In honor of Earth Day, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) introduced a bill to ban the pesticide atrazine. Atrazine is an endocrine disruptor and carcinogen. It means it will mess with your body's hormones and raise your chances of contracting cancer. For example, evidence shows that atrazine present in water systems from runoff neuters frogs. It is one of many reasons that the word's frog population is dying off.
Sadly, it ain't just the frogs who react to atrazine. Atrazine is still widely used throughout the US. So, thank you, Keith.
Last year, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released a report linking atrazine to adverse health effects in humans and animals. Specifically, atrazine is associated with infertility, low birth weight, and abnormal infant development in humans. Despite these harmful linkages, atrazine provides only moderate agricultural benefits. For example, the US Department of Agriculture estimates that an atrazine ban would result in crop losses of only 1.19 percent.
"Banning atrazine is the most effective way for us to keep our rivers and drinking water safe from toxic pesticides and this bill is a great first step toward achieving that," stated NRDC attorney Mae Wu.
The pesticide is currently banned in the European Union and faces calls for greater regulatory scrutiny in the United States.
Atrazine is the most commonly detected pesticide in US waters and the most prevalent found in Minnesota waters. The U.S. Geological Survey found atrazine in approximately 75 percent of stream waters and 40 percent of ground waters sampled near agricultural areas. An estimated 33 million Americans have been exposed to atrazine through drinking water.
(Ellison press release email)
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) occupies what is considered a safe Democratic seat. The Cook Political Report ranks MN-05 as D+23. The Republicans recognize this and ignore this district.
Of course, Keith did have a Republican opponent last time out, Barb Davis White. The MN Republican Party told her to shut up when she complained about being ignored. She ran a good enough campaign to break the 20% barrier.
Keith had another opponent as well. This guy's campaign was so lame that he ended up picketing the Strib offices because they wouldn't mention him.
We need to grow America. We need to protect America.
Strong Homeland Security
We need to maintain a strong homeland security. Our forces should be greatly commended for excellent job they have done protecting the citizens of the United States since September 11, 2001.
Yuh hum. Not kidding. Her words, not mine. Surprisingly, Torgerson claims to have a degree in political science. It all sounds rather innocuous and slightly daft until you reach the sections on Israel, Iran and Islam.
With corporate executive compensation packages skyrocketing over the last 30 years, it's about time Congress did something about it. Their reckless behavior led to our current financial meltdown and it's time someone did something about it. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) is just that someone. Yesterday he introduced a corporate governance bill (HR3272).
The Ellison legislation includes a number of corporate governance reforms, including a requirement that the Chairman of the Board of Directors be independent. In addition, it requires each company to have a risk management committee comprised of independent directors. A Chief Risk Officer charged with establishing and enforcing risk management policies, would report directly to each committee to ensure that they have adequate information and expertise to perform their oversight responsibilities. The bill also includes a study by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the feasibility of having a process of certifying directors.
The bill additionally puts forward two key reforms in the area of executive compensation. One reform is a "say on pay" provision that would give investors a voice (through an advisory vote) on executive compensation. The other would require compensation committees be comprised of independent directors. Both of these provisions are incorporated in the Administration's proposal (H.R. 3269) to reform executive compensation. H.R. 3269 was recently introduced by Financial Services Committee Chairman Frank and Congressman Ellison is a cosponsor. The Committee is expected to take up the bill next week.
(Ellison's press release email)
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) is still working to do good things in Congress. This time he wants to reform the credit rating agencies. These are the guys who gave strong ratings to the dangerous bundled mortgages. He introduced his bill today.
"Although credit rating agencies are given some regulatory status by practice, the oversight to which they are subjected is wholly inadequate," Ellison stated. "When these agencies put their mark of approval on complex products they confer a legitimacy that may not actually exist. We've learned of instances where credit rating agencies have given top ratings to products backed by dubious mortgages and other loans. Under current law there was really no one looking over the agencies' shoulders to make sure that they were making reasonable assumptions or had even a basic understanding of the risks they were assessing," Ellison indicated.
(from press release email)
If we want to never have the kind of wild speculation that caused our current economic crisis again, we need better oversight. After the 1929 crash, Congress enacted oversight and regulation bills that protected us until the Republicans began dismantling this beginning in the Reagan era. Now we see how foolish dismantling our regulatory and oversight functions was.
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) is once again standing up and being counted for things he believes in. This time it's clean energy. Typically, MoveOn.org emails with someone we need to call who's selling out or failing to do something. Not this time.
Courage. Backbone. Chutzpah. You don't see it very often in Congress. But this week, we've seen it from your member of Congress, Representative Keith Ellison. In the face of tremendous pressure, he's calling for a stronger energy bill that would require more wind and solar power, and would protect key provisions of the Clean Air Act.
...
