Government Executive - Authors - Elaine S. Povich

Pay Transparency Laws Raise Women’s Salaries (And Slightly Lower Men’s)

Elaine S. Povich, Stateline — Mon, 30 May 2022 11:00:00 -0400

This article originally appeared on Stateline.

The bestselling 2016 book “Hidden Figures,” later adapted into a popular film, told the story of Black female mathematicians who played an essential role in the U.S. space program in the 1950s and 1960s, but who faced racial discrimination and were paid less than their male counterparts.

The gender pay gap existed before the era portrayed in the book and film, and it persists today, though it has narrowed in recent years. In 2019, the national median salary for women working full time was $43,394, compared with $53,544 for men, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

The sponsor of a West Virginia bill that aimed to close that gap there named it for two of the mathematicians featured in the book and film, Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan, both of whom were born in the state. The bill, which has been introduced for several sessions but has failed to pass, would require employers to publish salaries when advertising jobs and would prohibit companies from retaliating against workers who discuss their pay with colleagues.

Studies show that salary transparency—coupled with laws prohibiting companies from asking an applicant about their current or previous pay—can narrow the gender pay gap. If companies must advertise salaries for open positions, and current employees can freely discuss pay, applicants are less likely to receive or accept lowball offers. Studies show that women and minority candidates are most likely to receive such offers.

But research also shows that salary transparency tends to lower men’s salaries even as it raises those of women—and might lower salaries overall. Multistate companies have found ways to circumvent the laws by refusing to accept applications from job seekers who live in states that require transparency. And critics say salary transparency laws might persuade companies to hire fewer employees, and could foment conflict in the workplace.

State Rep. Barbara Evans Fleischauer, the Democratic sponsor of the West Virginia bill, said it has foundered against opposition from Republicans and business interests. “One member said: ‘I don’t want my secretary talking to others about what they make,’” she recalled.

But 17 states already have similar pay transparency laws. In March, Washington Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation requiring employers with 15 or more workers to post salary ranges beginning in 2023. A similar Rhode Island law is scheduled to take effect next year.

There are no readily available studies on whether state transparency laws have helped close the pay gap, since the first of the laws took effect just a few years ago, in 2018.

But a 2019 study of Canadian universities, which have similar requirements, found the laws “reduced the gender pay gap between men and women by approximately 20-40 percent.”

“It’s very hard to lowball some new potential employee if the new potential employee is capable of looking at a range of salaries,” said Cornell economics assistant professor Thomas Jungbauer. “This can have a positive effect on wage gaps because of gender or color. Employers might offer lower wages to certain types of applicants. This makes it harder.”

Seventeen states have pay transparency laws, which require job advertisements to list starting salary ranges. Other states are considering similar laws. Advocates say in addition to being informative for job applicants, the laws help ease gender pay inequity.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, median earnings for women in the 2016-2020 period, the most recent period for which samples were taken, showed women making 81% of what men earn as a median salary. That’s better than the 59 cents on the dollar earned by women during the “Hidden Figures” era, but still well short of equal.

The 2019 census data also shows that the gender pay gap varies significantly from state to state. The District of Columbia, Utah and Wyoming all had gaps that exceeded $15,000, while the gap was less than $10,000 in states including Arizona, California, Florida, New York and North Carolina.

New York Debate

New York City’s pay transparency law was scheduled to take effect this month, but the City Council in April voted to postpone implementation until November because of business concerns about a lack of flexibility and worries that the law had been approved too quickly, according to Beverly Neufeld, president and founder of PowHer NY, a network of gender and racial justice organizations.

The new law will require that employers get a warning and 30 days to fix their first violation before facing fines. It also eliminated the right to sue an employer for not posting salary ranges unless you are employed there.

The Staten Island Chamber of Commerce was one organization that argued against the law, saying that it would disadvantage New York companies. Forcing them to publicize salaries for open jobs, the chamber argued, would push prospective employees to look elsewhere for higher compensation.

“The city’s [minority- and women-owned business] firms are generally at a disadvantage in competing for scarce talent and are likely to be outbid if a majority competitor has access to their salary offering,” the chamber said in a statement.

New York state is considering a similar bill. State Rep. Latoya Joyner, a Democrat and primary sponsor of the bill, said in an email to Stateline that while the state has taken a significant step toward closing the salary gap by prohibiting companies from asking interviewees about their salary history, it will go even further with this legislation.

Overall, the pay gap between men and women in New York state in 2019 was $8,821, with women making 85.5% of what men make, but that gap differed by race and ethnicity. For White workers the gap was $12,000 (83%), while it was $3,500 for Hispanic workers (92%) and $2,900 for Black workers (94%). There was no gender pay gap for Asian workers.

“Workers—especially women—still face a very daunting work environment when it comes to compensation, and we need to do more to create a level playing field in the workplace when it comes to salaries,” Joyner said.

The bill is awaiting action in both the Senate and the Assembly, and Joyner said she was hopeful it would pass in June.

Limited Effectiveness?

Colorado’s transparency law went into effect last year, but an investigation by television station 9News in Denver found at least 10 companies in May 2021―including Nike, Johnson & Johnson and Lincoln Financial―saying in their ads that no Coloradans need apply for their openings. A subsequent Colorado Department of Labor ruling underscored the regulation and said that no company is exempt, even if the jobs are for remote work.

Meanwhile, a study in 2021 by Harvard Business School assistant professor Zoe Cullen showed that making pay scales public reduces “the individual bargaining power of workers, leading to lower average wages.” The study found the wages went down by 2%, mostly by lowering men’s pay. The study used salary data from the American Community Survey and compared overall salaries in states where pay transparency exists to those where it doesn’t. It modeled future effects based on those statistics.

“Both the empirical work and that model showed that when employers catch wind of the fact that there’s greater transparency and have time to adjust pay setting practices, they do so by bargaining more aggressively,” she said in a phone interview. “They know that by raising your wage, it weakens their negotiations. The upshot is that average wages are overall lower.”

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Same Mission, Different Pay for National Guard

Elaine S. Povich, Stateline — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 07:00:00 -0400

This article originally appeared on Stateline.

For months, U.S. residents have seen National Guard troops fan out across communities — testing patients for COVID-19, answering calls at state unemployment offices and, more recently, standing in riot gear before Americans protesting structural racism and deaths in police custody.

