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Democrats Blame Budget Battles For Fumbled Ebola Response

Democrats Blame Budget Battles For Fumbled Ebola Response

By David Eldridge, CQ Roll Call (MCT)

Democrats at Thursday’s rare mid-recess Ebola hearing pushed back at criticism of the Obama administration’s handling of the crisis, arguing that missteps in the federal response are due in part to budget standoffs and last year’s government shutdown.

Colorado’s Diana DeGette, the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee holding the hearing, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has come under fire since the arrival of the virus in the U.S., cannot do its job adequately without proper funding from Congress.

She reiterated a key element of the Obama administration’s approach to addressing the Ebola outbreak: that efforts to contain the disease must be focused on Africa.

“There is no such thing as fortress America when it comes to disease,” she said.

California’s Henry A. Waxman, in his opening statement, echoed his Democratic colleague’s remarks, telling the panel that congressional budget fights that led to sequesters and last year’s government shutdown contributed to the problems with the U.S. response.

“We have our share of responsibility by not funding the infrastructure,” Waxman said.

“Since 2006, CDC’s budget, adjusted for inflation, has dropped by 12 percent. Funding for the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Cooperative Agreement, which supports state and local health departments preparedness activities, has been cut from $1 billion in its first year of funding in 2002 to $612 million in 2014. All of these were also subject to the sequestration. And those who allowed that sequestration to happen by closing the government have to answer to the American people, as well,” said the California Democrat, who is retiring at the end of this term.

Pennsylvania Republican Tim Murphy, chairman of the subcommittee, in his opening remarks said if additional resources are needed, federal officials need to speak up.

“The trust and credibility of the administration and government are waning as the American public loses confidence each day with demonstrated failures of the current strategy,” he said.

“If resources or authorization is needed to stop Ebola in its tracks, tell us in Congress. I pledge — and I believe this committee joins me in pledging — that we will do everything in our power to work with you to keep the American people safe from Ebola outbreak in West Africa,” he said.

AFP Photo/Mark Wilson

Multiple Candidates Locked In Tight Race For California Representative Waxman’s Congressional Seat

Multiple Candidates Locked In Tight Race For California Representative Waxman’s Congressional Seat

By Jean Merl, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Two of Southern California’s hottest congressional races were shaping up to be extremely close in early election night returns.

Gang prosecutor Elan Carr narrowly led the pack in the crowded field for an open, strongly Democratic Westside/South Bay seat. He was followed, in close order, by state Senator Ted Lieu of Torrance, former Los Angeles Controller Wendy Greuel and radio host Matt Miller, all Democrats, and spiritual teacher and best-selling author Marianne Williamson, an independent.

Contenders for an open Inland Empire seat also were running close together early in the ballot counting. Military veteran Paul Chabot, a Republican, was holding on to first place, with Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar in second.

Following a few votes behind were Colton attorney Eloise Gomez Reyes, a Democrat, and congressional aide Lesli Gooch, a Republican. Former Representative Joe Baca was running behind but not out of contention.

Observers had predicted close races almost from the start.

These two races, to fill the seats of retiring Representatives Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) and Gary G. Miller (R-CA), were among roughly a dozen spirited House races in California this primary season.

The seats are among six in the state whose incumbents are packing it in after their current term ends. Other not seeking re-election are Representatives John Campbell (R-CA), Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), George Miller (D-CA), and Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-CA), who is running for San Bernardino County supervisor.

In the Central Valley and Northern California, there were several same-party fights, at least some of which will continue through the general election. Because of the state’s top-two primary system, only the first- and second-place finishers, regardless of party, advance to the fall ballot. Representatives Tom McClintock (R-CA), Michael M. Honda (D-CA), and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) faced rigorous challenges from political comrades in arms.

The biennial, high-stakes battle for control of the House also was manifesting itself in about half a dozen California districts that, due to registration and voting patterns, could switch parties in the fall. Democrats’ hopes of recapturing the House majority this year are slim to nonexistent, most elections experts say.

But that won’t keep Democrats, who dominate state politics, from fighting to pick up another seat and defending those that could flip. The outlines of the fall battles have been seen for months, especially for seats held by freshmen who wrested them from the other party’s hands two years ago.

Vulnerable frosh are Representatives Ami Bera (D-CA), Julia Brownley (D-CA), Scott Peters (D-CA), Raul Ruiz (D-CA), and David Valadao (R-CA).

The two Southern California races that drew the most attention — and spending — were for the seats being vacated by Waxman and Gary Miller.

Waxman’s district featured 18 hopefuls on Tuesday’s ballot (though two quit the race too late to remove their names), plus one write-in candidate.

The 33rd District, which includes beaches and the Santa Monica Mountains, is one of the wealthiest, most politically active enclaves in the nation. It has big pockets of liberal Democrats who reflect the Waxman’s politics and admire his achievements during 40 years in Congress.

He had a leading role in efforts to improve medical care, allow for generic drugs, clean up the air and preserve coastal and mountain environments. He also helped shepherd the Affordable Care Act through the House.

Waxman did not endorse a candidate.

In the closing days of the race, the Miller campaign slammed Greuel and Lieu. In political mailers to voters, he said that Greuel’s audits as L.A. controller “were overblown” and that Lieu “targeted Toyota … because he wanted to score political points.”

The giant Japanese automaker announced earlier this year that it would move its Torrance operations to Texas and take thousands of jobs with it.

Greuel’s mailers hit Lieu with accusations of taking “junkets paid for by lobbyists, foreign governments and special interests” and tried to tie him to the FBI sting operation that resulted in criminal bribery and corruption charges against Democratic state Senator Ronald S. Calderon.

