George Bush, trying to dip into disaster relief for fishermen to pay for money they fucked away elsewhere. I hope the farm bill veto and subsequent override probably makes this a "win" (and by win I mean poorly mitigated catastophic loss) at this point. Around here, being able to rely on the river for a little bit of food on the table was what our entire standard of living was based on. No jobs, just fish, unemployment is in excess of 50%, you could not afford to commute to a job in the city even before the GWB. Im sure you all know that we feel we wouldn't be in this mess if not for that crazy MF'er Cheney, shutting off our water.
West Coast lawmakers are protesting a plan by the Bush administrationto take $70 million from the $170 million approved in the farm bill as disaster relief for the Pacific Coast salmon fishing industry. Bush's budget office says the money is needed to pay for higher-than-expected costs of the 2010 census.
West Coast lawmakers from both parties call the request a slap in the face of fishermen hurting from the collapse of the salmon fishing industry in California, Oregon and Washington. The collapse led to the largest salmon closure in West Coast history. A letter signed by 14 Democratic House members calls the request
unconscionable. Republican Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon says he
will join the Democrats to prevent the cuts.
(AP)
I think the main problem republicans are having with the census is figuring out how to count to 370 million on you fingers. This digital accounting system is possibly what lead to the Iraq war.
This guy, is from Oregon, how nice for him.
DeFazio Fires Back at President Over Threat to Yank Salmon Disaster Money
Washington, DC—Today Representative Peter DeFazio (D-Springfield) fired back at President Bush over the Administration’s proposal to use a significant portion of the $170 million dollars in disaster aid to coastal fishers to pay for the increased cost of the 2010 United States Census. DeFazio and 13 other Members wrote the President warning him against using the salmon disaster aid to fix the mistakes made by his political cronies.
"I am absolutely astounded that the Administration is threatening to break its promise to Oregon by revoking $70 million in disaster aid to coastal fishers, just to pay for fixing the problems with the Census," DeFazio said. "It is outrageous that the President is trying to fix yet another one of its contract screw-ups with emergency funding for a true disaster along the Oregon coast. The fishing community of Oregon is already suffering because of the flawed Bush policies in the Sacramento River basin. They should not have to suffer again because the President has hired people in Florida who can’t count. We’ve been there before."
Late Monday night, the Office of Management and Budget, which puts together the President’s annual budget, sent Congress a revised budget request for more funding to carry out the 2010 Census. The White House is requesting $546 million more for the Census, and has proposed using $70 million of the $170 million in salmon disaster money allocated in the Farm Bill recently passed by Congress, to pay for the cost over-runs. The Administration entered into a contract with the Harris Corporation, a Florida defense contractor, to conduct the Census, but the contractor has run into serious cost over-runs in the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars.
On May 1, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) decided to close the salmon fishery in California and most of Oregon. The decision came on the heels of the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s recommendation that the fishery be closed.
The closure is due to the unprecedented decline in salmon returning to the Sacramento River, which typically makes a significant contribution to the Oregon fishery. Unfortunately, since these depleted stocks will be co-mingled with other stocks, the season must be almost entirely closed. This means that this will be the worst commercial and recreational fisheries failure in Oregon history. This is the first ban on salmon fishing since the industry began 150 years ago. Short-term assistance is critical so that folks can make boat payments, insurance payments, mortgage payments and keep food on the table.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on the Harris Corporation and the problems with the Census on June 11, 2008. http://oversight.house.gov/...
Not everyone affected by this has a large commercial fishing vessel that had to stay in the docks, around here subsistence fishing is the common practice. While I do feel for the commercial fishing captains and crew. Salmon is only part of what most ocean going boats catch, and fuel prices made salmon fishing unprofitable at $3 gallon.
If we as a society want to be able to eat wild salmon we are going to need to take care of our rivers by controlling nutrient runoff and discharges.
I Can only hope that when 2010 rolls around the government will have conducted its census in such a way that allows it to provide accurate and useful information about how people have been struggling to live with the governments mistakes.