Sam Graves-This Week in Washington-May 14th, 2009

Below is the most recent This Week in Washington from Congressman Sam Graves. I think the most important thing to take from what Sam says below is the fact that the US government is borrowing 50 cents on every dollar it spends! To put that in perspective it is like an American family spending $3000 a month on a monthly income of $1500. The family would be bankrupt quickly, and if we keep this stupidity up this nation will be bankrupt as well. I don't know what it is going to take to wake people up. This is not sustainable. I can't figure out how adults are making decisions like this. I think it's more proof that those that are really mature grownups and make rational decisions are a minority of Americans. There is no other way to explain it.

It was another week with very few votes on the floor.

H.R. 2187 - 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act – his legislation would direct the Secretary of Education to make grants to state educational agencies for the modernization, renovation or repair of public school facilities. The Congressional Budget
Office estimates that H.R. 2187 would spend $20 billion in school construction funds over the next five years.

Just two months ago, Congress passed the stimulus bill which provided billions for the greening” of school buildings. Those funds have not been spent yet and still Congress is already trying to spend more. We need to take a breath before we spend billions more that we do not have.

Currently, the federal government is borrowing roughly 50 cents for every dollar it spends, and this year alone Washington will spend approximately $2 trillion more than it collects from the American taxpayer. We do not have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.

H.R. 2346 - Fiscal Year 2009 War Supplemental Appropriations Bill – This bill funds our military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan for the rest of the fiscal year. It is important for our troops to have the tools they need to battle terrorists.

I supported the bill, but I’m hopeful that it will come back to the House without the unrelated spending that has been dumped into it. We should not turn a bill that is designed to fund our
troops into an omnibus spending bill. There is plenty of time to debate each of those programs on their own merits.

I joined with Rep. Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota this week to introduce the Rural Education
Achievement Program reauthorization. The federal program was created as a part of the No Child Left Behind law and is the only program designed to help rural school districts overcome the increased expenses caused by geographic distance.

REAP helps rural school districts that lack the resources to apply for federal competitive grants and do not have access to large amounts of funding due to small populations. Federal grant funding helps schools to more effectively meet the unique challenges posed by educating students in rural areas.

The quality of our children’s education should not be defined by where they live. Programs like
REAP ensure that all students have the same opportunities to succeed in life. This is bi-partisan legislation that I hope the House will consider this year.

The Small Business Committee held several different hearings this week. The struggle of auto companies has far reaching effects, including the small firms that supply automakers.

Auto parts manufacturers are the number one employer in U.S. manufacturing. According to data from the Center for Automotive Research, suppliers contribute over $388 billion to the U.S. economy and are responsible for over 3.29 million direct and indirect jobs.

A subcommittee heard testimony from small businesses that have to contend daily with the confusing and often contradictory rules of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Small manufacturers are forced to pay for the testing of products they purchase or risk selling products that do not conform to the standards established by CPSIA. Limiting the amount of lead that our children are subjected too is good policy. However, common sense says that the law needs to be clearer and equally applied.

On Tuesday, May 26th, I will be hosting a Veterans' Expo at the Missouri National Guard armory in St. Joseph. At the expo will be organizations that serve veterans. Colonel Jack Jackson will be the keynote speaker and we will also have a question and answer session. It will run from 2-5 p.m. If you'd like to attend, please contact Shawna Searcy at 816-792-3976 or email her at shawna.searcy@mail.house.gov.We will be back in session next week.

Sincerely,
Sam Graves

Senator Luann Ridgeway Capitol Report 5/11/2009

This is the most recent newsletter from Senator Ridgeway's office. It's nice to have someone sticking up for me and my future children's money.

Senator Luann Ridgeway

Capitol Report

May 11, 2009

As this session of the 2009 Legislative Session winds down, it will be thought of as a session of roller coaster rides up and down --- every day brought sudden changes in different directions. The session started with a forecast of over an $800 million deficit in our state budget.

Then glides in the Christmas sleigh without Santa Claus, but with the red, white and blue suit of Uncle Sam bringing billions of dollars worth of presents for all the good states of America to help with the their wish lists. It doesn’t matter that Uncle Sam doesn’t have the money, but had to print it or borrow it from China and other countries that don’t really like us --- never-the-less, it still spends like real money.

It is almost like Uncle Sam wants the states of America to have the same spending and deficit problems as our federal government. (Rarely does a drunk like to drink alone.) Instead of a balanced budget, spending what you have and living within your means, the federal government wants to turn the states into fifty little federal governments that overspend and pile more and more debt upon the next generation of American kids. This will do nothing more than make our states more dependent upon the federal government and its string-tied money and make the state legislatures less and less in control of state issues.

When I was young, my mom and dad tried to keep me away from people that had bad habits, because the bad habits could wear off and have negative effects on my upbringing. Our state government has been in partnership with the federal government almost since our birth as a state. The founders of our state wisely put the requirement for a balanced budget in our state constitution. My grandma used to say, “Tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are.”

The problem with being in partnership with the federal government is that we will never be able to keep up with them in spending, because we have to pay our bills ourselves every year and are unable to pass these bills on to our children and other generations to pay.

What I have found is that when government comes in and shows compassion upon one special interest, it is at the expense of other special interests as well as the taxpayers. And remember, Government only shows compassion with money. That’s our money or money borrowed that our children will have to pay back. One example of this federal spending spree is a $550,000 earmark for aquaculture that is in the Federal Stimulus bill and is earmarked to the state of Missouri.

If you remember a year ago, high feed prices put a burden on all of our farmers across the state. A contributing factor to this was the favoritism our government showed toward corn growers by passing an ethanol mandate. This government policy helped one segment of agriculture but hurt agriculture as a whole. And it drove food prices up as well

These stimulus funds are earmarked to go to the seventy aqua-farmers across the state and are described to help these farmers recover from the high feeds costs of 2007-08. What about the dairy farmer, the beef farmer, the pig, horse, goat, chicken and turkey farmers that were hurt by these policies? Their tax dollars are being used to lift up another special interest group at the expense of others.

This is a great example of having a lobbyist in place at the right time to talk to the right politician to get a special favor for a special industry at the expense of the taxpayers as a whole.

The real role of government is to set the rules for everyone to compete on a level playing field and allow everyone to compete in the free market system --- not to pick winners and losers based upon who has the best lobbyist.

I did find one program in the federal bill that is paid for by the taxpayer that truly is pork. In the budget is $200,000 to eliminate the feral pigs in the state of Missouri. At least this is the type of pork a person can get their hands on.

As always, Please feel free to contact me in Jefferson City at (573) 751-2547. You may write to me at Senator Luann Ridgeway; Missouri Senate; State Capitol; Jefferson City, MO 65101, or email me at: luann.ridgeway@senate.mo.gov