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The Congressional Connector |
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Week of June 30 - July 3, 2008 |
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13-Week Unemployment Extension Signed into Law
On June 30, President Bush signed a Supplemental funding bill for critical military and domestic needs that includes a 13-week extension of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. Rep. Levin said, “Today the voices of over one million out of work Americans are finally being heard, with a much needed extension of unemployment benefits. This is a victory for more than a million of our citizens that have already exhausted their benefits, and an additional 2 ½ million estimated to exhaust in the coming months – including over 200,000 Michigan residents. The 13-week extension signed by the president today is a vital first step. We will be ready to fight to sustain the program for people who continue to be unemployed in a difficult job market.”
House Approves Bill to Restore Protections for Individuals with Disabilities
On June 25, the House approved the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments [H.R. 3195]. The measure, which was approved on a vote of 402 to 17, specifically rejects the erroneous Supreme Court decisions that have reduced the protections for people with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Since the ADA was first approved in 1990, it has helped millions of Americans with disabilities succeed in the workplace by making transportation, housing, buildings, services and other elements of daily life more accessible to individuals with disabilities.
Unfortunately, since 1999, several U.S. Supreme Court decisions have narrowed the definition of disability so much that people with serious conditions such as epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, cancer, diabetes, and cerebral palsy have been determined to not have impairments that meet the definition of disability under the ADA. H.R. 3195 restores the original congressional intent.
For more information, click here.
Lawmakers Call for Air Force to Reopen $40 Billion Tanker Competition
On June 27, a bipartisan group of 71 members of the House of Representatives wrote to the Acting Secretary of the Air Force to urge him to re-open the competition to build the next generation of aerial refueling tankers. Rep. Levin was among the lawmakers signing the letter. Earlier this year, the Air Force awarded the contract to a consortium of companies led by the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, rather than the U.S.-based Boeing Company. Boeing filed an official protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which is the watchdog agency established by Congress. GAO recently issued a scathing report that criticized the Air Force for numerous violations of its own contracting procedures.
In their letter to Acting Secretary Donley, the House members wrote, “In reviewing [the GAO] findings, we are extremely troubled that the Air Force apparently failed to judge the competitive bids based on the Air Force’s own evaluation criteria, made significant mistakes in considering the life cycle costs of each of the two aircraft and ‘conducted misleading and unequal discussions with Boeing.’”
To read the letter in full, click here.
Legislation Introduced to Expand Earned Income Tax Credit Participation
This week lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced legislation to require employers to notify workers if they are eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the largest federal assistance program for low-income working families. Rep. Levin joined Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois in introducing the Earned Income Credit Information Act, which is designed to encourage more working Americans to claim the EITC. Government estimates indicate that as many as 25% of families eligible for the EITC, which augments workers’ earned income, do not claim the credit, leading to unclaimed benefits of up to $8 billion annually. The bill introduced this week would require employers to provide information on the EITC to potentially eligible workers along with their end of year W-2 statements.
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