Those troops, many of whom hold full-time civilian jobs outside of their Guard roles, usually are called up for domestic duty by governors, not by the Department of Defense, and — just as with other state workers — their pay and benefits vary widely even as they do similar jobs.

“One of the big challenges for both states and federal government, is that when people see a National Guard soldier … on the street, they have zero sense of these … multiple pay statuses,” said Brian Nussbaum, a professor of homeland security at the State University of New York at Albany.

“In some states it’s [the] governor deploying with state money, others it’s governors deploying with federal money,” he said.

If troops are injured on the job, health coverages may differ, and some rely on state workers’ compensation programs, which vary widely. Only if they are federalized by presidential order do National Guard troops receive equal pay and benefits.

The pressures and disparities among National Guard troops drew attention when President Donald Trump in May said he would deactivate troops after 89 days — one day short of the 90 days needed to qualify for some benefits, including G.I. Bill-type college support.

Trump reversed himself and later announced that he’d keep troops on duty through mid-August.

On June 5 this year, nearly 84,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen were activated for duty in the United States, surpassing the record of 51,000 Guard members who responded to the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster, the Washington office of the National Guard Bureau said in a news release.

Some 41,500 of them were directed to civil unrest, while about 37,000 were supporting COVID-19 efforts. Counting Guard members overseas, 118,000 total were deployed at the time.

But disparities — both among states and when compared with active-duty troops — are baked into the system, because National Guard organizations are based in states. In most cases, particularly when deploying to a single state as for a local flood, National Guard members deploy under “state active duty” status — deployed and paid by the same state. In deployments of Guard units from multiple states, those separate pay scales can create inequities.

In the Montana National Guard, for example, an E5 (the equivalent of a sergeant) with six years of experience, on state active duty is paid $206.30 a day for the first 15 days of duty, and $148.07 a day thereafter. The same member deployed under federal authority (Title 32) would get $103.15 a day across the board. Expenses such as travel and housing are handled separately.

In a hypothetical activation to California to fight a wildfire, Montana Guard E5s would make their $206.30 while California National Guard members of the same rank and experience would get $336 a day, and $403 a day if they are reporting for “hazardous duty,” as defined by the governor.

If the request is through the federal Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), the pay could be the same for all Guard members, but it doesn’t have to be, as states still control their Guard.

Most times, big emergencies like Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017 or large wildfires trigger a disaster declaration by the president and result in the EMAC, according to National Guard spokesperson Master Sgt. Mike Houk in Washington.

And, if that wasn’t complicated enough, Guard unit members are compensated differently than active duty servicemembers in the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines.

Army Major Gen. Matt Quinn, adjutant general of the Montana National Guard and president of the Adjutants General Association of the United States, said part of the state control of the Guard stems from its origins in the Constitution: Each state was charged with having a “militia.” But, he said, that has led to a “basic inequity of benefits, especially if injured on duty.”

Quinn said he and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, like to tell a hypothetical story of three military personnel — an active duty Army member, an Army reservist and an Army National Guard member from Montana all sent to help with hurricane damage in Puerto Rico. If a tree falls on all three of them, “two, the U.S. Army active duty member and the reservist, would have federal benefits available; but the Guard member would have to fall back on state workers’ compensation.”

Frank Yoakum, executive director of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States, said compensation for members of the Guard “depends on how much money a state has.” He said that some potential Guard members, especially if they live close to a state border, shop around for the best Guard deal.

“If you are looking for parity between the states, it does not exist,” he said.

Large multistate deployments are usually swept under Title 32, meaning the federal government controls pay and benefits. That’s not what happened in the current COVID-19 response and when National Guard troops for 11 states were detailed to the District of Columbia (to monitor protests in response to the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer), because of the city’s unique status in not being a state.

At the height of the protests at the beginning of June, Guard troops were activated across the country — including from Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington state, Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin — Guard officials said.

Retired Army Brigadier Gen. David Sheppard, who is now a professor of public service at the State University of New York at Albany, has overseen large domestic National Guard deployments. He said while the average Guard member may not be trained in responding to civil disturbances, Guard military police units are. Those are the types of units that get the call to come to demonstrations, he said.

That said, “the use of the military is an absolute last resort for anything,” he said in a phone interview.

“It’s just not a good picture when you bring in the military. People remember Kent State,” he said, referring to the 1970 protest march against the Vietnam War at Kent State University in Ohio in which 13 demonstrators were shot — four killed — by National Guard members. “A lot of guardsmen are nervous,” he said “they are facing their own people. It’s difficult.”

A move in Congress to equalize some Guard pay and benefits for active duty troops fell short last year.

But without action to extend more benefits to the Guard, “it comes down to the legislatures of the states who control, along with the governor, the activities,” said Robert Sanders, professor at the University of New Haven who retired in 2018 as a captain in the Navy after 34 years. “Budget constraints play a big part.”

Some states think of the Guard as tangential to the state’s priorities, he said. “Of course, until they are needed, then they become central to everything that’s going on.”

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TSA Agents to Warn Travelers On Real ID Deadline

Elaine S. Povich — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 14:00:00 -0400

The security line at the airport might take slightly longer now.

The Transportation Security Administration has instituted a new policy requiring its agents who check photo IDs at airports to advise travelers without Real ID-compliant driver’s licenses that they have just 13 months to get one.

Those travelers now can expect a short spiel from the TSA agent at the check-in podium, which includes explaining the rules and advising travelers on where they can get more information.

“It will take a few extra seconds,” said Lisa Farbstein, a spokeswoman for the TSA. “There are signs at the ticket document podiums and in the lines and on the TSA website.”

The Real ID Act, passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, requires licenses to be marked with a special insignia or star, indicating that ID holders have gone through extra steps to prove their identity.

The TSA has warned that if travelers don’t comply, it could lead to long lines, confusion and extra waiting time at airports come October 2020.

Signs at airports have been in place since April. Other acceptable forms of ID are a state-issued enhanced driver’s license, a valid passport or U.S. military ID. But most travelers use their state-issued driver’s license.

Across the country, many states are scrambling to get their residents to comply. The process has been complicated by miscommunication, technical glitches and delays in states including California, Maryland and Kentucky. Some states delayed implementation of the new law because of privacy and cost concerns and were granted extensions. But TSA is saying no more will be given.

“The security requirements of the Real ID Act are an important step in enhancing commercial aviation security,” TSA Acting Deputy Administrator Patricia Cogswell said in a statement. “Real ID implementation is a little more than a year away — now is the time to prepare.”

This article originally appeared on Stateline, an initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts.

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Look-alike Census mailings targeted by House measure

Elaine S. Povich — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved a bill Thursday to outlaw the mailings that mimic the Census Bureau's official form.

The measure, which drew no opposition on a voice vote, was prompted by recent mailings from some Republican groups that mentioned the census or were labeled as official business.

"I have seen mailers out there," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. "I've seen Republicans sending out mailers marked 'census' and I wish they wouldn't do that. This legislation will send the right signal."

The bill was introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., partially as a response to bogus mailings that she said might discourage citizens from filling out and returning the real thing.

"As the 2010 census quickly approaches, we must act to assure an accurate count," she said. "This involves billions in federal funding."

The bill would require anyone not from the census to list a real return address, with the name of the sender on the envelope and markings to make it clear that the mailing was not from the federal government.

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Panel approves bill calling for a federal grants Web site

Elaine S. Povich — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday approved a bill requiring the Office of Management and Budget to develop a public Web site that allows federal grant applicants to track their applications.

The bill (S. 3341) also requires the OMB director to develop a plan for electronic capability that will allow non-federal agencies to manage federal financial assistance programs. Under the bill, each federal agency would be required to report to OMB about its progress in developing that plan.

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, sponsor of the legislation, said when he introduced it that the bill would enhance the transparency of the grant application process and allow applicants to provide information and report on the use of the grants in a user-friendly manner.

The new legislation builds on the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act, enacted in 1999. The new legislation will sunset after five years.

"In 1999, I said the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act was an important step toward detangling the web of duplicative federal grants available to States, localities and community organizations," Voinovich said. "While some progress has been made to detangle that web, work remains to be done, and I hope that Congress will quickly reauthorize this law so that OMB and federal agencies continue those efforts."

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Senate committee backs measure to reduce payment errors

Elaine S. Povich — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday approved legislation designed to beef up efforts to recover improper payments made by the government.

Several years in the making, the bill (S. 2583) was crafted in response to testimony by the Office of Management and Budget and other agencies that money improperly spent was not being recovered in sufficient amounts.

The bill, which passed on a voice vote, calls for every governmental agency to designate an individual to be in charge of recovering erroneous payments and puts in enforcement provisions to underscore the effort.

Under the legislation, if an agency can show that it is doing the work, it will get extra money for enforcement. Conversely, if Congress determines that sufficient progress is not being made, the agency would have to submit to a re-authorization process, or ultimately, freeze their budget.

"That should probably get their attention," said Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., sponsor of the bill. Carper said the legislation would reinforce the agencies that are doing a good job and make sure that those that are not, improve.

"We want every agency to designate somebody and say 'this is part of your job,'" Carper said.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, indicted Tuesday for failing to report gifts he allegedly received from a company doing business with the government, questioned Carper about whether the agency would have to "keep records or something on whether the payments were proper." Without a trace of irony, Stevens also asked: "Does someone have to certify that the payments were proper to begin with?" Carper assured him that someone would.

As originally introduced, the bill's enforcement provision called for a suspension of appropriations to the agency if it did not collect sufficient payments. But Carper said the language was softened a bit to make it less onerous.

Each agency with outlays of $1 or more has to conduct a recovery audit of all programs and activities to assist in recouping improper payments. OMB is charged with providing guidance to the agencies and preparing an annual report on the results.

Similar legislation has been introduced in the House, but no action has yet been taken.

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Panel OKs ban on contracts with felon-owned building security firms

Elaine S. Povich — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday approved a bill to prohibit the Federal Protective Service from contracting with any business owned or operated by a felon.

The bill (H.R. 3068) was approved by the panel on a voice vote with no debate. It passed the House in September 2007, also on a voice vote.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., who introduced the bill, said during debate on the House floor that it was necessitated by evidence uncovered at a hearing last year that a contractor for security guards had failed to pay some of his employees. That led to an investigation in which it was revealed that the contractor had other problems as well.

"It was clear that this bill was necessary when our subcommittee learned at a hearing in June [2007] that an FPS security guard contractor had failed to pay 600 D.C.-area federal security officers and to make other important benefit payments to pensions, health benefits, and the like. Our subcommittee intervened when an action by the FPS and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau, a division of DHS where FPS is placed, was reported to us," she said.

"The effects on the security of employees, visitors and the federal agencies alike could not be ignored in today's post-9/11 climate," Norton added.

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Homeland Security panel clears procurement bill

Elaine S. Povich — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

A Senate committee Wednesday approved a bill to extend the Homeland Security Department's authority to contract for specialized research and development without going through regular procurement regulations.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed the bill (S. 3328), which would extend the authority for one year, on a voice vote.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ranking member Susan Collins, R-Maine, who sponsored the bill, said it would provide "an important, alternative procurement strategy for research and development programs."

The idea, she said, is to accelerate prototyping of break-through technologies by companies that have not generally done business with the government. These firms are usually smaller and less able to handle multiple government regulations, she said.

"Programs authorized to use OTA [Other Transaction Authority] are free to negotiate provisions that are mutually acceptable to all parties, such as intellectual-property and indemnity provisions," Collins said in a statement. "This encourages non-traditional contractors to develop cutting-edge technologies that would otherwise be unavailable to the government."

The House has not yet considered the bill.

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Panel votes to allow veterans to seek care closer to home

Elaine S. Povich — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

A pilot program approved by the House Veterans Affairs Committee on Wednesday may make it easier for veterans who live far away from the nearest hospital to receive the care they need.

The bill would allow some veterans who live more than 60 miles away from a VA hospital to receive services at a local health facility.

"I'm glad to see we are inching our way forward for our veterans from rural areas," said Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan.

Several members of the committee pointed out the difficulty rural veterans have in reaching health care, whether they live on farms or in other remote areas.

The bill also provides an exception to the mileage rule, allowing veterans to access care in other facilities if it is determined that travel would be a hardship or that the travel is "not in the best interests of the veteran." That determination would be made by the VA.

The bill is on track to reach the House floor before the August recess.

