NEW BEDFORD — A double-barreled shot at NOAA's multimillion-dollar asset forfeiture fund is coming from both Massachusetts senators as Republican Scott Brown on Thursday joined Democrat John Kerry in attempting to pry the agency's hands off the money.
Brown jumped back into the fray over the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administratioin's asset forfeiture fund, filing legislation to take it out of NOAA's hands entirely and give it to the Treasury to manage.
Brown's move follows on the heels of Kerry, who barely a day earlier had filed a bill calling for reimbursement of legal fees for wrongly prosecuted fishermen from that same fund. Brown, on the Senate floor introducing his bill, seconded Kerry's proposal but took matters one step further.
A NOAA spokeswoman, asked for the agency's response, said only that the bills will be reviewed.
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