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November
2003
Welcome
to the November edition of my Washington Report. I hope this newsletter
helps keep you informed about important issues facing our State,
our Nation, and the U.S. Senate.
In this edition, I am addressing several issues that have been in
the news on the international, national and California fronts, including:
If
you have any comments or questions on these issues or any other,
please don't hesitate to let me know. I welcome your feedback on
how you think things can be improved or if there are other ways
in which I can better communicate with my constituents.
Please send any thoughts you have by logging onto to:
http://feinstein.senate.gov/contact.html
Best
wishes,
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein
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Iraq - The United States Must Win the Peace
 Last
Tuesday was Veterans Day, and I want to give my thanks to all the
veterans who sacrificed in the name of country and democracy.
This
Veterans Day was particularly poignant, given the fact there are
more than 150,000 military service members in harm's way, fighting
overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. My thoughts and prayers go out
to these brave men and women and their families. I think I speak
for everyone when I say that I hope that they come home safe and
they come home soon.
I want to commend these men and women who are putting their lives
on the line. They are fighting for freedom of the Iraqi people,
who have faced decades of extreme oppression and brutality under
Saddam Hussein, and against the Taliban forces, who continue to
pose a challenge in Afghanistan.
Sadly, nearly 500 men and women have been killed and many more have
sustained serious injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan. As we prepare
to send thousands more in harm's way, I believe that it is our obligation
to ensure that our military service members and veterans receive
full support from Congress, and that our efforts are tailored to
benefit those who proudly serve this nation.
Ultimately, this is one of the reasons why I supported the Administration's
request for an additional $87 billion dollars in supplemental funding
for Iraq and Afghanistan. While I would have preferred that some
of those funds be in the form of a loan to Iraq, and that there
be more safeguards to ensure the funds are well-used, I believe
that it was necessary to provide these funds.
Read my floor
statement on spending in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It is clear to me that we must stay the course in Iraq, and we must
rebuild the infrastructure, prevent civil war, and see to it that
Iraq does not become a base for terror and instability throughout
the region.
We must see to it that a stable governmental structure and viable
economy apart from Saddam's tyrannical dictatorship can be put in
place. And most importantly, we must see to it that our troops are
given all the tools necessary to accomplish these objectives.
This is the only way to win the Peace in Iraq and the War on Terror.
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Fighting Efforts to Roll Back Landmark California
Initiatives
In recent days, I have worked to fight two major efforts in the
Senate to roll back landmark California laws and regulations including:
- a
hard-won privacy right afforded to Californians;
- strict
standards on pollution from small engines
like the ones you'd find in a lawn-mower or a leaf-blower.
Privacy
 The
Senate recently approved the reauthorization of the Fair Credit
Reporting Act, which in many ways is a good bill that will require
credit tracking agencies to provide consumers with free copies of
their credit reports each year. However, a controversial provision
of this bill would reduce the privacy rights of 36 million Californians.
This is why I and Senator Boxer voted against it.
These privacy rights were obtained earlier this year in landmark
legislation, sponsored by State Senator Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough,
enabling consumers to tell financial institutions that they do not
want their personal information shared with hundreds or even thousands
of affiliated companies.
This practice so-called affiliate sharing can include your most
sensitive information -- stocks, certificates of deposit or your
checking-account balance.
Importantly, California's financial industry signed off on Speier's
bill, rather than face a ballot initiative, which likely would have
succeeded. Industry executives said at the time that the California
bill "encompasses all aspects of the workability needed to
ensure protection of customers' privacy" and that it was "a
workable, reasonable compromise." In fact, the only major reservation
expressed about the provision was that it did not represent a national
standard.
But given the opportunity to set such a national standard, these
same companies worked to wipe out such protections. So, to protect
the rights of Californians, we offered an amendment that would have
established a strong national standard on affiliate sharing, consistent
with California's law.
Unfortunately, the amendment was defeated. But we have no doubt
that this issue will resurface as consumers learn more about the
misuse of their most sensitive personal information.
Read my floor
statement on privacy protections.
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 Small
Engines
At the same time, the Senate is considering a second provision which
would prohibit California and other states from imposing air quality
standards on emissions from lawn and garden equipment.
In fact, a midwestern lawn-mower manufacturer has used its influence
to insert a provision deep within a Senate spending bill which would
prohibit California and other States from placing ground-breaking
pollution standards on off-road engines of 50 horsepower or less.
This may seem like a minor issue, but with 130 million portable
generators, lawn mowers, backhoes, forklifts, boat engines, and
other small engines in existence in America today, the impact of
this provision could be devastating
These small engines produce more than 100 tons of smog-producing
chemicals per day - just in California. This is equal to the emissions
from 4 million cars.
The target of this provision is clearly California, which has the
toughest air quality standards in the nation. California currently
has in place standards that have significantly reduced emissions
from small engines over the past decade - by 70 percent. And the
State has proposed landmark regulation to cut pollution from these
engines in half.
But if Congress approves the prohibition on limiting emissions,
California may not be able to meet federal air quality guidelines,
putting in jeopardy $2.5 billion in new transportation projects
statewide.
