Maria's Monday Memo

Maria's Monday Memo

Senator Maria Cantwell's Weekly Update for Washington State

Supporting Agriculture in Washington State

Last week, the Senate approved the Agriculture appropriations bill, restoring $179 million in Hatch Act funding. Slated for elimination in the President's Budget Proposal, the Hatch Act provides vital resources to agriculture research programs at universities like Washington State University . Cuts proposed by President Bush would have forced WSU to close one or more of its nine agricultural research centers.

Agriculture is the backbone of our economy and an important source of jobs in Washington state. WSU's agricultural research helps the entire region's economy and keeps jobs where they should be—right here at home. For these reasons, and because agricultural research is necessary to ensure economic competitiveness, I fought to save the $179 million in Hatch Act funding. Washington State University estimated that the proposed cuts would have forced them to cut up to 100 staff members, close one or more research centers, and eliminate several projects for which no other federal grants are available. The Hatch Act has helped fund WSU's agricultural research efforts for over 100 years, and Hatch Act dollars have been responsible for some of Washington state's biggest agricultural developments. One notable success story is the sweet cherry breeding program at WSU, which led to the development of the world famous White Rainier Cherry, now a major export to Asia .

The Agriculture bill is now headed to a conference committee called to work out differences between House and Senate versions of the bill. The House version of the bill, passed earlier this summer, also restores Hatch Act funding in full.
Implementing Common Sense Mad Cow Protections

The Agriculture Appropriations bill also includes funding I requested to develop and implement a system to track cattle imported from Canada more effectively. Now that we've reopened the border to Canadian Cattle, we need to make sure we know where our food comes from. My measure will help individually track and account for Canadian cattle transported to feed lots in the U.S. —an important step toward restoring full confidence in American beef. Since the 2003 discovery of an infected cow in Mabton , Washington , the state's beef industry has continued to suffer considerable economic losses. Most of Washington 's major trading partners responded to the discovery by closing their markets to U.S. beef exports, even though the infected cow was of Canadian origin.

Now that the boarder is reopened, we need to implement common sense measures to keep track of Canadian Cattle imports. My Canadian Cattle Tracking Initiative will provide funding for state officials, USDA, and groups from the cattle industry to develop an enhanced tracking system using the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags already applied to imported Canadian cattle. The tags would be readied in Canada and the Washington State Department of Agriculture would review each tag before issuing an import permit. The tags would be reviewed again each time cattle are moved. The program would also be used to ensure that animals are slaughtered prior to the 30-month limit. Mad Cow is more prevalent in cattle over the age of 30 months.
Helping our nation's First Responders

This weekend, after attending a Marine Terrorism Response Drill in Seattle , I signed onto a bipartisan bill to improve communication among emergency agencies and first responders. The bill, "The Assure Emergency and Interoperable Communications for First Responders Act," would authorize more than one billion dollars for states and first responders, and create an Office for Emergency Communications, Interoperability and Compatibility within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Hurricanes Rita and Katrina remind us how critical it is for first responders and other public safety personnel to be able to communicate during emergencies and the aftermath. This bill will get important resources to our local communities, and will improve our ability to communicate during disasters.

Currently, over 80 percent of emergency response agencies report that they are not interoperable with the Department of Homeland Security, which includes FEMA, or with the Department of Justice, which included the FBI. The new Office for Emergency Communications would be charged with promoting interoperability and finding ways to establish emergency communications capabilities when a terrorist attack or natural disaster damages or destroys existing communications infrastructure. The legislation would also call on DHS to develop and test emergency communications systems that can survive a natural disaster or terrorist attack.
Fighting Gas Price Gouging

At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing last week, I called for a Senate investigation of allegations that oil companies purposefully increased prices at the gas pump in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. There is a growing concern that oil companies are taking advantage of the horrible circumstances left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and are raising their prices, far beyond additional costs, to increase profits. I believe we must focus a bright light on these oil companies and their market practices. Dramatic increases in gas prices are hurting every sector of the American economy. We learned our lesson from Enron, and Congress has a responsibility to get to the bottom of gas price gouging claims before our economy suffers further.

Congress my must also act swiftly to pass anti gas price gouging legislation. A bill I introduced last week with 25 cosponsors would put in place a federal ban on price gouging during national emergencies and create new federal fines and criminal penalties for price gougers. It also directs the Federal Trade Commission to focus its enforcement activities on big oil companies, with revenues of more

http://cantwell.senate.gov/updates/weekly_update.html