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August 30, 2012
Medicare was established in 1965 as a federal insurance program to provide access to health care for Americans, age 65 and older, and was later expanded to cover disabled individuals under the age of 65. In 2011, Medicare covered nearly 50 million Americans.
According to an annual report published by the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees, Medicare’s hospital insurance (HI) trust fund, which covers Part A benefits such as inpatient hospital services and home health care, will be depleted by 2024. Additionally, the report estimates that Medicare spending will grow from $549.1 billion in 2011 to $1 trillion in 2021. There is bi-partisan consensus that Medicare is on an unsustainable course and reform is needed, but significant debate remains about which proposals should be implemented. Question of the week: Which proposals aimed at strengthening Medicare do you support? (multi-answer) ( ) No changes - continue providing health insurance the way Medicare does now ( ) Allow seniors to choose a plan, including the traditional plan, in which the government gives older Americans money to buy health insurance. In this system, private insurers would compete for seniors’ business on price and services. ( ) Regulate Medicare costs by an Independent Payment Advisory Board, responsible for controlling program costs whenever Medicare is projected to exceed preset budgets. ( ) Raise the eligibility age of Medicare from 65 to 67 ( ) Increase beneficiary costs from 25 to 35% ( ) Gradually limit benefits for high-income enrollees ( ) Other (share your thoughts on my blog here.) Take the poll here. Find out the results of last week’s instapoll here.
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Randy
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August 17, 2012
Reuters reported this week that the White House was considering releasing oil from the United States’ Strategic Petroleum Reserve if gasoline prices do not fall after September 3rd. in order to provide some relief at the gas pump just two months before the November 6th election.
Oil prices have risen sharply in recent weeks, rising 30 cents to $3.71 per gallon, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the Department of Energy’s emergency fuel storage of oil, along the U.S. Gulf coast, with a capacity of 727 million barrels of oil. According to Bloomberg Business Week, the reserve “currently has 696 million barrels of crude, the equivalent of 80 days worth of oil imports.” The Department of Energy (DOE) states on its website, “The Strategic Petroleum Reserve exists, first and foremost, as an emergency response tool the President can use should the United States be confronted with an economically-threatening disruption in oil supplies.” According to the DOE, a Presidentially-directed release has occurred three times under these conditions. First, in 1991, at the beginning of Operation Desert Storm, the United States joined its allies in assuring the adequacy of global oil supplies when war broke out in the Persian Gulf. The second was in September 2005 after Hurricane Katrina devastated the oil production, distribution, and refining industries in the Gulf regions of Louisiana and Mississippi. The third was announced on June 23, 2011 for 30 million barrels of petroleum to be released to offset the disruption in global oil supplies caused by unrest in Libya and other countries. A 2011 Congressional Research Service report noted that while the reserve has traditionally been tied to a shortage of oil supplies, “price was deliberately kept out of the president’s . . . drawdown authority because of concerns about what price level would trigger a drawdown, and that any hint of a price threshold could influence private sector and industry inventory practices.” Question of the week: Do you support tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to attempt to temporarily alleviate gas prices at the pump? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Other (share your thoughts on my blog here). Take the poll here. Find out the results of last week's instapoll here.
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August 09, 2012
While the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 163,000 new jobs were created during the month of July, the actual amount of Americans working dropped by 195,000. The unemployment rate continued to rise, reaching 8.3%, marking 42nd consecutive months with an unemployment rate of at least 8%.
At the end of this year, Bush tax cuts are set to expire and automatic spending cuts of $1.2 trillion in federal spending known as sequestration will take place. Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that the upcoming combination of spending cuts and the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts on January 1st is creating a $7 trillion “fiscal cliff.” Question of the week: What aspects of the “fiscal cliff” most concern you? (Multi-Answer) · Automatic spending cuts to defense budget of $55 billion in 2013
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Randy
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August 03, 2012
This week, the Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, and the presumptive Republican nominee for President, Mitt Romney visited Israel. These visits fall on the heels of visits in the last three weeks by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon, and John Brennan, the counterterrorism chief.
As allies, American and Israeli leaders have expressed grave concerns about nuclear developments in Iran as diplomacy and sanctions have failed to deter the Islamic Republic’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iran continues to assert that its nuclear development program is meant to produce civilian energy, not weapons, and is therefore not in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This week, Congressman Forbes co-sponsored H.R. 1905, the Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Human Rights Act of 2012, which Congress passed. This legislation strengthens U.S. sanctions against Iran, for the purpose of forcing the Islamic Republic of Iran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons. To read more about Secretary Panetta’s visit to Israel this week, click here. Question Of The Week: With Iranian nuclear programs posing serious threats to the security of both Israel and the United States, what courses of action do you support in preventing Iranian efforts to develop nuclear capabilities? (Multi-Answer) 1) Strengthened economic and trade sanctions 2) U.S. and Israeli joint military strikes 3) Israeli military strikes only 4) I do no support preemptive military action. 5) Other (leave your response below) Take the poll here.
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Randy
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July 25, 2012
Today, the House of Representatives will vote on the Federal Reserve Transparency Act (H.R. 459). The bill was introduced to address the Federal Reserve’s 2008 and 2009 bailouts, which authorized a total of $1 trillion in outstanding loans and the expansion of government involvement in the private sector, primarily to AIG and Bear Stearns. Although the Federal Reserve has released information about the amounts borrowed by banks and companies that utilized emergency programs, Congress has not been made aware of the factors and considerations weighed by the Federal Reserve in determining how and to which institutions to lend the money. H.R.459 does not seek to curb the Federal Reserve’s independence, but aims to allow Congress to perform its appropriate oversight duty, ensuring that credible standards guide the Federal Reserve’s decision making. Given the significant sums of money involved, we need more transparency into where and why the money was dispersed. Question of the Week: With the Fed’s growing influence in the private sector, do you support a congressional audit of the Federal Reserve? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) I am not sure ( ) Other, share your thoughts below. Take the poll here.
