October 1, 2010, WASHINGTON, D.C. –  In a continued effort to bring news and relevant information about our federal government back to his home district in Los Angeles, Representative Xavier Becerra (CA-31), Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, brings you “The Becerra Bulletin,” an e-newsletter filled with facts and information meant to stimulate thought and discussion about American economic policy and a host of other issues.

BY THE NUMBERS

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TAX CUTS FOR SMALL BUSINESS JOB CREATORS

This Monday the President signed the Small Business Jobs Act into law, injecting $300 billion in credit for small businesses into the economy while cutting taxes by $12 billion. Small businesses are essential to our economic recovery, driving two-thirds of all new job growth over the past 15 years. In the past two years, this Congress has worked with President Obama to give America’s small businesses the resources they need to invest, expand and hire out-of-work Americans. In fact, over the past two years the 111th Congress has enacted…

Patients’ Bill of Rights Starts Tomorrow

Starting tomorrow, your insurance company can’t drop you just because you get sick. No longer can your child be denied coverage if he or she is born with an illness or disability. And the limit that insurance companies often place on lifetime benefits will be prohibited. The days when your family could be plunged into devastating medical debt and bankruptcy because of a serious medical condition are becoming history.

Published in POLITICO September 7, 2010

Go to your local hardware store and take a look at a solar panel. It's an amazing American invention, a long-shot idea now becoming commonplace. Modern manufacturing techniques and new tax credits are making solar panels easier and more affordable to produce and install in homes across the country.

More than 100,000 solar panel systems have been installed in the past 10 years. In 2000, fewer than 700 were in use. Sales are up as Americans look to save money on their utility bills — and maybe save our planet.

Now, turn over the solar panel package and check where it was made. Most likely, it was not made in America.

Think 21st-century products. Hybrid vehicle electric batteries, smart phones, GPS devices — chances are they were invented right here in the United States, sometimes with taxpayer-funded research grants. But as millions of Americans search for work, our own ideas and inventions are not translating into a jobs bonanza for our people. South Korea makes the electric batteries, China assembles the smart phones, and most navigation devices are stamped “Made in Taiwan.”

As we emerge from an economic crisis not seen since the Great Depression, there are two paths we can choose.

The first takes us backward — to the old policies of deregulation and lax oversight of Wall Street, policies that rewarded sending U.S. jobs offshore and elevated tax cuts for the wealthy above investments in our schools, roads and infrastructure. We already know where this road leads. We’re living the consequences today.

The other points us in a new direction — to an economic recovery led by small businesses, entrepreneurs and Main Street manufacturers. It leads us to a future where the innovative products of tomorrow are not just invented in America — they are made in America.

To travel this path, we must first clear some brush. That means eliminating tax loopholes that encourage companies to ship jobs overseas, unfreezing the lending market for successful small businesses starved for a reasonable line of credit and negotiating trade deals that promote enforcement of U.S. and international rules, not a race to the bottom.

Many of these measures have already passed in the House — with bipartisan support. But they are imprisoned from being sent to the president’s desk for enactment by the filibustering ways of Senate Republicans.

Hard times demand bold leadership, not baby steps. Most economists now agree that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 prevented a second Great Depression, by reducing our taxes and investing in our infrastructure. It has saved and created jobs for more than 3 million Americans. And it's still working.

So let's take another step to put America back on the right path. Let's reform the tax code to make it straightforward and geared to help Americans and our companies compete globally. Demand excellence from our schools and mean it. Hold corporations like Enron, BP, American International Group and Countrywide Mortgage accountable to taxpayers and shareholders.

The First Amendment allows the Chicken Littles to cluck politically all they want. But now — in the face of gut-checking adversity — it’s time to lay the groundwork for a future where we can once again pick up the latest product, be it solar panels or a GPS device, and see the words  “Made in America.”

August 25, 2010, WASHINGTON, D.C. –  In a continued effort to bring news and relevant information about our federal government back to his home district in Los Angeles, Representative Xavier Becerra (CA-31), Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, brings you “The Becerra Bulletin,” an e-newsletter filled with facts and information meant to stimulate thought and discussion about American economic policy and a host of other issues. Please leave your comments.

BY THE NUMBERS

75 YEARS OF SOCIAL SECURITY – ELIMINATING POVERTY IN OLD AGE

In 1935, the United States made a landmark promise to its seniors: after a lifetime of work, you should not have to live in poverty in retirement. Prior to Social Security, over 75 percent of our nation's senior citizens lived in poverty. The program also provides a safety net for over 1 million children and 5 million adults, lifting a total of 20 million Americans out of poverty.

