Oversight

• SENATE RULES AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE (05/08/08) — Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) said they were concerned about a Veterans Health Administration directive that they said appeared to reverse an earlier proposal to provide greater voter registration access to veterans in the department’s care, a news release stated.

“It appears to us that the department took one step forward for our veterans and the right to vote by directing that assistance be provided with voter registration and with securing absentee ballots, but then took a large step back by prohibiting voter registration drives,” Feinstein and Kerry wrote.

{mosads}• HOUSE OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE (05/12/08) — Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) wrote the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to request analyses that the agency reportedly has conducted relating to technologies that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector by 80 percent by 2050 compared to 2000 emissions levels.

“I request that you provide the committee with the studies or analyses that EPA has conducted to evaluate what the transportation sector might need to do to address climate goals over the long term, including vehicle fuel economy improvement, changes in fuels, and other factors,” Waxman wrote.

• HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE (05/09/08) — Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) expressed concern that the federal government had yet to develop sufficient environmental safeguards relating to the development of offshore aquaculture.

A bill proposed by the administration “does not go far enough to ensure adequate protection for the marine environment,” Rahall said.

He released a Government Accountability Office report that he said underscores the need to establish a clear regulatory system to oversee the potential expansion of the aquaculture industry into offshore waters.