radtke.
“Gov. Allen’s belief in Tea Party principles is evident in his desire to cut government spending and bring a greater degree of accountability to Washington,” said Coby Dillard, co-founder of the Hampton Roads Tea Party. “When elected, I believe he will carry our shared beliefs to the halls of the Senate, and continue the fight to leave a more fiscally responsible nation as a gift to future generations.”
“George Allen will restrain this over-reaching federal government and preserve the individual freedoms and rights that our Founders envisioned. He has a proven track record of implementing pro-growth policies that help businesses create jobs, and the experience we need to get it done,” said Laura Alcorn, co-founder of the Richmond Patriots. “George Allen is a true conservative leader who shares our core principles. We know he will fight for our Virginia values and we are proud to fight with him.”
“The reckless policies coming out of Washington are eroding our liberties and bankrupting our future,” said Tea Party activist Carl Tate. “Now, more than ever, we need George Allen’s strong, steady leadership to get our country back on track and help America ascend again. The path we are on leads to crushing debt, high unemployment and a dangerous dependency on the federal government. George Allen is a proven, conservative leader who will fight for our values and we need him back in the U.S. Senate.”
Allen, Radtke announce money numbers
The Senate campaign of Republican George Allen raised more than $900,000 in the July 1-Sept. 30 quarter, substantially more than nomination challenger Jamie Radtke’s fundraising haul in the three-month time frame.
“Our strong grassroots team is working hard and it’s invigorating to see the momentum build as we grow stronger by the day,” said Allen, whose campaign has raised to date more than $3.5 million all told.
Radtke reported $116,000 in donations in the July 1-Sept. 30 period and $370,000 raised to date for her nomination campaign.
“Our momentum is building as more Virginians realize career politicians like George Allen and Tim Kaine got us into this mess, and they’re not going to make the spending cuts necessary to get America going again,” Radtke said.
Senators urge implementation of safety regs for bus industry
Following deadly tour bus crashes that claimed dozens of lives in New York, Virginia and Washington state this year, a group of six senators wrote to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood calling for swift implementation of safety standards aimed at preventing driver fatigue.
“The pattern of enforcement by DOT has been uneven, inconsistent and ineffective,” the senators wrote. “These crashes indicate the urgency in addressing these critical safety deficiencies—improving occupant protection with currently available vehicle safety technology as well as upgrading driver and operator oversight and regulations. The failure of a driver and company to operate safely does not need to result in occupant deaths and injuries.
The letter, signed by U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Jim Webb (D-Va.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) urges the DOT to accelerate efforts to promptly remove unsafe motorcoach carriers from our roads, ensure driver preparedness, and protect passenger safety.
Driver fatigue is the root cause of 37 percent of all accidents investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board. Preliminary reports indicate that last week’s Sky Express bus crash in Virginia was caused by two key factors: driver fatigue, and the Department of Transportation’s decision to give this clearly unsafe carrier a last minute reprieve from closure despite a pattern of safety failures and a determination that the carrier’s safety record is unsatisfactory.
Brown is the lead sponsor of the bipartisan Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act, comprehensive tour bus safety legislation aimed at reducing the number of tour bus crashes and related fatalities and injuries. Brown first introduced the legislation – which was passed unanimously by a key Senate panel last month and awaits final passage by the full Senate – following a 2007 crash of a tour bus carrying 33 Bluffton University baseball players that claimed seven lives. Brown’s bill, which he introduced alongside Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) would also address driver safety standards. The bill would increase and expand safety requirements for motorcoach drivers and companies. It would ensure that new companies are operating by the book and that drivers maintain a valid commercial driver’s license and would establish new minimum requirements for drivers including more classroom and behind the wheel training. It would also give the DOT new authority to deny, suspend or revoke operator registration, ensure that the carrier complies with hour of service rules, and implement safety management programs to ensure that vehicles are running properly. The bill would ensure periodic safety reviews of motorcoach operators.
Webb will not seek re-election in 2012
It’s official: U.S. Sen. Jim Webb will not run for a second term representing Virginia in the United States Senate in 2012.
“After much thought and consideration, I have decided to return to the private sector, where I have spent most of my professional life, and will not seek re-election in 2012,” Webb said in a statement Wednesday morinng, confirming months of speculation that the Democrat was hedging about a possible run.
Webb won the seat in 2006 in an upset of Republican George Allen, who had entered the ’06 election cycle as a prohibitive favorite to win a second term and was considered at the time a contender for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. The Allen campaign imploded in the summer of 2006 after a controversy that erupted over his characterization of a Webb campaign volunteer filming an Allen campaign event in Southwest Virginia using a racial slur.
Even with the boost from that controversy, Webb won a narrow victory, defeating Allen by 9,000 votes in an election with voter turnout just short of 2.4 million. The Webb win came in the midst of a several-year boost of Democratic fortunes in Virginia that culminated in 2008 with Barack Obama becoming the first Democrat to win the state’s electoral votes since 1964.
That appears for now to have been a high-water mark for Virginia Democrats. Republicans swept the 2009 statewide races and unseated three Democratic incumbents in the 2010 congressional elections.
Riding the wave of Republican resurgence, Allen announced last month that he will be a candidate for the Republican Senate nomination. Former governor and current Democratic National Committee chair Tim Kaine would appear to be the early frontrunner on the Democratic side if he were to enter the race. Another top Democrat who could generate interest is a former DNC chair, Terry McAuliffe, who lost a 2009 Democratic primary for the party’s gubernatorial nomination, but has been since gearing up for an anticipated run at the 2013 party nomination for governor.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Webb backs effort to redirect ethanol dollars
U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. joined Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., yesterday in introducing an amendment to pending tax legislation which would save billions of dollars and redirect funding from ineffective ethanol subsidies and tariffs toward advanced energy technologies and U.S. deficit reduction.
