Barbara Boxer: In The News

Senate approves $138-billion spending bill

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Kim Geiger
Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Washington - After months of wrangling, the Senate on Wednesday approved a $138-billion spending bill that would extend jobless benefits, help states pay for Medicaid and continue a bundle of tax measures designed to stimulate the economy.

The measure -- which must still be reconciled with a version passed in the House -- also extends tax cuts for college tuition, the program that helps laid-off workers keep their job-based health insurance, and tax breaks for research and development that have long been important to the nation's high-tech industries.

In addition, the bill delays a threatened 21% cutback in the payments doctors receive for treating Medicare patients.

Read the entire article in the LA Times.

'Calling for death to a country or individual is unacceptable'

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Ben Smith
Politico

When you go into Obama-campaign style "Fight the Smears" mode, it's generally a pretty good idea to be sure the charges against you are, in fact, not provably true.

As Josh Gerstein wrote last week, the story of Sami Al-Arian, the Florida professor who pled guilty of supporting Palestinian Islamic Jihad in 2006, has been roiling the GOP Senate Primary there, with Tom Campbell under fire from rivals for his departures from the party's staunch support for Israel.
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The problem: Just hours after the debate ended, The Investigative Project put online a letter from Campbell that defended Arian and made reference to that same O'Reilly interview.

Read the entire article in Politico.

Tom Campbell letter stokes controversy over ties to jihadist

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Mike Zapler
Silicon Valley Mercury News

WASHINGTON — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Campbell is facing a potentially crippling controversy over his past defense of a fired Florida professor with ties to terrorists and his inconsistent statements regarding what he knew and when about the man's actions.

Dogged for weeks by criticism over his defense of Sami Al-Arian, who later pleaded guilty to aiding terrorists, Campbell has denied knowing about the man's incendiary past, which included nods to Islamic jihad and calls for "death to Israel." He also said that his dealings with Al-Arian occurred before the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

But Campbell, who was then a Stanford law professor, wrote a letter on Al-Arian's behalf months after the Sept. 11 attacks that casts doubt on his claims of ignorance about Al-Arian's radicalism.

Read the entire article in the Mercury News.

U.S. aid sought for California drought

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Michael Doyle
Fresno Bee

The aid will flow to fruit and vegetable farmers who work in the 24 California counties that have been designated as primary disaster areas because of drought. These include many Central Valley counties, among them Kings and Merced. Fresno and Tulare counties were not among those designated last September as primary disaster areas.

Though the amendment does not specify California as a recipient, the state is expected to receive a high percentage of the specialty-crop funding because it dominates the nation's fruit and vegetable production.

"Growers in California have experienced significant crop losses due to an extended period of drought, and these funds will help many get through these tough times," Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer said.

Read the entire article in the Fresno Bee.

Letter on Muslim radical roils GOP Senate race

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Seema Mehta
Los Angeles Times

Terrorism and the Middle East are continuing to roil the Republican Senate contest after a letter written by former congressman Tom Campbell emerged that appeared to contradict statements Campbell and his aides had made about his dealings with a radical Muslim professor.

The professor, Sami Al-Arian, contributed to Campbell's unsuccessful campaign in 2000 for the U.S. Senate. On Sept. 26, 2001, when he was teaching at the University of South Florida, Al-Arian gave an interview to Fox TV host Bill O'Reilly in which he conceded that he had said, "Jihad is our path. Victory to Islam. Death to Israel. Revolution. Revolution until victory. Rolling to Jerusalem."

Those statements quickly generated a furor and the university moved to discipline Al-Arian. Campbell, by then a law professor at Stanford University, wrote a letter to Judy Genshaft, the president of the University of South Florida, protesting any punishment.

Read the entire article in the LA Times.

Packard heir slams GOP Senate candidate, former Hewlett-Packard chief Fiorina

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Seema Mehta
Los Angeles Times PolitiCal Blog

Republican Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina touts her business resume, particularly her years as chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, as the reason GOP voters should nominate her to face Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.

