Thank you for subscribing to my e-newsletter. Communicating with my constituents has always been a top priority for me, and I look forward to regularly updating you on the work I’m doing to help Ohio and the nation. It has recently been very busy in Washington, but I have had several opportunities to return to Ohio to work on a wide range of issues. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to visit my Web site at http://voinovich.senate.gov. And please share this e-newsletter with your friends and family by forwarding it to their email!

Recently, Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner gave Sen. Voinovich a van tour of houses that have been repossessed or abandoned as a result of the mortgage crisis. They, along with city officials, toured a Toledo neighborhood that saw 635 houses foreclosed in 2007. Declining home prices and rising foreclosure rates have forced more and more families – often minorities, the elderly and immigrants – to sell their homes for less than they paid and sometimes for less than the outstanding debt, or to abandon their homes all together. The numerous vacant properties in Toledo illustrate the tremendous impact the loss of housing is having on Ohioans, their families and their communities. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's third quarter report, Ohio has the highest foreclosure rate in the nation at 3.72 percent (compared to the 1.69 percent national average). Sen. Voinovich and Mayor Finkbeiner shared information on the work they are doing to address the foreclosure crisis. Sen. Voinovich has introduced two pieces of legislation focused on foreclosure relief: The Mortgage Relief Act of 2007, which was signed into law in December of last year, and the Expanding American Homeownership Act of 2007, which prompted action from the Senate Banking Committee to introduce the almost identical Federal Housing Association (FHA) Modernization Act of 2007. The FHA Modernization Act passed both the House and Senate, but in different versions. The differences between the bills will be worked out in conference early this year and Sen. Voinovich hopes a final bill will make its way to the president’s desk as soon as possible.

Sen. Voinovich recently announced the completion of his Annual Report for the first session of the 110^th Congress. Each year, Sen. Voinovich works diligently to compile his Annual Report – a document highlighting his accomplishments throughout the past year and the issues he has been working on as a United States Senator. Some of the highlights from this year are: Sen. Voinovich’s Mortgage Relief Act becoming law; Senate passage of his FHA Modernization Act; Senate passage of his National Infrastructure Improvement Act; Senate passage of his re-authorization of the Appalachian Regional Commission; Securing a mission for NASA Plum Brook Station; Senate passage of his D.C. tag legislation – a tuition assistance grant program for D.C. students to attend college in states like Ohio; securing $300 million in Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) program funding for first responders through the appropriations cycle; and finally, Sen. Voinovich’s bill expanding the Visa Waiver Program to countries that support the United States in the Global War on Terror being signed into law. The Annual Report is Sen. Voinovich's way of voluntarily holding himself accountable to Ohioans. For further details on the many accomplishments from the first half of the 110^th Congress, please contact Sen. Voinovich’s office and request your own copy of the Annual Report. Or, to view an electronic version of the document, please visit his Web site, at www.voinovich.senate.gov  and click on the “ News Center” section.

Ohio has long been recognized as a global leader in the aerospace industry, due in large part to the state’s unique collection of cutting-edge federal research laboratories, universities and private companies. But much like the rest of Ohio’s manufacturing industry, the aerospace industry is facing fierce competition from an increasingly global marketplace. Maintaining a competitive edge in this environment will require renewed collaboration by all the industry’s players, both public and private, as well as a sense of shared responsibility in the industry’s future. Today more than 66,000 Ohioans are employed in the aerospace and defense industry. Sen. Voinovich believes we must ensure that our children and grandchildren enjoy the same quality of life that we have been blessed with and one of the most significant ways we can do this is by creating more jobs such as these in Ohio. To help accomplish this, Sen. Voinovich recently hosted a roundtable discussion at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland with the business community and local and statewide leaders to encourage the development of a strategic plan for Ohio’s aerospace industry. As part of the visit, Sen. Voinovich also toured the Ares Manufacturing Facility at Glenn to view progress in manufacturing the Upper Stage Simulator (USS) for the Ares I-X rocket which will be the first flight test of the new Ares I launcher, currently scheduled to fly in April 2009. He was the first to sign a panel that will eventually be signed by all USS team members. It will eventually be attached to the inside of the USS for this historic inaugural flight.

Recently, Sen. Voinovich met with Mayor Pete Sehnert, the new mayor of Findlay. They discussed the status of the community after the most recent flooding and the senator’s work in Washington on behalf of Findlay to offer assistance in the wake of severe weather. Sen. Voinovich secured funding for Ottawa and Findlay in the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations bill. He also wrote to the Office of Management and Budget requesting funding for Findlay and Ottawa flood relief to be included in the president’s Fiscal Year 2009 budget. Unfortunately, the budget did not include any funding, so Sen. Voinovich will be working to secure funds during this year’s appropriations cycle. Sen. Voinovich and Mayor Sehnert also discussed the development of a long-range plan for the Blanchard River. The senator is pleased that the Army Corps of Engineers is working with the local officials and business leaders on developing a plan for flood damage reduction for the Blanchard River Watershed. He will also work to secure funding for this plan in the next appropriations cycle.

In 25 of the past 30 years, Congress has failed to enact all its appropriations bills by the start of the fiscal year. This year, instead of finishing its appropriations work, Congress continued to pass the buck on real budgeting and settled for a continuing resolution. Sen. Voinovich believes this sort of irresponsible fiscal policy affects our ability to fight the War on Terror, interferes with our ability to maintain and improve our infrastructure and impedes efforts to enhance our education system. That is why he recently co-sponsored the introduction of landmark legislation aimed at converting the annual budget cycle into a biennial, or two-year cycle. This would save Congress valuable time eaten up every year debating appropriations matters and allow it to focus on oversight of the programs being funded. Under biennial budgeting, the annual budget, appropriations and authorizing processes would be converted into a two-year cycle: the first year would be reserved for the budget and appropriations process and the second year would be for conducting oversight and passing authorizing legislation. This would leave Congress with more time to examine programs to determine which are wasteful, which should receive more funding and which should be terminated altogether.