Lieu kept his mailers mostly positive but managed to point out frequently that Greuel had only recently moved into the district.

The race for the Miller seat caused some consternation for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

The House Democrats’ campaign arm had recruited Aguilar for another try after he and three other Democrats splintered the vote in the 2012 primary. That sent two Republicans to the fall ballot in what is essentially a Democratic district. The committee had hoped to clear the field but saw another four-Democrat fight take shape this year.

Aguilar found himself in a stiff competition with Reyes, who was backed by Emily’s List and other women’s groups as well as by several Democratic members of California’s House delegation. Baca, trying for a political comeback after losing his race in a neighboring district two years ago, raised relatively little money.
But a secretive organization called Cal Voters for Honest Government sent mail and made phone calls and may have been behind billboards touting Baca.

AFP Photo/Jewel Samad

Company Agrees To Record Environmental Settlement

Company Agrees To Record Environmental Settlement

By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times

The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday announced that Anadarko Petroleum Corp. had agreed to pay $5.15 billion to clean up hazardous substances dumped nationwide — including radioactive uranium waste across the Navajo Nation — in the largest settlement ever for environmental contamination.

The operations of Kerr-McGee Corp. — which was acquired by Anadarko in 2006 — also left behind radioactive thorium in Chicago and West Chicago, Il; creosote waste in the Northeast, the Midwest and the South; and perchlorate waste in Nevada, according to U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole.

“Kerr-McGee’s businesses all over this country left significant, lasting environmental damage in their wake,” Cole said. “It tried to shed its responsibility for this environmental damage and stick the United States taxpayers with the huge cleanup bill.”

Last year, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Allan L. Gropper found that before the acquisition, Kerr-McGee had fraudulently conveyed its liability for cleanup at contaminated sites to Tronox Inc., a spinoff entity, while retaining its valuable oil and gas exploration assets.

As a result, Tronox was declared insolvent in 2009 and left unable to address environmental liabilities.

Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, described Kerr-McGee’s efforts to “keep its rewards and shed its responsibilities” as a “corporate shell game.”

In a statement, Anadarko Chief Executive Al Walker said the settlement “eliminates the uncertainty this dispute has created, and the proceeds will fund the remediation and cleanup of the legacy environmental liabilities and tort claims.”

Justice Department officials said $1.1 billion of the total would go to a trust charged with cleaning up two dozen sites, including the Kerr-McGee Superfund site in Columbus, Miss.

Another $1.1 billion will be paid to a trust responsible for cleaning up a former chemical manufacturing site that polluted Nevada’s Lake Mead with rocket fuel. Lake Mead feeds into the Colorado River, a major source of drinking water in the Southwest.

About $985 million will go toward the cleanup of roughly 50 abandoned uranium mines in and around the Navajo Nation.

In addition, the Navajo Nation will receive more than $43 million to address radioactive waste left at a former uranium mill in Shiprock, NM.

About $224 million will cover thorium contamination at the Welsbach Superfund site in Gloucester, NJ, and about $217 million will go to the federal Superfund in repayment of costs previously incurred by the Environmental Protection Agency’s cleanup of the Federal Creosote Superfund site in Manville, NJ.

After a public comment period, the agreement announced Thursday must be approved by Gropper and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, hailed the settlement as a “huge win for public health and the environment.”

Photo: John Hark via Flickr

Twenty-One File To Seek Rep. Henry Waxman’s Congressional Seat

Twenty-One File To Seek Rep. Henry Waxman’s Congressional Seat

By Jean Merl, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES—As political frays go, the race to succeed longtime Rep. Henry Waxman is going to be a crowded, eclectic doozy.

No fewer than 21 people — most of them lacking any public profile — have applied to appear on the June 3 primary ballot in that contest.

The district the Beverly Hills Democrat is giving up after four decades in Congress is one of California’s most politically active, full of wealthy donors and home to many in L.A.’s signature entertainment industry.

With no limit on how many terms a representative can serve, an open House seat is relatively rare and likely to draw a crowd — just not usually this big.

The hopefuls include 11 Democrats — not surprising in a district with a vivid blue wash — four Republicans, one Libertarian, one Green Party member and four independents.

Waxman has long been the area’s liberal lion, pushing through major legislation on health care, clean air, food safety and consumer protections. His Jan. 30 announcement that he would not seek re-election caught most colleagues and observers by surprise and loosed a torrent of would-be successors.

Those who completed the multi-step process to run by Wednesday’s deadline can’t be assured of a place on the ballot until their paperwork is checked by Los Angeles County elections officials and certified by the secretary of State, whose deadline is March 27.

A spokeswoman for the county registrar said Thursday the list could still grow.

But some candidates have been campaigning since late fall, well before Waxman’s retirement announcement. Among them are spiritual teacher and bestselling author Marianne Williamson and TV producer-director Brent Roske, both running without any party affiliation.

The most politically experienced candidates are Democrats — former Los Angeles City Controller and Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, state Sen. Ted Lieu of Torrance and journalist and radio co-host Matt Miller, who worked in the Clinton administration.

Among the several first-time candidates are Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Elan Carr, a Republican, and human rights attorney Barbara Mulvaney, a Democrat who helped prosecute genocide in Rwanda.

The largely coastal 33rd Congressional District stretches from the Westside and Malibu through the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 44 percent to 27 percent, with 18 percent of voters unaffiliated with any party.

Under the state’s open primary system, only the top two finishers in June, regardless of any party affiliation, will advance to the November general election.

Photo: Charlie Kaijo via Flickr