Bipartisan legislation that would provide the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) with the authority it needs to quickly hire experienced, well-qualified staff to conduct rigorous oversight of reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan unanimously passed the Senate this week. The legislation was co-authored by Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee Susan Collins (R-ME), Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK). The mission of the SIGAR is to conduct audits and investigations of the humanitarian and reconstruction assistance that U.S. has provided to Afghanistan, which currently stands at about $32 billion since 2001, to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.
Original co-sponsors of the legislation also include Carl Levin (D-MI), John McCain (R-AZ), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), and Charles Grassley (R-IA).
Although the SIGAR was sworn into office in July 2008, it has not yet conducted any independent audits or investigations. SIGAR has faced difficultly in hiring the auditors and investigators it needs to conduct necessary oversight. Although authorized a total of 18 auditors, 13 inspectors, and three investigators, SIGAR has only five auditors, two inspectors, and one investigator.
“SIGAR’s efforts to quickly hire experienced staff have been hindered by the often long and difficult government hiring process,” said Senator Collins. “The office’s hiring needs are further complicated by the challenging task of recruiting well-qualified staff willing to spend a year in a dangerous environment. This legislation would provide the SIGAR with the authority to select, appoint, and employ the staff needed to perform effective oversight of Afghanistan reconstruction efforts.”
Senator Lieberman said, “This legislation will allow the SIGAR to use special civil service authorities so he can quickly hire the experienced auditors, inspectors and other professionals he needs to ensure that Afghanistan reconstruction projects are progressing efficiently, effectively, and with a minimum of waste fraud and abuse.”
“SIGAR is a vital part of our Afghanistan reconstruction effort, which is about turning the service and sacrifices of our servicemen and women into sustainable and permanent change on the ground. This legislation will help ensure that our reconstruction effort can improve and adapt quickly, just like the enemy we are fighting,” Dr. Coburn said.
The legislation will allow SIGAR to identify and quickly hire candidates, avoiding civil service requirements that are unnecessary for this unique and temporary organization. Employees hired under this new authority can serve until the termination of the SIGAR’s office.
“If the SIGAR would have had this authority from the office’s inception, it likely would be much further along in conducting its oversight work. It is expected that once the SIGAR can quickly hire the skilled and experienced auditors and investigators it needs, the office’s oversight activities will greatly increase,” said Senator Collins.
The legislation must now be passed by the House of Representatives.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Senator Collins introduces bill to regulate Credit Default Swaps
WASHINGTON ¬– Today Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., introduced legislation to give federal financial regulators immediate authority to regulate trillions of dollars in swap transactions that continue to be marketed and traded in the United States without adequate government oversight. The Authorizing the Regulation of Swaps Act would repeal statutory prohibitions that currently bar government regulation of swap markets, including credit default swaps.
“Public confidence in our nation’s financial system has been shaken badly by the financial meltdown,” said Senator Collins. “As a former Maine financial regulator, I am convinced that significant regulatory reforms are required to restore public confidence and to ensure that lack of regulation does not allow such a crisis in the future. The current structure of our financial system lacks much needed reporting and transparency requirements in the swaps market, which many experts believe helped contribute to the current financial crisis.”
Sen. Collins continued: “The consequences in our country have been dire: falling home prices, rising foreclosure rates, plunging consumer sales, increased unemployment, and a tremendous erosion of retirement savings. While local credit unions and small community banks are subject to safety-and-soundness regulation, enormous Wall Street financial institutions that have a far greater impact on our economy have not been subject to such regulation. This legislation would clear the way for federal financial regulators to oversee the swaps market. It is a critical component of the overall reform needed to restore confidence in our financial regulatory system.”
“Multi-trillion-dollar unregulated swaps markets are going full bore without government oversight or authority to protect taxpayers from risk,” said Sen. Levin. “Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars have already been spent on AIG and others that got in over their head on swaps while regulators’ hands were tied. Taxpayers ended up paying the bill. Our legislation would take the first step to reduce risk by removing statutory barriers and giving federal regulators clear authority to put a cop on the beat in swaps markets. Congress ought to put those cops on the beat right now, without waiting for a possible comprehensive financial reform bill later this year.”
Swaps are typically an agreement between two parties placing a bet on future cash flows. Some swaps bet on whether a stock price, interest rate, commodity price, or currency value will rise or fall; others bet on whether a company will default on payment of a bond. Stock price bets are referred to as equity swaps; bets on whether companies will pay their debts are referred to as credit default swaps.
According to the latest data compiled by the Bank of International Settlements, as of June 2008, worldwide swaps markets included credit default swaps with a total notional value of $57 trillion; commodity swaps with a notional value of $13 trillion; equity swaps with a notional value of $10 trillion; foreign currency swaps with a notional value of $62 trillion; and interest rate swaps with a notional value of $458 trillion.
The bill would remove statutory barriers and allow immediate regulation of all types of swap agreements. The prohibitions to be repealed by the bill were first enacted in the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, a complex bill that was slipped into a large appropriations bill, without notice, during the last days of the 106th Congress.
Last fall, then-SEC Chairman Christopher Cox called on Congress to take “swift action” to overturn the legal ban on regulating credit default swaps. Even some past opponents of regulating swaps now support federal regulation. For example, former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Arthur Levitt recently said it was a mistake not to have regulated swap agreements. Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said that derivatives, which include swaps, “create systemic risk.” Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said last October that “serious problems” are associated with credit default swaps.
Top officials in the Obama Administration, including Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, National Economic Council Director Larry Summers, SEC Chair Mary Schapiro, and Gary Gensler, nominee to head the CFTC, have all called for stronger regulation of over-the-counter transactions, including swap agreements.
Sens. Collins and Levin call the bill an “interim measure intended to clear the way for more specific swaps requirements” in financial reform legislation which could come later this year. They note that the bill would not specify how swaps should be regulated, but would simply provide authority to act.
“Taxpayers are now on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars in bailouts for companies that engaged in unregulated swaps,” Levin said. “This legislation can bring transparency, accountability, and stability to financial markets that are badly in need of all three, and where government oversight is now prohibited by laws proven to have been a mistake.”
Bill Summary
Repeal Existing Prohibitions on Regulating Swaps. The bill would repeal over a dozen provisions in existing law, including in the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which prohibit federal financial regulators from regulating swap agreements.
Authorize the Regulation of Swaps. The bill would give authority to federal financial regulators, including bank, securities and commodities regulators, to oversee and regulate all types of swap agreements, including credit default, commodity, equity, interest rate, and foreign currency swaps. Those regulators could no longer use as an excuse for not regulating swaps the prohibitions which exist in current law. The bill uses the same definition of swaps that is used in current law to prohibit swaps regulation, and would authorize federal oversight and regulation of all exchange-traded and over-the-counter swap agreements, without exception.
Require Consistent Treatment of Swaps. The bill does not require federal regulators to regulate swap agreements -- it merely authorizes such regulation and removes the statutory barriers in place since 2000. Nor does the bill provide any direction to federal regulators on how to regulate swaps other than to require them to consult, work, and cooperate with each other to promote consistency in the treatment of swap agreements.
Establish Interim Authority. By removing existing statutory prohibitions and providing federal financial regulators with authority to oversee and regulate swaps, the bill would eliminate harmful statutory barriers, give regulators immediate interim authority over multi-trillion-dollar swaps markets, and clear the way for more specific swaps requirements in subsequent comprehensive financial reform legislation later this year.
“Public confidence in our nation’s financial system has been shaken badly by the financial meltdown,” said Senator Collins. “As a former Maine financial regulator, I am convinced that significant regulatory reforms are required to restore public confidence and to ensure that lack of regulation does not allow such a crisis in the future. The current structure of our financial system lacks much needed reporting and transparency requirements in the swaps market, which many experts believe helped contribute to the current financial crisis.”
Sen. Collins continued: “The consequences in our country have been dire: falling home prices, rising foreclosure rates, plunging consumer sales, increased unemployment, and a tremendous erosion of retirement savings. While local credit unions and small community banks are subject to safety-and-soundness regulation, enormous Wall Street financial institutions that have a far greater impact on our economy have not been subject to such regulation. This legislation would clear the way for federal financial regulators to oversee the swaps market. It is a critical component of the overall reform needed to restore confidence in our financial regulatory system.”
“Multi-trillion-dollar unregulated swaps markets are going full bore without government oversight or authority to protect taxpayers from risk,” said Sen. Levin. “Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars have already been spent on AIG and others that got in over their head on swaps while regulators’ hands were tied. Taxpayers ended up paying the bill. Our legislation would take the first step to reduce risk by removing statutory barriers and giving federal regulators clear authority to put a cop on the beat in swaps markets. Congress ought to put those cops on the beat right now, without waiting for a possible comprehensive financial reform bill later this year.”
