Bonus TEFAP Assistance Act of 2009

Mr. President, I am introducing the Crane Conservation Act of 2009. I am very pleased that Senator Crapo has once again agreed to lead on this legislation with me. I am always glad to work with my colleagues from across the aisle. We are pleased to be joined by Senators Boxer, Brownback, Cardin, Kerry, Kohl, Landrieu, and Martinez, who are cosponsors of this legislation.

The Crane Conservation Act will ensure we do our part to protect the existence of these birds, whose cultural significance and popular appeal can be seen worldwide. This legislation is particularly important to the people of Wisconsin, as our state provides habitat and refuge to several crane species. But this legislation, which authorizes the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to distribute funds and grants to crane conservation efforts both domestically and in developing countries, promises to have a larger environmental and cultural impact that will go far beyond the boundaries of my home State.

Congress' efforts to help protect and recover species throughout the world began in earnest in 1994 when Congress passed and the President signed the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act. The passage of this act provided support for multinational rhino and tiger conservation by authorizing the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to distribute up to $10 million in grants every year to support projects in developing countries. Since 1994, Congress has established the ``multinational species conservation fund'' to cover other

species, such as elephants and great apes.

Today, with the legislation I am introducing, I am asking Congress to add cranes to this list. Cranes are the most endangered family of birds in the world, with 11 of the world's 15 species at risk of extinction. Specifically, this legislation would authorize up to $5 million of funds per year for fiscal years 2008 through 2012 to be distributed as conservation project grants to protect cranes and their habitat in Asia, Africa, and North America. In keeping with my belief that we should balance the budget, this bill proposes that the $25 million in authorized spending over 5 years for the Crane Conservation Act should be offset through the Secretary of Interior's administrative budget. This bill is similar to legislation I have introduced since the 107th Congress and I was very pleased that last Congress the bill passed the House of Representatives and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and was positioned to pass the Senate before stalling late in the last Congress.

I am offering this legislation due to the serious and significant decline that can be expected in crane populations worldwide without further conservation efforts. Those efforts have achieved some success in the case of the North American whooping crane, the rarest crane on earth. By 1890, the whooping crane disappeared from its main migratory route from Idaho through Wyoming and Colorado to New Mexico. In 1944, only 21 birds remained along the migratory route between Montana and Texas' Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, via the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Unfortunately, the breeding grounds for this remaining flock were unknown, but since they were discovered in Canada in 1955, cooperative efforts between the United States and Canada have been under way to recover the species. Today, this flock remains the only wild flock of North American whooping cranes that breeds in northwest Canada, and spends its winters in coastal Texas.

In 1980, a new course was chartered for recovering the species, and captive breeding efforts began at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland in hopes of rearing chicks for release in the wild--today, captive breeding centers are also located at New Orleans' Audubon Species Survival Center and Canada's Calgary Zoo.

These breeding efforts blossomed into efforts to reintroduce a migratory flock of whooping cranes into their historic range in the Eastern United States. In 2001 this became a reality when the first class of whooping cranes followed their ``mother'' (actually an ultra light aircraft) over 1,300 miles to their wintering grounds.

The movement of this flock of birds shows how any effort by Congress to regulate crane conservation needs to cross both national and international lines. As this flock of birds makes its journey from Wisconsin's Necedah National Wildlife Refuge to Florida's Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge and back, the birds rely on the ecosystems of a multitude of states in this country. Along the journey which traverses through Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia the birds face threats from pollution of traditional watering grounds, collision with utility lines, human disturbance, disease, predation, loss of genetic diversity within the population, and vulnerability to catastrophes, both natural and man-made.

However, the birds can also rely on private landowners, the vast majority of whom have enthusiastically welcomed the birds to their rest on their land. Through its extensive outreach and education program, the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership has obtained the consistent support of farmers and other private landowners to make this important recovery program a success. On every front, this partnership is unique. This ongoing recovery effort would not be possible without the cooperative efforts of federal and state governments, landowners, volunteers, and non-governmental organizations. Seven years later, these partnerships support an ever-growing eastern crane population, now numbering over sixty.

While over the course of the last half-century, North American whooping cranes have begun to make a slow recovery, many species of crane in Africa and Asia have declined, including the sarus crane of Asia and the wattled crane of Africa.

