Carper, Coons, Carney announce slate of job fairs, job training seminars for spring

WILMINGTON, Del. – Working to connect individuals searching for jobs and assisting companies looking to fill full and part time positions, U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons, and U.S. Representative John Carney today announced the dates of upcoming job fairs and training seminars this spring:

• Job Skills Workshop on Tuesday, March 29 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. held at the Goodwill Training Center (300 Lea Blvd. Wilmington, DE 19802)
• Job Skills Workshop on Monday, April 4 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Delaware Technical Community College at the Terry Campus Conference Center (100 Campus Drive, Dover, Delaware 19904)
• Kent County Job Fair on Thursday, April 7 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Delaware Technical Community College  Terry Campus Conference Center (100 Campus Drive, Dover, Delaware 19904)

• Sussex County Job Fair on Thursday, April 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Atlantic Sands Hotel & Conference Center (1 Baltimore Avenue, Rehoboth Beach)

• New Castle County Job Fair on Monday, May 23 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Delaware Technical Community College Wilmington campus (333 N. Shipley Street, Wilmington)

The Congressional delegation is now looking for companies that have jobs to fill and are looking to hire. Interested employers should contact Senator Coons’ office at 302-573-6345 or via email at workshop@coons.senate.gov. Businesses will be on hand at the fair to meet potential new employees, and only employers with positions to fill will be permitted to attend.

For more information on how to participate as an employer or job seeker, please call Senator Coons’ office at 302-573-6345, or email workshop@coons.senate.gov. Pre-registration is not required.

Senator Coons’ statement on Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), an attorney and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court:

“In Judge Merrick B. Garland, the President has nominated a candidate whose judicial experience and previous Senate confirmation suggest someone eminently qualified for consideration for the Supreme Court. Despite that, every nomination to our nation’s highest court deserves close scrutiny, and I look forward to diving deeply into Judge Garland’s qualifications and background and, of course, meeting with him in person — a courtesy I urge every Senator to extend.

“With Judge Garland’s nomination, President Obama has fulfilled one of his most important constitutional responsibilities. Now, all one hundred members of the Senate must do our jobs by providing advice and consent on the President’s nominee. The Senate has a valuable opportunity to show the American people — and the world — that even amidst a divisive presidential campaign, our democratic system still works. We cannot allow year-long Supreme Court vacancies to become the new normal. In the months to come, how the Senate conducts itself will set a precedent for future vacancies — and send a strong signal about whether our constitutional order can still function.”

Coons, Corker highlight progress in reform of U.S. Global Food Aid

U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) and U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today highlighted progress in their bipartisan effort to fix inefficiencies in the delivery of U.S. global food assistance. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee today approved the Global Food Security Act, which contains a first-time authorization for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emergency Food Security Program (EFSP). USAID has relied increasingly upon EFSP to avoid constraints that would prevent delivery of emergency food aid through the Food for Peace program.

“This bill authorizes the Feed the Future program and sends an important signal about the need to increase flexibility in how we deliver food aid to those who need it most around the world,” said Senator Coons. “I’m grateful to Chairman Corker, Ranking Member Cardin, Senator Isakson, and Senator Casey for their leadership in bringing the Global Food Security Act to this point. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to increase food security and save lives when disaster strikes.”

“This authorization marks important progress in eliminating inefficiencies that prevent us from feeding more people in need around the world more quickly,” said Senator Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Absent flexibilities that exist for emergency assistance, there would be no way to respond in places like Syria where U.S. commodities simply cannot reach. The Emergency Food Security Program represents a model for overall food aid reform, and I am hopeful that with today’s action we will build momentum behind that effort.”

In 2015, nearly half of the $2.1 billion in annual U.S. food aid came from the EFSP. Other non-emergency food assistance is encumbered by various restrictions, including U.S. commodity and cargo preferences, that make emergency food aid too slow, too expensive, or locally inappropriate. The Food for Peace Reform Act of 2015, coauthored by Corker and Coons, would eliminate these restraints to free up as much as $440 million annually and allow the U.S. to reach an estimated eight to twelve million more people with food in a shorter time period.

[Video] Senator Coons, U.S. Attorney General Lynch discuss Violence Reduction Network in Wilmington

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) the co-Chair of the Senate Law Enforcement Caucus, questioned U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch about how to strengthen the Violence Reduction Network in Wilmington and across the country. He also asked about federal support for the Victims of Child Abuse program and Bulletproof Partnership program, as well as efforts to strengthen voting rights. 