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Randy
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July 19, 2012
In recent months, considerable angst has arisen in regards to leaks of classified national security information. Three particularly high-level and dangerous leaks have given rise to allegations that, at worst, the White House purposely released the information in order to reap political gains or, at best, has been negligent in protecting against leaks and aggressively punishing guilty of releasing classified information. These incidents, which pose potentially severe and dangerous implications for U.S troops and intelligence officers, include the release of:
1) Classified information about cyberwarfare, including the fact the Stuxnet malware attack on the Iranian Nuclear program was an American operation. 2) Classified information about the Osama Bin Laden raid, including specific participating units and information from the compound. 3) Highly sensitive details about the process by which the President in White House counterterrorism meetings designates people for “Kill Lists” targeted by special operations forces and drone strikes. As a result of the gravity and frequency of the leaks, and because of concern that the Administration could not effectively investigate themselves, several in Congress are calling for an independent counsel to be appointed to investigate the string of national security leaks. Question of the Week: Do you believe an independent investigator should be appointed to investigate the recent flurry of leaks of classified national security information? ( ) Yes. ( ) No. ( ) I am not sure. ( ) Other, please share your thoughts below. Take the poll here. Find the results of our last instaPoll here.
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Randy
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July 19, 2012
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) held a hearing Wednesday to discuss the potential effects of catastrophic budget cuts to defense industry and jobs in Virginia, if no action is taken before January 1st. The CEOs from Lockheed Martin, Pratt and Whitney, EADS North America, and Williams-Pyro were present to answer questions from HASC about their views on sequestration and how they expect its implementation to affect jobs and the American economy.
The witnesses were in agreement that sequestration could potentially raise the cost of capital and decrease competition, especially amongst second and third tier defense companies, and also diminish job seekers’ incentive to work in an industry where cuts are looming. Della Williams, CEO of Williams Pyro, described sequestration as “cosmetic surgery with a chainsaw.” I explained that the amount the administration spent on the stimulus package for one year was equivalent to the amount that is being taking out of defense for 10 years. My big concern are all the cuts that are taking place, and I'm also concerned about the $487 billion we've already taken from Defense, much less the half trillion dollars that are coming. I am troubled by precedence here. At the beginning of the decade, the United States had 50 major contractors and today there are six. Today, only two companies, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, build U.S. fighter aircraft. When I asked the witnesses what impact they thought sequestration may have that might be similar to the weeding out of the industrial base in the ‘90s, they agreed that they expect consolidation of corporations, noting that consolidation can severely limit competition. They further suggested the possibility that companies may simply exit the public market and will move toward more commercial markets. AAs Virginia is the number one state for federal defense spending with 13.9% of state GDP coming from the defense industry, I am dedicated to working against sequestration and the potentially devastating impacts that it could bring. With defense cuts, 122,800 jobs are predicted to be lost in Virginia and the Commonwealth will lose $10.5 billion in Gross State Product. The defense industry is a vital part of the Fourth District’s economy and provides jobs to thousands of people, and I will continue working to ensure the economic success of the Fourth District. Please read more below about my work to stop these defense cuts from devastating our economy, causing massive layoffs, stripping Veterans’ benefits and crippling our military. Click here to read more about my efforts to Defend Our Defenders Watch Looming Defense Cuts: A Threat to Jobs and Those Who Serve
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Randy
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July 17, 2012
Today I spoke with Governor Mike Huckabee on his nationally syndicated radio program to discuss looming Defense cuts and the disastrous effect they would have upon both the military and all Americans. We discussed how the defense budget has been continually targeted and reduced over the past three years and how additional cuts will lead to the possibility of another 1+ million jobs disappearing. You can listen to the clip here.
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Randy
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July 13, 2012
This week, President Obama called for a one-year extension of Bush-era tax cuts for households earning less than $250,000 a year, and individuals earning less than $200,000, while allowing taxes to rise for the rest of American families and small business owners.
If no action is taken by January 1, 2013, a 2011 Treasury Department study estimates that 1.2 million Americans, or 28% of the 4.3 million small businesses earning more than $250,000, would be subject to this tax increase. Curtis Dubay from The Heritage Foundation estimates that allowing these tax cuts to expire would equate to a $494 billion one-year tax increase. The Wall Street Journal reports, “Obama Intensifies Tax Fight.” Question of the week: Do you support the President raising taxes on 1.2 million small business owners? ( ) No, all Bush-era tax cuts should be extended for everyone. ( ) No, all Bush-era tax cuts should expire for everyone. ( ) Yes, taxes should increase for households earning more than $250,000 and individuals earning more than $200,000, including 28% of small business owners. ( ) I am not sure. ( ) Other, share your thoughts on our blog. Take the poll here. Find the results of last week’s instaPoll here.
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Randy
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July 12, 2012
Yesterday, I joined 243 of my colleagues in voting to repeal the President’s 2010 health care law, and demonstrating our resolve to undo what the Supreme Court decided by a 5-4 vote was a massive health care tax on the American people.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the President’s health care law will cost Americans 800,000 jobs, increasing costs for employers and leaving some small businesses with the choice between laying off employees or paying the penalty associated with failure to purchase health insurance. This administration has watched for 41 straight months with over 8% unemployment and their policies have already delivered us a net loss of more than 473,000 jobs. The House has now voted over 30 times to repeal all or parts of the health care law, reaffirming opposition to the health care law and underscoring the importance of electing officials who support individual freedoms and a more limited vision of government. |
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