Washington

BOSTON (AP) — January 15, 2013 — The U.S. House of Representatives declined to give any emergency aid to New England fishermen in a disaster relief bill passed Tuesday.

The only money for fishermen in the $50.7 billion Superstorm Sandy relief bill was $5 million for fishermen in New York and New Jersey affected by Sandy.

Three Democratic lawmakers from Massachusetts had each proposed amendments that would have meant between $116 million and $150 million in assistance for the fishing industry in the Northeast, Gulf Coast and Alaska.

But on Monday, the Republican-led House Rules Committee didn’t allow votes on the amendments, meaning they had no chance to be included in the bill.

Massachusetts Rep. John Tierney, who proposed an amendment, along with Reps. Ed Markey and Bill Keating, called the committee’s refusal to allow the votes ‘‘callous and outrageous.’’

In remarks on the House floor Tuesday, Markey accused Republicans of cutting a lifeline to a struggling industry.

‘‘This bill says ‘no’ to them, ‘no’ to their needs,’’ he said.

Keating said the Republican leadership’s claims of being small business champions have proven hollow.

 

Read the full story by Jay Lindsay of the Assocated Press in the Boston Globe 

 

 

 

 

January 15, 2013 — The head of a group representing charter fishing boat owners says failure by the U.S. House of Representatives to include aid for New England fishermen in the Superstorm Sandy disaster relief bill could devastate the group’s membership.

“The margin is minimal to begin with,” said Steven James, president of the Stellwagen Bank Charter Boat Association, adding that fixed costs, such as gas, insurance and maintenance don’t change when the number of fish that can be caught on a charter trip is cut – something that happened last year and that he expects to happen again this year.

Financial aid would help offset the costs of staying in business for the nearly 130 South Shore members of the Stellwagen group, he said.

David Pierce, deputy director of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, said that without financial aid, some commercial fishermen in New England could go belly-up, too.

Some groundfish fishermen are seeking permits to catch other species with healthier stocks – scallops, for example, Pierce said.

 

Read the full story at the Patriot Ledger

 

 

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — January 16, 2013 — This year's version of the Superstorm Sandy disaster relief bill is a disaster for the fishing industry, at least in the House version.

The Rules Committee reported out the relief bill Monday without including any of the three Massachusetts-sponsored amendments that would have provided $116 million to $160 million for the fishing industry.

Rules Committee spokeswoman Torrie Miller told The Standard-Times in an email: "The Rules Committee gave the Democrats an opportunity to unify around one approach to deal with the fisheries issue but they failed to do so. As a result, the Republicans put forth a solution in the form of the Runyan amendment."

The amendment by U.S. Rep. John Runyan, R-N.J., directs disaster relief to the fishery damaged by Sandy, which is mainly in New Jersey. It does not address the larger fisheries disaster issue.

Rep. Bill Keating, D-Mass., whose district includes New Bedford, was frustrated and angry about the outcome.

"This is Americans helping Americans," he said. "This is a slap in the face."

Fisheries in the Northeast, Alaska and Mississippi last year became eligible for relief when the commerce secretary made an official declaration because of dwindling stocks.

The rejection of the amendments brought a swift response from the three congressmen who filed them: Democratic Reps. Edward Markey, John Tierney and Keating.

"Republicans in Congress have cut this lifeline to fishing communities in Massachusetts and around the country," the lawmakers said in a statement. "We gave House Republicans three different options to help our fishermen and they said no, no, no. House Republican leaders should be ashamed of themselves. We will continue to fight for these small business owners and their families."

Last year's Senate version of the bill, which wasn't taken up in the House, will be refiled and sent to reconciliation with the House bill, Keating said.

Keating told The Standard-Times he was especially disappointed because his amendment took pains to be revenue-neutral, being offset by a cut in weather satellite funding.

 

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times

 

 

WASHINGTON — January 15, 2013 — New England lawmakers lost a battle Tuesday to secure millions of dollars in federal aid for the region’s groundfishing fleet as part of the latest efforts to provide emergency relief to Hurricane Sandy victims.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 241-180 Tuesday night to pass a $50.7 billion Sandy relief package nearly 80 days after the superstorm slammed into the mid-Atlantic. But to the dismay of lawmakers from New England and other regions, the House bill offers no assistance to victims of other disasters such as western wildfires and struggling the northeastern groundfishing industry.

The Senate had voted in late December for a $60.4 billion relief bill that included funding for other disasters around the country. But that bill died in the House, and Republicans concerned about the size and scope of the relief package removed the non-Sandy projects from their own bill.