In 2014, Senator Coons pushed the DOJ to select Wilmington as a designated city in the new Violence Reduction Network, a federal network designed to bring all of the expertise and experience of the federal government to help cities make their streets safer, and for New Castle County to be named a high-intensity drug trafficking area so it can access federal resources.

Read a transcript of the conversation between U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Senator Coons below:

Senator Coons: Let me start by thanking you, Madam Attorney General, and all the men and women of the federal law enforcement for what you do to tackle very difficult issues facing our country from drug addiction and counter terrorism to healing the relationships between law enforcement and the community that they serve, and let me start with a couple of critical issues that relate to support for state and local law enforcement.

As you know, gun violence has been a significant problem for my hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, and the department’s Violence Reduction Network has had a tremendous positive impact so far. The program is now in its second round of city partnerships, and I’m hopeful that the department intends to both continue to support it and extend it and that there is some likelihood that the annual conference will be held in Wilmington. I’d be interested in hearing what sort of improvements you see being implemented in the Violence Reduction Network this year, and how you see the program’s future.

AG Loretta Lynch: Thank you, Senator, for that, and I thank you, and on behalf of the men and women of the Department of Justice, all the law enforcement agencies as well as the staff who work to support them and the lawyers who implement their cases, I think you for your comments about their service. And I greatly appreciate your recognition of them. I’m proud to represent them every day.

The Violence Reduction Network is an important tool, and we have found it to be one of the ways in which we have been able to bring focused law enforcement resources really at a very cost effective way to jurisdictions that have been struggling with historically high crime rates. And Wilmington, Delaware has been one of our success stories. We have asked for more money in the budget for it, for FY2017, and five million dollars is not a lot compared to other things that we ask for, but certainly the benefits will be great. We currently already have at least 10 or 12 cities, and we are planning on bringing five more cities on board. As you know, from your experience, to be a VRN city requires a certain level of crime that we don’t want every city to aspire to. But the lessons from the VRN, we feel, could be very useful to other jurisdictions. So one of the things that we are going to be doing this summer, in the summer of 2016, is to convene some about 20 non VRN cities, those that are not in the network but have similar issues, to a conference with OJP to share the ideas and best practices that we have been able to glean from working with cities like Wilmington, Little Rock, Flint, and the others in the VRN. So not only do we find it to be a program that we hope has been helpful at the local level, we feel that as with so many efforts that are frankly anchored by our state and local partners, it will be a program that will provide leadership and guidance for other jurisdictions that are struggling with the same issues.

Sen. Coons: Thank you Madam Attorney General, and I intend to continue to support the VRN in the appropriations process as well. Let me turn briefly to two other programs that I think have shown some real positive impact for Delaware, and I think can and should be more fully supported federally. One is the Justice Reinvestment Initiative. Delaware participated in it early; our General Assembly made a number of changes to our criminal justice system and have seen some real positive impacts as a result. I’d be interested in hearing how you see the future of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative. And I’ll also mention the Victims of Child Abuse Act, something Senator Sessions and I worked to get reauthorized — I was somewhat disappointed the President’s budget request was half of what we had hoped for, and the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Act which provides appropriate bulletproof vests for local law enforcement around the country. I think all three of these are programs that provide real, meaningful assistance to local law enforcement and that help strengthen the criminal justice reform movement in the case of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative. Could you just briefly comment on how these programs fit into your overall objective to improve law enforcement in the country?

AG Loretta Lynch: Well thank you Senator for the chance to talk about them. And I thank you for raising these three programs together, because what they really highlight is that criminal justice reform will of course have an anchor that comes from this Committee and this body in the form of statutory changes, but it really also is going to be managed by how we interact and support our state and local partners. For example, the Bulletproof Vest Initiative. As we support officer safety, officer health and those important issues. And also as we test how we deal with the victims of child abuse. The Justice Reinvestment Act is something that is also extremely important to us because those funds are used to support changes both in local laws but also in the probation system, we have states that have been able to literally close prisons, that have seen significant drops in crime. So criminal justice reform for us is really a long-range view of the entire system. And these programs in particular focus on three specific elements of it, but they show how everything comes together, as it were. In a way to sort of support a holistic review of the criminal justice system. And that by supporting victims, by supporting local jurisdictions and their efforts, and by supporting local law enforcement, we will all have safer communities.

