Senator Maria Cantwell's Weekly Update for Washington State

Senator Maria Cantwell's Weekly Update for Washington State

Making Progress in the Fight Against the BPA Rate Hike

At a hearing of the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee last Thursday, I urged Energy Secretary Sam Bodman to abandon the Bush Administration's proposal to raise Northwest power rates by $1.7 billion. I told the Secretary that the Administration's plan to raise the electricity rates of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) will cost some Washington families nearly $500 a year, and shared with him that nearly 10,000 Washingtonians have signed my online petition objecting to this scheme. Under questioning from a bipartisan group of Northwest senators, Sec. Bodman acknowledged that the rate hike would require new legislation. I'm glad that Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg (R-NH) yesterday announced he would not include the rate hike proposal in the Senate's Fiscal Year 2006 budget resolution, but Sec. Bodman said the Bush Administration still stands by its proposal. Now that we know the Administration still wants to push it, we need to make sure the message is clear: we'll bring to a screeching halt any piece of legislation that includes this proposal.

Continuing the Quest for Truth and Accountability in the Enron Mess

One of the things that I find particularly galling about the Administration's proposal to hike Northwest power rates is that this same Administration say by and did nothing even after it was clear that Enron and other companies were responsible for the rampant market manipulation that plunged the entire West into a costly power crisis. Last week, we learned even more about the depths of corruption and greed at Enron when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finally changed its tune, and decided there is "sufficient public benefit to be garnered from further review" of Enron audiotapes - even though FERC had initially tried to exclude these tapes from evidence in its ongoing Enron proceedings. After the public release of an initial batch of Enron audiotapes last year, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and I questioned FERC Chairman Pat Wood about FERC's failure to consider the tapes and its attempt to exclude them from evidence. He committed to both of us that he would devote an initial $800,000 in Commission resources to process the tapes.

The testimony filed last week provides the first glimpse of what FERC found in its review of the Enron recordings. However, the fact this evidence almost fell through the cracks is not acceptable. Federal regulators shouldn't have to be embarrassed into doing their jobs. They're supposed to be the cops on the beat, standing between consumers and the mass public mugging that took place at the hands of Enron. We need to understand why our nation's chief energy regulators resisted looking at this evidence in the first place. Our nation's consumers deserve better.

Renewing the Call for a Thorough Investigation of Mad Cow Disease in Canadian Beef

Just days after the Administration announced in January that it would reopen the border to live Canadian cattle and beef products in March, another case of Mad Cow was discovered in Canada . Unlike previous cases, the most recently discovered cow was born after Canada 's 1997 feed ban went into effect. The latest case calls into question whether Canada is fully enforcing its existing feed ban. I am concerned that re-opening the border at this time would both pose a threat to American consumers and undermine the confidence of Japan and other foreign markets that buy American beef. On Thursday, I joined a majority of other senators in voting to prevent the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from reopening the border to imports of live Canadian cattle and processed beef by passing a resolution disapproving the USDA's proposal. If the House passes a similar measure, then the border will remain closed until Congress directs the USDA to open it. I strongly believe that all consumers deserve reassurance that Canadian rendering facilities, feed mills, and ranchers are in compliance with Canada 's feed regulations. The border should remain closed until safety is guaranteed for our nation's consumers and our beef industry.

Working For a Responsible Approach to Social Security Reform

While U.S. Treasury Secretary Snow has indicated the President would consider abandoning the notion of funding private accounts with Social Security dollars and instead establishing an entirely separate program to support individual investment accounts, subsequent press reports have suggested this was merely a tactical maneuver by the White House. I joined 41 other Senators last week in sending a letter to President Bush, urging him to drop the idea of funding privatized investment accounts with Social Security funds. We believe this element of the Administration's proposal is a serious obstacle to bipartisan reform of Social Security, and that any plan for changing the current system must safeguard the program's guaranteed benefits and fundamental purpose. We must have a bipartisan process that will deal with Social Security's long-term challenges and improve the retirement security of all Americans.

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