A Weekly e-Newsletter from July 11, 2008 Dear Friends, This week, the Senate passed legislation to stimulate the nation’s declining housing market as well as strengthen the regulation of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. This legislation incentivizes buyers to come back to the marketplace. It provides liquidity to refinance loans that are under water. It motivates, inspires and provides liquidity in the marketplace through Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae that does not exist right now. The legislation will now return to the House of Representatives for consideration, and I urge members of the House to immediately pass the bill. We cannot afford to delay this legislation, which will help bring back a prosperous, healthy housing market and a disciplined, well capitalized and liquid mortgage market. Every day we wait is a protraction of the current economic difficulty in the housing market. FISA The bipartisan legislation makes needed changes to FISA so the government’s counter-terrorism intelligence-gathering can continue. It reiterates that FISA constitutes the exclusive means by which electronic surveillance and surveillance of domestic communications may be conducted. Additionally, the legislation includes retroactive immunity for private telecommunications carriers who have assisted the United States in conducting intelligence surveillance post-9/11 if there was “substantial evidence” they received written assurances that the program was legal and authorized by the president. Yesterday, President Bush signed this important legislation into law. VA Vet Center Planned for Cobb County Medicare Physician Payments This year, on June 26, 2008, I voted against H.R.6331 because I was concerned for the nearly 130,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Georgia who had voluntarily enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. The bill has the potential to impact the access to care for these individuals, especially the 40,000 or so who reside in Georgia’s rural areas. In addition, H.R.6331 may weaken the Medicare Part D prescription drug program—a program that has proven to be a success for beneficiaries and that I wholeheartedly support. Though I remain concerned about the impact of the cuts to Medicare Advantage and the impact on seniors in those plans, the immediate need to stop the 10 percent cut in physician payments proved to be too great; therefore, this week, I voted in support of the bill to ensure that doctors were properly compensated and beneficiaries would still have access to care. I will always support giving our senior citizens better choices and better access to the healthcare they need, and I hope we can ensure patient choice and ensure more competition in Medicare through further legislation. Air Force Toll-free Number for Privatized Housing Concerns on Bases Feedback In addition, any time you have comments for me in response to this newsletter or any federal issue, please c ontact my office at (202) 224-3643 in Washington, D.C., in Atlanta at (770) 661-0999 or through my website at: www.isakson.senate.gov/contact.cfm. These avenues of communication allow us to assist you as quickly and thoroughly as possible. What’s on Tap? The Senate will debate legislation to combat AIDS and other diseases overseas. Sincerely, |
E-mail: http://isakson.senate.gov/contact.cfm |