Commissions cp neg

Congress uses commissions – shields them from political backlash

¶ Commissions can be used for a variety of purposes that suit the needs of the President or ¶ the Congress. The role of some commissions is to develop a knowledge base about ¶ certain policies or problems free from the political machinations that are an unavoidable ¶ part of the legislative process. They can also develop policy options that members of ¶ Congress and their staff have too little time or expertise to formulate. They can serve as ¶ consensus-building vehicles from which members of Congress may garner political ¶ protection while addressing contentious issues. At other times, commissions appear ¶ simply to serve as delaying measures that can be employed to defuse a political issue ¶ until a more opportune time for action develops. The best structure for a commission – i.e. its membership, duties, duration, voting rules, ¶ etc. – will often vary depending on that commission’s purpose, and therefore on the ¶ nature of the problem that the commission is addressing, the state of scientific or ¶ analytical development of the topic, and the political sensitivity of the subject matter. ¶ Those factors may also influence the nature and the standing of the commission’s ¶ recommendations. ¶ ¶ For example, in 1988, Congress established the National Commission on Acquired ¶ Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) to determine the dimensions of a new and rapidly ¶ spreading communicable disease, assess the degree of understanding about the disease, ¶ and lay out steps toward ultimately controlling and treating the disease. The commission ¶ focused on the science and largely ignored the potential politics surrounding the issue.

Commissions shield the link to politics – Congress and the president defers the decision to the commission to avoid making difficult decisions

Congress delegates authority to commissions – less costly and more efficient

Schwalbe 13 – Program Director, Department of Political Science at the¶ American Public University System, (Steve Schwalbe, Independent Commissions: ¶ Their History, Utilization and Effectiveness”, 2013, https://weathercoalition.org/sites/default/files/documents/2013/independent_commissions.pdf
Congress certainly is not the most efficient organization in the U.S.; hence, there are times when an independent commission is the more efficient and effective way to go. Lawmakers are almost always short on time and information, which makes the option of delegating authority to a commission very appealing. Ofentimes, the expertise and necessary information is very costly for Congress to acquire. Commissions are generally the most inexpensive way for Congress to solve complex problems. From 1993-1997, Cambell found that 92 congressional officers introduced legislation that included proposals to establish ad hoc commissions

Commissions are non-partisan which solves problems between executive and legislative branches

Schwalbe 13 – Program Director, Department of Political Science at the¶ American Public University System, (Steve Schwalbe, Independent Commissions: ¶ Their History, Utilization and Effectiveness”, 2013, https://weathercoalition.org/sites/default/files/documents/2013/independent_commissions.pdf
Commissions are a relatively impartial way to help resolve problems between the executive and legislative branches of government, especially during periods of congressional gridlock. Wolanin also noted that commissions are “particularly useful for problems and in circumstances marked by federal executive branch incapacity.” Federal bureaucracies suffer from many of the same shortcomings attributed to Congress when considering commissions. They often lack the expertise, information, and the time to conduct the research and make recommendations to resolve internal problems. They can be afflicted by groupthink, not being able to think outside the box, or not being able to see the big picture. Commissions offer a non-partisan, neutral option to address bureaucratic policy problems. 24 Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has decided to implement the recommendations of the congressionally chartered Commission on Space, which he chaired prior to being appointed Secretary of Defense! 25

Commissions shield the link to politics – reports from the commission cites statistics and data that the public can’t disagree with

Schwalbe 13 – Program Director, Department of Political Science at the¶ American Public University System, (Steve Schwalbe, Independent Commissions: ¶ Their History, Utilization and Effectiveness”, 2013, https://weathercoalition.org/sites/default/files/documents/2013/independent_commissions.pdf
One of the more important functions of independent commissions is education and persuading. Due to the high visibility of most appointed commissioners, a policy issue will automatically tend to gain public attention. According to Wolanin, the prestige and visibility of commissions give them the capability to focus attention on a problem, and to see that thinking about it permeates more rapidly. A recent example of a high-visibility commission chair appointment was Henry Kissinger, selected to chair the commission to look into the perceived intelligence failure regarding the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the U.S. .26 Wolanin cited four educational impacts of commissions: 1)education the general public; 2) educating government officials; 3) serving as intellectual milestones; and, 4) educating the commission members themselves. Regarding education of the general public, he stated that, “Commissions have helped to place broad new issues on the national agenda, to elevate them to a level of legitimate and pressing matters about which government should take affirmative action. “Regarding educating government officials, he noted that, “The educational impact of commissions within government… make it safer for congressmen and federal executives to openly discuss or advocate a proposal that has been sanctioned by such an ‘august group’. ”Commission reports have often been so influential that they serve as milestones in affected fields. Such reports have become source material for analysts, commentators, and even students, particularly when commission reports are widely published and disseminated. Finally, by serving on a commission, members also learn much about the issue, and about the process of analyzing a problem and coming up with viable recommendations. Commissioners also learn from one another. 27

Kerry agrees to a national ocean policy

Al Jazeera 14 - “Kerry: Global strategy needed to protect oceans”, June 16, 2014, http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/6/16/obama-kerry-oceans.html
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday opened a two-day Our Ocean summit by calling for a global regimen to protect the oceans, which he said were under threat from too much fishing, marine pollution and acidification from climate change.¶ He called on nations to move beyond talks and studies to taking specific steps toward a global agreement to protect the oceans.¶ "We are not going to meet this challenge unless the community of nations comes together around a single comprehensive global ocean strategy," he said at the summit at the U.S. State Department.¶ Kerry, long an advocate of measures to address climate change when he was in the U.S. Senate, said current piecemeal national policies to protect the world's oceans have failed to address problems that will affect the entire planet.¶ "If we are going to be able to honor our shared responsibility to protect the ocean, the ad hoc approach we have today, with each nation and community pursuing its own independent policy, simply will not suffice," he said. "That is not how the ocean works."¶ Kerry also said that President Barack Obama on Tuesday will announce his intention to use executive powers to declare additional ocean protections.

Consensus proves that the public think warming is anthropogenic and real

Examiner 14 – The Examiner, “Jerry Plantz: Polls show consensus on climate change”, June 30, 2014, http://www.examiner.net/article/20140630/Opinion/140639879

More and more moderate Republicans, outside of Washington, D.C., are starting to believe what they see- climate change around the globe.¶ Last month, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson of the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld administration publicly acknowledged in a New York Times op-ed that there is a genuine crisis on par with the one that threatened the global economy in 2008.¶ Further, the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Bush 41 and 43 now agree: Global warming is real, humans are causing it, and politicians must react and act.¶ One of the first Republican leaders to foresee the dismal future was President H.W. George Bush, when he signed the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment. Congress would compromise back then.¶ Scientific America magazine cites “an assessment of 21 surveys encompassing almost 20,000 people in 46 states, which found ample agreement about global warming and what to do about it. In each state, a majority believe that temperatures are rising and that human actions are part of the cause – and this consensus holds for residents of states that voted strongly Republican in the 2012 presidential election (red). More than 60 percent of Americans in every state favor government-imposed limits on greenhouse gas emissions from businesses and power plants.”¶ President Obama will not back down with his fight with Republicans in Congress, who continue to ignore the scientific world consensus on climate change. People generally “don’t just say, ‘No, I don’t believe anything scientists say” – except in Congress, Obama said, where “folks will tell you climate change is a hoax, a fad or a plot – it’s a liberal plot.”¶ Meanwhile, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that, “Earth set a new record for heat in May and is likely to keep on breaking high temperature marks. May’s average temperature on Earth of 59.93 degrees Fahrenheit (15.54 degrees Celsius) beat the old record set four years ago. In April, the globe tied the 2010 record for that month. Records go back to 1880. While the United States was not close to a record, just 1 degree warmer than the 20th century average. However, California is having a record hot first five months of the year, a full 5 degrees above normal.”

Kerry agrees to take action on the ocean

Hartt 14 - Editorial Intern at Global Animal, (Rebecca Hartt, “DOES OBAMA’S PLAN TO PROTECT THE PACIFIC HOLD WATER?”, June 18, 2014, http://www.globalanimal.org/2014/06/18/does-obamas-plan-to-protect-the-pacific-hold-water/
Kerry said Monday that the United States and other nations need to take bolder steps to protect marine habitat and combat other threats.¶ “If this group can’t create a serious plan to protect the ocean for future generations, then who can and who will?” he asked during an appearance at a State Department oceans conference.¶ On Capitol Hill, some Republicans have sought to limit the administration’s ability to influence offshore activities, viewing it as another attempt by the president to test the limits of White House power.¶ “It’s another example of this imperial presidency,” House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) said in an interview, noting that Obama established a National Ocean Policy during his first term to coordinate competing interests at sea.¶ “If there are marine sanctuaries that should be put in place, that should go through Congress.”¶ For the past 51 / 2 years, the administration has focused on the nuts and bolts of marine issues, aiming to end overfishing in federally managed fisheries and establishing a new planning process for maritime activities. This week’s State Department ocean summit launches what officials there call a broader “global campaign” to address the problems of overfishing, pollution and ocean acidification.

Kerry supports environmental protection

Cama 14 - Staff Writer at The Hill, (Timothy Cama,” Kerry calls for global research, action to protect oceans”, 6/16/14, http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/209503-kerry-calls-for-global-research-action-to-protect-oceans
Secretary of State John Kerry opened a State Department conference on problems with ocean ecosystems Monday by calling for international efforts toward research and laws to protect oceans from overfishing, pollution and climate change.¶ Kerry applauded regional and national actions to protection oceans, such as encouraging sustainable fishing and cutting down on trash, but said it is not enough. “If we are going to be able to honor our shared responsibility to protect the ocean, the ad hoc approach we have today with each nation and community pursuing its own independent policy simply will not suffice,” Kerry said. “We’re not going to meet this challenge unless the community of nations comes together around a single, comprehensive, global ocean strategy.”¶ Kerry called ocean protect a “vital international security issue,” since oceans support movement, livelihood and a large portion of the world’s population. Biologically, the oceans also serve to recycle water, carbon and nutrients for the planet.¶ Kerry that the two-day conference of scientists, world leaders, development officials and others to end with proposals that could help protect the world’s oceans.¶ Specifically, he called for a plan that requires fisheries to use technology that reduces the number of fish that are caught accidentally, designates more of the ocean as protected areas, reduces trash and pollution runoff and researches the effects of carbon pollution on oceans, among other factors.¶ “All of us can come together and each can help the other to ensure that every solution that we discuss is directly tied to the best science available,” Kerry said.¶

NOP is vital to efficient policies

AWC 12, Atlantic Wind Connection, “AWC supports the National Ocean Policy”, 2012, http://atlanticwindconnection.com/AWC-Newsletter-July-2012/AWC-supports-the-National-Ocean-Policy

The National Ocean Policy was formalized in July of 2010 with an Executive Order from the Obama Administration. We see this initiative as vital to serving the interests of the many stakeholders involved in the use of our marine resources, representing interests as diverse as fishing, shipping, national security, energy development, conservation and tourism. ¶ Currently more than 20 federal agencies manage the nation's waterways, subject to more than 140 laws and regulations. This sector-by-sector approach stifles economic development without achieving the environmental protections critical for long-term stewardship. The National Ocean Policy creates a way for federal agencies to coordinate their actions and thereby reduce regulatory uncertainty. Rather than adding another layer of bureaucracy or imposing new laws or regulations, the National Ocean Policy can help cut through bureaucracy and reduce regulatory uncertainty, while better protecting the marine environment. ¶ The National Ocean Policy will bring together regulators, project developers, the environmental community, and other stakeholders to create five-year plans tailored to meet the differing needs and priorities of each of the nine designated regions. ¶ Markian Melnyk, one of AWC's principals, has been actively supporting the development of the National Ocean Policy by talking with members of Congress and urging them to dedicate funding to it. "The increased coordination, collaboration and streamlining among agencies will support the creation of a whole new offshore wind industry and hundreds of thousands of American jobs, while still protecting our treasured marine resources," said Markian. "We see the National Ocean Policy as a win for all stakeholders."

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