Dear Fellow Citizens,
Labor Day marks the traditional
end of summer for Americans. I hope
you had a chance to find some time
to enjoy the season with family
or friends and re-charge your batteries
for the Fall and the upcoming holidays
and other celebrations.
Since my last e-newsletter in June,
Congress completed action on a number
of bills before its annual August
home state work period. The Senate
passed legislation to (1) implement
the remaining homeland security
recommendations of the 9/11
Commission; (2) improve
and expand federal college
financial aid programs
and to reform the student loan industry;
(3) reauthorize and expand the federal
children's health care program
to provide health coverage for approximately
10 million kids whose families earn
too much to qualify for Medicaid
but not enough to be able to afford
private insurance. We also passed
(4) homeland security appropriations
for fiscal year 2008, which includes
approximately $3 billion more for
additional border security; and
(5) congressional ethics,
lobbying and earmark reforms,
the most sweeping reforms in a generation.
One bill we were not able to pass
was the fiscal year 2008 Department
of Defense Authorization
bill providing congressional authority
for all of the Department of Defense's
programs, operations, weapons systems,
and expenditures for the next fiscal
year. While the Senate began action
on this important annual bill, we
were unable to move forward in the
face of successful minority opposition
to amendments to address the ongoing
Iraq mission. My
own amendment to implement the Iraq
Study Group recommendations
was one of those amendments stymied
due to the minority's procedural
blocks.
When the Senate returns in September,
the focus over the next few weeks
will be on passing the remaining
fiscal year 2008 appropriations
bills, as well as attempting
to resume action on the Department
of Defense authorization
bill. And everyone awaits
the mid-September congressionally-mandated
Iraq status report from
our military leaders. Senator Warner's
(R-VA) recent comments on the need
to begin withdrawal of some of our
U.S. troops from Iraq before Christmas
is a welcome development in pushing
for a new direction in Iraq.
The following is an update on some
of my other activities since my
last communication to you.
Colorado August Travels.
August is the traditional time of
year when Members of Congress are
able to extensively visit and travel
their districts and states to meet
with their constituents. I traveled
to over 20 Colorado cities and communities.
I toured factories and business
operations and participated in employee
forums at businesses and plants
across the state. I met with Ute
Mountain Ute tribal leaders in Towaoc
to discuss criminal justice and
other tribal concerns, and with
southwestern Colorado and San Luis
Valley county commissioners to hear
of their communities' concerns and
needs.
I met with Colorado delegates to
the White House Conference on Aging
to discuss senior issues and needs,
and hosted another meeting with
Arkansas Valley River water stakeholders
to try to resolve continuing water
concerns. I attended Akron's "Sunny
Days" Alternative Energy Summit,
speaking on the state of alternative
and renewable energy technologies,
and attended the meeting of the
Colorado Water Congress in Steamboat
Springs, giving the keynote address
on the issue of global climate change
and its effects.
I met with veterans in Craig to
discuss their health care needs.
I also met with Colorado's university
and college presidents in a meeting
hosted by CCHE Commissioner Skaggs
to discuss college financial aid
issues, and with Colorado's 208
Commission that has been examining
the health care needs and problems
confronting Coloradans. I hope to
have the Commission testify before
Congress to impress upon Washington
the need to make health care affordability
and accessibility a priority.
.
Veterans Mental Health
Care. Senator Allard
joined me in obtaining a commitment
from the General Accountability
Office (GAO) to broaden its review
of mental health care needs of our
soldiers and veterans returning
home from active duty overseas.
Rocky Flats Workers.
In July I made another personal
appeal to HHS Secretary Leavitt
to grant the health care relief
requested by the Colorado congressional
delegation for Rocky Flats workers
whose sicknesses and deaths serving
their nation were caused by undue
exposure to radiation at that Cold
War facility. Secretary Leavitt
subsequently informed me he would
not grant that request. I therefore
notified him that I would be introducing
new legislation to address the needs
of these former Rocky Flats workers.
Pikes Peak Regional
Vets Cemetery. After
years of steadfastly opposing consideration
of a new national veterans cemetery
in Colorado, the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs finally acknowledged
the need for one. I and other members
of the Colorado delegation have
been pushing for the establishment
of a new cemetery in the Pikes Peak
region, and I am pleased that our
efforts have paid off.