But this morning, an heir to one of the company’s founders issued a slashing rebuttal, arguing that Fiorina nearly drove the technology firm into the ground.

“I know a little bit about Carly Fiorina, having watched her almost destroy the company my grandfather founded,” wrote Arianna Packard, the granddaughter of David Packard, in a letter posted on www.redstate.com.

Fiorina is in a tough three-way GOP race to take on Sen. Barbara Boxer. Her tenure at Hewlett-Packard was controversial, with Portfolio magazine crowning her one of the 20 worst American chief executives of all time.

Read the entire post at the LA Times PolitiCal blog.

Women's History Month Celebrates Women in the Military

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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USO Blog

Sgt. 1st Class Juanita Wilson (shown at right) accepted a Senate Resolution to recognize the accomplishments of women in the military on Capitol Hill last Thursday, at a Joint Services Women’s History Month Observance. The resolution – introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer of California – aims to do five things: “to acknowledge the contributions of women in the military, celebrate the role women play, recognize the unique challenges women face, to strengthen programs for women and to honor women veterans.”

As reported by the Army News Service, “‘I wouldn’t have thought that six years down the road, someone would be thinking about me,’ Wilson said of her surprise at being asked to accept the resolution. Boxer’s office said the senator introduced the resolution because she wanted to highlight the accomplishments, contributions, and sacrifices of women like Wilson in the military.”

This Wednesday, surviving members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP , program will be honored with a special WASP Congressional Gold Medal, created just last year by Congress and President Obama. Fewer than 300 WASPs are still alive, making this ceremony particularly poignant.

Read the entire article at the USO Blog.

Stimulus money for California transit

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Josh Richman
Contra Costa Times Political Blotter

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced $83.9 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for transit improvements in California.
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And U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said “(t)hese critical investments will put Californians to work on transit projects that will ease congestion, improve air quality and speed Californians on their way to work and school.”

Read the entire post at the Contra Costa Times Political Blotter.

While Rivals Tangle, DeVore Abides

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Joe Mathews
Fox & Hounds

- Carly Fiorina, calling in while her rivals were at the debate in person, sounded scratchy and tired (at least over my Internet connection). Her campaign team, for all its operational successes, needs to do more work on the candidate herself. She managed the terrible trick of managing to sound defensive even when she was attacking.
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- Tom Campbell was OK. He made a game effort to square his record with the right’s current, evangelical-inspired conviction that Israel is the world’s most important country. But I’m not sure he was convincing as a deliverer of red meat—particularly when he suggested that terrorists should be treated like 19th century pirates and hanged. If he really believes that, I’ll buy him lunch the next time I run into him at Chapman University in Orange (where I sometimes teach).
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- The clear winner of the encounter was Chuck DeVore. For one, the debate gave him a rare chance to get some attention. And he didn’t blow it. He talked about his own story and biography, in a way that made this listener want to know more. His deep voice sounded great on radio, and he demonstrated the gift, essential for conservatives these days, of sounding reasonable even while saying unreasonable things.

Read the entire post at Fox and Hounds Daily.

Barbara Boxer's Sneak Attack on Banker Bonuses

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Michael Corkery
Wall Street Journal

Hell hath no fury like an incumbent Senator in a tough re-election fight.

Exhibit A: Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democratic Senator facing a serious Republican challenge, is calling for a vote on a bill she introduced that would impose a new tax on Wall Street bonuses.

The tax, which would go toward paying back bail out money, would be applied to any bonus amount above $400,000 received by employees of banks that received more than $5 billion in U.S. government assistance.

Boxer said on the floor of the Senate this morning, “that I believe reflects fairness and justice and the America way.” It is co-sponsored by Democrat James Webb of Virginia, who has tended to take a more centrist approach toward fiscal policy.

Read the entire article in the Wall Street Journal.

LaHood: Transportation principles coming within 90 days; Boxer on board

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Leo King
Jacksonville Transportation Examiner

The Obama administration will unveil its principles for a new multi-year transportation bill within the next 90 days, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told reporters yesterday at a conference in Washington sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

The Bond Buyer (http://www.bondbuyer.com/) reported today The Senate also will get cracking on its own multi-year bill, building on existing House legislation, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said during a hearing yesterday.

The administration’s principles for reauthorization of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users, or SAFETEA-LU, which expired Sept. 30, would precede actual White House legislation, which is expected next year.

Read the entire article in the Jacksonville Transportation Examiner.

Senate ends impasse, approves jobless aid extension

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by James Oliphant
Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Washington - Senate leaders Tuesday night resolved an impasse over emergency aid to the jobless that had driven a wedge into Republican ranks and given Democrats a political weapon.

The deal overcame the continued objections of a single senator, Republican Jim Bunning of Kentucky, who for days had held up short-term extensions of unemployment and COBRA benefits over concerns that the bill would increase the federal deficit.

To pacify Bunning, Senate Democrats agreed to allow a floor vote on an amendment to offset the cost of the bill. The amendment did not survive a procedural objection.

Read the entire article in the Los Angeles Times.

Boxer, Feinstein sign on to 'don't ask' repeal

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Foon Rhee
Sacramento Bee

California's two U.S. senators are among about a dozen who introduced a bill today to end "don't ask, don't tell," the 17-year-old policy that prevents gay Americans from serving openly in the armed forces.

"I look forward to ending the discriminatory Don't Ask Don't Tell policy as soon as possible," Sen. Barbara Boxer said in a statement. "We cannot afford to lose the service of dedicated and honorable military personnel, which is happening right now."

"Every American should have the opportunity to serve their country, regardless of race, sex, creed, or sexual orientation," Senator Dianne Feinstein added.

Read the entire article in the Sacramento Bee.

Calls grow for throttle safeguard

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Jim Puzzanghera and Ken Bensinger
Los Angeles Times

At the hearing, senators slammed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration -- overseen by LaHood's department -- for not identifying serious safety problems with Toyota vehicles earlier, saying that the agency does not have enough technical expertise to handle increasingly complex auto electronics systems and questioning whether government officials are too cozy with the industry they oversee.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and three other senators questioned whether two former NHTSA officials who went to work for Toyota influenced the government's slow response.

LaHood said they complied with legal prohibitions on contacting the agency on issues they had worked on at the agency, but said he would welcome a rule preventing NHTSA employees from going to work for automakers until at least two years after leaving the agency.

Read the entire article in the Los Angeles Times.

Senate Starts Work on New Transport Bill, With House Version as a Guide

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Elana Schor
Streetsblog

The Senate today took its first steps towards voting on a new long-term federal transportation bill, with environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) vowing to take up a successor to the 2005 infrastructure law before 2011 and indicating she would use the House's already-introduced version as a framework.

Boxer described today's hearing in her panel as "the kickoff" of the upper chamber's drafting of new legislation governing U.S. road, transit, bridge, port, and rail policy. "Our intention is to hold a series of hearings and write the bill while you are still here and while Senator [George] Voinovich [R-OH] is still here," she told Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), who will retire at the end of the year.

Such willingness to consider a new infrastructure bill before the Obama administration's preferred timeframe of next spring could help thaw the frosty relations between Boxer's panel and the House transportation committee, where chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) has raged against upper-chamber inaction for months.

Read the full post at Streetsblog.

Book: HP eyed Fiorina as dad ruled on case

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Josh Gerstein
Politico

California Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina was negotiating for a lucrative job as CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. a decade ago at the same time her father wrote a significant appeals court opinion that the high-tech industry had aggressively lobbied for, a new book reports.

In July 1999, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Joseph Sneed, Fiorina’s father, issued a ruling that made it far more difficult for class-action lawyers to file securities lawsuits. Breaking with two other courts of appeals, Sneed said a legal reform Congress passed in 1995 at the urging of high-tech executives besieged by such suits meant plaintiffs needed solid evidence of wrongdoing before they went to court.

Seventeen days later, Fiorina was named as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard with a compensation packaged valued at the time at between $80 million and $90 million.

