Grassley Receives "Fueling Growth" Award for Support of Ethanol Industry
WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa on Tuesday received the 2015 Fueling Growth Award from Growth Energy for his work to develop policies that support clean-burning, domestically produced ethanol. Grassley was presented the award at the Growth Energy Advocacy Conference in Washington, D.C., where he spoke about renewable energy and the Renewable Fuel Standard.
"I'm honored to receive this award," Grassley said. "I've been an advocate of renewable fuels for a long time, starting with ethanol. Alternative energy sources reduce our dependence on foreign oil, increase national security, and create jobs for American workers in addition to extending our fuel supply and lowering prices at the pump."
The award is given annually by Growth Energy to members of Congress who support ethanol advancement and work to craft consistent and fair federal policy for the industry.
Grassley vigorously advocates for the maintenance and strength of the Renewable Fuel Standard. In July 2015, Grassley urged the Environmental Protection Agency to revise and increase its proposed volume obligations for renewable biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard for 2014, 2015 and 2016. In April, Grassley led a bipartisan group of senators in calling for a strong volume requirement for biodiesel under the RFS.
In July 2015, Grassley also secured Finance Committee passage of tax incentives for biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol in a bipartisan tax extenders bill. The committee accepted a Grassley amendment to change the biodiesel fuels tax credit from a mixture credit to a production credit for 2016. Among the benefits, the change would ensure that U.S. tax policy incentivizes a domestic industry instead of subsidizing imported biofuels. The provision, along with other tax extenders provisions, awaits full Senate consideration.
Nationally, the renewable fuels industry supported more than 400,000 jobs and added $53 billion to the nation's Gross Domestic Product in 2014, according to Growth Energy.
The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association reported that with 43 ethanol plants and 3.9 billion gallons produced in 2014, Iowa ethanol production is at a record high and is the largest producer of ethanol in the country. Iowa's production accounts for about 27 percent of national ethanol production.
ATF Whistleblowers Allege Sexual Harassment, Discrimination, Intimidation by Managers
WASHINGTON - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is asking about the handling of multiple claims of sexual harassment, bullying, gender discrimination and witness intimidation by senior Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) managers dating back to 2012, including alleged attempts to prevent independent oversight by the Inspector General. The allegations from eight whistleblowers include threats, unwanted sexual advances, graphic sexual comments and attempts to retaliate against employees who disclosed the inappropriate behavior.
One whistleblower reported that in the fall of 2012, a then-Special Operations Division Deputy Chief yelled at her in front of subordinates and used her battle with cancer as justification for transferring her job duties to male counterparts. This may be a violation of the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in federal employment. She reported the behavior to his superior, the Special Operations Division Chief at the time, which was followed by increased retaliation, including threats to launch an internal personnel investigation against the whistleblower.
Other whistleblowers alleged that the same Special Operations Division deputy chief attempted to photograph several female employees despite their objections, and that he squeezed one woman's thigh at a work related dinner event. They also claim that he used derogatory and offensive language to refer to women in the workplace. One whistleblower alleged that she was placed on administrative leave after she was called as a witness to testify in an Internal Affairs investigation of harassment claims.
Many of the whistleblowers reported their claims to the Internal Affairs Division, which they say has been largely unhelpful. They allege that such disclosures are frequently suppressed for years, preventing further investigations by the Office of Inspector General. They also claim that ATF Acting Director Thomas Brandon and then-Director, B. Todd Jones were aware of the allegations of sexual harassment, yet the alleged harasser has since been promoted.
In a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Grassley is seeking information on the procedures for reporting and responding to claims of harassment, whether they were followed, and how harassers are disciplined. Grassley also requested statistical information, broken down by gender, on agency responses to such allegations.
Text of Grassley's letter
Prepared Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
Hearing on "Reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act"
September 16, 2015
Today's hearing is intended to help inform the Committee about the most recent views of a wide variety of stakeholders concerning the need to reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, or ECPA, and various ways of doing so. The Committee's last hearing on the topic was four and a half years ago. Since then, numerous proposals have been advanced by members of the Committee.
In 1986, Congress enacted ECPA to both protect the privacy of Americans' electronic communications and provide the government with a means to access those communications and related records in certain circumstances. However, dramatic changes in the use of communications technology have occurred since then.
Americans now depend on email, text messages, social networking websites, web-based apps, and countless other electronic communication methods on a daily basis. And more than ever, these communications are being retained in some form, due to the dramatic reduction in the cost of storing data in the cloud.
These communication technologies are enriching all of our lives. They are of great help to me in keeping in touch with my constituents in Iowa. And for the most part, we have American technology companies to thank for this digital revolution. These companies are now a significant engine of growth for our economy by creating an increasingly global market for these communications technologies.
But of course, these technologies are also being used every day by those who intend to do our society great harm - terrorists, violent drug dealers, child predators, environmental criminals, and the like. These technologies create a digital trail that is often essential to bringing these offenders to justice.
In light of these changes, there is a growing consensus that ECPA must be modernized to adapt to this new landscape. And whatever updates to the law we make, of course, must be consistent with the requirements of the Fourth Amendment.
The privacy and technology communities have criticized ECPA for failing to provide sufficient privacy safeguards for individuals' stored electronic communications. Indeed, given the way Americans use email today, it hardly makes sense that the privacy protections for an email should turn on whether it's more than 180 days old, or whether it's been opened.
At the same time, law enforcement officials have expressed concern with certain aspects of the current ECPA framework and how it currently works in practice. And they are concerned that reform efforts to a statute they use every day do not unduly hamper their ability to investigate violations of the law.
For example, the Department of Justice has expressed concern about efforts to change the ECPA notice requirements to provide targets with unprecedented amounts of information that could compromise ongoing investigations.
Both the Department and civil law enforcement agencies have expressed the need to address an emerging gap in their authorities if the target of an investigation fails to respond to lawful civil process for email evidence in the target's possession. They contend that this gap could allow offenses such as civil rights violations, securities fraud, and consumer fraud to go unpunished.
In addition, many state and local law enforcement officials are frustrated with the current timeliness and quality of responses by providers. Unlike traditional search warrants, law enforcement agents cannot control how quickly they obtain evidence through ECPA warrants; they rely on the providers to conduct searches for them. To these officials, any heightening of ECPA's legal standards should be accompanied by changes to the law that ensure that they receive the information they need on a timely basis.
In addition, some officials have expressed concern that the voluntary nature of ECPA's emergency exception can result in unacceptable delay in important cases - for example, when a child is abducted.
Closely related to these concerns is the ongoing issue of encryption and the "Going Dark" problem, which the Committee recently held a hearing on. This is another example of a situation where agents may meet the legal standard to obtain critical evidence - but then are not able to access it quickly enough, or even at all.
As I said at our last hearing on ECPA reform in 2011, if we are considering changing the legal standards under ECPA, we should also "be working to ensure that these same providers are granting law enforcement the necessary access" to address the "Going Dark" issue. I sent a letter to the Deputy Attorney General last week to get an update from the Department about how that process is proceeding.
Reforming ECPA's treatment of stored electronic communications, therefore, is a complicated and potentially far-reaching endeavor that sits at the intersection of the privacy rights of the public, the investigative needs of law enforcement professionals, society's interest in encouraging and expanding commerce, and the dictates of the Constitution.
The key is to strike the right balance between these interests. As Ranking Member Leahy declared at our last hearing on this topic in 2011, "meaningful ECPA reform must carefully balance privacy rights, public safety, and security." I couldn't agree more. I'm grateful for the presence of all the witnesses here today and look forward to their testimony. I now recognize Senator Leahy for his opening statement.
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