Assistance for Displaced
Workers. In an effort
to soften the impact of outsourcing
and offshoring on American workers
due to economic globalization, I
joined a bipartisan group of Senators
to introduce S. 1848, the Trade
and Globalization Adjustment Assistance
Act of 2007. Among other things,
our bill would for the first time
extend aid to service workers who
lose their jobs as a result of offshoring
to countries such as China and India.
It would also provide critical assistance
to rural and distressed communities,
and make training, health care and
wage insurance more accessible and
flexible. It is potentially the
largest expansion in the 45-year
history of trade adjustment assistance,
addressing the new challenges of
the 21st Century.
Targeting Offshore Tax
Havens. I introduced
S. 1973, the Offshore Tax Haven
Enforcement Act, legislation designed
to prevent wealthy individuals from
using offshore financial accounts
to evade U.S. tax laws. My bill
extends and modifies the statute
of limitations for investigations
involving offshore tax havens and
would give the IRS more tools to
go after offshore tax evaders.
Air Quality Concerns
in SW Colorado. Representative
John Salazar and I joined forces
to successfully obtain a 30-day
extension of time from the U.S.
Department of the Interior for Four
Corners Area residents to provide
comments on the proposed, controversial
coal-fired Desert Rock Power Plant
in northern New Mexico. Many southwest
Coloradans are concerned about the
possible impacts in Colorado of
the proposed plant on the air, water
and overall health of those living
in this area.
Oil & Gas Drilling
on Roan Plateau. The
U.S. Bureau of Land Management agreed
to my request for a 120-day extension
of time for the State of Colorado
to review and comment on the government's
proposed plan for oil and gas drilling
atop the Roan Plateau in Western
Colorado. As a result of that agreement,
I lifted my block on the nomination
of the new BLM director that I placed
after other efforts to obtain that
120-day extension did not prevail.
Colorado National Heritage
Areas. The Senate Energy
and Natural Resources Committee
approved my bills creating the South
Park National Heritage Area and
the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage
Area. Both bills are described in
my February e-newsletter. Both bills
now move to the full Senate for
action.
Promoting Renewable
Energy. To build upon
the Senate's efforts earlier this
year in passing a new energy bill
focusing on renewable and alternative
forms of energy, I introduced S.
1884, the Harvesting Energy Act.
This bill is an 18-part plan for
significant expansion of rural energy
programs contained in the Energy
section of the Farm Bill, which
we will be reauthorizing later this
year.
Estate Tax Relief for
Farmers. In an effort
to provide estate tax relief to
legitimate family farms and ranches,
I introduced S. 1994, the Family
Farm and Ranch Act, which would
grant an estate tax exemption to
qualifying family farms and ranches
that stay in the family and continue
operations after the original estate-holder
passes away.
Closing Farm Subsidy
Payments Loophole.
I introduced S. 1904, legislation
to curb waste and abuse within the
federal farm payments program. My
bill closes a loophole that allows
commodity support payments to non-farmers
and landowners who no longer used
the land for agricultural purposes.
This is common sense reform to ensure
that real farmers who rely on commodity
safety net payments are the only
ones that receive those payments.
Army's Pinon Canon Expansion
Proposal. After my
conversations and requests to the
Army to further meet and listen
to the local communities and citizens
and to "go back to the drawing
board" regarding its land acquisition
plans to expand the Pinon Canyon
Maneuver Site in southern Colorado,
the Army announced it would indeed
"go back to the drawing board".
In August I subsequently met in
Trinidad with ranchers who may be
affected by the expansion, leaders
of the opposition organizations,
and county commissioners from the
counties most likely to be impacted
to hear their concerns.
Fighting Bark Beetles.
The entire Colorado delegation introduced
legislation to improve the ability
of federal, state, and local governments
to deal with problems caused by
the bark beetle infestation in Colorado's
forest lands. I introduced the Senate
version, S. 1797. This bill grew
out of a meeting I convened last
year among delegation members and
Colorado leaders on this issue following
the introduction of different bills
on this subject. We agreed to work
together to develop a consensus
approach and this bill is the result
of that collaboration.
As always, for more information
on my Senate activities in Colorado
and in Washington, I urge you to
visit my website at salazar.senate.gov.
Respectfully,
