Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs (FDA), today announced the appointment of Susan C. Winckler, RPh, Esq., as the agency’s  Acting Chief of Staff. Ms. Winckler is replacing Patrick Ronan who announced his resignation last week after several years of service at the FDA.

In this role, Susan will coordinate staff activities in the Office of the Commissioner and serve as the principal liaison to Department of Health and Human Services.

"Susan has taken a leadership role on important policy initiatives, such as the implementation of improvements to our Advisory Committee process," said Dr. von Eschenbach. "She has a distinguished record of public health leadership and will bring her perspective as healthcare provider to the management challenges of this important post."

Susan joined FDA in September 2006 as the Director, Policy Communications, in the Office of Policy and Planning within the Office of the Commissioner. In this capacity she has been a point person for constituent communications and policy development on key issues, including updating policies and operations related to the management and operation of FDA advisory committees.

Prior to joining the agency, Susan most recently served as the Vice President for Policy and Communications and Staff Counsel for the American Pharmacists Association, the national professional society of pharmacists. In that capacity, she was responsible for coordinating the Association's legislative, regulatory and private sector advocacy agenda and public relations programs. Ms.Winckler served as a frequent spokesperson for the Association for media interviews, on Capitol Hill, and with external organizations.

Susan is a graduate of the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy and the Georgetown University Law Center, magna cum laude. Winckler is a licensed pharmacist in Iowa and is admitted to the bar in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Susan will begin her new role in early January 2007.

Washington -- President Bush has accepted “with deep regret” the resignation of U.S. Representative to the United Nations John Bolton.

In a statement released by the White House December 4, the president credited Bolton with leading negotiations in the U.N. Security Council that resulted in unanimous resolutions on North Korean military and nuclear activities, a resolution calling on Iran to suspend the enrichment and reprocessing of uranium, and a U.N. peacekeeping commitment to Sudan.

Bolton was appointed to the post in August 2005 during a period when the U.S. Senate, which normally would vote on the nomination, was in recess.  Under the U.S. Constitution, a president may make temporary recess appointments without Senate confirmation.

The president re-nominated Bolton on November 9, but administration officials believed that his nomination did not have enough support in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to come to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.

Bush said some senators were practicing “stubborn obstructionism” by “obstruct[ing] his confirmation” despite Bolton having the support of the majority of the Senate.  “[T]heir tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive and important time,” Bush said.

White House press secretary Tony Snow blamed Bolton’s difficulties in the Senate on “partisanship and not performance,” adding, “for whatever reason the confirmation process seems to be broken.”

The press secretary called on both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate to cooperate on “a confirmation process that allows competent people who share the president’s goals and policies to become confirmed for key positions.”

Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif has announced an 18-month timetable for lifting the state of emergency that Egypt has lived under since 1981. The administration of President Hosni Mubarak will present proposed changes to the Egyptian Constitution to parliament this year, with a referendum on those changes expected in the summer. Egypt has remained under the emergency laws, which give the president quasi-military control over the population, since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. After the referendum, the government hopes to introduce new anti-terror laws that would replace the emergency laws.

Proposed changes to the constitution would limit the president to two seven-year terms of office. Mubarak has governed since 1981. Another proposed change, announced by Mubarak last week, would allow political parties with one member in either house of parliament to nominate a presidential candidate. The present system grants that privilege only to parties holding 5 percent of the seats in each house. The reforms will not allow the opposition Muslim Brotherhood to nominate a presidential candidate, however.

The Maryland Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on Monday in a case challenging a 1973 state law banning same-sex marriage. Plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), argued that marriage is a fundamental right which should not be denied according to the parties' genders. In response, Maryland Attorney General Robert Zarnoch argued that no court in the country has identified same-sex marriage as a fundamental right, and he urged the court to defer to the legislature. The state is appealing a January ruling by the Baltimore City Circuit Court in which the law was held to be discriminatory and unconstitutional.

Currently, Massachusetts is the only state to allow same-sex marriage, which was legalized when the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled in 2003 that a ban on such marriages was unconstitutional. Several cases similar to the Maryland case have been decided or are pending in other states including California, New Jersey, Washington, Tennessee, Nebraska, and Connecticut.

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales today delivered remarks at the Justice Department’s Project Safe Childhood conference on Department efforts to prosecute sex predators and protect children from sexual exploitation through Project Safe Childhood. He called upon Americans to report suspicious behavior and signs of abuse, and upon federal and state prosecutors to aggressively pursue sex predators. Project Safe Childhood, announced by the Attorney General in February 2006, creates a coordinated national response to the growing threat posed to America’s youth by online sexual exploitation. It brings federal, state and local law enforcement communities together in order to maximize resources and obtain the strictest penalties available against sex predators under federal and state law.

As technology advances and as the Internet becomes more accessible, the number of computer-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes committed against children — including child pornography offenses and “traveler” or enticement crimes — continues to grow.

“The sexual abuse and exploitation of children is one of the most disturbing crimes known to humankind,” said Attorney General Gonzales. “Much has been done to protect and defend them, but more must be done. Through Project Safe Childhood, the Department of Justice and our law enforcement partners are able to work together to pursue and prosecute sex predators with greater coordination and determination than ever before.”

In addition to its emphasis on increasing the prosecutions of sex predators, Project Safe Childhood works to increase public awareness about the presence of pedophiles on the Internet. Project Safe Childhood has partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and The Ad Council on a public education campaign targeted to children and their parents. The campaign, including print, broadcast and web content, will debut in early 2007. Project Safe Childhood includes five key components:

*INTEGRATED FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL EFFORTS TO INVESTIGATE AND PROSECUTE CHILD EXPLOITATION CASES:

The U.S. Attorneys have partnered with ICAC Task Forces that exist within their districts and other federal, state and local law enforcement partners working in their districts to implement Project Safe Childhood. Working with these partners, the U.S. Attorneys have developed district-specific strategic plans to coordinate the investigation and prosecution of child exploitation crimes; to identify and rescue victims; and to coordinate local training, educational and awareness programs.

*MAJOR CASE COORDINATION BY THE CRIMINAL DIVISION:

The Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), in conjunction with the FBI’s Innocent Images Unit, has integrated the Project Safe Childhood Task Forces into pursuing local leads generated from CEOS major national operations.

*INCREASED FEDERAL INVOLVEMENT IN CHILD PORNOGRAPHY AND ENTICEMENT CASES: Given the beneficial investigative tools and stiffer punishments available under federal law, U.S. Attorneys and the federal investigative agencies have increased the number of sexual exploitation investigations and prosecutions. The goal is to ensure the worst offenders get the maximum amount of jail time possible.

*TRAINING OF FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT:

Members of the Project Safe Childhood Task Forces have attended training programs facilitated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the ICAC program and other ongoing programs, in order to be taught to investigate and prosecute computer-facilitated crimes against children, as well as to pursue leads from national operations and from NCMEC’s CyberTipline and Child Victim-Identification programs.

*COMMUNITY AWARENESS AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS:

Project Safe Childhood has partnered with NCMEC and the ICAC Task Force program to raise awareness about the threat of online sexual predators and to provide the tools and information parents and youngsters need in order to report suspicious activity on the Internet. The public education campaign, featuring print, broadcast and web content, will debut in the spring of 2007

WASHINGTON, -Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced the request for proposals for Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG). The CIG program is designed to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies.

"CIG rewards the creation of new and innovative approaches to managing the nation's natural resources more effectively and efficiently," said Johanns. "It allows applicants to come up with practical solutions to address conservation and resource management on a local, regional or national scale."

USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service administers CIG. For FY 2007, up to $20 million is available for the National CIG competition. Funds for single- or multi-year projects, not to exceed three years, will be awarded through a nationwide competitive grants process with applications accepted from all 50 States, the Caribbean Area (Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands) and the Pacific Basin Area (Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) from all eligible government or non-government organizations or individuals, including federally recognized tribes.

There are three CIG categories available in FY 2007:

• Natural Resource Concerns Category—up to $10 million available for proposals addressing one or more of the CIG natural resource concerns. This component was also offered in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
• Chesapeake Bay Watershed Category—up to $5 million available for proposals addressing one or more of the CIG natural resource concerns in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This component was also offered in 2005 and 2006.
• Technology Category—up to $5 million available for proposals addressing one or more of the CIG technology categories. This component was offered for the first time in 2006.

Applicants should explain how large a geographic area the project would benefit. These projects may be watershed-based, regional, multi-State, or nationwide in scope. Applications should describe the use of innovative technologies or approaches, or both, to address a natural resource conservation concern or concerns.

Funding for CIG is made available through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). All proposed CIG projects must involve EQIP-eligible producers. CIG funds that are used to provide direct or indirect payments to individuals or entities to implement structural, vegetative or management practices are subject to the $450,000 EQIP payment limitation. CIG is not a research program but rather a tool to stimulate the adoption of conservation approaches or technologies that have been studied sufficiently to indicate a high likelihood of success, and are likely candidates for eventual technology transfer.

CIG will fund projects targeting innovative on-the-ground conservation, including pilot projects and field demonstrations. Technologies and approaches that are commonly used in the geographic area covered by the application, and which are eligible for funding through EQIP, are not eligible for funding through CIG. Proposed projects must conform to the description of innovative conservation projects or activities published in the Announcement of Program Funding (APF).

CIG funds pilot projects and conservation field trials that can last from one to three years. Grants for approved projects cannot exceed 50 percent of the total project cost. The federal contribution for a single project cannot exceed $1 million. At least 50 percent of the total cost of the project must come from non-Federal matching funds (cash and in-kind contributions) provided by the grantee. While NRCS will provide technical oversight for each project receiving an award, the grantee is responsible for providing the technical assistance required to successfully complete the project.

To view the Announcement of Program Funding or to apply visit: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/cig or http://www.grants.gov/ . For more information about NRCS conservation programs visit http://www.nrcs.usda.gov or visit the nearest USDA Service Center.

President Bush, in a statement, said he was "deeply disappointed that a handful of United States senators prevented Ambassador Bolton from receiving the up or down vote he deserved in the Senate."

"They chose to obstruct his confirmation, even though he enjoys majority support in the Senate, and even though their tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive and important time," Bush said. "This stubborn obstructionism ill serves our country, and discourages men and women of talent from serving their nation."

Bush gave Bolton the job temporarily in August 2005, while Congress was in recess. Under that process, the appointment expires when Congress formally adjourns, no later than early January.

The White House resubmitted Bolton's nomination last month. But with Democrats capturing control of the next Congress, his chances of winning confirmation appeared slight. The incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, said he saw "no point in considering Mr. Bolton's nomination again."