The sarus crane stands four feet tall and can be found in the wetlands of northern India and south Asia. These birds require large, open, well watered plains or marshes to breed and survive. Due to agricultural expansion, industrial development, river basin development, pollution, warfare, and heavy use of pesticides prevalent in India and southeast Asia, the sarus crane population has been in decline. Furthermore, in many areas, a high human population concentration compounds these factors. On the Mekong River, which runs through Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and China, human population growth and planned development projects threaten the sarus crane. Reports from India, Cambodia, and Thailand have also cited incidences of the trading of adult birds and chicks, as well as hunting and egg stealing in the drop in population of the sarus crane.

Only three subspecies of the sarus crane exist today. One resides in northern India and Nepal, one resides in southeast Asia, and one resides in northern Australia. Their population is about 8,000 in the main Indian population, with recent numbers showing a rapid decline. In Southeast Asia, only 1,000 birds remain.

The situation of the sarus crane in Asia is mirrored by the situation of the wattled crane in Africa. In Africa, the wattled crane is found in the southern and eastern regions, with an isolated population in the mountains of Ethiopia. Current population estimates range between 6,000 to 8,000 and are declining rapidly, due to loss and degradation of wetland habitats, as well as intensified agriculture, dam construction, and industrialization. In other parts of the range, the creation of dams has changed the dynamics of the flood plains, thus further endangering these cranes and their habitats. Human disturbance at or near breeding sites also continues to be a major threat. Lack of oversight and education over the actions of people, industry, and agriculture is leading to reduced preservation for the lands on which cranes live, thereby threatening the ability of cranes to survive in these regions.

If we do not act now, not only will cranes face extinction, but the ecosystems that depend on their contributions will suffer. With the decline of the crane population, the wetlands and marshes they inhabit can potentially be thrown off balance. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting legislation that can provide funding to the local farming, education, and enforcement projects that can have the greatest positive effect on the preservation of both cranes and fragile habitats. This modest investment can secure the future of these exemplary birds and the beautiful areas in which they live. Therefore, I ask my colleagues to support the Crane Conservation Act of 2009.

This legislation is endorsed by African Wildlife Foundation, American Bird Conservancy, American Veterinary Medical Association, Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Audubon Nature Institute, Born Free USA, Conservation International, Defenders of Wildlife, Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, Fauna & Flora International, Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society International, International Crane Foundation, International Fund for Animal Welfare, International Rhino Foundation, National Wildlife Federation, National Wildlife Refuge Association, The Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Wildlife Alliance, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the World Wildlife Fund.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Bonus TEFAP Assistance Act of 2009 with my colleagues Senator Snowe and Senator Voinovich. Our bill provides immediate and valuable assistance to our national food banks and the families who rely on food banks to put meals on the table by ensuring that food banks can accept and distribute food donations they might otherwise have had to decline. Our bill has the support of Feeding America, formerly known as America's Second Harvest, the national hunger relief charity that operates a network of over 200 food banks across America.

We are in the middle of a crisis. The on-going economic crisis is the worst in a generation, but this crisis is more than stock prices and market certainty. The economic crisis has a face. The faces of hardworking Pennsylvanians who suddenly find themselves unable to afford food for the family meals. The economic crisis is also a hunger crisis--a crisis that is pushing more people to apply for Federal nutrition programs and stand in line at the local food bank. It is a crisis that threatens to undo all of the progress we have made over the past few decades to end hunger in America.

The United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, reported that, for

2006, 35.5 million Americans did not have enough money or resources to get food for at least some period during the year. This figure was an increase of 400,000 over 2005 and an increase of 2.3 million since 2000. With the fragile State of our economy, it is extremely likely that these figures for 2007 and 2008 will be even more devastating. The only recourse for these millions of families is to turn to federal food assistance programs and emergency food banks for their basic food needs.

Unfortunately, as articles in national publications like the USA Today and the New York Times have highlighted, there is a critical lack of food inventories available in local food pantries across the country. Rising demand, sharp drops in federal supplies of excess commodities, and declining donations have forced food banks to cut back on rations, and in some cases, close their doors. In short, America's food banks are facing critical shortages now.

As a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, I was proud to help create last year's farm bill. The bill helps food banks by providing additional annual funding to shore up food bank supplies. But there are additional measures that we can take to help ensure that food banks can continue to fulfill their mission.

