[env-trinity] Miller and Thompson on Salmon Disaster Aid

[Byron]

WEST COAST DEMOCRATS USE "JOB ACTION" in the 

house TO Win HELP for salmon Fishermen 

    

WASHINGTON, DC - Republican leaders in the House backed down today in a
dispute with Democrats regarding the need to provide federal aid to West
Coast salmon fishermen and small businesses facing a severe salmon
population shortage.   

 

Rep. George Miller (D-CA) and other West Coast Democrats led by Rep. Mike
Thompson (D-CA) vowed earlier today to block regular order in the House of
Representatives because the House would not allow debate or a vote an
amendment proposed by Thompson to provide $81 million in immediate disaster
relief to the salmon fishermen and women of California and Oregon and the
businesses and communities that depend on them. 

 

Despite the near-total closure of the 2006 salmon season and the destruction
of the Klamath fishery, the Bush Administration has refused to declare a
federal disaster in this industry.  Thompson proposed aiding the affected
businesses and communities but House Republican leaders refused to consider
his amendment. 

 

After several hours of delay this morning, Republican leaders allowed a
modified version of Thompson's amendment to be considered and it was
unanimously approved by the House.  While the modified amendment would
provide $2 million in aid to the fishermen and local communities, Thompson,
Miller and others said that approval of the amendment will allow them the
opportunity to fight for more aid later this year when the House bill that
the amendment was attached to is reconciled with a Senate version of the
bill.

 

"For no good reason, President Bush and his allies in Congress have
abandoned salmon fishermen, small businesses and local communities along the
West Coast," said Miller.  "Democrats in the House refused to abandon these
communities and today we have won an important victory for them.  We will
continue to press this concern in the Congress until we have done everything
that we should be doing as a result of the Administration's fisheries
mismanagement."

 

Miller noted that the rights of the minority in Congress have been severely
limited under GOP rule.  Frequently, Democrats are not allowed to offer
amendments that are relevant to the bill under consideration at that time.
But there are still tools lawmakers can use to block or delay regular order
to make the point that they deserve to have their amendments considered.
Because the lawmakers promised today to use those tools to pressure the
Republican leadership to allow the Thompson amendment to be considered, the
leadership finally backed down and allowed the amendment to be considered so
that they could continue with regular order for the rest of the day.

 

Background on 2006 Salmon Fisheries Crisis

 

Several Democratic members co-authored legislation (H.R.5213) this year to
address both the short- and long-term problems plaguing the Klamath fishery.
Miller, Thompson, and others have also repeatedly asked the Department of
Commerce to declare a disaster so that Congress can provide immediate
assistance to the affected fishermen and women and communities. The
Department has refused to do so and says it may be impossible to make such a
declaration until February 2007.   

 

The Klamath River runs from Oregon through Northern California, and has been
badly mismanaged by the Bush administration for political gain.  In 2002, on
behalf of the farm industry, the Bush Administration directed water to be
diverted from the river, which resulted in a massive fish kill. This year's
drastically reduced number of returning salmon is directly attributable to
the 2002 fish kill and a parasitic infection resulting from poor federal
management of the river.

 

Here's how the LA
<http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-hamburger25jun25,1,329
3272.story?ctrack=1&cset=true>  Times wrote about the Administration's
actions.

 

"All administrations are political, of course. But never before has the
White House inserted electoral priorities into Cabinet agencies with such
regularity and deliberation. Before the 2002 midterm elections, for
instance, Rove or Mehlman visited with the managers of many federal agencies
to share polling information and discuss how policy decisions might affect
key races.

 

"In 2002, Rove told Interior Department officials of the importance of
helping farmers in Oregon whose political support was crucial to Gordon
Smith, a vulnerable Republican senator. Within months, perhaps because of
Rove's exhortations, the agency did just that, supporting the diversion of
water from the environmentally important Klamath River for the sake of
irrigating farmland. Thousands of salmon eventually died in the newly
shallow waters. But the senator secured his reelection."

 

 

Byron Leydecker

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

Advisor, California Trout, Inc

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 ph

415 383 9562 fx

bwl3 at comcast.net

bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org

http://www.fotr.org

http:www.caltrout.org 

 

 

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