On this day in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare into law, the most cost-effective and reliable health insurance program for more than 47 million seniors and younger people with disabilities. Today, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services released a new public service announcement featuring Andy Griffith celebrating the benefits and improvements made to this important program by the Affordable Care Act. See the new video at www.Medicare.Gov.

Some of the improvements Medicare beneficiaries are beginning to see under the Affordable Care Act include:

• Thousands in Savings by Closing the Medicare “Donut Hole.” More than 8 million seniors in 2007 hit the “donut hole,” which is the gap in prescription drug coverage in Medicare Part D. This year, eligible beneficiaries who hit the donut hole will receive a one-time, tax-free $250 rebate check. Beginning in 2011, the Act institutes a 50 percent discount on brand name drugs in the donut hole, and the Act will close the donut hole for all prescription drugs by 2020.

• Reduces Unwarranted Subsidies to Insurance Companies. Today, Medicare pays Medicare Advantage insurance companies over $1,000 more per person on average than standard Medicare. These additional payments are paid for in part by increased premiums by all Medicare beneficiaries—including the 77% of seniors not enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. The Affordable Care Act puts Medicare Advantage plan payments more in line with the costs for the original Medicare program and provides new incentives for health plans that improve quality and enrollee satisfaction in Medicare Advantage plans. Medicare’s guaranteed benefits will be protected, and reducing these unwarranted subsidies will save Medicare more than $150 billion over 10 years.

• Strengthens the Financial Health of Medicare. The Affordable Care Act strengthens Medicare by investing in fighting waste, fraud, and abuse and reforms payments to reduce harmful and unnecessary hospital admissions and health care acquired infections. The law also improves care coordination to improve patient safety and quality of care. Together, these proposals will extend the financial health of Medicare by 9 years.

• Preventive Care for Better Health. The new law eliminates deductibles, copayments, and other cost-sharing for most preventive care in Medicare, and provides free annual wellness check-ups starting in 2011. Today, seniors must pay 20 percent of the cost of many preventive services and office visits.

• Affordable Long-Term Care. The law creates a voluntary insurance program, which will provide a cash benefit to help seniors and people with disabilities obtain services and supports that will help them to remain in their homes and communities.

• Control Chronic Disease. The Affordable Care Act makes critical investments in innovations that improve the quality of care that seniors receive such as medical homes and care coordination and improves the delivery of care for beneficiaries with one or more chronic conditions.

• Promotes Better Care After a Hospital Discharge. The law links payments between hospitals and other care facilities to promote more effective transitional care following discharge from the hospital and encourages investments in hospital discharge planning.

• Improves Quality of Care. The Affordable Care Act invests in developing and reporting quality of care measures across all providers to help beneficiaries make more informed choices among providers for the care they may need. The law also creates incentives to reward providers that meet quality goals or show significant progress in improving patient outcomes. This focus on quality improvement will move our health system toward one that rewards better care rather than more care.

• 1-866-928-2010 Spanish language assistance line
• 1-866-935-2010 Chinese language assistance line
• 1-866-945-2010 Vietnamese language assistance line
• 1-866-965-2010 Russian language assistance line
• 1-866-955-2010 Korean language assistance line

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services launched HealthCare.gov, a new website for consumers like us to take control of our health care by connecting us with information and resources that will help us access quality, affordable health care coverage.

The new HealthCare.gov website includes:

• Easy to understand information on consumers’ rights (existing and new), how to navigate the insurance marketplace, and benefits of the Affordable Care Act

• A new online tool to help consumers find the coverage we need from more than 1,000 private carriers and 5,000 insurance plans

• Information on Pre-Existing Condition Plans, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program, and operational high risk pool programs in the country

Click here to learn more about HealthCare.gov

JUNE 24, 2010, WASHINGTON, D.C. –  In a continued effort to bring news and relevant information about our federal government back to his home district in Los Angeles, Representative Xavier Becerra (CA-31), Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, brings you “The Becerra Bulletin,” an e-newsletter filled with facts and information meant to stimulate thought and discussion about American economic policy and a host of other issues. Click here to subscribe to the Becerra Bulletin by email.

BY THE NUMBERS

ECONOMIC RECOVERY & JOB CREATION PICK UP STEAM
When President Obama was sworn into office, America was facing the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. In January 2009, the American economy lost 779,000 jobs in one month and the economy shrank by 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009. That was the worst quarterly economic contraction experienced by the United States in the past 50 years. In a swift response to the economic crisis, Congress passed, and the President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) into law in February of 2009. Over the past year, we have witnessed the fastest three-quarter swing in economic growth in almost three decades. Instead of losing hundreds of thousands of jobs, we are beginning to see private sector employers rehire Americans who have lost their jobs. As the chart below shows, the economy created jobs in the last five months: