From Senator Maria Cantwell / Maria’s Monday Memo

Maria’s Monday Memo

Senator Maria Cantwell’s Weekly Update for Washington
State Monday, February 14, 2005

Standing Up to Stop the Bush Administration’s BPA Rate Hike

Last week, President Bush released his proposed federal budget. Unfortunately, I believe that the plan he has submitted to Congress would seriously undermine the federal government's commitments to Washington state. I have a number of concerns with his proposal, but at the top of the list is the fact that the President's budget could double power costs for Washington state electricity consumers by changing the way the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has set its rates for more than 50 years. Currently, about 70 percent of the electricity used in Washington state is BPA power and, this plan could cost Northwest ratepayers more than $2 billion over the next four years. That’s why I have launched an online petition drive against the Administration's plan. You can access my “Stop the Rate Hike Now” online petition at http://cantwell.senate.gov. I’ll deliver our petition to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on March 3, when he’s due to testify before the Senate Energy Committee. Add your name to the list today, and I’ll see that Secretary Bodman gets our message loud and clear.


Fighting a Budget That Shortchanges Washington State

In addition to a short-sighted and misguided suggestion to double BPA rates, there are a number of other serious shortcomings with the Administration’s budget. Here are nine other problems that I believe need to be fixed.
· Hanford. The President's budget shortchanges the federal government's commitment to clean up Hanford , and undermines the Department of Energy's ability to meet cleanup deadlines established in the TriParty Agreement. The budget cuts funding to clean up Hanford by 15.2 percent compared to last year. This budget doesn’t give me confidence that DOE is going to keep its commitment to clean up the site.
· Community Development Block Grants. The President's budget shortchanges Washington cities and counties by slashing the highly effective Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, which helps cities and counties take on affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization initiatives targeted to low- and moderate-income families. For example, in Forks, where one in four children live in poverty, cutting CDBG funding will impede finishing projects ranging from building a community center, to developing affordable housing.
· Medicaid. The President's budget proposes legislation to reform Medicaid and cut spending by $60 billion over 10 years. These cuts will put the squeeze on states that are already struggling to pay their share of Medicaid costs. About 916,000 people in Washington state – including 35 percent of all children – depend on Medicaid for health care coverage. Those covered by Medicaid include low-income families, children, seniors, and people with disabilities – people who would otherwise have inadequate coverage or no health care coverage at all.
· Veterans. The President's budget would impose $424 million in new health care fees on our nation's veterans. Specifically, the budget proposes the creation of a $250 per year “user fee” and doubling the co-payment for prescription drugs for some veterans. Our nation's veterans laid everything on the line for our country. They deserve better than to be nickel-and-dimed. They stood up for us, and we should stand by them.
· First Responders. The President's budget would cut the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program (FIRE Act grants) by $19 million. Last year, 132 grants were awarded to Washington state fire departments, totaling nearly $15 million. The program provides essential funds for firefighter equipment, including replacement fire trucks, and training.
· Northern Border. Last December, Congress passed legislation requiring the Department of Homeland Security to increase the number of border agents by 2,000 agents per year over the next five years. Under this plan, 400 more agents were to be added annually to the Northern Border. But President's budget is woefully inadequate to meet this need, and enough for only 210 additional positions – and just 42 for the Northern Border.
· Methamphetamine. Earlier this year I asked the President to boost funding to fight methamphetamine use to $100 million, but his budget allocates just $20 million to this effort. I continue to hear from local law enforcement that they're being inundated with meth crimes. Local communities depend on annual earmarks for assistance in the fight against meth, since there’s no formal federal program to backstop their efforts. We must give local cops the resources they need for this fight.
· PILT. The President's budget proposes a 12 percent cut to the payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) program relative to last year – including a $700,000 cut for counties in Washington state. The PILT program helps counties that have tax-exempt federal lands within their boundaries by offsetting the costs of providing services to federal employees and users of the public lands. Without it, local taxpayers would have to bear the financial burden alone for those services, including education, solid waste disposal, law enforcement, health care, firefighting, housing, social services, and transportation.
· Education. The President's budget shortchanges Washington students by failing to fully fund the No Child Left Behind Act. Bush's proposed budget falls short of the authorized spending levels for NCLB by $12 billion next year alone. In Washington, 38,722 low-income students won’t receive the Title I services they were promised and 22,634 students will be denied afterschool programs. It's one thing to name a bill ‘No Child Left Behind' to get it passed. It's another thing to turn around and fail to give America 's students the resources and the education they need to succeed in the 21st century.


For more information, please visit my web site: http://cantwell.senate.gov