Swaps are typically an agreement between two parties placing a bet on future cash flows. Some swaps bet on whether a stock price, interest rate, commodity price, or currency value will rise or fall; others bet on whether a company will default on payment of a bond. Stock price bets are referred to as equity swaps; bets on whether companies will pay their debts are referred to as credit default swaps.
According to the latest data compiled by the Bank of International Settlements, as of June 2008, worldwide swaps markets included credit default swaps with a total notional value of $57 trillion; commodity swaps with a notional value of $13 trillion; equity swaps with a notional value of $10 trillion; foreign currency swaps with a notional value of $62 trillion; and interest rate swaps with a notional value of $458 trillion.
The bill would remove statutory barriers and allow immediate regulation of all types of swap agreements. The prohibitions to be repealed by the bill were first enacted in the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, a complex bill that was slipped into a large appropriations bill, without notice, during the last days of the 106th Congress.
Last fall, then-SEC Chairman Christopher Cox called on Congress to take “swift action” to overturn the legal ban on regulating credit default swaps. Even some past opponents of regulating swaps now support federal regulation. For example, former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Arthur Levitt recently said it was a mistake not to have regulated swap agreements. Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said that derivatives, which include swaps, “create systemic risk.” Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said last October that “serious problems” are associated with credit default swaps.
Top officials in the Obama Administration, including Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, National Economic Council Director Larry Summers, SEC Chair Mary Schapiro, and Gary Gensler, nominee to head the CFTC, have all called for stronger regulation of over-the-counter transactions, including swap agreements.
Sens. Collins and Levin call the bill an “interim measure intended to clear the way for more specific swaps requirements” in financial reform legislation which could come later this year. They note that the bill would not specify how swaps should be regulated, but would simply provide authority to act.
“Taxpayers are now on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars in bailouts for companies that engaged in unregulated swaps,” Levin said. “This legislation can bring transparency, accountability, and stability to financial markets that are badly in need of all three, and where government oversight is now prohibited by laws proven to have been a mistake.”
Bill Summary
Repeal Existing Prohibitions on Regulating Swaps. The bill would repeal over a dozen provisions in existing law, including in the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which prohibit federal financial regulators from regulating swap agreements.
Authorize the Regulation of Swaps. The bill would give authority to federal financial regulators, including bank, securities and commodities regulators, to oversee and regulate all types of swap agreements, including credit default, commodity, equity, interest rate, and foreign currency swaps. Those regulators could no longer use as an excuse for not regulating swaps the prohibitions which exist in current law. The bill uses the same definition of swaps that is used in current law to prohibit swaps regulation, and would authorize federal oversight and regulation of all exchange-traded and over-the-counter swap agreements, without exception.
Require Consistent Treatment of Swaps. The bill does not require federal regulators to regulate swap agreements -- it merely authorizes such regulation and removes the statutory barriers in place since 2000. Nor does the bill provide any direction to federal regulators on how to regulate swaps other than to require them to consult, work, and cooperate with each other to promote consistency in the treatment of swap agreements.
Establish Interim Authority. By removing existing statutory prohibitions and providing federal financial regulators with authority to oversee and regulate swaps, the bill would eliminate harmful statutory barriers, give regulators immediate interim authority over multi-trillion-dollar swaps markets, and clear the way for more specific swaps requirements in subsequent comprehensive financial reform legislation later this year.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Senator Collins calls for tougher punishment for pirates
The Senate Armed Services Committee today heard testimony on efforts to combat piracy on the high seas. The hearing comes less than a month after Captain Richard Phillips was taken hostage by Somali pirates who tried to hijack the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama.
U.S. Senator Susan Collins, a member of the Armed Services Committee, called for stronger anti-piracy policies and tougher penalties for those who are caught and convicted of piracy.
“Very few of these pirates have actually been brought to justice,” said Senator Collins. “As long as they’re being paid off and there’s little risk of being caught and prosecuted, this activity is going to continue.”
As the Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Collins has discussed U.S. military and anti-piracy efforts with the Commandant of the Coast Guard and with the Chief of Naval Operations. She has called for a collective effort, including a coordinated international naval presence and enhanced security efforts by the commercial shipping industry, to help achieve a long-term solution to this problem.
Today, the Armed Services Committee heard testimony from Michèle Flournoy, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy; Vice Admiral James A. Winnefeld, Jr., USN, Director for Strategic Plans and Policy Joint Chiefs of Staff; Ambassador Stephen D. Mull, Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; and James Caponiti, Acting Deputy Administrator of the Maritime Administration,
Collins, Snowe pursue defense, other projects for Maine
from the Portland Press Herald:
Read more >>
Maine's U.S. senators are seeking about $7 billion in funding for defense-related projects in Maine, including two types of aircraft that were not requested by the Defense Department.
Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins propose spending $3.6 billion to build 15 more C-17 Globemaster III military transports and $2.8 billion to build 16 more F-22 Raptor fighter jets. Both planes have engines that are built by Pratt & Whitney, which has a parts manufacturing plant in North Berwick that employs about 1,300 people.
Read more >>
Monday, May 4, 2009
USAToday: Senators urge more aggressive swine flu screening
from USAToday:
Senior senators criticized the Homeland Security Department on Wednesday, saying it was not doing enough to prevent people infected with swine flu from entering the United States.
Lawmakers at a Capitol Hill hearing urged Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to take stronger steps than those now being used by Customs and Border Protection, who look for people who appear sick as they enter the USA.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, questioned the effectiveness of the observation. She suggested the department join six countries, including Japan and Thailand, that recently started using thermal cameras at entry points to spot people with a fever.
"It's very difficult for officials at the border, who are not medically trained, to do this kind of selection process or surveillance," Collins said. "Other countries are being far more aggressive in their screening."
Read more >>
Bath Iron Works awarded contract for next littoral combat ship
Senator Susan Collins, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today announced that the U.S. Navy has awarded a Bath Iron Works-led team a contract to assist in the construction of the Littoral Combat Ship Coronado (LCS-4). According to the Navy, the contract allows General Dynamics/Bath Iron Works to compete for a contract for work on up to three additional LCS ships.
“This funding is welcome news for the skilled workers at Bath Iron Works,” said Senator Collins. “BIW continues to prove that it is a valuable asset to our national security and I will continue to work closely with the Navy to help ensure that it continues to be awarded such valuable contracts including Littoral Combat Ships.”
The contract is expected to support jobs for a Bath Iron Works-led team of more than 100 people. Work on this ship, which is expected to be conducted in various locations including Bath and Mobile, Alabama, should be completed by June 2012.
Last month, Senator Collins announced that the Navy has decided that BIW will build the complete set of three next-generation Zumwalt-class destroyers.
“This funding is welcome news for the skilled workers at Bath Iron Works,” said Senator Collins. “BIW continues to prove that it is a valuable asset to our national security and I will continue to work closely with the Navy to help ensure that it continues to be awarded such valuable contracts including Littoral Combat Ships.”
The contract is expected to support jobs for a Bath Iron Works-led team of more than 100 people. Work on this ship, which is expected to be conducted in various locations including Bath and Mobile, Alabama, should be completed by June 2012.
Last month, Senator Collins announced that the Navy has decided that BIW will build the complete set of three next-generation Zumwalt-class destroyers.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Senator Collins announces more than $30 million in clean water funding
U.S. Senator Susan Collins today announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will distribute a combined $30,643,200 to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The funding comes through the Water Quality Management Planning and Clean Water State Revolving Fund programs.
The majority of the funding—$30,336,800—will come from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund which Senator Collins fought to include in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
The Clean Water State Revolving Fund program provides low interest loans for water quality protection projects for wastewater treatment, non-point source pollution control, and watershed and estuary management. An unprecedented $4 billion dollars will be awarded to fund wastewater infrastructure projects across the country under the Recovery Act in the form of low interest loans, principal forgiveness and grants.
The funding is being distributed to Maine through the ARRA, which Senator Collins, along with a bipartisan group of senators, worked to craft and became law in February.
Senator Collins released the following statement:
“Today is Earth Day—a particularly appropriate time to recognize that the health of our state’s pristine waters is vital concern. This stimulus funding will help create jobs and will provide a significant boost to Maine’s efforts to ensure the continued protection of our waters,” said Senator Collins.
The majority of the funding—$30,336,800—will come from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund which Senator Collins fought to include in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
The Clean Water State Revolving Fund program provides low interest loans for water quality protection projects for wastewater treatment, non-point source pollution control, and watershed and estuary management. An unprecedented $4 billion dollars will be awarded to fund wastewater infrastructure projects across the country under the Recovery Act in the form of low interest loans, principal forgiveness and grants.
The funding is being distributed to Maine through the ARRA, which Senator Collins, along with a bipartisan group of senators, worked to craft and became law in February.
Senator Collins released the following statement:
“Today is Earth Day—a particularly appropriate time to recognize that the health of our state’s pristine waters is vital concern. This stimulus funding will help create jobs and will provide a significant boost to Maine’s efforts to ensure the continued protection of our waters,” said Senator Collins.
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