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Bill seeks to ease disruptions caused by military service

Elaine S. Povich — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

With family and job disruptions among the biggest concerns of military service members, the House Veterans Affairs Committee approved a bill Wednesday designed to ease some of the problems they face when they leave active duty and return home.

The bill would require colleges and universities to refund tuition for service members who could not complete their course work because they were called to active duty.

It would allow service members to cancel without penalty contracts such as those with cell phone companies.

Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., said the bill allows a veteran to obtain his or her old telephone number when they return from duty.

In addition, the bill would allow a spouse to maintain residency in the same state as the service member for purposes of state taxation, property taxes and voter registration. Another provision would allow a returning service member 13 months to pay off student loans should they decide not to return to college immediately.

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GAO official says political influence not isolated at Interior

Elaine S. Povich — Thu, 22 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Despite the resignation of one high-ranking Interior Department official last year over allegations of improper political influence, four more department officials might have interfered in endangered species decisions for political reasons, a Government Accountability Office investigator said Wednesday.

At a House Natural Resources Committee hearing to examine reported interference by Julie MacDonald, the former deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, who resigned last year, the GAO's Robin Nazzaro said the interference was far more widespread.

Nazzaro named four officials who she said might have put political pressure on career employees who were making decisions about endangered species cases: Craig Manson, a former assistant Interior secretary; Brian Waidmann, chief of staff to Interior Secretary Dick Kempthorne; Todd Willens, a former deputy assistant Interior secretary, and Randal Bowman, a special assistant in the Interior secretary's office.

Nazzaro did not directly accuse them of wrongdoing, but said memos, e-mails and other documents studied by GAO show they were involved in decisions later found to have been slanted by political pressure from MacDonald. She said the Fish and Wildlife Service had an opportunity to do a broader investigation but failed to do so. "If they had cast a broader net, they may have found others as well," she said.

In response to the allegations, Chris Paolino, deputy press secretary at Interior, said it should come as "no surprise that political appointees are involved in significant decisions; in many cases it is required by law and regulation.

"It is also worth noting that, during the months GAO employees conducted their investigation, they didn't feel it was important that they interview these four people whose names they had heard referenced, one of whom, Randal Bowman, is not even a political appointee, but a career employee," Paolino said in a statement.

Nazzaro said she had not formally investigated the four, but would do so if instructed by Congress. Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said the best thing to do at this point is to wait it out until November when a new president will be elected who can initiate housecleaning at the department.

"At this point, the best hope for endangered species may simply be to cling to life until after January when this president and his cronies, at long last, hit the unemployment line," Rahall said.

While Democrats on the panel seemed outraged by the allegations, Natural Resources ranking member Don Young, R-Alaska, cautioned against bandying about accusations. "Before someone makes a statement that impugns someone else's character, they might look at the facts," Young said.

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Senate committee lambastes Transportation chief

Elaine S. Povich — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters bore the brunt of senators' wrath Thursday at a hearing originally called to discuss her agency's fiscal 2009 budget but quickly became a gripe session about cuts to small-town flights and the failure of the general aviation community to agree to higher user fees. The Senate Commerce Committee put Peters on the hot seat, and Commerce ranking member Ted Stevens, R-Alaska., sharply criticized the Bush administration's plans to cut the "essential air service" program in half, to $50 million from $110 million.

Stevens said there was a time when the money could be restored by Congress in a "earmarked" appropriation for specific uses, but because of the recent brouhaha over earmarks, that time is past.

"Why did you cut this budget and expect us to put the money back?" Stevens thundered. "With the current paradigm of no earmarks, we can't. You are going to have to play God and tell me which (Alaskan) villages don't get their three flights a week that means milk, sugar, everything."

The White House's fiscal 2009 budget would cut overall discretionary funding for the Transportation Department from this year's projected $69.2 billion to $63.4 billion while boosting allocations for some key FAA air traffic control programs.

"This is a bad budget for us," Stevens went on, instructing Peters to return to the White House and tell President Bush that as a Republican, Stevens had supported the president in the past but questioned his ability to do so now. "I'm not sure I'm going to support the president as I have in the past," Stevens said. Sen. John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., charged that the general aviation industry's opposition to a $25 per flight user fee has put the entire FAA reauthorization bill in jeopardy this year. The Bush budget calls for nearly tripling -- to $688 million -- funding for the plan to modernize the air traffic control system over the next 15 years from a ground-based to a satellite-based network with greater capability for reducing airport congestion and flight delays.

To fund the $15 billion Next Generation project, the budget -- for the second year -- calls for scrapping the 7.5-percent passenger ticket tax and replacing it with a "market-based" aviation financing system of user fees. The switch is favored by the airlines, which ante up 90 percent of the contributions to the Aviation Trust Fund through the ticket tax, and opposed by owners of corporate jets, who now pay only the jet fuel tax. Rockefeller said the general aviation industry's vehement opposition to the fee "may mean no FAA bill this year because of these phone calls. I find it incredulous that owners of these aircraft, which cost millions to buy and millions to operate, don't want to pay a $25 fee."

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House subpanel approves border patrol technology

Elaine S. Povich — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

In an effort to enhance border security in lieu of a comprehensive immigration bill, the House Science Technology and Innovation Subcommittee approved a bill aimed at beefing up technological advancements that could help the border patrol.

The bill (H.R.3916) was approved on a voice vote with no disagreement. The bill moves to the full Science and Technology Committee where it is expected to also get favorable treatment.

The bill calls for the border patrol to define its technological needs, whether that is global positioning systems or advanced unmanned surveillance vehicles or whatever they need. It calls on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to study available technologies and report back to Congress within one year with recommendations.

The bill also calls for pilot projects to determine the efficacy of some of the technologies, including unmanned "drone" aircraft.

"It (the bill) is a necessary predicate to comprehensive immigration reform," Science and Technology Subcommittee Chairman David Wu, D-Ore., said after the markup session. "It will help create a better environment to do immigration reform."

The bill calls for DHS to seek the ability to routinely and safely operate unmanned aerial vehicles on the border without seeking special permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), as they now have to do. And it calls for research into ground based sensor systems to detect illegal border crossings.

"If we can float them in space, we can hide them in gravel," Wu said of the detection systems.

The committee approved one amendment by Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., that called for a study on global positioning systems. The amendment was approved on voice vote.

Ranking member Ralph Hall, R-Texas, who sponsored the bill, said lack of progress on an overall immigration bill should not deter other efforts.

"While I understand the concerns many members have regarding comprehensive immigration reform, we should not allow that issue to stymie progress deterring terrorists, drug smugglers, and human traffickers."

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Homeland Security officials say government unprepared for dirty bomb

Elaine S. Povich — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Government agencies lack the capability to deal quickly and efficiently with a so-called dirty bomb attack on the United States, members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Government Management Subcommittee were told Thursday.

"EPA's analysis of the nation's existing radiological laboratory capacity revealed a significant capacity gap," Thomas Dunne, EPA's associate administrator of homeland security, testified. "This capacity gap will result in a lack of timely, reliable and interpretable data and will delay national and local response and consequence management activities."

A recent investigation by the House Science Committee found that the United States has a shortage of laboratories to test individuals exposed to radiation after a dirty bomb attack.

Asked by Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., what needs to be done, Dunne said the labs "are not going to stay in business unless there's some revenue involved."

He said there are fewer incidents that call for radiological labs and decontamination equipment outside of an attack, intimating that if the government wants the capability in place, it will have to pay for it.

Dunne said that storage capacity for contaminated soil, water and other debris is limited as well.

"We need to improve storage; it just doesn't exist," he said. "Nobody's going to build these things unless there's a reason," he said.

Radiological countermeasures, like drugs that would work to decontaminate people's bodies if they had ingested radiation, also are years away.

Richard Hatchett, associate director for radiation countermeasure research and emergency preparedness at the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, said such countermeasures are in the "early stages of development and face a long road before they are available" to the public.

The testimony did not serve to make Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Government Management Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, feel confident.

He said it was not a question of "if" a dirty bomb attack comes, but "when."

"We must be prepared for such an eventuality," Akaka said, about a dirty bomb, citing the lack of coordination by government agencies in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

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House panel votes to bar outsourcing of tax debt collections

Elaine S. Povich — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The more controversial bill was the private tax collection measure, which passed 23-18 over Republican objections.

Democrats argued the bill was needed to get private collection agencies out of the business of dunning taxpayers, arguing that there have been many documented abuses by the private agencies, such as calling taxpayers more than 100 times in pursuit of a debt. They also said the IRS, given the proper resources, could do a better job.

But Republicans argued that the private firms have done a good job of going after delinquent taxpayers, and that by giving easier cases to private firms, IRS employees were freed up to go after the harder ones. Numerous Republican amendments were batted away by Democrats. House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., said many of those GOP amendments would be considered in upcoming comprehensive tax legislation.

Approval of the Social Security number bill came on a 41-0 vote. The bill would make it harder to buy, sell or display Social Security numbers. Ways and Means Social Security ranking member Sam Johnson, R-Texas, said the Social Security number is widely used as a personal identification number and that 10 million people in the United States have reportedly been victims of identity theft using them.

"It is long past time for Congress to act," he said. House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Michael McNulty, D-N.Y., said, "If we are serious about addressing this growing problem, we must stop giving access to our Social Security number to every Tom, Dick, or Harry who seeks it."

The bill would restrict the sale, purchase and public display of the SSN by government and business, to make it less accessible to identity thieves, while providing exceptions for legitimate and necessary uses of the number such as for tax returns and national security uses. The bill provides penalties of up to five years in prison or a $250,000 fine.

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House science panel backs increase in airport security funding

Elaine S. Povich — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The bill (H.R. 2698) provides a total of $1.8 billion over the next four fiscal years for research and development of airport projects under the jurisdiction of the Federal Aviation Administration. The total is approximately $117.4 million more than President Bush's request for fiscal 2008-fiscal 2011.

Both Republicans and Democrats on the subcommittee were in agreement on the measure, which now goes to the full committee for consideration. It was approved on a voice vote with no audible dissent.

"This legislation is focused on ensuring the FAA will have the tools that it will need to keep the nation's air transportation system safe, efficient, and environmentally friendly," said Subcommittee Chairman Mark Udall, D-Colo., who sponsored the bill.

A key portion of the legislation strengthens the Joint Planning and Development Office, which has the responsibility for developing the next generation of airport transportation systems. Those systems include human factors, weather, unmanned aerial vehicles and environmental research, as well as radar systems.

It requires the agency to come up with a plan to ensure that the new transportation system meets anticipated future air transportation safety, security, mobility, efficiency and capacity needs. In addition, the bill calls for a plan to deal with incapacitation of the system in the event of a natural disaster or terrorism.

Udall noted that environmental factors have become increasingly important in air transportation, especially in other countries.

"Recent announcements from Europe regarding the potential imposition of emissions penalties on aircraft operations in the next decade have also made it clear that the U.S. needs to better understand the impact of aviation on the climate as well as what might be done to mitigate that impact," Udall said.

Ranking subcommittee member Tom Feeney, R-Fla., also supported the legislation, particularly considering the coming demands on the air traffic system.

"The FAA is a unique federal enterprise," he said. "Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, it operates a complex nationwide network of communications, navigation and surveillance systems upon which our civil, military and general aviation aircraft are completely dependent. The architecture of this system dates back 50 years. It is simply incapable, as currently designed, of handling large increases in traffic."

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Health officials get share of blame for handling of TB case

Elaine S. Povich — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Harkin told CDC Director Julie Gerberding he is feeling "uneasy" about her agency's actions from May 18, when it learned of the victim's TB status, until May 22, when it finally took some action to find him abroad. "Either there was confusion or running around in circles at the CDC," he said.

But Gerberding said her agency erred on the side of "giving the patient the benefit of the doubt," trusting that he would follow medical advice and not travel. "We obviously made a mistake," she said.

However, the TB victim, Atlanta attorney Andrew Speaker, told the panel by telephone from his isolation room in Denver that he had never been told he was contagious to his family, his co-workers or anyone around him, and had met with physicians, including county officials and CDC officers May 10. So he decided to fly to Europe May 12 for his wedding and honeymoon, while physicians determined what course of treatment would be best for him.

"No one told me I was a threat to anyone," Speaker said. "Everyone knew I was going [to Europe]. I didn't go running off or hide from people -- that's a lie."