But Rep. Ellison did stand up. This week, he asked his colleagues to sign on to a letter urging Democratic leaders to make three key changes to the energy bill:
* Ensure More Clean Energy for America: Increase the Renewable Electricity Standard to 30 percent by 2020, combining renewable energy and energy efficiency to deliver more clean energy jobs to the U.S. economy more quickly. Utilities would have to achieve 17 percent mandatory renewables and 10 percent mandatory efficiency by 2020, while maintaining flexibility to do either with 3 percent.
* Ensure that All Coal Plants Meet Strict Global Warming Emissions Standards: Maintain or strengthen existing authority under the Clean Air Act to establish limits for global warming emissions from coal plants.
* Create more Clean Energy Jobs for America and Build Resiliency to Climate Change: Reduce allocations to polluting industries in order to supplement allowance accounts that would bolster green job development and protection of vulnerable communities that are impacted first and worst by climate change. Shave allocations from fossil fuel producers and redistribute to programs that deliver energy efficiency and renewable energy, create green jobs and train workers to fill them, and protect natural resources and vulnerable communities here and around the world.
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) is at it again. Looking out for the underdog, the underrepresented, fulfilling his promise that "everybody matters." He has introduced a bill to close a loophole that banks exploit to maximize their profits but endanger your savings. What Keith is doing is trying to get at the heart of what allowed so many financial institutions to overleverage and teeter on the brink of collapse or actually collapse.
This is complex, but let's start with Keith's bill:
Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minneapolis) introduced important legislation today in anticipation of upcoming Congressional action on financial regulatory reform. The Regulatory Capital Enhancement Act addresses a glaring loophole in existing banking rules.
Under current federal regulations, banks are required to maintain a minimum level of capital based upon the riskiness of the assets that they hold. However, a number of financial institutions have been able to avoid these requirements by creating and using off-balance-sheet vehicles, such as special purpose entities (SPEs), to warehouse risky assets. The Regulatory Capital Enhancement Act would address this problem by requiring federal banking regulators to issue rules that treat assets held in SPEs in a way that is equivalent with those held on bank's balance sheets.
(From press release email)
Sounds pretty straightforward right? The implications are not.
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) has always been staunchly anti-war. After voting for the very first supplement back in early 2007 and catching a lot of heat for it, Keith has voted against supplemental funding bills that do not contain clear exit strategies.
Now it's 2009, Obama is our President and Congress is still passing supplemental funding bills without clear exit strategies. While we're beginning to back out of Iraq, we still have no exit plan for Afghanistan. Once again, Keith voted against the supplemental.
How has a Democratic Congress, which has both the sole constitutional authority to declare war, and the purse-strings to fund it (or not), continued this? One major problem is that the ongoing use of supplemental appropriations bills, such as the one pending this week, minimizes Congressional oversight (as acknowledged by the Congressional Research Service) and reduces both transparency and actual debate.
In response to what by now seems like an endless series of blank checks, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA3) offered an Exit Plan Amendment to the supplemental bill, requiring that any continued funding be contingent on there being an exit strategy in place. The amendment was not allowed, and so this morning, McGovern introduced it as a standalone bill. As of this morning, the bill had 64 co-sponsors.
(Jeff in Evanston's diary at Daily Kos)
I think that nobody will be surprised that Keith is a co-sponsor of McGovern's Afghanistan exit strategy bill.
Fifth district Congressman Keith Ellison has been appointed to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
In a press release, Ellison said of the appointment,
"I am honored to accept the Speaker's appointment to the Foreign Affairs Committee. I am convinced that diplomacy and development must be elevated to the proper place as instruments of peace-making," said Ellison. "I am pleased to have this opportunity to have a more direct role in the pursuit of peace, as well as the pursuit of economic opportunities for the 5th Congressional District," Ellison stated.
Ellison noted that he hopes to support President Obama's efforts to restore and enhance America's standing in the world as a beacon of democratic ideals.
"President Obama has said he wishes to initiate a partnership with the world based on mutual respect and mutual interest," Ellison said. "I concur wholeheartedly with him, and stand ready to help," Ellison said.
In just his second term in Congress, Ellison has gotten some pretty sweet gigs for committee assignments -- he's already on the Financial Services Committee, which has oversight power over the mortgage industry and many issues in the financial sector, and the Judiciary Committee, which oversees issues of crime, punishment, and civil liberties.
Ellison's position as the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress may weigh heavily on this newest appointment -- President Obama's first major speech after his inauguration contained outreach to the Muslim world, telling them that "Americans are not your enemy." Ellison has already taken an active role in reaching out to the Muslim community in the U.S. and abroad, and has the potential to serve as an important bridge between the two worlds -- and that's before even considering the Foreign Affairs Committee's role in policymaking and legislation.
All in all, a good move for Ellison and for Minnesota.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus has announced its leadership team for the Congress beginning in January 2009 -- and Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison is not on the list.
Ellison should have plenty of opportunities for leadership positions in the future -- unless something dramatic happens, he currently sits in one of the safest Democratic seats in the nation.
