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WEEK IN REVIEW 4/26 TO 4/30

May 3, 2010

Contact: Jennifer Drogus

Week in Review: April 26 TO 30

Health Care Update

This week I joined my Republican colleagues on the House Ways and Means Committee in asking the Committee Chairman, Representative Sander Levin (D-MI) to hold a hearing on the recently-released analysis of the President’s new health care law by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS concluded that the law would do exactly the opposite of what the President had promised the American people. Instead of cutting health spending, CMS estimates that the health reform law will actually increase national health care spending by $311 billion over the next ten years. CMS also estimated that roughly 14 million Americans will lose their current employer-provided health care coverage, thereby breaking the President’s oft-stated comment that “if you like what you have you can keep it.”

I would encourage you to read the CMS report and the accompanying letter by clicking here.

Social Security Issues

The Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, on which I am the Ranking Republican Member, and the Subcommittee on Social Security met in a joint hearing this week to discuss the Social Security Administration’s significant disability insurance backlog. While we learned that SSA is making some strides in reducing the backlog, which for some individuals can delay their acceptance in the disability insurance program for nearly two years, there is still more that can be done.

Please click here to read my opening statement from Tuesday’s hearing.

Military and Foreign Affairs News

H.Res. 1304: Honoring Georgia’s 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

This week, I joined my fellow colleagues in the Georgia delegation to co-sponsor a bill, H.Res. 1304, that honors the accomplishments and sacrifices of the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Georgia Army National Guard, which has recently returned home to rejoin their families from a year-long deployment to Afghanistan. I applaud Georgia’s military men and women, and will continue to work hard to ensure that they have the resources and support they need, not only to successfully complete their missions overseas, but when they return home, as well.

To view the text of this legislation, please click here.

H.Res. 1251: Honoring Americans Who Fought on D-Day

This year marks the 66th anniversary of the largest naval invasion in the history of the world: D-Day. On June 6, 1944, more than 150,000 Allied troops, including 31,000 Americans, landed along a 60-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy. The D-Day cost was high—more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded—but more than 100,000 Soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler. It was, by all accounts, the turning point in the war.

In honor of this event, I co-sponsored H.Res.1251 which recognizes the 66th anniversary of D-Day, honors the U.S. troops who gave their lives on that day, and expresses gratitude to the “greatest generation” of soldiers who fearlessly fought for freedom.

To view the text of this legislation, please click here.

Foreign Affairs

I was very pleased this week to add Representative Sam Johnson (R-TX) as a co-sponsor on my bill, H.Con.Res. 18. This measure expresses the sense of Congress that the President of the United States should abandon any form of “One China Policy” in favor of a more realistic “One China, One Taiwan” policy that recognizes Taiwan’s sovereignty. The measure also calls on the President to normalize our diplomatic relations with the country and supports full participation in all international organizations that require recognized statehood as a membership requirement.

Since 1949, when roughly 2 million Chinese people who identified as part of the Nationalist party fled communism in mainland China, Taiwan has had a functioning and sovereign government. For many years it has adhered to democratic principles of free elections and basic economic and personal freedoms that are too often disregarded in mainland China. In addition, the U.S. has long supported Taiwan’s right to defend its territory and its people against aggressors.

To view the text of my bill, please click here.