Congressman
Henry E. Brown, Jr.

Which is the better place to house detainees from GITMO?

Posted by: Brown Staff (November 21, 2008, 03:38 PM)

The Consolidated Naval Brig in Charleston:

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Or the area around the federal supermax prison in Florence, Colorado:
View Larger Map

Posted in Berkeley County, Charleston County, Defense, Homeland Security | View Full Posting

Brown Legislation to Prohibit Transfer of GITMO Detainees to Charleston

Posted by: Brown Staff (November 19, 2008, 05:14 PM)

Below is legislation introduced by Congressman Brown to prevent terrorist detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from being moved to the Naval Brig in Charleston. hr7272

Posted in Berkeley County, Charleston County, Defense, Homeland Security, Terrorist Detainees | View Full Posting

WSJ: Congressional Democrats Targeting Your 401(k)

Posted by: Brown Staff (November 16, 2008, 01:33 PM)

Targeting Your 401(k)
Congress has an eye on the tax break for your retirement.
The Wall Street Journal

November 14, 2008

You may have heard about Argentina's plan to nationalize private retirement accounts. Some Democrats on Capitol Hill are inspired, and with their big election victory they may get the chance to test Peronist ideas in America.

Meet Congressmen George Miller and Jim McDermott, who are eager to change the way Americans save for their golden years. They'll also be powerbrokers in the next Congress. Mr. Miller, who came in with the Class of 1974 from California, chairs the House Education and Labor Committee. Mr. McDermott, who has represented Seattle the past two decades, runs a House Ways and Means subcommittee on income security and family support.

Before Election Day, the Congressmen began to target the $3 trillion in 401(k) accounts held by about 60% 0f Americans. Mr. Miller called the system "an inadequate vehicle" that "has not been terribly successful" in encouraging retirement savings. He wants a "wholesale re-examination" of pensions.

Just what alternative these Democrats support is unclear, and nothing has been formally proposed beyond Mr. Miller's plan to make the system "more transparent," reduce fees charged by the money managers, and suspend the tax penalty for seniors over 70 who don't take the "required minimum" withdrawal from their account, regardless of the market situation.

But the Chairman has also signalled greater ambitions. At a hearing last month, Mr. Miller put the 401(k) system into play. Under the current system, employers match employee contributions that aren't taxed until redeemed, an indirect subsidy worth some $80 billion today. "We have to start to think about in Congress . . . whether or not we want to continue to invest that $80 billion for a policy that's not generating what we now say it should," Mr. Miller said. "For a taxpayer investment of this size, we must ensure that the structure of 401(k)s adequately protects the nest eggs of participating workers."

His committee listened to possible reform proposals. Most eye-catching was an idea from Teresa Ghilarducci at New York's New School for Social Research. Her plan would end the tax breaks for 401(k)s; she proposes instead to give all workers an annual $600 inflation-adjusted tax credit for retirement and force them to invest 5% of their pay into a government-run retirement account managed by the Social Security Administration. She called the 401(k) "a failed experiment." A McDermott spokesman called her proposals "intriguing" and "part of the discussion." Mr. Miller hasn't so far endorsed the plan.

The main liberal objection to 401(k)s seems to be that they let average Americans control their own investment decisions for retirement. As Shlomo Benartzi, a professor at UCLA's Anderson business school, told Mr. Miller's committee, "Individuals have a tendency to buy at the peak, and then panic when the markets drop and sell at the bottom." Better to have the government do this instead.

It is certainly true that retirement plans have lost, on paper, some $4 trillion in the past 15 months -- half in 401(k) and IRAs and half in company defined-benefit plans. Average 401(k)s are down a quarter this year. But assuming sensible policies and a normal economic recovery, those asset values should rise again over time. In any case, investment returns on stocks and bonds over extended periods far exceed the paltry returns on Social Security that for some workers are a mere 1% to 2%

Tax breaks alone hardly explain the popularity of 401(k)s. Over the past 30 years, the number of individuals covered by them nearly trebled, up to 65 million accounts, while the number under defined-benefit pension fell 30%.  People are attached to their 401(k)s because it is their property, which they can carry with them to new jobs (unlike traditional pensions), manage as they see fit and bequeath to heirs.