The decisive blow came late Monday when the House Rules Committee voted along party lines to keep three amendments from Massachusetts representatives from being considered on the floor. The proposals sought between $116 million and $150 million for fisheries disasters.

As a result, advocates for the fisheries funding will have to either attempt to re-insert the money in the bill Senate next week or start from scratch with a new appropriations measure, meaning significant delays. Lawmakers from Alaska and Mississippi had also sought aid for fisheries disasters in their states.

 

Read the full story in the Portland Press Herald

 

 

January 15, 2013 — The following was released by the office of Congressman John Tierney (D-Mass.).

“Despite the Department of Commerce fisheries disaster declarations, and notwithstanding the fact that the Senate passed a relief package on a bipartisan basis that included $150 million for fisheries in Massachusetts and other affected states, House Republicans made a callous and outrageous decision last night to block a vote on my amendment to provide critical aid to our fishing communities. Helping our fishermen and providing them sufficient disaster relief should not be a partisan issue, but, unfortunately, the Republicans on the House Rule Committee have made it one. I am extremely disappointed and look to Speaker Boehner to make our fisheries a priority immediately. We need to provide additional disaster relief and we need to focus on reforming the laws that are negatively impacting our fishing communities,” Congressman Tierney said.

Tierney’s bipartisan amendment would have increased funding for fisheries disaster assistance from $5 million to the $150 million level included in legislation that the Senate approved on a bipartisan basis at the end of last Congress. The cost of Tierney’s amendment was offset by eliminating or reducing funds for Commerce/NOAA programs that were not specified for Hurricane Sandy relief.

Unfortunately, the House Rules Committee did advance an amendment filed by Congressman Jon Runyan (R-NJ) to limit the $5 million in fisheries assistance included in the disaster relief package to only those disasters declared by the Secretary of Commerce as a “direct result of impacts from Hurricane Sandy.” If the Runyan amendment is approved, several states, including Massachusetts, would not be eligible for the $5 million in funding.

 

 

WASHINGTON — January 15, 2013 — The House Rules Committee late Monday rejected an effort by three Massachusetts congressmen who wanted to attach aid for fisheries to a relief package being prepared for victims of the Sandy storm.

Proposals by Representatives Edward Markey of Malden, William Keating of Bourne and John Tierney of Salem would have included between $111 million to $150 million for fisheries across the country in the emergency spending legislation, set to be voted upon in Congress on Tuesday. The legislation did not specify how much money would have gone to Massachusetts.

In September, the Secretary of Commerce declared economic disasters in six northeastern states including Massachusetts, as catch limits and depleted fish stocks combined to ravage regional groundfish fisheries. While that pre-dates the Sandy storm, which occurred in late October, advocates said the Sandy relief measure provided the best vehicle for appropriating funds for fisheries.

“We wanted to approach this without taking away anything from the resources that would go to Sandy,” Keating said. “[Fishing] is an industry just knitted with so many generational small businesses, fragile businesses just trying to survive.”

 

Read the full story in the Boston Globe 

 

 

 

 

January 15, 2013 — The U.S. House Rules Committee has barred fisheries disaster relief funding from the amendments to a Superstorm Sandy supplemental spending package that go to the floor today.

The decision, made Monday night, was expected by many, but it leaves Gloucester, New Bedford and lesser groundfishing ports without the hope or expectation of short-term financial aid even as the commercial fleets continue to consolidate in the face of reduced catch limits and potentially catastrophic constrictions in opportunity looming in the 2013 fishing year.

On a party-line vote, the Republican majority on the committee refused to allow amendments that would have provided in excess of $100 million to the Northeast groundfishery in response to the acting Commerce secretary’s declaration in September that the fishery had fallen into an “economic disaster.”

Amendments to provide relief for the groundfisheren and other waterfront businesses were filed by Democratic Congressmen John Tierney, whose district includes Cape Ann, William Keating of Quincy and Ed Markey of Malden.

The rulings mean the Sandy relief package coming from the House will require conference reconciliation with the Senate version of the Sandy relief package, which totaled more than $60 billion and included $150 million for fisheries disasters — primarily the Northeast groundfishery ports in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York.

 

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

 

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — January 14, 2013 — Disaster relief for fisheries is back on the table after three House Democrats from Massachusetts filed three separate amendments to the Hurricane Sandy Relief Act.

Reps. Edward Markey and John Tierney both proposed that the assistance be raised to $150 million from the current $5 million in a Republican amendment. Rep. Bill Keating's amendment puts the figure at $116 million.

