Congress China

Markey Meets with World Leaders on Climate

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:00:00 -0800

With the international climate talks happening days from now, Congressman Markey has been engaging directly with world leaders to find common ground on climate change solutions. After German Chancellor Angela Merkel became the first German leader to address a joint session of Congress since 1957, she met privately with Congressman Markey, along with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Henry Waxman. Chancellor Merkel discussed the Waxman-Markey legislation with the authors in great detail, showing that even clean energy leaders like Germany continue to look to the United States on the international stage.

Congressman Markey also met with a key player in the upcoming climate talks, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. India, along with China, are the two most pivotal emerging economies in the effort to combat climate change and reach an international agreement. That’s also why Congressman Markey, in his role as the Chair of the International Commission on Climate and Energy Security for Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment -- or GLOBE – reached an important agreement in Copenhagen this October with China’s Congressman Wang Guangtao, Chairman of the Peoples Congress Environment Protection Committee.

The Markey-Wang agreement established a set of principles that countries will use when crafting domestic policy on energy efficiency, clean energy standards and technology, and other key measures. The principles were approved by the more than 100 legislators from Brazil, India, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, along with many other key economies.

Executives Received Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Before Dropping Workers Pensions, GAO Finds

The House Education and Labor Committee (D) posted a Press Release — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:55:42 -0800

WASHINGTON, D.C. Forty executives at ten high-profile corporations that terminated their workers pensions collected at least $350 million in compensation in the years leading to pension termination, the Government Accountability Office reported today. The investigation was requested by U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.

The companies surveyed by the GAO which the Congressional watchdog agency did not identify included major airlines, electronics, insurance and steel companies that filed for bankruptcy in the last decade and dumped their pension liabilities onto the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. PBGC provides pension protection for 44 million workers and is responsible for administering benefits for more than a million Americans.

It is fundamentally wrong that executives were able to line their pockets with millions of dollars from bonuses, stock options and free joyrides on corporate jets, while watching their workers retirement security slip into peril, said Miller. Executive compensation and golden parachutes should be aligned to the fate of workers retirement plan. This will create an incentive for executives to fix workers pension plans before they go broke.

Miller said the he is considering legislation that will freeze executive compensation if the companys rank-and-file pension plan becomes significantly underfunded.

While rank-and-file employees face freezes or cuts in benefits if their pension plans liabilities significantly outstrip assets, there are no laws that link the underfunding of workers pension plans to an executives benefits. GAO found that millions of dollars in executives retirement and other fringe benefits were protected from bankruptcy while some workers saw a drastic reduction in benefits.

The GAO also found:

At four companies, executives received $49.5 million in retirement, deferred compensation or severance pay. Four executives at one airline alone received $32.6 million in retirement and deferred compensation.
Executives at some companies received salaries in excess of $10 million dollars in the years leading up to bankruptcy.
Some executives received millions of dollars in stock awards, income tax reimbursements, retention bonuses, severance packages, and supplemental executive-only retirement.
Some were provided other benefits such as apartments, personal trips on company airplanes and helicopters, club memberships, legal fee reimbursement, and automobiles.
The families and executives at one insurance firm used the companys Boeing 727 and Sikorsky helicopter for personal trips to, among other exotic locations, China, Spain, Greece and Hawaii.

To read the full GAO report, click here.

Markey statement on U.S. - China climate and clean energy agreement

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:00:00 -0800

Follows Similar Agreement Forged Between Markey and Chairman Wang of Chinese Congress

In response to today’s agreement between U.S. President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao to cooperate on clean energy and climate initiatives, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chairman of twin climate and energy panels in the House and co-author of the Waxman-Markey clean energy and climate bill, issued the following statement:

“This agreement shows that economic competition and cooperation are not mutually exclusive, especially when solving the grave threat of climate change is at stake.

“This significant agreement offers a blueprint for international clean energy cooperation between the U.S. and China, and for the rest of the world. With crucial international climate negotiations in Copenhagen just weeks away, the U.S. and China have proven today that the international community can find common ground on key energy issues.

“Just a few weeks ago, along with 100 other legislators from around the world, Chairman Wang Guangtao of the National People's Congress and I reached a similar accord to cooperate on clean energy and set a clear path forward on combating climate change.

“In just a month, the conventional wisdom on U.S.-Chinese climate politics has been turned on its head, and not a moment too soon. With just days to go before nearly 200 countries meet in Copenhagen to forge a new way forward on climate and clean energy, this agreement shows that the last remaining roadblocks are being pushed aside.”

For more information on the COP-15 climate change conference in Copenhagen, CLICK HERE

Nov. 6, 2009: CONGRESSMAN RYAN MAKES STATEMENT ON COMMERCE DEPT. DECISION ON PIPE IMPORTS FROM CHINA

Tim Ryan's House Member Office (D-OH-17) posted a Press Release — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:35:58 -0800