Families and communities that protect the innocence of children, respect life, teach personal responsibility, and encourage decency help build a culture that honors the inherent dignity of every person, including the poor and the defenseless. Our society is strengthened in such a culture, and public policy should reflect its values.
Protecting Children
Americans deserve to know that items on store shelves, particularly imported toys for children, are safe for use. I cosponsored the Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act, which passed the House mid-December. This bill would ban lead in children’s products beyond a stringent trace amount, require independent third-party testing for children’s products, and establish mandatory safety standards for nursery products. It also strengthens the Consumer Product Safety Commission. We must ensure that those who want to trade with us meet their obligations and produce safe products.
Help for the Disadvantaged
American farmers produce an abundance of food. Efficiently distributing surplus food resources can help the needy in difficult situations. Again this year, I supported fully funding the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), a USDA program that distributes food to low income seniors and women with children. Many Nebraskans rely on this program for basic nutrition needs. I wrote the President requesting that the CSFP be fully funded in his budget proposal.
Life-Saving Research
Good news came recently in the groundbreaking scientific discovery of pluripotent stem cells that can be usefully obtained from normal, adult skin cells. Scientists believe this
development will advance potentially lifesaving research while avoiding the ethically
divisive issue of embryonic stem cell research, which involves the destruction of unborn
human life.
Recently I supported the funding of a variety of research initiatives to help conquer diseases, such as juvenile diabetes and cancer, which were included in the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill (H.R. 3043). Federal support for scientific research can make important advances against these diseases, helping improve people’s lives.
Tax Relief for Working Families
This year I cosponsored the Parents’ Tax Relief Act of 2007.
Parents juggling family and work commitments deserve a fairer tax code. The Parents’ Tax Relief Act provides multiple benefits for families. It makes permanent the Child Tax Credit, eliminates the Marriage Penalty Tax, and supports new types of work arrangements. Public policy should respect working families trying to get ahead, not make it more difficult for parents to provide for their children’s wellbeing.
Family and Consumer Choice
In June, I joined Congressman Dan Lipinski (D-IL) in introducing the Family and Consumer Choice Act of 2007 (H.R. 2738), legislation designed to make television programming more suitable for family audiences and more flexible for consumers. It would require any cable or satellite provider to do one of the following: limit indecent programming during daylight hours, offer a family tier of programming, or offer an opt-out "a la carte" cable package to customers. Often families are locked into purchasing cable packages that many times provide unsuitable content. Giving Americans more control over their cable programming choices will help families make choices suitable for their children.