Before entertaining dreams of state-managed retirement accounts, Congressional Democrats might ask why Europe and Latin America have tried so hard in recent years to move in the opposite direction. Their pension systems are debt-ridden, can't easily adjust for demographic shifts and show a historically lower return.

If Democrats want to improve the prospects for American retirees, their first priority should be removing barriers to economic growth. Anger over the drop in 401(k) balances is one reason that voters who belong to the "investor class" swung to Democrats in greater than usual numbers this year. Their mandate is for policies that improve those returns, not strip them of tax benefits.

Posted in Economy, Retirement, Taxes | View Full Posting

Interior Dept. Takes 1st Steps Towards More American Energy

Posted by: Henry E. Brown (November 16, 2008, 12:53 PM)

As a long-time supporter of an ‘all of the above’ energy solution, I believe that addressing our nation’s energy crisis is the first step in correcting our economic woes.

Just this week, the U.S. Department of Interior announced that it will begin the process of opening areas off the Virginia coast for exploration and production of American energy.  This is just the kind of step that must be taken to follow through on this fall’s historic lifting of the offshore drilling ban.  Even though energy prices have seen a recent reduction, this should not reduce the need to move our nation towards energy independence and financial stability.

By opening up more domestic energy sources off our coasts and on our soil, we can begin providing Americans more with American energy. In addition, we will keep billions of dollars here at home, instead of sending it to fill the treasuries of foreign nations.  These dollars can be used to create thousands of jobs for the American people and begin to rebuild our economy with the resulting infrastructure.

Our task now is to ensure that this victory is not short lived.  House Democratic leaders have already asserted that restoring the bans ‘will be a top priority for discussion next year.’ Liberal Democrats close to President-elect Obama have stated that they plan to urge the new President to use executive orders to reinstate these outdated energy bans.  House Republicans will do everything to prevent this.

Posted in Energy | View Full Posting

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Brown Seeks Answers on VA Document Shredding

Posted by: Brown Staff (November 12, 2008, 09:42 AM)

Veterans affairs: Tighter records controls urged
By CHUCK CRUMBO
The State - Columbia, SC
November 8, 2008

After reports surfaced that 95 documents were erroneously dumped into a shredder bin at the Department of Veteran Affairs’ Columbia office, critics charge the agency needs to fix the way it handles and tracks records.

“Files tend to get lost or tend to grow feet and walk out the door,” said Larry Scott, publisher of the Web site vawatchdog.org.

VA employees keep documents in their desks, briefcases, filing cabinets and other places, Scott claimed.

The agency doesn’t have strict enough rules and procedures for tracking who handles veterans’ files and records, such as when the records are received, filed, mailed and processed, he added.

A VA spokeswoman said the agency is writing a new policy on how to handle and process records before they are destroyed.

Overall, 41 of the Department of Veterans Affairs 57 regional offices reported finding 500 documents improperly slated for destruction during an Oct. 3 audit.

The documents ranged from new claims for benefits to death certificates.

The shredder incident could have widespread impact in South Carolina, home of more than 413,000 former members of the military services.

One of those veterans wondered just how many records have been wrongly destroyed before the shredding incident came to light.

“How long has this been going on, and how many veterans and their families have been deprived of benefits they have earned?” said Army veteran Mike Bailey of Springdale.

The House Veterans Affairs Committee, which includes Rep. Henry Brown, R-S.C., plans to summon VA leaders to Capitol Hill in mid-November to explain the shredder incidents, an aide said. Representatives of veterans’ service organizations also are expected to join in the discussion.

“I look forward to working with the VA and my fellow committee members on not only getting to the bottom of this incident, but making changes that ensure our veterans see their claims processed in a timely and secure manner,” Brown said.

According to the VA, supervisors at the Columbia office found the documents erroneously slated for shredding.

“Their suspicions are that there was an employee in that facility who was improperly putting documents in that shredder intentionally,” said Alison Aikele, VA spokeswoman.

The employee, who was not identified, was put on administrative leave while the situation is being investigated, Aikele added.

Documents are “shredded all the time because they contain so much personal information,” Aikele said. But before a document is destroyed, copies should be made and stored.

“If we just threw it in the garbage, it would be a serious security threat,” Aikele said.

“In this particular incident, there were things that should not have been in the shredder because they needed to be taken action on.”

