In This Week's Edition of E-News…

Murphy Visits Local Job-Creating Firms in Energy Sector

S&P Downgrade Highlights Need For Deeper Spending Cuts

Washington Co. Airport Helping To Build Up Businesses In Region

Another Federal Court Strikes Down Individual Mandate In Healthcare Law

 

Murphy Visits Local Job-Creating Firms in Energy Sector
Each day Americans send more than $1 billion overseas to purchase oil, money that cannot be invested in our domestic economy, improving our nation’s crumbling infrastructure, or creating American jobs. However, research and product development taking place at two Southwestern Pennsylvania facilities further exemplifies that the U.S. can safely expand domestic energy production, while putting Americans back to work and utilizing technologies that minimize our demand for foreign oil. Rep. Murphy visited the Mining Technology and Training Center in Ruff Creek and Frequency Electric in South Park this week to learn more about ongoing energy innovation in the Pittsburgh region.

With estimates by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showing that coal generates almost half of American electricity, and demand for power projected to grow by 50 percent in the next three decades, Rep. Murphy has advocated for policies that allow coal to continue playing a central role in creating new American jobs and meeting future energy needs. The Mining Technology and Training Center (MTTC) in Ruff

Rep. Murphy explores MTTC simulated coal mine

Creek is training a new generation of miners to safely extract coal to meet future demand. During his visit, Rep. Murphy, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the Congressional Coal Caucus, explored some of MTTC’s nearly 40,000 feet of simulated coal mine, spoke with students training in mine rescue, and viewed the state-of-the-art firefighting training facilities housed at MTTC.

Mine safety has taken on a greater urgency since a number of high-profile disasters, which were later discovered to have been fully preventable.

Rep. Murphy told the students that, “Pennsylvania sits atop approximately 27 billion tons of coal and anyone living here knows how important this resource is to our region’s economy. I grew up as the great-grandson of a coal miner, who worked in Pennsylvania mines back in the day when carts were pulled by mules and mines were lit by candles. With rising electricity consumption forecasted, coal must remain a major part of our domestic energy future.”

As an energy source, coal supports 41,500 full- and part-time jobs in the Commonwealth.

While coal will continue to play a vital role in job growth, Frequency Electric in South Park is using American-made components to drive innovation in high efficiency LED lighting, solar panel development and wind turbines. Frequency Electric installs high-quality outdoor LED lighting that reduces energy consumption without sacrificing quality. The technology has been installed throughout the region. Speaking with Frequency Electric’s twenty employees, Rep. Murphy reiterated the importance of domestic innovation and energy diversification.

“This is an example of an American company manufacturing high-tech products using American workers and components produced here at home,” said Murphy. “The federal government doesn’t need to tell American businesses what technologies to explore or stymie innovation through red tape that does nothing to improve safety. Our free enterprise market ensures entrepreneurial ideas that improve efficiency and reduce cost are adopted.”

Both visits helped to underscore the important role domestic energy exploration will play in reducing foreign expenditures and putting Americans back to work. Congressman Murphy introduced legislation earlier this year that would accomplish these goals. H.R. 1861, the Infrastructure Jobs and Energy Independence Act, greatly reduces America’s dependence on foreign oil and creates an estimated 1.2 million new jobs annually all without increasing taxes or adding to the national debt. The legislation invests a portion of the new federal revenues generated from expanded offshore oil and gas exploration into energy diversification, efficiency improvements and infrastructure repairs.

Congressman Murphy has spent the month of August meeting with constituents, local job creators and local elected officials to hear directly how Washington’s policies are affecting communities. On Thursday, President Obama said he would not heed suggestions to call Congress back in session. In the same speech, the President called for more spending on infrastructure and extending unemployment benefits, although he did not offer ideas to pay for these initiatives.

Following the statements by President Obama, Mr. Murphy noted that, “my energy plan would put millions back to work with a method to pay for infrastructure improvements that doesn’t involve more borrowing or raising taxes. Now is the time to focus the nation’s attention on the advances being made in Southwestern Pennsylvania in safe coal exploration and energy efficiency. Our nation needs to focus on job creation and energy independence so we can stop sending billions overseas and spending billions more supporting Americans who want to work, but can’t find jobs. As Congress looks for new ways to create jobs, we must advance growth in our domestic energy sector, and I will continue to seek ideas to do this from Southwestern Pennsylvania’s energy entrepreneurs who remain at the cutting edge.”

To share your thoughts with Congressman Murphy,  please click here.

S&P Downgrade Highlights Need For Deeper Spending Cuts
This week, a mixed bag of financial news indicated that the country continues to muddle along without strong or sustained growth, contributing to Americans’ growing anxieties about the fiscal health of the economy.

The decision by Standard & Poor’s to lower the country’s bond rating to AA+ kicked off a seesaw week for stock markets. On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell to its lowest level since last October before recovering a significant portion of initial losses by Friday afternoon. Meanwhile, investors expressed concern that Spain and Italy will have trouble paying their debts, leading the Italian Prime Minister to encourage his parliament to support a balanced budget requirement for the country’s budget. However, on Thursday and Friday, stock markets responded favorably to news that the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits dropped to 395,000 last week. It's the first time that number has dropped below 400,000 in four months, but 25 million Americans are still out of work, looking for more work, or are on the margins of the labor force.

