November 30, 2007 ODP Newsletter

In this issue:

I-35W Bridge Money Approved

Oberstar Announces Grant for Grand Lake Firefighters, Assistance for Loggers

Oberstar Supports "Bridge Plan" for Iraq

Oberstar Web Team Launches New Campaign Website

I-35W Bridge Money Approved

A large appropriations bill that includes emergency funding for the I-35W bridge was approved by a House-Senate conference committee earlier in November. The Fiscal Year 2008 Transportation/HUD Appropriations bill guarantee that Minnesota receives additional emergency funding for replacement of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis and an additional $1 billion for bridge repair nationwide.

Congressman Jim Oberstar is recovering from recent surgery, but issued the following statement on the bill:

"I am very pleased that the conference committee approved these badly needed funds. The agreement contains $195 million in emergency relief funds for Minnesota. This will constitute the final payment to the state for replacement of the collapsed I-35W bridge.

"The agreement also contains an additional $1 billion for inspection and repair of bridges throughout the country. While much more is needed, this is an important first step toward rehabilitating our nation's deteriorating infrastructure."

Oberstar Announces Grant for Grand Lake Firefighters, Assistance for Loggers

Grand Lake Firefighers
Volunteer firefighters in Grand Lake Township are getting a much needed federal grant to upgrade their equipment. The office of Congressman Jim Oberstar announced in November that a grant of $92,530 had been awarded to Grand Lake's fire department by the Department of Homeland Security.

The grant will be used to help the Grand Lake Fire Department upgrade its communications equipment and other important firefighting gear. "We need to make certain that our first responders can communicate with each other quickly during a crisis," said Oberstar.

The grant is being awarded through the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters grant program.


Assistance for Loggers
The U.S. Forest Service is giving loggers more time to recover from a downturn in the housing market that is impacting their business. Congressman Jim Oberstar's office announced in November that the Forest Service will be adding an additional year to the time loggers have to pay off contracts to harvest timber on public lands.

"Many of these contracts were drawn up when the housing market was booming and demand was high," said Oberstar. "Since the housing market has slowed down, many of these trees have gone uncut. This extension will keep many loggers from suffering big losses or even facing bankruptcy."

Since September 2004, the softwood lumber market has dropped 36.4 percent. The Forest Service can alter the terms of logging contracts if it serves the public interest to make the change. "It doesn’t serve anyone so see loggers go out of business. This really demonstrates the need to make the contract system more flexible, so it can adapt to the changing market place," said Oberstar.

Forest Service officials advise loggers to get in touch with their contracting officer to see if they are eligible for the extension.

Oberstar Supports "Bridge Plan" for Iraq

The following is an opinion piece written by Jim Oberstar for The Hill’s Congress Blog.

President Bush and his Republican congressional allies are determined to keep our nation in a political and military quagmire in Iraq. With threats of a presidential veto and Senate filibuster, they persist in their fundamentally flawed policy to prolong our involvement in Iraq without end. Time and again, President Bush has asked the men and women of our armed services to perform longer tours of duty, while Iraqi politicians fail to establish a stable government.

Military experts have confirmed that the war is wearing out our troops faster than they can be rested, re-trained and re-equipped. We will begin to see a significant degradation of our readiness in the next year if we do not begin drawing down our troop levels in Iraq.

I support the Iraq Bridge Plan because this legislation provides only four months of additional funding for the Iraq war, and requires President Bush to begin bringing troops home in the next 30 days. The plan also sets a hard date of December 15th, 2008 to end our combat involvement in Iraq.

These are realistic goals, but they require that the Iraqi government take responsibility to end the political strife that is tearing their society apart. Our soldiers can accomplish any mission we give them; they have reduced the violence in Iraq, and they have helped build schools, roads and power plants. But they cannot make the people of Iraq learn to live together, and our troops should not be required to keep those warring factions apart for years on end.

Oberstar Web Team Launches New Website

The Oberstar Campaign officially launched its new website at www.oberstar.org earlier this year. The new site will have many of the features included on the old site with a few key additions. "We wanted to create a site that made it easier for Jim’s constituents to stay informed about the Congressman and provide a resource center for those who want to know more about him," said Oberstar Website Administrator Bryan Yunis. "We also wanted to be sure that in addition to learning about Jim, the dialogue could be two-way with constituents being able to contact the campaign about issues important to them."

In the 2008 election season, voters will be able to research the accomplishments Oberstar has won recently as chair of the Transportation Committee through archived newsletters, follow Jim as he campaigns through the district with updated events lists, sign up to volunteer and donate, and provide the Congressman feedback on his work as their Representative in Washington. "As we’re seeing so far in the 2008 election cycle, having a strong online presence is essential for any serious race. The Oberstar campaign is committed to investing in new technologies for their campaign and it’s something that the constituents of the 8th district are going to benefit from," said Yunis.