Sen. Coons: we have a lot of work to do together in improving public safety and in healing some of the rift between communities and law enforcement. I’m grateful for your leadership in that. Let me ask a last question, if I might. In the Shelby County decision, the Supreme Court significantly weakened, some would even say gutted, but I’ll say significantly weakened at least the Voting Rights Act. And on a bipartisan basis, 42 of us are trying to advance the Voting Rights Advancement Act. Senator Murkowski is a cosponsor as well as Senator Leahy and a number of others of us. What difference do you think having this committee take up the Voting Rights Advancement Act might make in terms of voting rights enforcement?

AG Loretta Lynch: Thank you Senator for your question, and thank you for your leadership in this area. And I thank this committee as it takes up this important matter. Also, certainly consideration of this act and the department has been working with the group on this and is happy to continue, we think would restore, help restore an important part of the Department’s arsenal in protecting the voting rights of all Americans. It’s vital to us that we look at this from a way in which we protect everyone’s rights to vote — the citizen on the street, our service members, our elderly, people who have trouble getting to the polls — all of those individuals are of concern to us. Certainly we thank you for your efforts in looking for a way to provide legislative support to those efforts and look forward to working with you and this committee as it considers this matter.

Sen. Coons: The right to vote has been described as the most foundational right in a democracy, a nearly sacred right. I hope that we can find a way to make progress on ensuring that all Americans have access to the ballot and the right to vote. Thank you for your service and your leadership as Attorney General.

Senator Coons oped on CNBC.com: How we make America No. 1 again

Today, Senator Coons published on oped on CNBC.com entitled: “How we make America No. 1 again”.  In the oped, Senator Coons discusses a recent study from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) that ranks the United States only tenth in policies that contribute to global innovation.

Read the full oped below or on CNBC.com here: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/07/how-we-make-america-no-1-again-commentary.html 

CNBC: How we make America No. 1 again

By Chris Coons, U.S. Senator (D-Del.)

The United States has long been known for our groundbreaking inventions and innovations that change the way people live around the world. Over our nation’s history, we’ve made the seemingly impossible possible time and time again: from pioneering human flight to creating new ways to communicate and share information around the globe instantaneously.

These inventions didn’t happen overnight, and they didn’t happen just anywhere. There is a reason they came about in America: our business and legal environment encouraged cutting-edge science and attracted the best and the brightest minds.

However, the factors that once made our country a hotbed for innovation are increasingly at risk.

A new study from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) confirms this dangerous trend by ranking countries based on how their policies contribute to global innovation. What makes this study unique is that it marks the first comprehensive look at how national policies in each country impact international innovation. More specifically, the study rates countries favorably if their efforts to encourage innovation internally also encourage global innovation. Likewise, countries are rated unfavorably if they try to bolster their own innovation capacity at the expense of other countries. Even in our increasingly global economy, discussions of innovation and competitiveness often fail to make this distinction.

On a per capita basis, the U.S. comes in a disappointing 10^th place overall. In short, while we aren’t actively harming the global innovation system, we could be doing much more to contribute to it. Moreover, innovation policy isn’t a zero-sum game: Steps that we take to support global innovation have clear, tangible benefits right here at home, too.

The nation that brought the world the assembly line, the automobile, and the iPhone can surely do better than 10^th place.

Fortunately, there are a number of common sense policies with bipartisan support that Congress can enact to bring us closer to No. 1 and ensure we remain competitive in the global economy for decades to come. These policies include reforming our broken tax code, making smart investments in research and development, and revitalizing an American manufacturing base that was once the envy of the world.

To help transform these proposals from broad ideas into specific laws, I joined with Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas to found the Competitiveness Caucus in the Senate. Along with 12 other senators, both Republicans and Democrats, the Competitiveness Caucus has worked to build support for policies that will rebuild our competitive edge.

Thanks to these efforts, the caucus has helped break through the congressional gridlock to deliver real successes. I was thrilled the year-end tax extenders bill that was signed into law last December included a number of ideas I have advocated for to encourage businesses to innovate and create jobs. These provisions will permanently extend and increase access to one of the most important tax credits available to American businesses, there search and development credit, which creates an incentive for companies to invest in R&D.

In fact, a key reason ITIF’s study ranked the U.S. as No. 10 was our failure to invest more in R&D and increase access to the tax credits that promote it.

Until we made it permanent, the R&D tax credit was extended only retroactively, leaving businesses lurching from extension to extension, unsure whether they’d have access to the credit in a year’s time. In that uncertain and unstable environment, it’s easy to understand why businesses that wanted to invest in R&D didn’t feel safe doing so. Moreover, until now, the tax credit was not available to start-ups, which are the leading source of job creation and innovation in this country. Now, American businesses of all sizes will have the long-term stability and support they need to grow their business and take risks.

Still, R&D alone won’t get us back to number one. We also have to look to our manufacturing sector, which is responsible for three-quarters of U.S. industry R&D. Manufacturing serves as a driving force behind America’s ability to innovate and remains key to our continued prosperity and competitiveness. But manufacturers are often unable to fill open positions because prospective employees don’t have the necessary skills, from hard math and engineering to the ability to think creatively and work as part of a team.

Many of these jobs require at least a two-year college degree, if not more. Without a sustained commitment to training a highly skilled workforce, American manufacturing — and, in turn, American innovation — will suffer.

That’s why I introduced both the Manufacturing Universities Act and the Manufacturing Skills Act. The bipartisan Manufacturing Universities proposal would designate 25 “Manufacturing Universities” across the country to receive up to $5 million per year for four years to revamp engineering programs so they are producing mechanical, industrial, and software engineers with the right skills for today’s manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing Skills would complement this effort by helping cities and states modernize their job training programs to reflect the specific workforce needs of manufacturers in their region.

These are just two of the bipartisan proposals that the Senate Competitiveness Caucus and I are working to advance in Congress.

These are the types of policies that will not only support global innovation, but also create jobs across the country. These efforts will sustain the American legacy of groundbreaking innovation that led to the airplane, the Internet, and countless other technologies that we cannot imagine living without today.

As the world population continues to grow rapidly, presenting both greater opportunities and more difficult human and environmental challenges, it is critical that the international community work together to deliver the technologies, cures, and services that will meet these challenges head on.

With our unmatched resources and the strongest, most capable workforce in the world, America must lead this effort by implementing today the policies that will catalyze the innovations of tomorrow.

Commentary by U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), the founder and chair of the bipartisan Senate Competitiveness Caucus and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Before he was elected to the Senate, he worked for a manufacturing company based in Delaware, and served as county executive of Delaware’s largest county, New Castle County. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisCoons.

Carper, Coons, Carney Call on Congress to Establish National Clean Energy Goals

WASHINGTON – Last week, the Delaware Congressional Delegation joined resolutions in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to support a national goal of producing more than 50 percent of American electricity from clean carbon-free sources by 2030. Today, Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons and Congressman John Carney (all D-Del.), sponsors of the “50×30 Resolutions,” called on Congress to enact legislation that would meet the 50×30 goal to curb the costs of climate change, grow the economy, improve public health, and preserve national security.

“The notion that we must choose between efforts to curb the effects of climate change and growing our economy is false. In fact, taking action to move this country toward a clean energy future will strengthen our economic outlook, while improving the health of our environment,” said Senator Carper, a top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “By enacting legislation that sets achievable goals for carbon-free electricity, Congress can help to spur investment in new, clean technologies and create thousands of good-paying jobs – while also reducing our country’s carbon footprint, and curbing the growing costs of climate change. I look forward to working with my colleagues to translate the goals of the 50×30 resolution into a legislative action solution.”

“If the United States is going to lead the way on one of the greatest challenges our world faces today, we must accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy,” said Senator Chris Coons. “Many businesses in Delaware and across the country like Amazon, DuPont, Bloom Energy, GE, and Procter & Gamble are already leading the way and proving that we can create new jobs and spur economic growth while reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the same time. I am also very proud of Delaware’s commitment to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. By laying out national goals for a clean energy economy, this resolution demonstrates the path we must embrace for creating a clean energy future. As climate change continues to threaten human health, the environment, and our national security, we must take action now.”

“Delaware has always been a leader when it comes to innovative energy policies,” said Congressman Carney. “By committing to the 50×30 initiative, our state and our country can ensure that we’re moving towards a future that’s both beneficial to our environment and our economy. I will continue to work with our delegation, and folks at the state and federal levels to achieve these goals.”

The full text of the resolution is available here. 

Coons, Ayotte, Graham, Blumenthal urge Treasury Secretary to sanction companies doing business with Iranian airline

WASHINGTON, D.C. – US Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) are urging Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to sanction all entities partnering with the private Iranian airline, Mahan Air. The US Department of the Treasury has designated Mahan Air for its support for terrorism and funneling of weapons to Hezbollah and to the Assad regime in Syria, yet the airline continues to operate with a network of partners throughout Europe.

“As Mahan Air continues to operate and even expand its international business network, it is clear that tough words from the administration are not enough.  It is time to impose sanctions now on companies aiding Mahan Air,” the senators wrote. “We urge you to immediately identify to us all known entities engaged in commercial transactions with Mahan Air and take action now to sanction those companies, including freezing all assets of those entities found under U.S. jurisdiction.”

The full text of the letter is below.

Dear Secretary Lew,

We write to express our deep concern regarding Mahan Air, a private Iranian airline designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for its support for terrorism and funneling of weapons to Hezbollah and to the Assad regime in Syria. As Mahan Air continues to operate and even expand its international business network, it is clear that tough words from the administration are not enough.  It is time to impose sanctions now on companies aiding Mahan Air.

In his August 2015 testimony, Acting Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam Szubin reaffirmed that “our sanctions list with respect to Iran will remain very extensive. We are not relieving sanctions against Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, or the Quds force or any of their subsidiaries or senior officials.”  In a September 2015 speech, Szubin explicitly singled out Mahan Air by stating, “We will continue to expose Mahan’s front companies, and to remind governments and private industry in the 24 cities where Mahan continues to fly that they risk exposure to U.S. sanctions.”

Despite these commitments, Mahan Air continues to fly into such European countries as Denmark, Sweden, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy, as well as our Persian Gulf Arab allies.  Mahan Air has recently introduced new flights to Russia, and intends to further expand its routes in Europe.  Mahan Air often flies its planes to commercial airports within hours of their return from arms delivery to Damascus or to equip Iran’s terror-proxy Hezbollah with weapons aimed directly at Israel. It regularly delivers IRGC personnel to and from Iran and Syria, as well as provides covert flights for IRGC senior officers into and out of Iraq to work with sectarian militias.

Mahan Air relies on a host of local partners who provide financial and other services in order for it to maintain a robust international flight network.  Those working with Mahan Air should understand that they will be sanctioned by the United States for supporting terrorism.  We urge you to immediately identify to us all known entities engaged in commercial transactions with Mahan Air and take action now to sanction those companies, including freezing all assets of those entities found under U.S. jurisdiction.

We are also aware that Tehran is in the process of purchasing a large number of commercial airliners. We ask you to monitor and ensure that, even under the suspension of enforcement of nuclear-related sanctions, no U.S. aircraft equipment is ever diverted to Mahan Air. Strong and swift sanctions enforcement is vital to hold Iran to account for its ongoing support of terrorism, ballistic missile development, and human rights violations.  

Thank you for your service to our country.

Senators Coons, Perdue, Tester Introduce Legislation To Strengthen U.S.-Israel Economic Partnership

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), David Perdue (R-GA), and Jon Tester (D-MT) today introduced S. Res. 383, bipartisan legislation to recognize the economic accomplishments of the U.S.-Israel economic partnership and support new agreements for collaboration across a variety of sectors within the technology sphere.

Since the signing of the U.S.-Israel Free Trade Agreement 30 years ago, Israel has become one of our country’s most dynamic economic collaborators in the Middle East and North Africa. Today, individual states are entering into agreements with Israel to deepen cooperation in specific areas of mutual interest, and our joint science and technology research institutions are collaborating on life-changing medical breakthroughs and clean energy technology. The economic impact of this partnership is significant and it deserves our unwavering support. 

“I am proud to cosponsor a resolution commemorating the strong economic ties between the U.S. and Israel,” said Senator Coons. “I continue to be impressed with the innovative, entrepreneurial spirit of the Israeli people, and I look forward to working to deepen our ties in this area and many others.”

“The U.S.-Israel strategic alliance helped pave the way for our nations to develop vital economic ties,” said Senator Perdue. “Israel is a hub for innovation, and together our technology sectors have created jobs and encouraged innovation across the economic spectrum. We must continue working with Prime Minister Netanyahu to explore new opportunities for collaboration to grow economic sectors, increase cybersecurity, and advance medical research.”

“For nearly 70 years, the U.S. and Israel have been inseparable allies, and that relationship is strengthened when our economies grow together,” said Senator Tester. “At a time when some are looking to limit our economic ties to Israel, we should keep building our relationship to tackle the world’s biggest challenges.”

“The Israel Allies Foundation is very thankful to Senators Perdue, Tester, and Coons for their sponsorship of Senate Resolution 383,” said EJ Kimball, Executive Director of the Israel Allies Foundation. “America’s economic ties with Israel are incredibly valuable: U.S. exports to Israel sustain over 250,000 high paying American jobs, and Israel’s investment in America is larger than investment from China, India, or Russia. Yet ties can be deepened, and the Israel Allies Foundation will work with Senators Perdue, Tester, and Coons as their leadership paves the way for even more American jobs through deeper economic engagement with Israel.”

Specifically, S. Res. 383 seeks to: (1) affirm the robustness of the economic relationship; (2) recognize that science and technology innovation present new frontiers for economic cooperation; (3) encourage the Administration to expand and regularize existing forums of economic dialogue with Israel; and (4) support the exploration of new agreements, including in the fields of energy, water, agriculture, medicine, neurotechnology and cybersecurity.

[Video] Senator Coons pushes for head of Army Corps of Engineers to fund Delaware beach nourishment

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, questioned Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, about the need for additional funding for beach nourishment projects along Delaware’s battered coastline to protect homes, businesses, and fragile ecosystems during an Appropriations Subcommittee hearing. Senator Coons also questioned her about funding to dredge the Port of Wilmington. View video of Senator Coons and Assistant Secretary Jo-Ellen Darcy here: http://bit.ly/1QMhIhu

After winter storms devastated Delaware’s coastline earlier this year, Senator Coons joined the delegation in supporting Governor Markell’s request for emergency funding to restore portions of Delaware’s coastline to pre-storm conditions. Senator Coons has met with leadership from the Army Corps of Engineers and spoken with a number of mayors from local towns on Delaware’s coast about the need for additional coastal protections for Delaware. 

Read a transcript of the conversation between Assistant Sec. Jo-Ellen Darcy and Senator Coons below:

Senator Coons: I have been particularly pleased with the service of the Colonel who is charged with the Philadelphia District – Lieutenant Colonel Mike Bliss, and I’m grateful for your continued support for a project that is near and dear to my constituents, the Delaware river dredging. I’m pleased there’s another $55 million dollars overall in the work plan to complete the project, so I just want to start by saying thank you, since I know not every opportunity is taken to thank you for budget support and for leadership. 

If I might, Assistant Secretary Darcy, just want to talk about Delaware’s beaches. We have several world-class beaches – they are a key driver of tourism in our region and they are essential to the economy of Southern Delaware. We had a significant storm recently that imposed some very hard damage. We are grateful for previous investment in beach nourishment that protected those beaches, but most of what had been provided in recent years was torn away and that’s left a lot of our coastal communities and their infrastructure exposed. I’m hopeful that we can work together to find resources; the President’s budget to my disappointment did not include funding for Bethany beach or South Bethany beach, and as the project information reports from the Philadelphia District come into your office describing damage to Delaware’s beaches, I am hopeful that you conclude that the Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies Act funds that remain unspent from Sandy could be used for Rehoboth, Bethany, and South Bethany. Do you think that is possible or likely? And if not, what else do you think we can do to rebuild Delaware’s beaches and its coastal defenses?

Assistant Secretary Jo-Ellen Darcy: As you say, Senator, we are in the PIR stages, project information reports that inform us as to what exactly, what damages were done and what the actual cost of those repairs will be. As far as using Sandy supplemental funds, I’m going to have to defer, because I believe that those can only be used for damages that were incurred by Super storm Sandy as opposed to subsequent storms. But again, that is something we’ll check into if the need be for that – if the need for the repairs is unmet. 

Senator Coons: Given that just a visual inspection as well as detailed reports from local government leaders suggests to Delaware’s congressional delegation that there will be some significant needs here, what funding source do you think is most likely, relevant, or appropriate to take action this year?

Assistant Secretary Jo-Ellen Darcy: Probably the FCC&E account, that’s our coastal emergency account, but it would depend on how they are evaluated as far as… relative to the most recent storm.

Senator Coons: Well I’ll join the comments made by other of my colleagues earlier in this hearing that it is disappointing that the Administration’s funding request is insufficient for what are the likely needs of the whole country and as a member of this subcommittee, I’m happy to commit to continuing to support needed increased funding that will make it possible for you to address the needs of Delaware and many other states.

Let me also turn to the Port of Wilmington. It’s on a dredging cycle that really isn’t sufficient to meet the needs of this port. It’s a relatively small port, but it’s an important port for my home state. It silts in about every six to nine months, and right now, it’s causing havoc with a number of costumers at the port, and I’m hopeful that going forward you’ll consider including funding for two dredging cycles a year. Is this something you’re familiar with?

Assistant Secretary Jo-Ellen Darcy: Senator, I’m aware that we did provide 16 O&M dredging for this port at 3.845 million dollars, and also in the President’s 17 budget request, we have 4.355 million dollars for this, for the next dredging cycle. So I think, an additional dredging cycle is what your question is, sir?

Senator Coons: yes

Assistant Secretary Jo-Ellen Darcy: I believe that currently we are budgeting on a single dredging cycle, and I think those numbers reflect… 

Senator Coons: I’ll urge you to reconsider based on experience at the port two dredging cycles a year, and let me in my closing moments, simply recommend to you again funding for the Delaware River Basin commission. Although there is a congressionally approved compact that requires a federal contribution, the federal contribution hasn’t been forthcoming I think in 19 of the last 20 fiscal years. I also am an advocate for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund – you’ve made some significant improvements – the request is higher, our funding has improved but it is still 20% less this year than what was appropriated last, and I think it would make a significant difference for harbors across the country, not just in my home state of Delaware. So please note me as an advocate for working to ensure that the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund is put to its appropriate purposes and that we invest to the level we need to in order to ensure that our export and import businesses that go through our vital ports and harbors are appropriately maintained.

[Video] Senator Coons: “Wildlife trafficking…poses a real threat to wildlife and to the security of the region and ultimately the United States”

Sen. Coons: “Sophisticated, international criminal gangs are increasingly involved in massacring thousands of elephants, dozens of rhinos all across Africa”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,spoke with Huffington Post Live about why Wildlife trafficking poses a risk to regional security in many African countries and national security. Senator Coons just came back from a 10-day CODEL to Mozambuique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia to meet with government officials, NGOs, and other Aide Organizations about wildlife poaching and trafficking, as well as political, economic, and military/security issues affecting each of these countries. Senator Coons was joined by Senator Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), and Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Committee on Intelligence. 

Senators Coons and Flake recently coauthored an oped in CNN about the legislation they introduced to combat the growing crisis of wildlife trafficking. 

Video of Senator Coons’ interview with Huffington Post Live is available here: http://bit.ly/1LfWcVZ

Transcript of Senator Coons’ remarks below:

“Something that’s a little bit off the plate for the average American, but that I think ought to be of concern to us is that sophisticated, international criminal gangs are increasingly involved in massacring thousands of elephants, dozens of rhinos all across Africa so rapidly that it’s entirely possible rhinos will be extinct in the wild within the next decade and elephants within the next 20 years. That is because rhino horn and elephant tusk now command a value in Asia in countries like Vietnam and China that exceeds that of heroin or gold, so they are attracting far more sophisticated criminal syndicates and armed poaches than had been the case in the past.

“Why is this of concern to us? Well first, because these beautiful, iconic wild creatures are being slaughtered across Africa, but second because it’s also funding terrorism and organized crime. The very same networks that are involved in trafficking the products of the massacre of elephants and rhinos are also trafficking people, they are trafficking money, they are trafficking guns, they are trafficking drugs, and they are destabilizing countries all throughout central and southern Africa at an alarming rate. So it is something that Senator Flake of Arizona and I have joined together to tackle.

“There have been hearings in the Foreign Relations Committee, we have a number of bipartisan cosponsors, there is a similar bill that has come out of the House of Representatives and I’m actually cautiously optimistic that we will have a bipartisan bill through the Senate and ready for action by the President before the end of the year, and that this will contribute in a meaningful way to tackling the very real crisis of wildlife trafficking that is currently afoot in a dozen African countries and that poses a real threat to wildlife and to the security of the region and ultimately the United States.”