Speaker said physicians had told him it would take 30 days to determine a course of treatment, and he made arrangements to check into National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, which specializes in TB treatment, when he returned. He then left the country, figuring it was better to go to be with his fiance rather than "sit around the office and go to [try cases in] court."

Once the CDC did determine that Speaker had an extremely drug-resistant form of the disease, he was already in Europe. Gerberding said they tried to find him by checking airline records and making calls to family, but were unsuccessful for days. They finally located him in Italy May 22 and told him he had a virulent form of the disease. They told him not to fly home on a commercial airliner because he was a threat to fellow passengers and tried to arrange a CDC airplane for him.

A day later, CDC officials ruled out using their own aircraft because of the potential danger to pilots. Speaker testified it would have cost him $140,000 to pay for an air ambulance. Still under the impression that he could not infect anyone, as he had initially been told by physicians, Speaker came into the United States through Canada.

Though he had by then been flagged as a biological threat, Customs and Border Protection agents at the border in upstate New York failed to stop him. Under questioning from the panel, CBP Deputy Commissioner Deborah Spero admitted her agency's mistake. "It was a failure of an inspector to follow orders," she said, and noted the agency is reviewing procedures. "There is no criticism from outside that can be harsher than the criticism we have brought on ourselves," she said.

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Labor secretary grilled over 2008 budget

Elaine S. Povich — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Appropriations Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., who is also the subcommittee's chairman, criticized her for what he said were too many non-competitive-bid contracts given out by her agency and for splitting up Job Corps responsibilities among four departments.

Obey said 127 out of 150 agency contracts were made on a non-competitive basis, and asked Chao whether that was true. After being asked four times, Chao finally replied, "Yes, sir."

Similarly, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., grilled Chao over what Lowey said was lack of planning for how to protect healthcare workers in a case of a pandemic influenza. Chao said Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations do not require a plan until the flu has hit workers.

"Do you want to change the law before a pandemic hits?" Lowey asked, somewhat incredulously. Chao eventually assented to work with Congress on the possibility of changing the OSHA laws and regulations.

Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, asked her about proposed cuts in the Workforce Investment Act programs, which help retrain workers who are laid off from their jobs. Chao asserted that states have between $1.2 billion and $1.7 billion in surplus now in the program and that it does not need more funds.

Under the administration's fiscal 2008 budget proposal, the programs would be cut by about $1 billion, according to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Simpson said his local WIA office in Coeur D'Alene needs funds every year and said the surplus is saved for a rainy day when workers are laid off.

Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member James Walsh, R-N.Y., cited a portion of the budget that eliminated an $81 million program for services to migrant workers in the rural areas in which they work, and required them to travel to urban "one-stop shopping" employment and training centers. "Their jobs are a long way from the one-stop shopping centers," Walsh said.

Walsh said the Bush administration has cut funds for the rural migrant worker program in each of the last five budgets, and each year, the Congress has restored the funds.

"There is disagreement between Congress and the administration on this," Chao allowed.

"Five years worth," Walsh retorted.

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CIA nominee questioned on citizen surveillance

Elaine S. Povich — Fri, 19 May 2006 00:00:00 -0400

He told the Senate Intelligence Committee that when it came time for him to decide what to do about stepped-up anti-terrorism surveillance in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, his path was dictated by his conscience. "I could not not do this," Hayden said.

Members of the committee grilled Hayden on both the electronic surveillance of Americans and on the faulty intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war. The toughest questioning came over the spying, with the most-pointed queries coming from those senators who were not briefed early in the process and who learned about it from the media.

The administration limited its congressional briefings to Congress' top leadership and chairmen of the House and Senate Intelligence committees until public disclosure of the program brought howls of protest from other members of Congress. All members of the Intelligence panels have since been briefed.

"Despite yesterday's last-minute briefing, you and the Bush administration have not kept the committee fully and completely informed about all intelligence activities," fumed Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Sen Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, called leaders on the committees the "gang of eight" and said simply briefing those members "undermines all of our authority. This is not just a one-way street here. We're not adversaries; we're allies in the war on terror," she said.

Wyden also accused Hayden of saying one thing in public and another privately. Hayden and other administration officials earlier had said the electronic spying was restricted only to international calls. Hayden said that judgment was up to Wyden and the rest of the committee.

"Well, senator, you're going to have to make a judgment on my character," the general responded. "I was as full and open as I possibly could be." Hayden pledged to work with Congress, but his assurances were met with some skepticism. Nonetheless, his nomination does not appear to be in serious jeopardy.

After Thursday's open hearing, which lasted about seven hours, Hayden was scheduled to participate in a closed-door session with the committee during which sensitive intelligence matters were to be discussed.

Senate Intelligence Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., who was briefed about the warrantless surveillance of Americans, told Hayden that he is a "strong supporter of First Amendment and Fourth Amendment civil liberties. But you have no civil liberties if you are dead."

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said Hayden has the "background and credentials" for the CIA directorship, but questioned the constitutionality of the wiretapping program. Hayden said he would only talk about the part of the program that Bush had discussed previously. He said he could go into greater detail in the closed session.

If confirmed, Hayden would succeed Porter Goss, who resigned as CIA director under a cloud. Goss had dismissed many high-ranking officials at the CIA and had ruffled feathers there. Hayden has pledged to bring back as his deputy Stephen Kappes, who quit as deputy director of operations under Goss.

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Senate panel narrowly approves fiscal 2007 budget plan

Elaine S. Povich and David Hess — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0500

After his panel approved the document on a party-line 11-10 vote, Budget Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said the Senate will begin hashing through it Monday.

"I expect we'll not get to a final vote until the end of next week," he said, noting sharp distinctions between Republicans and Democrats over spending for health care, environmental protection, education and myriad other issues.

Gregg's budget once again assumes a $3 billion increase in revenue from opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, although its instructions to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee specify only the amount of revenue.

But his plan offers political carrots for passing a limited reconciliation bill opening ANWR by dedicating $1.05 billion of the resulting revenue to additional spending on land and water conservation, Forest Legacy and coastal and estuarine land protection programs.

An attempt last year to open ANWR through language in a larger budget reconciliation bill was defeated when Republican moderates opposed it, and a similar battle should be expected this year.

"The tactic of an 'Arctic-only' budget reconciliation finally pulls back the curtains and reveals the true political agenda hidden in the budget resolution: isolating the Arctic drilling provision in an attempt to twist the rules and avoid meaningful debate on an extremely controversial issue," said Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope.

