The Democratic Congress, Not Schwarzenegger, is the Real "Collectinator"

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Despite a razor-thing margin in both the Senate and House, the new Democratic Congress is beginning to deliver for California. Aside from our delegation now controlling chairmanships and working the ever-so-slow appropriations process to send more of our tax dollars our way, there are a number of areas where the flip to a Democratic Congress is making a difference. Here are a few examples, including a few samples of increased appropriations (Please note, however, that many of the bills are stil working their way through each house.)
 
State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) Appropriations -- In the House, Rep. Zoe Lofgren successfully added $55 million to the SCAAP appropriation reported out of committee, raising the appropriation from $405 million to $460 million. This is an improvement over the FY 2007 appropriations that provided $401 million for SCAAP. Republican Preisdent Bush allocated zero dollars for the program in his proposed budget. California receives about 40 percent of the total SCAAP appropriation, so an increase in the program specifically benefits California.

Farm Bill -- For the first time, the Farm Bill now provides mandatory funding that would support expansion of the specialty crop block grant program to the tune of $365 million over the course of five years. This is significant to California because of the large proportion of specialty crops grown in the state. Current funding for specialty crop block grants depends on annual renewal of appropriations from Congress. The 2007 Farm Bill would make that money mandatory every year. The block grants are provided to states to support projects in research, marketing, education, pest and disease management, production, and food safety.

Climate Change -- California members defeated the efforts in the House to preempt California’s climate change legislation. The proposed energy legislation would have preempted laws in the 12 states that have sought to implement restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions by prohibiting the Environmental Protection Agency from approving Clean Air Act waivers.

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