“Reducing the ethanol subsidies and trade barriers would reduce the overall cost to taxpayers, while allowing Congress to support the vitally important development of our manufacturing sector through the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit,” Webb said.
Currently, the United States has a 54 cent-per-gallon tariff on ethanol imports and a 45 cent-per-gallon subsidy on blending ethanol into gasoline. In addition, the Federal Renewable Fuels Standard mandates an annually increasing usage of corn ethanol. These protections are expensive and redundant. The amendment would lower the tariff and subsidy to 36 cents-per-gallon. The resulting $2 billion in savings would be used to reduce the deficit and to renew the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit, which was created under the 2009 economic stimulus law to spur renewable technology advancement. The tax credit would fund the advancement of projects such as smart grid technology, energy storage capabilities, and geothermal energy technologies.
In a 2009 letter, Sen. Webb recommended the Environmental Protection Agency examine more closely the negative effects ethanol protections have on other sectors of the economy. Ethanol subsidies have led to steep increases in the price of corn and other sources of feed, which have negatively affected beef cattle, dairy and poultry producers and driven up the cost to consumers of commodities like milk and eggs. He also sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk expressing concerns over the ethanol tariff.
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Chris Graham: Thanks, Filibuster!
Republicans have found a handy tool – the filibuster – in their ongoing battle to kneecap Barack Obama and congressional Democrats.
That’s the good news. The bad news – well, good luck to the GOP when it gets the keys to the White House and majorities in Congress back.
“With little time left in this congressional session, legislative scheduling should be focused on these critical priorities. While there are other items that might ultimately be worthy of the Senate’s attention, we cannot agree to prioritize any matters above the critical issues of funding the government and preventing a job-killing tax hike,” reads a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid signed by all 42 Republican senators promising to block consideration of legislation in the lame-duck session of Congress until the dispute over extending the Bush-era tax cuts is resolved and an extension of current government funding is approved.
Read more columns by Chris Graham at TheWorldAccordingToChrisGraham.com.
The threat is just the latest in a series of successful filibuster threats by Republicans that effectively hamstrung Democrats from being able to do anything in terms of meaningful public policy in recent months. This with barely enough senators, 42, to be able to use the filibuster, or more accurately, again, the threat of filibuster, to steer policy discussions from the unusual minority bully pulpit that the unique parliamentary device provides.
Republicans were able to do a lot more in the 2000s (the Bush tax cuts and No Child Left Behind are two notable examples) with a lot less in terms of partisan-majority strength in large part because Democrats didn’t make the filibuster a top tactic in their arsenal.
Which isn’t to say that they haven’t seen how effective it can be with the success that Republicans have had in the halls of Congress the past two years now translated into success at the polls with the sales pitch to the voters that Democrats weren’t able to get anything done.
Oh, yes. As in sports, success breeds imitators.
The approach reminds me of something I’ve observed about the game of soccer, in which overmatched teams can pack it in by putting all of their efforts into the defensive side of the field in a strategy that accepts as a given that they’re not going to be able to score and thus win but also makes it so that their more talented opposition will have difficulty scoring a goal themselves. It’s a bargain that accepts 0-0 as the best possible outcome, but hey, you can’t lose 0-0, right?
The success of going all-filibuster, all-the-time means we can almost guarantee more of the same when the political winds shift, and the political winds are ever shifting.
Say goodbye to meaningful policy direction from either side from here on out. The race to a long line of 0-0 ties has already commenced.
And in the process, American power, economic, military and otherwise, already on the wane globally, has now officially jumped the shark.
Chris Graham: Could conservatives unify to upset Allen?
Posted by afp on October 24, 2011 · 1 Comment
Allen has been running consistently in the upper 50s to mid to upper 60s in the polls for the Republican nomination and is in a virtual dead heat with Democrat Tim Kaine in polls looking ahead to the 2012 general election. Tea Party stalwart Jamie Radtke has the lead in the race for second, but Radtke hasn’t been able to consistently crack the 10 percent barrier.
But say the rest of the field decides to throw its support to Radtke. It’s not as if she (or another similarly chosen anointed intraparty opposition candidate) would automatically bump up from single digits to somewhere in the 30s overnight. It could very well be that Allen would see his support grow among those GOP primary voters for whom Allen would have been a second choice to their preferred candidate. It could also be that the departure from the race of that preferred candidate could disarm and demobilize that candidate’s supporters, who could just leave the primary altogether.
That having been said, my thinking on this is that the similarities among the challengers to Allen – all of whom are running to the right of the former governor and senator, albeit with nuanced points of individual emphasis issue-wise – could give rise to something of a bona fide challenge to the establishment candidate if those candidates were to decide to coalesce around one from their group. And say it was Radtke, who has demonstrated an ability to raise money in decent amounts for someone running well behind in the polls in a crowded field, well, campaigns are all about organization, message being equal. I could see Radtke eventually getting a bump into the 30s in the polls and seeing her campaign treasury (and thus organizational strength) get a similar bump, but really only if she was to be the lone challenger with the unified support of the hard right and the Tea Party.
To put it in football terms, as Allen, a former UVa. quarterback, so often likes to do, the spread offense being run by the right won’t work nearly as well as a ground attack that runs right into the teeth of the Allen campaign defense.
To the next question: Do I see any of this happening the way I think it would need to happen for Allen to have anything to worry about next spring? No, I don’t.
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with george allen, jamie radtke, senate, senate republican virginia, senate virginia