Bipartisan Senate Quartet Offers New Plan To Save USPS

A bipartisan Senate quartet introduced a plan Wednesday that would refund nearly  $7 billion to the United States Postal Service in order to keep the institution solvent as it struggles to stay afloat. Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Dela.) were harmonious in saying that the refund is in no way a bailout for the service.  “This refund from the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) retirement fund is not a bailout,” Lieberman said. “This was, in fact, an overpayment by the postal service and it is entitled to receive that money back.” According to a statement released by the quartet,  Post Master General Patrick Donahoe would be given access to money the postal service has overpaid to the FERS. Donahoe would then use the funding to offer buyouts or retirement incentives in order to reduce the postal service’s workforce by 100,000.  Complimenting the refund is a measure that would prohibit the postal service from eliminating Saturday delivery for at least two years. Following that period, the service would be required to meet a series of conditions in order to scrap weekend deliveries. “What we want to do is to ensure that eliminating Saturday service is truly the last resort, not the first option,” Collins said. The provision to save weekend service contradicts a similar bill passed in the House that would effectively allow the postal service to drop a delivery day. The bill, sponsored by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), has been widely criticized by Democrats as partisan legislation.

Senate Advances Unemployment Benefits Extension

By Brandon Kosters - Talk Radio News Service

With a vote of 60-40, the Senate has ended a filibuster on a measure that will offer $34 billion in benefits to out-of-work Americans. The only two Republicans who voted to advance the measure were Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

Today At TRNS

UN Correspondent Tala Dowlatshahi will be covering the launch of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) World Population Report 2009.

The Washington Bureau will be covering the following:

-The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee holds a hearing on "The Fort Hood Attack: A Preliminary Assessment."

-Senators Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) hold a news conference about the HSGAC hearing regarding the Ft. Hood attacks.

-Attorney General Eric Holder testifies before the Senate Judiciary.

-Senators Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Kit Bond (R-Mo.), Roberts (R-Kan.), and House members hold a news conference about a recent WTO ruling regarding aircraft subsidies.

-Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) host a members' briefing on Cuba.

-The House Energy and Commerce Committee Health Subcommittee holds a hearing on H1N1 Preparedness.

-GOP House members hold a news conference about Gitmo.

-Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), Michaud (D-Maine) hold a news conference about WTO and trade.

-GOP women hold a news conference about mammograms and health care.

-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Dr. Jill Biden, et al. hold a news conference about the USO Care Package event for women soldiers.

-The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee holds a full committee markup of the "Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009."

No Need For Cyber Czar Says Republican Collins

By Meagan Wiseley - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Despite continued threats to the security of the global cyber infrastructure, Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Monday that she is opposed to the Obama administration appointing a cyber security coordinator, or “cyber czar.”

“We don’t need yet another White House czar. A czar would conflict with statutory duties established elsewhere,” Collins said.

Instead, Collins favors a cyber security “center” within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS would appoint a director for the center, and the director would report both to the DHS on a day to day basis, and act as the head adviser to the President on cybersecurity.

“Effectively managing government cybersecurity is going to require more than a few staff crammed into a cubicle in the depths of the White House,” said Collins.

Last Friday, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano opened the DHS’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Coordination Integration Center, which acts as a 24-hour coordinated watch and warning center to bolster cyber information sharing and incident response.

Collins said that despite its effort to manage cyber security, the DHS “still lacks the authority and resources it needs to secure our federal and private sector networks.”

She says her “center” proposal must work in accordance with law enforcement and intelligence agencies, the U.S. military and private owners and operators of critical cyberspace infrastructures.

“It is vitally important that we build a strong public-private partnership to protect cyberspace, a vital engine of our economy, our government, our country and our future,” Collins concluded.

Senators Introduce Legislation To Combat Potential Biological Attack

On Congress's first day back from its month-long recess, U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) announced legislation aimed at preparing the nation for the possibility of a near-future terrorist attack. In a news conference on Tuesday, Lieberman, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, introduced the Weapons of Mass Destruction Prevention and Preparedness Act of 2009.

The bill comes in response to warnings issued by former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and former Senators Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Jim Talent (R-Mo.) that a biological terrorist attack is likely to occur somewhere in the world by 2013. The latter two co-chaired a Congressionally-mandated "Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism."

In October of 2008, McConnell told a conference of intelligence officials and contractors that one of the biggest challenges President Barack Obama would face in his first year in office would be the possibility of an attack by a biological agent, which he said might "create casualties greater than 9/11."

Said Lieberman, the "consequences of a [Weapons of Mass Destruction] attack would be severe," adding that his committee's bill "would implement many of the recommendations of the Graham-Talent assessment."

Among them are heightened security measures for labs in the U.S. and abroad that work on the pathogens most likely to be used by terrorists in a biological attack, improved intelligence and bioforensics and enhanced safety for emergency responders and their families.

"We are losing ground in terms of our protection against a weapon of mass destruction being used in the United States," said Graham, who served in the Senate from 1987 to 2005. "The clock is not our friend as we face this imminent threat," he added.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the committee's ranking Republican member, stated that if passed, the bill would allocate individual grants of $50 million during each of the next four years to help fund the cost of legislation. Collins said that a lack of funding for biological attack prevention is what prompted her to support the bill. She added that the legislation would provide the federal government with the legal authority necessary to regulate biolab security in the U.S.

"Lax security is very troubling...inadequate security at these labs threatens all of us," said Collins.

Lieberman said that although he expects some bureaucratic infighting to take place, he hopes that the bill will pass the Senate by the end of this year.

"Threats against the American people are out there and [they are] evolving," said Lieberman. "Yet the fact is that we're not properly prepared."