That's why today I'm pleased introduce the Bonus TEFAP Assistance Act of 2009. This legislation provides the critical support needed to ensure food assistance agencies, already in desperate need of supplies, can take full advantage of the distributions of bonus food commodities supplied by USDA through the Emergency Food Assistance Program, TEFAP. By helping to offset the intrastate storage, transportation, and distribution costs the food assistance agencies incur to distribute these bonus food surpluses, the bill ensures that commodities reach the greatest number of needy individuals.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program began in 1981 as a temporary program with dual purposes; it was intended to help reduce the Federal food inventories and storage costs while also assisting the needy. Because of the program's success in helping distribute food to those in need, in 1988, after much of the federal inventory was depleted, the Hunger Prevention Act authorized funds to be appropriated to purchase food for TEFAP.

Under current-day TEFAP, the USDA provides states and food assistance agencies with commodities bought specifically for the program and with funding to help cover distributing agencies' intrastate storage, handling, and distribution costs. In addition, when available, USDA provides any excess food not needed to fulfill other program requirements to States for allocation to local food assistance agencies. This excess food is known as ``bonus TEFAP.'' Unfortunately, while the USDA generously distributes these bonus TEFAP commodities to the States, many of the State and food assistance agencies are unable to accept the bonus TEFAP commodities because they do not have the resources to store, transport, or distribute them.

The Bonus TEFAP Assistance Act of 2009 that I am introducing today alleviates this problem by providing offsetting funds to recipient agencies to assist with the costs of storing, transporting, and distributing bonus TEFAP commodities. The funds provided through this legislation will help to provide more food to those in need through food banks, food pantries, emergency shelters, soup kitchens, and other organizations that directly provide these resources to the public.

To solve the problem the inadequacy of local resources causes, the bill authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to use existing funds granted under Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1935. Currently, Section 32 funds are used to fund child nutrition programs and other programs to support the farm sector at the discretion of the Secretary. Through this legislation, a small portion of Section 32 funds would be allocated to each eligible recipient agency in the lesser amount of $0.05 per pound or $0.05 per dollar value of bonus TEFAP commodities. With this modest increase in funding, the States and their food assistance agencies will be able to accept more food distributions from the USDA through TEFAP, benefitting the many low- income recipients who rely on the program for emergency food and nutrition assistance.

I urge all of my colleagues to join Senator Snowe, Senator Voinovich and me in ensuring that the States and food assistance agencies can accept the available excess commodity foods the USDA provides under the Emergency Assistance Food Program. Food assistance agencies are in dire need of funds, food, and supplies and we owe it to them to ensure that they can take full advantage of every opportunity to serve those in our nation who are in desperate need.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Bonus TEFAP Assistance Act of 2009 with my colleagues Senator Snowe and Senator Voinovich. Our bill provides immediate and valuable assistance to our national food banks and the families who rely on food banks to put meals on the table by ensuring that food banks can accept and distribute food donations they might otherwise have had to decline. Our bill has the support of Feeding America, formerly known as America's Second Harvest, the national hunger relief charity that operates a network of over 200 food banks across America.

We are in the middle of a crisis. The on-going economic crisis is the worst in a generation, but this crisis is more than stock prices and market certainty. The economic crisis has a face. The faces of hardworking Pennsylvanians who suddenly find themselves unable to afford food for the family meals. The economic crisis is also a hunger crisis--a crisis that is pushing more people to apply for Federal nutrition programs and stand in line at the local food bank. It is a crisis that threatens to undo all of the progress we have made over the past few decades to end hunger in America.

The United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, reported that, for

2006, 35.5 million Americans did not have enough money or resources to get food for at least some period during the year. This figure was an increase of 400,000 over 2005 and an increase of 2.3 million since 2000. With the fragile State of our economy, it is extremely likely that these figures for 2007 and 2008 will be even more devastating. The only recourse for these millions of families is to turn to federal food assistance programs and emergency food banks for their basic food needs.

Unfortunately, as articles in national publications like the USA Today and the New York Times have highlighted, there is a critical lack of food inventories available in local food pantries across the country. Rising demand, sharp drops in federal supplies of excess commodities, and declining donations have forced food banks to cut back on rations, and in some cases, close their doors. In short, America's food banks are facing critical shortages now.

As a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, I was proud to help create last year's farm bill. The bill helps food banks by providing additional annual funding to shore up food bank supplies. But there are additional measures that we can take to help ensure that food banks can continue to fulfill their mission.