The measure, however, would not just affect California. It would
be binding on other states as well. If Texas or Maine, for instance,
wanted to adopt California's standards, they would not be able to.
The
measure was included in the VA/HUD Appropriations bill by Senator
Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-MO) on behalf of Briggs and
Stratton, a company that has operations in Missouri, which is pursuing
their narrow interests at the cost of clean air across the country.
This is a simple issue in our view. California should be allowed
to take the lead in setting tough air pollution standards. And if
other States want to follow California's model, then they should
be allowed to do that as well.
This provision is a major attack on State's abilities to set local
air quality standards. I was prepared on Monday to offer an amendment
to strike the provision, yet Senator Bond, refused to let the Senate
take a vote. I will therefore, continue to try and strip the provision
when House-Senate negotiators determine the final language of the
bill.
Read my floor
statement on small engines.
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Judges -- The Senate has confirmed 168
nominees; only 4 nominees have been blocked.
 Between
6:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 12, and early morning on Friday, November
14, Senate Republicans launched a continuous debate over judicial
nominees.
Given the major business that need to be concluded in the last weeks
of this session - appropriations bills, a prescription drug benefit
for seniors and legislation to protect our nation's forests - I
think that this debate is a terrible waste of time.
Nevertheless, let me describe my views on this subject:
I have served as a member of the Judiciary Committee since I came
to the Senate over a decade ago. I take the job very seriously.
I try to do my homework in looking at the judges that come before
the Committee.
Furthermore,
I deeply believe that this past presidential election provided no
mandate to skew the courts to the right. Judges, in my view, should
be in the mainstream of American legal thinking and should have
the temperament and the wisdom and the intellect to represent us
on the highest courts of the land.
The
vast majority of nominees are qualified to do the job. As a result,
168 out of the President's 172 nominees have been confirmed by the
Senate, and the vacancy rate on the federal bench is at its lowest
point in 13 years.
However,
there are four nominees whose views fall outside of the mainstream,
and Senate Democrats have blocked their nominations. This includes:
- Miguel
Estrada (whose nomination was withdrawn);
- Mississippi
Judge Charles W. Pickering Sr.;
- Texas
Supreme Court Justice Priscilla R. Owen; and
- Alabama
Attorney General William H. Pryor Jr.
Also
waiting a final confirmation vote is Los Angeles Superior Court
Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl, Bush's nominee to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court
of Appeals and Justice Janice Rogers Brown, who has been appointed
to the DC Circuit Court.
These
are all judges who, by virtue of their opinions, speeches, and actions,
have demonstrated that they are outside the mainstream of American
thought and should not receive a lifetime appointment to the bench.
The
issues which come before them - most notably a woman's right to
choose - are simply too important.
Read
my floor statement
on judicial nominations.
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Wildfires Contained
 I
am pleased to report that the devastating wildfires that plagued
Southern California have all been fully contained.
Unfortunately,
these deadly fires consumed a total of 738,158 acres, killed 23
people, and destroyed approximately 3,626 residences and 1,184 other
structures. My thoughts and prayers go out to the thousands of people
who lost loved-ones, had their homes destroyed, or have been otherwise
affected by these fires.
I would
also like to extend my profound thanks and appreciation to the thousands
of firefighters that worked tirelessly to get these fires under
control. They really showed great courage and sacrifice.
Please know that I am working closely with federal, state, and local
officials to ensure the victims of this fire have access to all
available resources to help them begin the difficult process of
rebuilding their homes. If you have any questions or need assistance,
my office is at your disposal. Please feel free to contact one of
my offices at:
- San
Francisco: (415) 393-0707
- Los
Angeles: (310) 914-7300
- San
Diego: (619) 231-9712
- Fresno:
(559) 485-7430
- Washington,
D.C.: (202) 224-3841
I
also have added a fire
resource to my website for people who need information and assistance.
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Protecting
our nation's forests
 At
the same time, I am continuing to work closely with Senator Ron
Wyden of Oregon to secure the passage of balanced legislation that
will protect our nation's forests from catastrophic forest fire
by:
- Authorizing
funding to reduce hazardous fuels on 20 million acres of federal
land;
- Protecting
old growth forests; and
- Speeding
up the administrative and judicial review processes, without sacrificing
the environment.
This
legislation was approved by the Senate last month, and separate
legislation was passed by the House earlier this year. But what
is needed now is for key House and Senate members to sit down and
attempt to resolve the differences between the House and Senate
versions.
Disappointingly,
partisan skirmishing has threatened to snatch defeat from the jaws
of victory. Senator Wyden and I have proposed a solution that will
keep Congress on track for delivering a forests bill for the President's
signature later this month.
Through
informal meetings, we were able to forge this bipartisan bill, which
garnered 80 votes. We believe similar meetings may break this deadlock
and get a needed bill passed and signed into law.
It is critical that we get this legislation passed. More than 57
million acres of federal land are at the highest risk of catastrophic
fire, including 8.5 million in California.
And in the past five years alone 27.5 million acres have burned
nationally and nearly 3 million acres have been scorched by wildfires
in California.
It is my hope that this legislation is passed soon.
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