Bills Introduced by Mac Thornberry in the 110th Congress:

H.R. 1586, the “Death Tax Repeal Act”, would completely abolish the death tax, the gift tax, and the generation-skipping transfer tax. This permanent repeal will eliminate one facet of our indefensible tax code – the death tax is wrong, unfair, and goes against the American ethic to work hard and pass something along to your kids. This permanent repeal will also provide folks the stability and certainty they need to plan the future of their family farm or small business.

> Please click here for the text of the bill, status, and other information.

H.R. 2799, the “Quadrennial Foreign Affairs Review Act”, would require the Department of State to review all aspects of its organization and operations every four years. This legislation will help us to examine whether the U.S. has a coherent, focused foreign policy strategy, as well as the structure, programs, personnel, and budget needed to implement it.

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H.R. 2800, the “Strategic Communication Act”, would establish a Center for Strategic Communication. Strategic communication describes the tools our government uses to understand the attitudes, languages, values, and cultures of other countries, as well as those we use to promote our ideas and messages abroad. It encompasses public diplomacy, public affairs, international broadcasting, and information operations. The non-partisan, non-profit Center for Strategic Communication would exist outside of government and be a cooperative partnership between government and the private sector. It would allow us to have a deeper understanding of the world by providing information on global public opinion, technologies, and the cultures, values, and religions of other countries.  It would then advise policymakers on communication strategies, as well as how best to implement them.

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H.R. 3089, the “No More Excuses Energy Act”. Energy prices are through the roof and affecting everything from the family budget to our national economy. Regulations have gotten the best of us. We have made it too difficult to build refineries and new power plants, and we have put much of the country off-limits to energy development. It is past time to take some common sense measures to increase our own supply of energy here at home and reduce our dependence on unreliable foreign sources. Specifically, H.R. 3089 would lift the Congressional Moratoria on drilling in the outer continental shelf, which would potentially provide 17 billion barrels of oil. The bill would also open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to responsible drilling, potentially producing nearly a million barrels per day for several decades. This bill would encourage new refinery construction by requiring the IRS to take action on provisions from the Energy Policy Act, allowing tax exempt bonds to be used for construction of certain refineries and making use of federal lands for refinery construction. The legislation would also encourage building new nuclear power plants by reducing the tax burden on that industry. Another measure in the bill would help reduce greenhouse emissions by offering a tax credit for CO2 captured for use in marginal oil wells. H.R. 3089 would also boost alternative energy development by extending the Wind Production Tax Credit for 10 years. It is time for the government to stop making excuses and start offering real solutions to our nation’s energy problem.

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H.R. 2497, the “Fair and Reliable Medical Justice Act” (*Introduced with Rep. Cooper (D-TN); Rep. Thornberry serves as a co-sponsor), focuses on finding fair and reliable alternatives to current tort litigation which place the focus back on patient safety and medical justice. This bi-partisan legislation will authorize the Department of Health and Human Services to give grants to states that establish demonstration projects that provide alternatives to current tort litigation. The data collected in these projects will be used to improve patient care and decrease medical errors. A companion measure was also introduced in the Senate by Senator Enzi and Senator Baucus. We all pay for the failures of the current medical tort system. Even those of us who are fortunate enough to not suffer an injury still pay in higher health care costs and insurance premiums. Every year, HHS estimates that doctors waste $60 to $108 billion dollars practicing defensive medicine to try and avoid costly litigation. If H.R. 2497 were to become law, it would be a step in the right direction towards slowing the rising cost of health care in this country.

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H.R. 4452, the “CAH Designation Waiver Authority Act”. Critical access hospitals are certain hospitals that serve a vital need in a community due to a lack of other health care options in the area. These hospitals receive a higher reimbursement rate from Medicare and Medicaid due to the higher cost of operations they face because of their location. In order to be classified as a critical access hospital, a particular hospital must meet a number of requirements, one being that they are not located within 35 miles of any other hospital. This requirement has hurt many hospitals in our district because they fulfill every other requirement but there might be another hospital some 30 miles away or so and therefore they are not eligible for the designation. This situation causes a significant financial burden on them. H.R. 4452 would return the authority to grant waivers to this requirement to the states so that a state can decide to grant a waiver to an otherwise deserving critical access hospital even if it is located within a 35 mile radius of another hospital.

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H.R. 5439, “Civil Service Reform Commission Act”. Americans are fed up with inefficient, ineffective, and wasteful government. H.R 5439 establishes a commission of experts, both public and private, to assist Congress in crafting a new civil service system by proposing legislative recommendations for a new system Congress must then vote up or down under expedited procedures, much the same way that the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) manages military base reform and closures. H.R. 5439 charges the Commission with exploring alternatives to foster high standards for employee merit and fitness, develop a fair management system linking pay to performance, and give the government the ability to attract, rapidly hire, and retain highly qualified experts. Additionally, this measure would task the Commission to develop a competitive system of recruitment that emphasizes filling skill gaps, establish continuing education program to maintain the quality of the workforce, and provide the flexibility to terminate inefficient or underperforming workers.

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