That's why today I'm pleased introduce the Bonus TEFAP Assistance Act of 2009. This legislation provides the critical support needed to ensure food assistance agencies, already in desperate need of supplies, can take full advantage of the distributions of bonus food commodities supplied by USDA through the Emergency Food Assistance Program, TEFAP. By helping to offset the intrastate storage, transportation, and distribution costs the food assistance agencies incur to distribute these bonus food surpluses, the bill ensures that commodities reach the greatest number of needy individuals.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program began in 1981 as a temporary program with dual purposes; it was intended to help reduce the Federal food inventories and storage costs while also assisting the needy. Because of the program's success in helping distribute food to those in need, in 1988, after much of the federal inventory was depleted, the Hunger Prevention Act authorized funds to be appropriated to purchase food for TEFAP.

Under current-day TEFAP, the USDA provides states and food assistance agencies with commodities bought specifically for the program and with funding to help cover distributing agencies' intrastate storage, handling, and distribution costs. In addition, when available, USDA provides any excess food not needed to fulfill other program requirements to States for allocation to local food assistance agencies. This excess food is known as ``bonus TEFAP.'' Unfortunately, while the USDA generously distributes these bonus TEFAP commodities to the States, many of the State and food assistance agencies are unable to accept the bonus TEFAP commodities because they do not have the resources to store, transport, or distribute them.

The Bonus TEFAP Assistance Act of 2009 that I am introducing today alleviates this problem by providing offsetting funds to recipient agencies to assist with the costs of storing, transporting, and distributing bonus TEFAP commodities. The funds provided through this legislation will help to provide more food to those in need through food banks, food pantries, emergency shelters, soup kitchens, and other organizations that directly provide these resources to the public.

To solve the problem the inadequacy of local resources causes, the bill authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to use existing funds granted under Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1935. Currently, Section 32 funds are used to fund child nutrition programs and other programs to support the farm sector at the discretion of the Secretary. Through this legislation, a small portion of Section 32 funds would be allocated to each eligible recipient agency in the lesser amount of $0.05 per pound or $0.05 per dollar value of bonus TEFAP commodities. With this modest increase in funding, the States and their food assistance agencies will be able to accept more food distributions from the USDA through TEFAP, benefitting the many low- income recipients who rely on the program for emergency food and nutrition assistance.

I urge all of my colleagues to join Senator Snowe, Senator Voinovich and me in ensuring that the States and food assistance agencies can accept the available excess commodity foods the USDA provides under the Emergency Assistance Food Program. Food assistance agencies are in dire need of funds, food, and supplies and we owe it to them to ensure that they can take full advantage of every opportunity to serve those in our nation who are in desperate need.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill to provide urgently needed relief to federal district courts in California, Hawaii, Kansas, Nebraska, and Ohio.

This bill is supported by both Senators from all five of the States affected Senators Boxer and myself, Senators Brownback and Roberts, Senators Akaka and Inouye, Senators Nelson and Johanns, and Senators Brown and Voinovich.

The bill is identical to a bill passed by the Senate by unanimous consent last year. I hope that my colleagues will move expeditiously to consent to this bill once again.

The bill creates one new temporary judgeship in the Eastern District of California and one in the District of Nebraska, and it extends temporary judgeships in the District of Hawaii, the District of Kansas, and the Northern District of Ohio.

The bill has broad, bipartisan support because the relief it provides is sorely needed. All of these courts face overwhelming caseloads that are leading to judicial burnout and long delays in the administration of justice. The bill, put simply, provides assistance to districts that do not have enough judges to handle the work assigned to them.

I have been concerned about this problem in the Eastern District of California for many years now.

According to statistics provided by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, the Eastern District's caseload burden is higher, on a sustained basis, than any other district in the country.

In 2008, the judges in the Eastern District handled 968 cases each. That is twice the number of cases that the Judicial Conference recommends. In fact, the Judicial Conference has recommended that Congress create a new judgeship in a district whenever a threshold of 430 cases per judge is reached.

A caseload burden of this magnitude is not only a problem for judges. The people who live in the district and other litigants who appear before the court are also affected.

Victims of crime are forced to endure long waiting periods to see justice done. Citizens find that they are unable to resolve their civil disputes promptly. And plaintiffs face extensive delays in getting damages or restitution for harms that they have suffered.

Currently, people who have cases in the Eastern District court are facing delays of approximately 42 months from filing to verdict. That is three and a half years--twice the national average for federal court delays. This kind of delay is simply unacceptable.

The delays are by no means the fault of the district judges either. By every measure, the judges in the Eastern District are among the most productive in the nation.

In 2008, each of the district's active judges completed 903 cases. In addition to this extraordinary effort, two of the five senior judges carry a full load.

One senior judge has explained that he has not reduced his workload for two reasons: ``[F]irst the district is so short of needed judges that it appears to me unjust to leave those who require a court either to resolve criminal cases or resolve their civil cases; second, I have felt great compassion for my colleagues who would be left with a still more unmanageable case load if I left or even cut down on my load.''

In California, the overwhelming burden on the Eastern District court is no secret. This past summer, the Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit called on all judges in the Circuit--district and circuit judges alike--to volunteer to hear 15 cases in the Eastern District each. Although 84 federal judges generously stepped forward to relieve the District of more than 1,000 cases, thousands of cases remain pending.

The Eastern District of California should not be forced to rely on temporary assistance from judges from other districts. Each court needs enough judges to handle its caseload in a reasonably timely manner.

Although not sufficient, one temporary district judgeship would provide much needed relief to the hardworking judges of the Eastern District and the litigants who come before them. Based on last year's filings, one new judgeship would reduce the filings per judge from 968 to 572.

Congress has not authorized a new permanent judgeship for the district since 1978. In 1992, a temporary judgeship was authorized, but that judgeship expired in 2004. Last year, a bill that I co-sponsored-- the Federal Judgeship Act of 2008--would have provided four new permanent judgeships, but that bill stalled before the full Senate after being favorably reported out of the Judiciary Committee.

This bill was introduced by Senator Leahy last year, and I want to thank him for all of his work on its behalf. The bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent. This year, the need is only greater, as caseloads have only increased.

I urge my colleagues to consent to this bill once again, and to do so in an expeditious manner.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr President, I have sought recognition to introduce legislation that will honor the importance of the steel industry in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Nation by creating the ``Steel Industry National Historic Site'' in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The importance of the steel industry to the development of the United States cannot be overstated. A national historic site devoted to the history of the steel industry will afford all Americans the opportunity to celebrate this rich heritage, which is symbolic of the work ethic endemic to this great Nation. The legislation offered today would create a national historic site that would be affiliated with the National Park Service. There is no better place to honor our Nation's steel industry heritage than in southwestern Pennsylvania, which played a significant role in early industrial America and continues today.

I have long supported efforts to preserve and enhance the historical steel-related heritage through the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, which includes the city of Pittsburgh, and seven southwestern Pennsylvania counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Fayette, Greene, Washington, and Westmoreland. I have sought and been very pleased with congressional support for the important work within the Rivers of Steel Heritage Area. I have consistently advocated for increased funding to support our National Heritage Areas and I am hopeful that this support will continue. However, more than just resources are necessary to ensure the historical recognition of this site and our steel heritage. That is why I am introducing this legislation today.

It is important to note why Pennsylvania should be the home of the national site that my legislation authorizes. The combination of a strong workforce, valuable natural resources, and Pennsylvania's strategic location in the heavily populated northeastern United States allowed the steel industry to thrive in the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, the remaining buildings and sites that were devoted to steel production are threatened with deterioration. Many of these sites are nationally significant and perfectly suited for the study and interpretation of this crucial period in our Nation's development. Some of these sites include the Carrie Furnace Complex, the Hot Metal Bridge, and the United States Steel Homestead Works, which would all become a part of the Steel Industry National Historic Site under my legislation. As testimony of the area's historic significance, on September 20, 2006, the Carrie Furnaces were designated as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.

Highlights of this proposed national historic site would commemorate a wide range of accomplishments and topics for historical preservation and interpretation, including industrial technology advancements and milestones in labor-management relations. One of the sites that would be included in the historic site would be the location of the Battle of the Homestead, waged in 1892 between steelworkers and Pinkerton guards. The Battle of the Homestead marked a pivotal moment in our Nation's workers' rights movement. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, individuals, and public and private entities have attempted to protect and preserve resources such as the Homestead battleground and the Hot Metal Bridge. For the benefit and inspiration of present and future generations, it is time for the Federal Government to join this effort to recognize their importance with the additional protection I provide in this bill.

I commend my colleague, Representative Doyle, who has been a longstanding leader in this preservation effort and who has sponsored this legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives. I look forward to working with officials in southwestern Pennsylvania and Mr. August Carlino, president and chief executive officer of the Steel Industry Heritage Corporation, to bring this national historic site designation to fruition. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.