Nuclear Commissioners Call Chairman A "Bully"

Four commissioners testified before Congress Wednesday and described chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Gregory Jackzo as a short-tempered “bully” who has consequentially hampered the commission’s efficiency.

“The level of tension among the currently serving members of this commission is impeding the collegial processes of the NRC and is obstructing the functioning of key processes between the commission and the agency staff,” Commissioner Kristine Svinicki testified before members of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee.

In an effort to address this hostile work environment created by Jackzo, the NRC commissioners sent a letter to the White House in October expressing their concerns. While the letter did not call for Jackzo to resign, it stated that Jackzo’s attitude and treatment of employees could adversely affect NRC’s mission to protect health and safety at the nation’s commercial nuclear reactors.  

While some Democrats have expressed concern that the letter could be a political ploy aimed at making Jackzo, an Obama appointee, look bad, Commissioner George Apostolakis assured the panel that this was not so.

“I regret that partisan or other ill motives have been ascribed to the action that we have taken,” Apostolakis lamented. “This could not be further from the truth.”

Apostolakis, as well as the other three commissioners, continued to testify that Jackzo expressed “abusive rage,” created a “chilled work environment,” ordered staff to withhold information and ignored the will of the commissions’s majority.

“I do not believe that fear, intimidation and humilation are acceptable leadership tactics in any leadership organization - least of all the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” Commissioner William Magwood remarked at the end of his testimony.  

Yet Jackzo denied the commisioners’ accusations when questioned.

“I have not bullied and intimidated career staff … I have never ignored the will of the majority,” Jackzo claimed.

But when Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) asked the witnesses straight if they have ever felt personally intimidated by Jackzo, they all responded yes.

“When you have four eyewitnesses that testify to something under oath, you know what they call the defendant after that,” Issa rhetorically asked Jackzo. “An inmate.”

“It is unprecedented, to me, to have colleagues criticize one another privately,” Issa continued. “To do it publicly and to have to sit on either side of you to do it before a committee of Congress, to me, is unprecedented.”

After sensing a lack of concern and remorse for his actions, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) heatedly told Jackzo to resign.

“You’re telling me that they’re all wrong and you’re right,” Chaffetz incredulously questioned Jackzo. “That, to me, is a lack of leadership and I hope there is some sort of change.”
 
“If you are going to do the right thing for your country and this commission,” Chafetz continued, “you should step down.”

Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), Chairman of the House Energy and Power Subcommittee, echoed Chaffetz’s sentiments early Wednesday when he sent a letter to President Obama demanding the removal of Jackzo as NRC Chairman. 

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), however, expressed his hope that Jackzo would not quit and that they could resolve the issue among themselves.

“I have not come to ask you -all five of you - I have come to beg you to work this thing out,” Cummings implored. “The American people are tired of dysfunction.”

Chairman Issa concluded the hearing by assuring the witnesses that if this is not resolved, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee will once again investigate management at the NRC.

Rangel Gathers Community Leaders To Blast Budget Cuts

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y) gathered fellow congressional leaders and religious community leaders on Thursday to discuss how the federal budget is not only a political issue, but a moral one

“Whether you’re a Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Muslim, we all have a moral obligation to help the poor, the aged, and the sick,” Rangel declared.

After Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Cali.), Donna Christensen (D-V.I) spoke about the moral implications of cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Rangel introduced four different religious community leaders to explain how religion dictates that one must help the poor.

“What has been missing,” Rangel explained, ”is the collective voices of those ministers and Rabbis and imams that have been screaming out in the communities that have decided to come together.”

“Everyone has to pay their fair share,” Rangel continued. “We have to close the gap of income inequality between the top 1% and the 99% of Americans who are suffering.”

Independents, GOP, and Dem Leaders Join To Restore Home Energy Assistance Funding

 Republican, Democrat and Independent Senators unite to call for a restoration of funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

“Winter is approaching and LIHEAP is on the chopping block,” Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) told reporters on Wednesday. “Millions of Americans are facing the prospect of being literally left out in the cold and struggling to pay for liters worth of heat.”

LIHEAP is the federal program that assists low income families and seniors on fixed incomes with their energy bills. Last year Congress provided $4.7 billion for LIHEAP. This year, however, the administration has proposed a 45 percent cut to LIHEAP, which would bring it down to around $2.5 million in 2012.