Posted in Veterans | View Full Posting

Brown Statement Honoring our Nation's Veterans

Posted by: Brown Staff (November 11, 2008, 04:20 PM)

MAKING VETERANS A PRIORITY 365 DAYS A YEAR

WASHINGTON, DC- Congressman Henry E. Brown Jr. (R-SC) made the following statement regarding America’s bravest citizens as he and the rest of the nation celebrated our Veteran’s individual sacrifices on this Veterans Day:

“In times of war, one is constantly reminded of the selflessness many of our uniformed men and women have displayed in recent years. Veterans Day is a time to reflect on those and the acts of all of our nation’s protectors.

I am proud to serve as a member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, prioritizing the needs of our veterans and current service members, and am even more proud of the fact that, at a time when almost all federal agencies are seeing their budgets held level or reduced, veterans funding has more than doubled since I took office in 2001.

As a former Chair of the VA Committee’s Subcommittee on Health, I am especially glad that so many of these increases will help ensure that qualifying veterans have access to the highest quality health care and benefits at VA facilities, including the nearly 100,000 veterans living in the First District.

While increasing veterans’ benefits is a top priority, making sure that the delivery and execution of those benefits is swift and productive is important as well. I supported legislation to reform the disability claims review system to reduce the backlog and provide veterans with the benefits they deserve in a timely manner. 

I have also supported and introduced influential veteran’s legislation that has designated ALS as a service connected disorder as well as legislation that would double the pension for Medal of Honor recipients.  I am a proud cosponsor and supporter of the Post-9/11 GI Bill and a sponsor of The Military Surviving Spouse Equity Act, which would provide equality in benefits for the thousands of surviving spouses of military retirees. 

Locally, I worked with area veterans’ service organizations to bring the Moving Wall to the District this past October, allowing coastal South Carolina veterans, their families, and average citizens a unique opportunity to pay respects to the heroes of the Vietnam Era. 
 
It is important that we remember, not only on this day, but every day of the year, that our Veterans have risked their lives to protect us, and I remain tirelessly committed to working towards ensuring they receive the health care,  benefits and legislative support  they have earned in service to this country.”

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Posted in Defense, Veterans | View Full Posting

The October Employment Report - Righting the Ship

Posted by: Henry E. Brown (November 07, 2008, 07:02 PM)

As news broke that U.S. companies cut 240,000 jobs in October and unemployment has spiked to 6.5 percent, the highest since March 1994, I urge Congress that we must resist steps that would only deepen the economic pain felt by famlies and small businesses.

As a long-time supporter of an ‘all of the above’ energy solution, I believe that committing ourselves to addressing our nation’s energy crisis is a major step towards correcting our economic woes.

I was proud to have worked with my Republican colleagues to force the Democratic Congress to open the door to more American energy by allowing the outdated ban on energy production on the Outer Continental Shefl to expire.  By opening up domestic energy sources off our coasts and on our soil we can begin providing Americans with American energy. In addition, we will not only keep billions of dollars that we are currently paying, often, enemy nations for their resources, but we will be able to create thousands of jobs for the American people and begin rebuilding our economy with the resulting infrastructure.

While allowing the bans to expire was a significant first step, there are many Democrats in Congress who are already talking about renewing them once the 111th Congress comes into session.  Not only will I stand against those efforts, but I will work to ensure that those who want us to be dependent upon foreign sources of energy do not use the court system to block energy production with endless lawsits. 

Addressing our domestic energy deficit will result in the ultimate strengthening of our economy however, we must also ensure that we get to the root of our economic problems. 

Despite Democrat efforts to cover up the facts, hearings over the month of October showed that the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were at the root of the financial crisis.  I, along with my Republican colleagues in the House are demanding a complete review of these two institutions. The American people deserve the opportunity to do their own investigation into the decisions made by the executives at these two companies – decisions that have imperiled our nation’s economy.  Once we find that out, we need to fix what is broken in the system.

What we must resist are efforts by Congressional Democrats to use the economic challenges facing our nation to raise taxes.  Their tax increases would cost the average South Carolina taxpayer some $2,000, and would target married couples, small businesses,and seniors.  Instead, we need to enact tax relief that is focused on working families and small businesses.

Reducing our energy deficit, addressing our infrastructure challenges, attacking the root causes behind the crisis, and enacting tax relief are essential steps to return our economy to the path of prosperity and growth.

Posted in Economy, Energy, Transportation | View Full Posting