Defense

House Passed the National Defense Bill. After passing the House Armed Services Committee in a bipartisan 56-5 vote the week before, on May 18^th, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4310, which authorizes $643 billion in spending for the Department of Defense and overseas contingency operations.  Congressman Forbes worked tirelessly with his colleagues throughout the mark up process and the floor debate last week towards a defense bill that restores strategy and sanity to the defense budget, rebuilds our military after a decade of war, and restores a great deal of capabilities the President had worked to cut.  Specifically, the bill pushes back against proposed cuts, including retiring the Global Hawk Block 30 drones, reversing proposed cuts to the Air National Guard, rolling back proposed increases in fees to TRICARE, the military’s healthcare system, and blunting efforts to retire ships early and slow the purchase of newer vessels, among others.  A fact sheet including highlights from the FY13 NDAA can be found here, and the full bill text and report can be found here. This bill passed by a vote of 299-120.

Supported Programs to Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse.  Congressman Forbes supported reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, H.R.4970, to reauthorize the Act for a five-year period at $682.5 million a year for the next five years.  The bill increases resources for sexual assault investigations, prosecutions, and victim services to bring those resources in proportion with victimization rate; protect victims of domestic violence and sexual assault by strengthening penalties; and enhances immigration laws to protect victims of violence by improving reporting requirements from the Department of Homeland Security to Congress and ensuring that children of victims of abuse retain immigration benefits.  This bill passed by a vote of 222-205.

Protect small businesses from costly federal over-regulation.  Congressman Forbes co-sponsored H.R. 1639, the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Prevention Act of 2011.  This bill would clarify the Food and Drug Administration’s jurisdiction over cigars to ensure that traditional large and premium cigars are not subject to the same level of regulation as cigarettes.  This bill does not reduce the current regulations of cigars, but ensures that small tobacco shops won’t be driven out of business by new federal regulations that have no regard for the cigar business. 

Limited Taxation of Non-Resident Employees.  Congressman Forbes supported the Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act, H.R.1864, to limit the authority of states to tax the income of non-resident employees who work for a limited amount of time in the state, allowing such individuals to be taxed only if they work in the state for 31 days or more.  This bill passed by voice vote.

Strengthened the Bonding Process for Federal Contracts. Congressman Forbes supported the Security in Bonding Act, H.R.3534, to require individual sureties to post collateral of equal security to the collateral that an individual contractor would have to pledge if he or she chose to secure payment or performance individually.  When the federal government needs construction services, it solicits bids from contractors. Each bidding contractor posts a bid bond to assure the government that the contractor is willing to accept the bid if it is the winning bidder.  This bill passed by voice vote.

Defended the Constitutionality of Annual Day of Prayer Proclamations. Congressman Forbes joined 14 Members of Congress in sending a letter to Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, urging him to appeal a recent ruling by the Colorado Court of Appeals that held that the annual Colorado Day of Prayer proclamations violated the state constitution.  The letter explained that the Denver District Court previously had ruled correctly by dismissing the lawsuit.  In its ruling, the district court said, “. . . there is nothing controversial about a restatement of a right protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.”  Throughout our nation’s history, prayer has been deeply woven into the foundation of our great democracy.  Congressman Forbes will continue working to ensure that this legacy is preserved for future generations.

Supported a Prohibition on Federal Funding for Telemedicine Abortions. Congressman Forbes became a cosponsor of the Telemedicine Safety Act (H.R.5731), which would prohibit federal funds from being used to provide telemedicine abortions, and would prohibit telemedicine abortions from occurring across state lines.  Planned Parenthood clinics across the country are using videoconferencing technology to dispense the abortion drug RU-486 to patients, without the patient having a doctor present.  Such “telemedicine abortions” are dangerous because mothers are given access to an abortion causing drug that has a history of serious side effects, without having access to a doctor in case of emergency.  H.R. 5731 is an important step to protecting the health of women, as RU-486 has been associated with cases of severe bleeding and even death.

Demanded answers from the TSA for undermining airport security.  Congressman Forbes sent a letter to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Chief John Pistole to request that he answer a number of questions on why the TSA allowed individuals without completed background and security threat assessment checks to begin working in our nation’s airports in what had previously been secure areas.  Congressman Forbes demanded that the TSA provide a clearer picture of how many un-vetted individuals were allowed on the job, how long this policy has been in place, what types of positions have been filled by employees without a completed security clearance.  The answers to these questions have serious implications for the millions of Americans who each year place their well-being in the hands of the TSA. 

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