“These cutbacks are frustrating - in fact beyond frustrating - because they put vulnerable citizens at risk,” Reed deplored. “It does not make sense to cut LIHEAP when people are struggling financially and heating costs are going up.”

“We need to act quickly,” Reed continued, “because winter won’t wait.”

Average expenditures for households that heat with oil or propane are forecasted to be higher this year than any other previous winter, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) cited. Heating prices have increased by 21 percent since LIHEAP was instituted 30 years ago. Prices over the past five years have increased from $2.40 per gallon to as much as $3.80 per gallon.

LIHEAP currently delivers as little as 78 gallons of home heating oil, which is a mere 10 percent of this year’s heating costs.

“78 gallons is a far cry from the 850 gallons required just to make it through a winter,” Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) remarked. “Only in Congress does this sort of math make sense.” 

“This is America and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that no American goes cold this winter,” Sanders concluded.

Republican Suggests Obama Wanted Super Committee To Fail

Rep. Bill Huizenga (R- Mich.) accused the Obama administration Tuesday of intentionally benefitting from the Super Committee’s failure.

“It appears from the outside that they [Obama’s administration] made a calculated political move,” Huizenga told TRNS about the Super Committee’s failure. “They didn’t do much to help that process along and if there was a real desire to help that, the President could have and should have gotten engaged.”

Due to the Super Committee’s failure to reach a deficit reduction deal by Thanksgiving, there will be $1.2 billion in mandatory cuts in government spending beginning in 2013. Around $600 billion will be cut from defense and the rest will be deducted from domestic spending.

“We are going down a dangerous road here,” Huizenga remarked to TRNS.”The thing we need to do to revive this is revive our economy so people will come off of assistance and pay more in taxes.”

In regards to Obama’s proposed payroll tax extension, Huizenga stated that a reformed permanent tax code needs to be instated.

“We are continuing to do economic and tax policy piece meal - a little bit here and a little bit there. We aren’t doing comprehensive reform,” Huizenga said. “If were going to do it, it makes more sense to have permanent tax policy rather than temporary after temporary after temporary tax policy.”

Huizenga mentioned that an ideal tax code would be a flat tax that would eliminate loopholes and tax credits.

Postal Service In Desperate Need Of Flexibility, Says Chief

While addressing an audience at the National Press Club on Monday, Postmaster General and CEO Patrick Donahoe was interrupted by social activists demanding that the Postal Service not be privatized.

“Hey, hey, ho, ho, Donahoe has got to go,” demonstrators chanted in the middle of Donhoe’s speech. As they demanded that postal workers maintain their jobs and benefits, they continued to chant, “We are the 99 percent.”

“Well the good thing is they’ve definitely been paying attention to this situation,” Donahoe commented as the demonstrators were escorted out of the room by security guards. He then continued with his speech and advocated for the passage of new legislation to enable more postal service flexibility.

“While we have the mandate to operate like a business, the reality is that we don’t have the flexibility under current law to function like a business,” Donahoe remarked.

While the U.S Postal Service is a government institution, it receives no funding from the government and generates its revenue solely from the sale of postal products and services. The postal service must compete for its customers in the marketplace but cannot make decisions without government regulations.

“We’re in a deep financial crisis today because we have a business model that is tied to the past,” Donahoe related. “Most businesses make product and pricing decisions quickly based on market demand. We still have to go through a cumbersome process to price our products. Our competition can make these changes on a moment’s notice.”

“Most companies don’t pre-fund retiree health benefits,” Donahoe continued. “Not only does the postal service require to pre-fund, [but] we’re required by law to fully fund an entire 40 year obligation in 10 years.”

The Postal Service ended its 2011 fiscal year with a $5.1 billion net loss. According to Donahoe, the loss would have been around $10.6 billion if not for the passage of legislation that postponed a congressionally mandated payment of $5.5 billion to pre-fund retiree health benefits.

Currently, a pair of bipartsan Postal Service reform bills are curently awaiting votes in both the House and Senate. If the bills are passed, the Postal Service’s operations and network would be structurally remodeled, resulting in workforce, benefit and service cuts. Donahoe, however, said that neither bill contains the type of reforms he would support.

“Both bills have elements that delay tough decisions and impose greater constraints on our business model,” he said. “Taken as they are, they do not come close to enabling the cost reductions.”

Donahoe later called on Congress to pass “comprehensive legislation to provide us with a more flexible business model so we can respond better to a changing marketplace.”