Read the entire article in Politico.

Mining ban bill in both houses

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Natalie Everett
Santa Clarita Valley Signal

For two decades, residents worried that a proposed massive mining operation would cover the Santa Clarita Valley's streets and highways with traffic and fill the air with pollution.

Now, those fears are one step closer to being laid to rest.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., introduced legislation Tuesday to squelch Cemex Inc.'s proposed massive mine in Soledad Canyon, joining a similar effort by Congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon.

The bill could resolve a 20-year-old mining dispute between the city of Santa Clarita and Cemex.

Read the entire article in The Signal.

G.O.P. Aims for California, but Rifts Arise

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Adam Nagourney
The New York Times

BURBANK, Calif. — If Republicans are to have a serious chance of capturing control of the Senate in November, they are going to have to win in traditionally Democratic states like California, where Senator Barbara Boxer, a three-term Democrat, is showing signs of vulnerability.

But before Republicans get a clear shot at Mrs. Boxer, they will have to overcome deep divisions within their own party — divides that reflect both the grass-roots energy surging through the conservative movement and the tensions between the party’s moderate and conservative wings.

There are certainly more vulnerable Democratic Senate seats in the country, but early polls in California suggest that Mrs. Boxer is facing what could be the toughest election of her career. Her difficulties in a state that has for 20 years proved reliably Democratic in national elections suggests how the pendulum has swung against Democrats in just a year. Her potential problems are a function more of this political climate than of any position or vote she has taken.

Read the entire article in The New York Times.

Lone senator blocks unemployment benefit extensions

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Ted Barrett
CNN.com

Retiring Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Kentucky, led a spirited Senate debate with Democrats over the issue -- at one time cursing at another senator on the floor. Bunning said he doesn't oppose extending the programs -- he just doesn't want to add to the deficit.

According to two Democratic aides on the Senate floor Thursday night, Bunning muttered "tough s---" as Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, criticized Bunning's stance on the package.

An aide to Merkley said the senator didn't hear the remark. A spokesman for Bunning said he was aware of the reports about the senator's language but didn't have a comment.

On Friday, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, sent Bunning a letter asking him to "stand down immediately" from his stance.

"Unemployment insurance is a lifeline to the long-term unemployed whose families have been hit very hard by this recession," she said.

Read the entire post at CNN.com

Boxer: Passage of Travel Promotion Act Will Create Jobs, Reduce Deficit

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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submitted by Phillip Davies
BigNews.biz

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) praised the passage of the Travel Promotion Act, bipartisan legislation that will create thousands of jobs and generate economic growth through a nationally coordinated travel promotion campaign to attract more international visitors to the United States. The bill was passed last night by a vote of 78 to 18.

“Tourism is a huge economic driver in California, which is the nation’s most-visited state,” Senator Boxer said. “This legislation will create thousands of jobs in California and across the country by promoting our country as a destination for international visitors. The bill will not only spur economic growth, it will reduce the deficit by $425 million over a decade.”

The average overseas visitor puts over $4,000 into the economy, but since the attacks of September 11, 2001, overseas travel to the United States has decreased, even as worldwide travel increased. In 2009, there were nearly 2.4 million fewer international visitors than in 2000, which resulted in an estimated $214 billion lost in direct visitor spending and hundreds of thousands of lost jobs.

Read the entire piece at BigNews.biz

California Senator Quizzes Salazar on his Deadly Wild Horse Fiasco

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Steven Long
Straight From the Horse's Heart

WASHINGTON, DC, (Horseback) – California’s Sen. Barbara Boxer released a letter demanding answers from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar regarding the embattled Bureau of Land Management. It’s Wild Horse and Burro Program is under fire after the deaths of scores of horses in a mid-winter “gather” in Nevada’s Calico Mountains.

The horses were stampeded into holding pens after a grueling chase by a roaring helicopter over rockey ground in freezing weather. Two foals died after losing their hooves in an excruciating lingering death.

Dear Secretary Salazar:

I am writing to thank you for your recent attention to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Wild Horse and Burro Program and to seek information that would help me evaluate your proposed reforms to this program.

Wild horses and burros are majestic symbols of the American west and are beloved by many people for their remarkable intelligence, grace, beauty, and power. Unfortunately, these charismatic animals have also been at the center of great controversy for many decades.

Read the entire post at the Straight From the Horse's Heart.

Tom Campbell's Israel problem

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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Editorial
Los Angeles Times

Tom Campbell, the moderate California Republican who hopes to challenge Sen. Barbara Boxer in November, might make a good U.S. senator, or he might not. We don't know yet because the campaign is just getting underway, and subjects from healthcare to taxes to immigration to foreign policy will all be part of the debate.

But at the moment, the participants are stuck on one subject: Israel. Bloggers on the American Spectator and Commentary websites have attacked Campbell, saying his record as a congressman in the 1990s suggests he is insufficiently committed to the Jewish state -- and soft on terrorism. On Thursday, predictably, his GOP rivals weighed in. Carly Fiorina said she was "deeply troubled" by what she'd learned, and Chuck DeVore's campaign called Campbell "a friend to our foes."

This kind of thing is hardly unusual in American politics. Everyone knows that Israel is a third rail -- that Jewish, evangelical and Republican votes, among others, can turn on it. But the topic has become more polarized than ever. One extreme argues that politicians must support Israel unreservedly; the other points to a sinister "Israel lobby" with disproportionate influence that can make and break candidates at will.

Read the entire editorial in the Los Angeles Times.

CA SEN Candidates Fight Over Israel

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Beth Sussman
Hotline On Call

CA SEN candidates were embroiled today in a back-and-forth that began as an attack on ex-Rep. Tom Campbell's (R) record on Israel, but ended up focusing on ex-HP CEO Carly Fiorina (R) mgr. Marty Wilson allegedly referring to Campbell as an "anti-Semite."

Wilson denies making the comment, but the Campbell camp insists the comment is proof that the Fiorina camp's demeanor should be seriously questioned.

According to a Los Angeles Times article published today, ex-CA Sec/State Bruce McPherson called Wilson to tell him he planned to endorse Campbell. Wilson allegedly called Campbell an "anti-Semite." McPherson said in the article that he knows Campbell is "a strong supporter of the state of Israel."

Read the entire article at Hotline On Call.

Federal water plan to be unveiled

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Michael Doyle and Mark Grossi
Fresno Bee

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is expected today to unveil an ambitious-sounding package of irrigation deliveries, water transfers, farm-loan guarantees and other programs targeting the parched San Joaquin Valley.

Crafted amid intense political pressure, the package is supposed to alleviate farmers' distress while still protecting fish. It comes as state water managers say this year's Sierra snowpack is on track to reach normal levels after three years of drought.

Some key California lawmakers said late Thursday that they were pleased by the effort, though others still want more detail.
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The comprehensive package is expected to accompany what is normally a routine water allocation announcement, where the federal Bureau of Reclamation declares how much water farms and cities can expect. Last February, the bureau announced farmers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta would receive nothing. That later increased to 10% of historic deliveries.

Read the entire article at the Fresno Bee.

Fiorina uses Scott Brown's mug in Web ad, without endorsement or permission

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Mike Zapler
Silicon Valley Mercury News

WASHINGTON — Is Scott Brown, the newly minted U.S. senator and Republican Party savior, backing Carly Fiorina for Senate?

The answer is no. But you might be forgiven for thinking he is after watching Fiorina's new Web ad featuring Brown's mug in one frame, then hers in the next, with the caption, "Thank You Massachusetts. Now on to California. Join the Path to Victory."

Weeks after Fiorina took the Web by storm with the "demon sheep" video castigating rival Tom Campbell for not being fiscally conservative enough, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO and first-time political candidate is again stirring controversy with a new Internet ad.

Read the full article in the Mercury News.

LaHood Talks TIGERS and Stimulus, While Boxer Pledges Support for 30 in 10

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Damien Newton
LA Streetsblog

However, most of the news was made not at the press conference, but back at Metro headquarters for the Town Hall meeting. Boxer outlined a timeline for the reathorization of the Federal Transportation Trust Fund and vowed to do all she could to accelerate transit projects in L.A. County to, in the words of Mayor Villaraigosa, "vindicate the will of the people."

"I hear you. I get it. I'm all over it." With those ten words U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer embraced local efforts to complete all Measure R transit projects within the next ten years and turned Denny Zane and the Move L.A. Coalition into the most influential transit group in Southern California. Zane was the central figure in creating the "30 in 10" plan and promoting it, most recently at a press event this morning. Boxer noted that there are some laws already on the books that could help move projects faster than Measure R's current thirty year timetable, and that if other laws need to be changed, she would do all she could to help make those changes.

Read the entire report at LA Streetsblog.

Boxer: Jobs bill 'critical' to infrastructure projects

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by J. Taylor Rushing
The Hill

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) on Wednesday called the stripped-down jobs bill that the Senate will consider next week "critical" to state and local infrastructure projects, and that she expects a bipartisan vote of approval.

In a conference call with reporters, Boxer praised the $15 billion bill unveiled last week by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Reid rejected a larger bill that had been crafted by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), opting instead for a smaller, simpler bill. Reid blocked GOP amendments to the bill and has scheduled a cloture vote for 5 p.m. Monday.

The bill — the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act — extends the federal Highway Trust Fund, which is currently scheduled to expire at the end of the month, and also extends the Build America Bonds program to allow lower bonding rates for state and local governments. Boxer said the lower bond rates will preserve one million jobs.

Read the entire article in The Hill.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer files papers to run for reelection

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Seema Mehta
Los Angeles Times

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer formally filed for reelection Thursday, a move that kicked off a challenging battle for the three-term Democrat amid a national backlash against incumbents and the party controlling the White House and Congress.

"I only have one goal, to get California back on track by creating jobs and making life better for the people that I represent. That is what I have always done, and that is what I will always do," Boxer said at the Riverside County Registrar of Voters' office. "It will be tough, regardless of who my eventual opponent will be, but we're ready, and we're excited."

Boxer, 69, filed her paperwork in Riverside County because she moved from the Bay Area to Rancho Mirage in 2006. Afterward, she greeted supporters at a nearby Mexican restaurant.

"If you help me . . . nothing's going to stop us on Nov. 7, no matter what the pundits are predicting," Boxer told them.

Read the entire article in the Los Angeles Times.

Road and Transit Groups Join Boxer to Push for Senate Jobs Bill

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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by Elana Schor
DC Streetsblog

Representatives from Washington's road and transit lobbies joined Senate environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today to call for swift passage of job-creation legislation that is slated for a vote in the upper chamber of Congress on Monday.

Faced with the prospects of a GOP filibuster, Senate Democrats have taken up a pared-down jobs bill that features a $20 billion rescue of the nation's cash-strapped highway trust fund and an expansion of Build America Bonds, a popular infrastructure financing program.

"Ensuring these are included in the very first jobs package is so essential," Boxer told reporters today. "We just don't have time to wait for an extension of the highway trust fund."

Read the entire article in DC Streetsblog.

Anthem Blue Cross Rate Hikes - Sen. Barbara Boxer's Letter to Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

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Pacific Progressive

Sen. Boxer has been fighting for the right of middle class families to have affordable health coverage. The recent request by Anthem Blue Cross for a 39% rate hike was appalling to many, including Sen. Boxer. Here is her letter to California Attorney General Jerry Brown.

Dear Attorney General Brown:

I was very disturbed to hear that Anthem Blue Cross is raising rates by as much as 39 percent. I understand that the company has also notified their customers that it may be increasing prices several times each year, rather than once a year.

California families are struggling to hang onto their health insurance through this economic downturn and I ask that you investigate the rate increases proposed by Anthem Blue Cross to determine whether or not the company has broken state law.

Read the full letter at Pacific Progressive.

Feinstein, Boxer call for delay on plans to expand Central Valley landfill