Rep. Joseph Kennedy III announced his support of all three amendments.

Fisheries in Alaska and Mississippi along with the Northeast were declared economic disasters last September. Hurricane Sandy then inflicted much fisheries infrastructure damage, particularly in New Jersey.

 

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times

 

 

BOSTON (AP) — January 11, 2013 — Three Massachusetts congressmen pushed Friday for tens of millions of dollars in emergency aid for fishermen after the House of Representatives appeared poised to all but bypass the battered industry when allocating disaster relief funds.

U.S. Reps. Bill Keating, Ed Markey and John Tierney each filed amendments to the House’s Superstorm Sandy disaster relief bill by a Friday afternoon deadline.

The bills have differences, but all ask for between $116 million and $150 million in aid for fishermen in the Northeast, Gulf Coast and Alaska.

The idea is to prompt the Republican-controlled House Rules Committee to allow at least one of the measures through for a vote on the House floor.

Keating said fishing communities badly need the funds as they face devastating cuts in catch limits this year because some key stocks of bottom-dwelling groundfish, such as cod and flounder, are recovering too slowly. Keating blames a combination of natural causes and poorly conceived federal regulations for the cuts.

‘‘You are seeing restrictions on the fish industry that are just going to take businesses, many of them family-owned businesses for generations, and just completely put them in ruin,’’ he said.

Last year, the acting U.S. Commerce Secretary opened the door for federal aid by declaring a national fishery disaster in the Northeast, citing the unexpectedly slow rebuilding of fish stocks. At the end of the last Congress, the Senate passed a $60 billion Superstorm Sandy relief bill that included $150 million for fishermen.

 

Read the full story by the Associated Press in the Boston Globe 

 

 

WASHINGTON — January 11, 2012 — The following was released by the offices of Congressmen Ed Markey, John Tierney and Bill Keating:

Three Massachusetts House Democrats are pushing a multiple amendment strategy to force House Republicans to restore up to $150 million in disaster funding for Massachusetts and other struggling fisheries as part of the emergency funding package for super-storm Sandy that the House of Representatives will consider next week. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the Dean of the Massachusetts delegation, along with fellow Massachusetts Democratic Reps. John Tierney and Bill Keating, longtime leaders in the effort to protect our fishing communities, have all filed amendments to the bill to get fishermen the support they need.

“Our delegation is committed to getting funds added to the Sandy supplemental for all of the fisheries disasters in 2012,” the three Massachusetts Democrats said in a statement. “Our fishing communities face real and stark economic concerns and this emergency funding is critical to many of their survival. We urge the Republican-led Rules Committee to recognize the issues facing these small business owners, and allow the House to vote on our amendments.”

Rep. Markey’s amendment, which was filed today, seeks to restore the $150 million in funding as an emergency appropriation, and therefore would not require a reduction in spending from other relief programs in the bill. Rep. Markey is the Ranking Member of the Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over fisheries issues and funding for NOAA.

Rep. Tierney announced his amendment earlier this week. The Tierney amendment is fully offset and would raise the fisheries funds from $5 million to $150 million. Tierney and Keating first urged House Appropriators to include assistance for Northeast fisheries in any disaster relief package early in December.

Rep. Keating’s amendment, which was also announced earlier this week, increases the fisheries aid to $116 million and makes it available to all states that were issued disaster declarations in 2012. It is directly offset by the monies currently allotted for a reserve fund for the weather satellite program.

“Our Congressional delegation has been hard at work trying to secure funding for Massachusetts fishermen and we eagerly await Congress’ decision next week,” said Governor Deval Patrick. “This funding is crucial, given the severity of the disaster that our fishermen and fishing communities are facing.”

Democratic Congressman Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts also announced his support for all three amendments.

All three amendments would restore funding for fishermen who have had disasters declared in New England and elsewhere in 2012, but have yet to receive support. While a version of the legislation that passed the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support last month included similar language, the bill introduced in the House does not.  House Republicans failed to act on the Senate bill before the end of the 112th Congress.

Last fall, the three House Democrats and a bipartisan group of other New England lawmakers wrote to Congressional leaders asking for emergency funding after the Secretary of Commerce declared an economic disaster for the Northeast Multispecies – or groundfish – fishery, which includes species like cod, flounder, and haddock.

Rep. Tierney's amendment has been cosponsored by Don Young (R-Alaska), Joe Courtney (D- Connecticut), Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), James McGovern (D-Massachusetts), Joe Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), Bill Keating (D-Massachusetts) and Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts).