With California’s state budget still in deficit, California’s taxpayers continue to be major donors to the Federal government.  For every tax dollar Californians send to Washington, D.C. they receive back only 79¢.  The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan, non-profit research organization that has monitored tax policy at the Federal, state and local level since 1937, lists California’s 79¢ as 43rd in the nation in Federal spending for each Federal dollar paid, putting it near the bottom of the list for fiscal year 2004. New Mexico was ranked #1, receiving $2.00 back for each $1.00 paid.  32 of the 50 states received at least $1.01 back or more.

“This is unacceptable,” Brownley said.  “California has enormous unmet needs, and it’s time to end the picking of our taxpayers’ pockets.  I’m honored to have been selected by Speaker Fabian Nuñez as one of the bipartisan group of Assemblymembers who will be traveling with him to Washington, D.C. this week to try and rectify this situation.  He asked me to be part of his education team, and to talk with our Congressional representatives in particular about the challenges of educating the children of our growing state, and also the difficulties that the rigid “No Child Left Behind” Federal mandates have created in trying to meet the individual needs of our very diverse school populations, as well as the failure of the Federal government to provide the promised funding.”

“I have also scheduled time,” said Brownley, ”to speak directly with Senators Boxer and Feinstein and with Congressman Waxman about the help that I’ll need from all of them to influence critical and imminent decisions by the U.S. EPA impacting the 41st AD.  This means having the Rocketdyne/Santa Susana Field Lab radioactive contamination at the former Dept. of Energy building on the site cleaned up by EPA to the very highest standard of safety, to get their support for listing cleanup of the toxic slag heap on the former Halaco Industries property in South Oxnard as a Superfund project, and to do whatever is in their power to deny Federal permits that would have to be approved in connection with the pending application to moor a high-risk massive floating LNG platform offshore from Malibu and South Oxnard.”

The delegation will be meeting with White House officials, U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, and California Congressmembers who serve on the House Appropriations Committee.  Other planned meetings include on education and immigration with Senator Ted Kennedy and Rep Zoe Lofgren as Chair of the House Judiciary Committee on Immigration; and with Congresswoman Lois Capps as Co-Chair of the Congressional Womens’ Caucus.

“After the Legislature took our historic vote last week to move California’s presidential primary to February,” Brownley noted, “Senators John Edwards and Barak Obama both requested meetings with our delegation.”