While continuing to meet with small business owners and workers in Southwestern Pennsylvania about the state of the economy this week, Congressman Tim Murphy heard that trillion-dollar deficits by the federal government threaten the long-term health of the economy. Many workers said that Congress should have made deeper cuts under the recently-enacted Budget Control Act while others said the legislation, which averted a default and cuts $2.1 to $2.5 trillion in spending, should have included tax increases.

“The decision by Standard & Poor’s underscores what I have repeatedly said — the debt agreement didn’t cut enough and we must continue to focus on more reductions and job creation that will further revive the economy. S&P’s decision shows that Washington cannot borrow and spend its way into sustained prosperity.”

Congressman Murphy said cutting spending is never easy or painless. It’s exceedingly difficult, said Rep. Murphy, in our system of divided

Rep. Murphy discusses cutting spending with Bill Merrell, host of "Talking Politics in Western PA."

government that balances competing interests and ideas. If slashing spending was easy, the country wouldn’t be in the situation it now faces. On Tuesday, Rep. Murphy visited the studios of Peters Township Community Television to discuss the need to make more spending with Bill Merrell host of “Talking Politics in Western PA.” (Click here to view showtimes and channel information)

“The agreement isn’t perfect and more spending cuts are still needed, but it’s a critical down payment towards stabilizing and controlling the debt, and it prevented what would have been a self-inflicted financial calamity. Just as importantly, the bill achieved dollar-for-dollar cuts, did not include tax increases on job creators, but did provide for a review of the tax code.”

That will be part of the mission of the newly-formed twelve member bipartisan committee. After months of insisting that Congress increase the Treasury Department’s borrowing authority without any cuts in spending, the White House then sought tax increases, even though the President has said on multiple occasions that tax hikes would stymie job creation. With corporations like General Electric earning billions in profits but paying zero in taxes, the 12-member committee will review how to close tax loopholes or enact broad-based reform that will lead to additional revenue without harming job creation.

Rep. Murphy said he would press the committee to make deeper spending cuts and make reforms to the cost-drivers behind the unsustainable growth in spending. He’d also work on encouraging his colleagues to support passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.

Rep. Murphy said that to maintain progress made on deficit reduction, it is crucial not lose sight of how the policy debate has shifted from how much Congress spends to how much Congress cuts. For the first time in seventy years, an increase in the borrowing authority for the Treasury Department was accompanied by dollar-for-dollar spending cuts.
 
This week, the President characterized Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade the US credit rating as a result of political posturing and evidence of a broken political system. Congressman Murphy disagreed, saying that a $2.5 trillion cut in spending shows that the American experiment with divided government endures.

“We can reach agreement, but that the process can be rough and tumble. It’s not always smooth and clean, but under our Constitution, these discussions and legislative deliberations allow each branch of government to assert its position and find an agreeable byproduct. I have faith in our Constitution, and that our country is moving in the right direction toward fiscal solvency.”

To share your thoughts with Congressman Murphy on government spending, please click here.

Washington Co. Airport Helping To Build Up Businesses In Region
The new front of America’s energy revolution, Washington County, Pennsylvania has transformed with each passing generation. From rolling farmlands to the battlefront of the Whiskey Rebellion and stops on the Underground Railroad, Washington County today is a juxtaposition of history, farms, commerce, and the home of Fortune 500 companies.

The energy boom is pushing Washington County employers to expand and hire locally. Washington County Airport in South Franklin Township has created nearly 150 jobs, and will create an additional 60 permanent jobs when current facility improvements are completed. The airport is responsible for over $16.5 million in economic activity, as it is home to over 100 aircraft, including seven corporate hangars.
 

Rep. Murphy meets with local aviation employees at Wash. Co. Airport

Congressman Tim Murphy had the opportunity to talk with local business aviation employers to discuss the airport’s expansion, and facilitating the needs of the growing development in the county.

The group discussed President Obama’s recent initiative to raise taxes on “corporate jet” owners. Local employers such as Cheyenne Air, Audia Group, Skyward Aviation, Aero National, and Air Charter, along with the Redevelopment Authority of the County of Washington were on hand to share their concerns about the impact of President Obama’s insistence on raising taxes on the aviation industry.

On June 29th, President Obama said, “If you are a wealthy CEO or a health — hedge fund manager in America right now, your taxes are lower than they have ever been. They’re lower than they’ve been since the 1950s. And you can afford it. You’ll still be able to ride on your corporate jet; you’re just going to have to pay a little more.”

“Due to the recession, private plane manufacturers throughout the country have laid off approximately 20,000 workers since 2008,” said Rep. Murphy. “But Washington County airport has been thriving.”

Ron Corrado, President of Skyward Aviation, told Congressman Murphy that the President’s lobbying for higher taxes on the aviation industry is is limiting his ability to expand. His customers are rethinking the use of aircraft because of the President’s calls for higher taxes.

