Congressman Graves in the news 6/12/2009

I found a couple things about Graves that I think are worth mentioning.

First an article in the falling Star discussing a Republican alternative to health care.

Second, I am not sure that I like this. Mr. Graves has proposed a bill, HR 2767, that would change the definition of what a small business owner is. The new definition would include venture capitalists who are much different than the independent small business entrepreneur. Not sure that this is a good idea.

Local politicians in the news 6/10/2008

Ryan Silvey: We all need to pay attention in this next state legislative session. Health care is going to come up. Nixon and the Democrats want everyone to pay for a bunch of kids health care. I am gravely concerned about this. I am tired of being told that I need to pay for others health care. Of course if the Federal government beats them to the punch this will all be irrelevant.

Claire McCaskill: The lap dog got her new assignment this week. Claire will be the go-to gal on the new PAYGO program. PAYGO dictates either a cut in spending or a tax increase for any new spending. Well, we know that they won't cut spending! This ought to be entertaining to watch. For the record PAYGO was a Republican concept that they used to keep Clinton's spending in check in the 90s. All you middle class intellectuals that voted for Obama and thought your taxes weren't going to go up under this President, just wait. They want to use PAYGO to cover their healthcare proposal. To be really honest I don't even see how this is feasible with the trillions of new spending that was rammed down our throat already. I guess we'll see.

State representatives in the news 6/8/2009

This article talks about Tim Flook's bill HB 191, the new "jobs bill" that was passed by the state legislators and signed into law June 4^th. Here is another article on the same. One thing that I do like about this bill is that it is reducing income into the state's coffers. The more we all run lean through this recession the better, especially our governments, something about forced efficiency to behold.

Read about the earmarks in Missouri here. I can't believe the earmark Blunt asked for in here. He wants $500,000 for a MSU project to research the environmental hazards from meth labs. What? I am to the point of saying to heck with the US Senate and just start worrying about dealing with the state and US Congress. Why is that the Senate attracts these people? Remember he is supposed to be our guy in 2010. So excited……….. Oh, sorry, had to wake back up there.

Doug Ervin: I am continually fascinated at how people naturally assume health care must be addressed by the government. They failed to do anything with health care at the state level in the recent session, failure here is a good thing in my eyes. This article discusses this issue.

Sam Graves: HR 2454 has the potential to spike energy prices, nah, really!?

Congressman Sam Graves-This Week in Washington June 4th, 2009

Below is the most recent This Week in Washington from Congressman Sam Graves.

This Week in Washington- June 4th, 2009

1. H.R. 2200 - The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Authorization Act –This bill authorizes $15.7 billion for TSA programs and activities for FY2010 and FY2011. This bill funds the programs and directs the policy of the TSA, among other things.

Congressman John Mica and I offered an amendment to focus TSA’s resources where they can be most effective. There are roughly 51 security directives from TSA that have never been through the rule-making process. Some of those directives really aren’t applicable to smaller airports or general aviation enthusiasts.

However, because these directives did not go through the normal rule-making process, those voices of the public, industry, employees, pilots, etc have never been heard. My amendment simply says that after 180 days of a security directive being in place, the rule making process must begin. In other words, TSA will hear from the public, industry and others how a security directive affects them. It does not prohibit TSA from issuing a security directive.

The bill passed by a 397-25 vote, and my amendment was adopted by a 219-211 vote and is included in the bill.

2. H.R. 626 - Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act of 2009 – Currently, federal employees are guaranteed 12 weeks of unpaid leave for the birth or adoption of a child. HR 626 would allow federal employees to substitute 4 weeks of paid leave and expands coverage to foster children as well. It is estimated that this bill will cost over $938 million over five years. This bill pertains only to federal employees. At a time when Missouri families are struggling to find and keep jobs, I am not going to ask them to pick up the tab for a benefit that many of them do not have. The bill passed the House and now heads to the Senate. (Thanks Sam! I am sure that Bond and McCaskill will let us down on this.)

3. H. Res 232 - Toys for Tots- This was my resolution recognizing and commending the Toys for Tots Literacy Program for its contributions in raising awareness of illiteracy, promoting children’s literacy, and fighting poverty through the support of literacy. Through this initiative comes an inspiring story. Alferd Williams, a son of sharecroppers, had a simple and uncomplicated dream – he wanted to learn to read. That is how the then 70-year-old came to enroll in Alesia Hamilton’s first grade class at Edison Elementary School in St. Joseph. With help from Alesia, Alferd learned to read. And in the process he inspired a movement to do more to combat illiteracy. The Toys for Tots Literacy program was started with the goal of providing the nation’s least fortunate children with books and educational material.

Small Business Hearing
The House Small Business Committee convened to discuss health care reform and the impact of its costs on small businesses. According to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) nearly 46 million Americans are without health care coverage and more than 26 million of those are small business owners, employees and their dependents. (I am a little bit confused on this one, if you are smart enough to run your own business, shouldn't you be smart enough to know that you should have health insurance? I new I needed health insurance at 19 years old, what's their excuse?)

As Congress gets set to consider comprehensive health care legislation, my principal objective is to make health care more affordable without sacrificing access to quality doctors. Allowing businesses to pool together to negotiate better health insurance rates would help bring down the cost. The Chairwoman, Nydia Velázquez, and I have introduced the bi-partisan CHOICE Act, which would do just that.

A federal mandate that employers provide health insurance for their employees is one option that may be included in a comprehensive health care reform bill. NFIB estimates that an employer mandate could cost our economy roughly 1.6 million jobs, including one million alone in small businesses. Any health care proposal must first consider small businesses.

A mandate would only reduce job creation and could mean the end of many small businesses. The House will be in session next week.

Have a good weekend.

Sincerely,
Sam Graves

News article on health care issues at state level

Down to the wire on health care