Gregg has portrayed his budget proposal as a stand-pat plan for the next few fiscal years, proposing no big changes in mandatory programs or the GOP's current no-new-taxes policy. Even so, overall discretionary spending would rise about 3.6 percent in fiscal 2007 over this year, although the vast bulk of that increase would go toward defense, including the war in Iraq and peacekeeping in Afghanistan.

In all, the budget sets aside $873 billion for discretionary programs. Mandatory spending for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid would remain largely unmolested -- a decision that might strike sparks with House conservatives who are determined to rein in those programs.

Among other assumptions in the Republican plan is the expectation that the federal budget deficit will decline from an estimated $372 billion this year to $359 billion next year and $250 billion in fiscal 2008. This prediction reflects President Bush's hope of halving the deficit during his second term in office.

But Budget ranking member Kent Conrad, D-N.D., took issue with such hopes, brandishing his trademark graphic predicting the GOP's latest budget blueprint does little to slow the burgeoning growth of the nation's total debt.

"If you like debt, you'll love this budget," Conrad declared. He said the Gregg plan -- which does not consider the cost of government borrowing for debt service and the need to address the alternative minimum tax -- will add to the national debt over each of the next five years by more than $600 billion, at a time when retiring baby boomers will begin drawing Social Security reserves and jacking up the costs of Medicare.

Gregg insisted his plan is "a responsible one," and retorted that if amendments offered by Democrats had been accepted, the debt would have been even higher.

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House panel criticizes FDA for slow approval of generic drugs

Elaine S. Povich — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0500

Both Democrats and Republicans called for swifter approval of generic drugs for the marketplace, which they said could save millions for the government in reduced Medicare and Medicaid costs as well as easing the pocketbook pinch of ordinary Americans. Recent news reports have documented a backlog of more than 800 drugs awaiting approval by the FDA for generic sales.

The fiscal 2007 budget for FDA is $1.95 billion, a 3.8 percent increase above the previous year. But virtually all of the increases are in programs such as pandemic preparedness and protecting the food supply from terrorist attacks. It proposes about $26 million for the office that oversees generics, about the same as fiscal 2006.

Subcommittee members also took Von Eschenbach to task for other budget cuts, including a program that informs the public about how to avoid getting sick when eating raw oysters and for continuing delays in approval of the so-called Plan B emergency contraceptive for over-the-counter sales.

But it was the generic drug approval program which drew the most fire. Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., chided the agency for not asking for more money, citing the 800-drug backlog and only 200 workers devoted to the program.

"We want to work with you to get the resources you need to speed this process," she said, saying generics cost less, particularly for senior citizens on a fixed income. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., also cited the flat-funding of the generic drug process and said with such a large backlog "it's critical that we move these drugs to market."

Emerson also called on the agency to make it easier for generic drug makers to compete with brand-name manufacturers which, she said, sometimes repackage their brand-name drug with a generic label on it, giving it an unfair advantage over other generics because it looks more like the brand name consumers are used to.

"I don't think 'first generics' are an impediment to others," Von Eschenbach replied.

Eschenbach's strongest sparring came with Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., over the agency's refusal to approve "Plan B" for over-the-counter sales. Farr and DeLauro accused the agency of playing politics with the approval of the drug, which has been languishing since 2001.

Eschenbach said the agency's last hurdle is to go over hundreds of comments it has received about the process.

Farr countered that in some rulemakings overseen by the committee, agencies have received hundreds of thousands of comments and it has not taken years to review.

"We need a decision because you are losing your credibility," Farr said. "It's time to step in and make a decision." Eschenbach said a decision would be made, consistent with "scientific rigor and discipline" but did not give the committee a timetable.

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Louisiana governor defends decision not to federalize Guard units

Elaine S. Povich — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0500

"The mayor was not in the meeting [between herself and the president]," Blanco told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "I told the president that the proper way is for me, as governor, to remain in control of the National Guard," Blanco said.

She said while she was "pushing" for more federal troops to come into her state, she was adamant that she would have control of the Guard. The panel was holding its 15th hearing on hurricanes Katrina and Rita in an effort to determine what went wrong and what the federal government can do now to prevent similar circumstances in times of natural or man-made disaster.

Mississippi Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, who also testified before the panel, said the question of federalizing his state's National Guard never came up with the administration because he made it clear beforehand that he would not be amenable to such a suggestion.

Blanco also described being pressured with a midnight phone call from White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, intended to make her give up control of her troops. "It was a very different kind of pressure," she said. "I was offended."

She was pressed to sign a "memorandum of understanding" that would federalize her Guard units and when she asked why the hurry, she was told that the president wanted it in time for a news conference the following morning.

Both Blanco and Barbour blamed the Federal Emergency Management Agency for not getting them the food, water and ice they needed. Barbour said his state "took matters into our own hands. The federal government cannot be in charge in Mississippi and they never were."

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, noted that during the panel's hearings, senators have been told repeatedly that officials in the hurricane-ravaged states "did the best they could."

But, she said, the committee heard testimony earlier in the week from Louisiana Department of Transportation chief Johnny Bradberry that he failed to evacuate the poor, sick and elderly because he did not think it was his job to do so.

"I have a very honest cabinet secretary," Blanco said. She said the transportation plan was "in transition" but said she and her state would do better next time. "It will never happen again," she said.

Collins also noted a GAO report, released Wednesday, which blamed Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff for failing to move quickly enough to mobilize resources. In particular, the report said, Chertoff failed to name a high-level coordinator early in the disaster to oversee rescue operations. In earlier congressional testimony, Chertoff blamed FEMA, which was then headed by Michael Brown, for much of what went wrong.

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Louisiana governor blames Katrina failures on levees

Elaine S. Povich — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 00:00:00 -0500

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, in asking for more relief aid, blamed the failure of the levees. The evacuation plans of the city of New Orleans and the state, she said, were amazingly successful -- getting more than 1 million people out -- despite the 100,000 or so left behind.

Members of the panel, mostly Republicans, blamed state and local officials for not making the evacuation mandatory sooner despite warnings from weather forecasters and federal government officials.