Congress has tried to raise taxes on luxury goods before. In 1993, Congress repealed an excise tax on yachts after only two years of its implementation because it had cost 100,000 jobs and devastated domestic yacht manufacturing.

 “When the president talks about raising taxes on companies or corporations that own jets, it is not the corporations that will pay the taxes. The tax hike will be passed on directly to the plane manufacturers and their employees in the form of reduced demand and job losses. Our country has already sent over 2.4 million jobs to China, much of which are manufacturing jobs. I will not support policies that further erodes America’s industrial base, and that is exactly what the president’s policy does.”

When the President calls for increasing taxes on corporate jets, he is seeking to restrict an employer’s ability to expense equipment purchases. Under the US tax code, businesses may amortize over a period of time the value of equipment like aircraft. Lengthening the amortization schedule would yield only about $3 billion in revenue, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. This is approximately four-tenths of 1 percent of the $9.5 trillion in total deficits projected by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office over the same ten years.

Raising taxes on corporate jets is one of the fundamental tenets of President Obama’s deficit reduction plan.

Said Murphy, “We need to be serious about neutralizing our debt and ending the federal government’s deficit. Any discussion in Washington to do so must focus on cutting spending. Revenues received from raising taxes on corporate jets would fund the federal government for an hour and a half. That’s not a serious deficit reduction plan.”

In related news, on August 5, the Senate approved and the President signed into law HR 2553, an extension of the Federal Aviation Administration that halted a two-week partial shutdown of the agency. On July 20, 2011, two days prior to the expiration of the agency’s authorization, the House of Representatives had already passed the bill.

The Senate, however, took no action prior to the deadline, leading the Administration’s Secretary of Transportation to say on August 2, “We need the Senate to pass the House bill, before they go on their vacations, to put 4,000 people back to work and 70,000 construction workers…[it’s] time for the Senate to take action, which they can do today, and the president will sign it.”

To encourage the Senate to adopt the House-approved bill (HR 2553) the legislation even included language that had already passed the Senate earlier this year making reforms to the Essential Air Service (EAS) Program. The EAS is supposed to provide taxpayer subsidies for air travel into remote rural areas without access to major airports. HR 2553 caps taxpayer-funded subsidies at $1,000 per ticket, and eliminates subsidies for communities that are within 90 miles of a large commercial airport. Since some major airlines were making more than $3,000 per ticket in federal subsidies, it was vital that the House act to rein in this wasteful spending. By capping and eliminating certain EAS subsidies, including one subsidy for travel into Morgantown, WV, HR 2553 will save millions of dollars for the taxpayers and increase travel through Pittsburgh International Airport, which is only 75 miles from Morgantown.

The House passed a long-term reauthorization of FAA programs on April 1, 2011, and awaits further action by the Senate.

While at the airport, Congressman Murphy also had the opportunity to thank World War II veteran Navigator Lt. Peter Kennedy of the 306 Bomb Squad, who was shot down in a B17 over French waters. When the four-engine heavy bomber B17 of World War II landed at the airport for a special visit this week, Mr. Kennedy was able to ride the flying fortress once again.

To share your thoughts with Congressman Murphy,  please click here.

Another Federal Court Strikes Down Individual Mandate In Healthcare Law
Today, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that a provision in the 2010 healthcare law mandating individuals buy health insurance is unconstitutional.

The healthcare law’s individual mandate takes effect in 2014. At that time, U.S. citizens who are not covered by Medicaid, Medicare, or employer-sponsored insurance will be required to buy government-approved coverage. Those who do not comply will pay a $95 fine, but the amount escalates to 2.5 percent of income by 2016. All of the fines are per person, per year. Families cannot be fined greater than $2,250, and the fine amount for children is half of the adult fine. A family of four without employer-sponsored coverage and earning upwards of $88,000 will receive a taxpayer-funded subsidy to buy insurance.

President Obama’s legal defense team argued that the mandate is legal based on powers given under Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution, commonly referred to as the “Commerce Clause,” which states that “the Congress shall have power ... to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states…”

Chief Judge Joel Dubina and Circuit Judge Frank Hull said in their decision that the mandate exceeds Congress’ enumerated powers, and individuals cannot be forced to enter into contracts to purchase a product for their whole life. The Obama Administration argued that Americans by their mere existence affect interstate commerce, “and therefore Congress may regulate them at every point of their life.”

Rep. Murphy, who voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, in support of repealing the law earlier this year, and backed efforts to defund the law in the annual appropriations bills, released the following statement:

“In the history of our nation, never before has the federal government forced us to engage in a commercial activity. Requiring Americans to buy insurance is a money-making proposal — not a healthcare proposal. By mandating that Americans own insurance else pay a fine to Washington, insurance companies stand to profit with billions of dollars in sales. And the federal government positions itself to command greater tax revenues and control over the lives of free citizens.”
 
The court’s decision did uphold the rest of the healthcare law. Since multiple federal courts have made opposing rulings on the constitutionality of the mandate, legal experts predict that the Supreme Court of the United States will eventually have to rule on the issue.

To share your thoughts with Congressman Murphy,  please click here.