Senator Maria Cantwell's Weekly Update for Washington State

Senator Maria Cantwell's Weekly Update for Washington State

Investing in America's Students and Teachers

Last Saturday, I joined Senator Barack Obama at Seattle's Garfield High School to call for full funding of the many education programs cut in the president's budget proposal. If these proposed cuts go through, our state's students will see several vital programs dry up. Cuts to the TRIO and GEAR UP programs alone would strip $6 million from Washington state education initiatives, cutting off aid to more than 5,000 local students. To get students and teachers the support they need, I worked with a coalition of other senators last week to secure an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2007 Senate Budget Resolution partially undoing the cuts. However, these proven and innovative programs are still in danger. Too many American students are growing up without the resources, support, and high standards they deserve. As the first person in my family to graduate from college-with the help of federal student aid-I understand just how important these programs are. If we want our economy to grow and our youth to achieve their full potential, we need a change of course.
Making Washington's Coastal Communities Tsunami-Ready

On Sunday, I traveled to Ocean Shores-one of only three Washington coast communities considered tsunami-ready-to announce nearly $500,000 I secured for ten new tsunami warning sirens. Distant earthquakes in the Pacific Ocean or local quakes caused by an offshore fault called the Cascadia subduction zone pose a constant threat to the people who live and work along our coast. The 680-mile long Cascadia subduction zone, off the coasts of Washington and Oregon, is similar in size and character to the fault responsible for the massive Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. The last major Cascadia quake occurred 300 years ago, hitting the Washington coast with an estimated 30-foot high ocean surge. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates a 10 to 14 percent chance of another major Cascadia quake in the next 50 years. A quake like this would give less than 20 minutes warning, making efficient evacuation plans imperative. The funding I secured will purchase two alarms for Long Beach, two for the Ocean Shores area, and one each for Ilwaco, Tokeland, Tahola, Clallam Bay, Port Angeles, and Port Townsend. This is an important step toward making our at-risk coastal communities tsunami-ready. Early warning is vital when seconds can save lives.
Working to Restore Fiscal Responsibility

Last week, the Senate failed once again to follow a fiscally responsible path, raising the debt ceiling to $9 trillion without reinstating commonsense "pay-as-you-go" rules. To help keep the deficit down, these simple rules would require new tax cuts and mandatory spending to either be paid for or pass by at least 60 votes. However, the amendment to put them back on the books failed on a 50-50 vote. Our budget is still in deficit, our debt is climbing, and we need a sound framework to get back on track. I've worked repeatedly to get spending under control by restoring pay-as-you-go rules, which expired at the end of 2002 after enactment in the early 1990s. We need to put some guidelines in place if we're going to avoid passing our debt and mistakes on to our grandchildren and their children.

Keeping Up the Fight to Stop Arctic Drilling

Year after year, the American people have made it clear that they don't want Arctic drilling and they don't want us to pass major policy using backdoor tactics. But drilling proponents once again pushed this short-sighted policy into a budget bill passed by the Senate last week. The drilling provisions now included in the Senate Budget Resolution direct the Senate Energy Committee to write legislation to produce $3 billion in new federal revenue. This, in effect, directs the committee to open the coastal plain of the Refuge to oil exploration and development, moving Arctic drilling along on the fast track to Senate approval. Last week on the Senate floor, we almost stopped this manipulation of the budget process, and I will use every tool at my disposal to keep up the fight in the Energy Committee. We need real solutions to our energy needs, not a backward-looking band-aid approach that would destroy an unspoiled natural treasure for a small amount of oil.

http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/weekly_update.cfm