"We did it [the evacuation] masterfully," Blanco insisted. She said without the evacuation, 68,000 people would have died, not the 1,100 who actually perished. "We're not going to be accused of not doing the evacuation," she added, forcefully.

President Bush requested about $17 billion for hurricane relief for the Gulf region. Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss., has offered a proposal for $35 billion. The proposal is to be attached to the bill to fund the Defense Department, and negotiators are currently trying to settle differences in that bill and come up with a common figure for hurricane relief.

Members of the panel said Congress was reluctant to give funding without concrete plans in place about how it will be spent.

Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La., pushed the panel to subpoena White House and Pentagon officials to get them to turn over communications and e-mails pertaining to the hurricane preparation and response. Melancon said White House officials have been reluctant to voluntarily give information to the panel.

The committee, on a voice vote on a substitute proposal from Rep. Harold Rogers R-Ky., decided instead to defer action on any subpoenas until it meets privately Thursday with White House officials.

House Select Committee on Hurricane Katrina Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., would then be empowered to seek subpoenas if necessary.

Blanco already has turned over 100,000 pages of documents to the committee. The hearing was called ostensibly to discuss those documents, but quickly morphed into a rehash of the response and preparation for the two hurricanes.

"It's all because the levees failed," said Blanco, who called on Congress to strengthen the levee system, restore thousands of homes destroyed by the storms, give tax incentives to businesses and families, address health care needs, and provide support for schools and students.

"If families don't feel safe, they won't come home," she said. "We experienced a structural failure of our levee system. It needs to be repaired immediately and then strengthened, so our families can come home."

But Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-Texas, said part of the problem with the levees may have been that they were not maintained properly by local officials. He suggested that Congress may not be willing to pour more money into fixing levees and floodwalls until assurances can be given that they will be properly maintained.

Blanco said there were problems that engineers are looking into at this time.

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House panel calls plan for tracking avian flu 'inadequate'

Elaine S. Povich — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 00:00:00 -0500

Hyde, who called the hearing on avian flu just as Congress is determining where to get the $7.1 billion for Bush's overall avian flu plan, suggested that earmarking such a small amount for tracking the disease abroad "might not be adequate to this task."

"Our top priority must be to make every effort humanly possible to detect and contain an avian flu outbreak before it even hits the United States," Lantos said. "In that regard, I am singularly unimpressed by the administration's proposal to spend only 3 percent of its $7 billion avian flu budget on tackling the virus where it is already emerging -- in markets and small villages across the continent of Asia." "I recommend that we, at a minimum, double this amount," Lantos said.

Hyde did not say how much the 3 percent should be increased.

Lantos said he and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., are working on legislation to further address the issue. A Lantos spokeswoman said later that details on the package -- including how much to spend fighting avian flu abroad -- are still being worked out.

Scientists are concerned that avian flu could bring a worldwide pandemic if the virus ever mutates so that it can be passed person-to-person. During the hearing, Kent Hill, assistant administrator of the Bureau for Global Health at the U.S. Agency for International Development, noted that Bush's earmarking of $251 million to support international efforts to detect and contain outbreaks of avian flu is part of a "comprehensive response to avian and pandemic influenza."

Hill said the strategy, in addition to efforts to contain the flu overseas, also includes the stockpiling of vaccines and antiviral drugs, and beefing up the ability at the local level to respond to widespread disease.

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., said it is important to provide incentives to farmers, particularly those overseas, to come forward if they suspect a chicken or other bird is carrying or has died from avian flu.

Hill said because timing is so crucial, the farmers have to come forward quickly. He said one idea being floated is to replace the diseased or dead birds with chicks that have already been vaccinated against the disease. "Some countries are already providing compensation," Hill said, adding that they need to do better.

Earlier this week, House and Senate leaders said they were looking at the fiscal 2006 Defense appropriations bill as the vehicle to carry Bush's $7.1 billion plan. But disagreements over protecting flu vaccine manufacturers from liability could complicate that plan.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH, said the liability issue "continues to come up" in his talks with drug manufacturers.

"We need to get the issue of liability off the table," Fauci said. "Because while it's not going to stop the show, so to speak, there is an increasing reluctance to get involved with something if there's the possibility of a lawsuit."

Fauci said the government will have about 6.5 million doses of an experimental "pre-pandemic" vaccine for the H5N1 avian flu virus available by January.

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Mineta defends department's performance during Katrina

Elaine S. Povich — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 00:00:00 -0400

Mineta said his department had rounded up hundreds of privately operated buses at FEMA's request and brought them to a designated highway stop near New Orleans. There they sat, because FEMA did not give them orders to move, Mineta told a House Appropriations subcommittee.

Mineta also said his department had secured a train with enough cars to transport 600 passengers and brought it as close as possible to New Orleans after the storm, but that FEMA delivered only 90 passengers.

"They must not have known there were people at the [New Orleans] convention center," Mineta said.

House Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Joseph Knollenberg, R- Mich., asked Mineta to assess how well FEMA performed during the disaster. "Not well," said Mineta, after a long a pause.

Members of the subcommittee also questioned Mineta about DOT's plans for making sure that money appropriated by Congress is well spent.

Appropriations ranking member David Obey, D-Wis., pressed Mineta to estimate how much it will cost to rebuild roads, bridges and airports in the affected area. Mineta said there was almost no way to tell, but that he was "working on this very carefully." He offered what he termed a "wild ... guess" of between $1.5 billion to $2 billion to rebuild Louisiana highways, bridges and the New Orleans airport.

A bill that passed the Senate this week and is headed to the House would allow DOT to spend airport improvement money on rebuilding. Currently, airport improvement funds under the department's control are used only for runways and taxiways, not hangars or airport terminals. The bill would waive that requirement, allowing the money already in the DOT budget for airports to be used for disaster rebuilding.

Democrats on the panel, particularly Obey and Rep. John Olver, D-Mass., questioned whether waiving certain government regulations like the Davis-Bacon Act is resulting in no-bid contracts going to government cronies instead of local companies and whether competitive wages are being paid.

Olver cited a recent published report that less than 10 percent of the rebuilding contracts given out so far have gone to local contractors. He called that unacceptable.

But Rep. Anne Northup, R-Ky., suggested that local contractors may not be able to handle the work. "They have had equipment destroyed and workers move away," she said. "I don't know that I'd want to give it to a local company if I'm a small business waiting for a road to get to me."

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