Congressman Bob Filner's
Congressional Update

October 2010

In this Issue

• House passes legislation to cut taxes and provide access to capital for small businesses

• New health protections go into effect

• Brawley Fire Department receives federal funds

• Legislation to address employment for veterans advances

• Congressman Filner votes to create clean energy jobs

• Federal funding for SANDAG border security study announced

• Foreclosures must stop!

• National Association for Black Veterans holds office hours at the Chula Vista Library

• Congressional presentation at an Eagle Court of Honor

• Constituent Mail Bag

• Useful Website: Wildfire Preparedness

House passes legislation to cut taxes and provide access to capital for small businesses

I recently voted to spur economic growth and create 500,000 new jobs by encouraging the development of American small businesses. The Small Business Jobs Act, which passed the House of Representatives last month, increases much-needed lending to millions of small businesses, and offers 8 new tax incentives to companies, so that they may expand, hire, and fuel our economy. It also keeps jobs in America by closing tax loopholes that reward corporations that ship jobs overseas.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and we need to do everything we can to help them expand and hire new employees. This will help small businesses grow by providing new tax cuts and increasing their access to capital.

The Small Business Jobs Act will help America’s 27 million small businesses create new jobs and grow with $12 billion in tax cuts. It will make Main Street businesses more competitive with big corporations by leveraging up to $300 billion in private sector lending for small businesses, along with state grants for small business lending. With tax cuts and access to more capital, our nation’s small businesses will be able to put more Americans back to work. The Small Business Jobs Act takes another step to end job outsourcing by ending tax incentives for companies that ship jobs overseas. Finally, this bill is fully paid for and will not add a dime to the deficit.

When I recently brought together banks, small businesses and federal agencies, the one thing I heard from all of them was that the biggest problem small businesses were facing was the lack of access to capital. I’m glad we were able to pass a bill today that will give them the support they need to not only sustain their businesses, but expand. The bill now goes to the president for his signature.

New health protections go into effect

I want to make sure everyone knows about the several important consumer protection features of health reform that recently went into effect. Better known as the Patient’s Bill of Rights, these provisions seek to end insurance company abuses, and put consumers and their doctors back in control of their own care. The Patient’s Bill of Right makes sure that health care is available to you when you need it most and outlaws the most egregious abuses by the insurance industry.

For plan years beginning on or after September 23, 2010, all privately-insured Americans now have the following protections:

•           Health coverage cannot be arbitrarily cancelled if you become sick. 

•           Children cannot be denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition.

•           Children up to age 26 can stay on their parents’ health plan. 
 
•           Health insurance giants cannot put a lifetime limit on health coverage. 

•           Health plans’ annual limits are phased out over three years. 

Consumers purchasing new health insurance plans will have the following additional protections:

•           Patients have the right to choose their own doctor.

•           Preventive services will be available without deductable or co-payments. 

•           Patients have the right to both an internal and external appeal of
            insurers’ coverage decisions. 

•           Patients have the right to access out-of-network emergency room care
            at in-network cost-sharing rates.

All of these provisions combined will help our country move to a healthier future.  People will no longer have to make life and death decisions based on the arbitrary judgment of an insurance company.
 
While these provisions make some of the worst insurance industry practices — rescissions, coverage limits, denying coverage to sick children—a thing of the past, some still want to take American families backwards. Nearly all House Republicans have signed on to a bill that would completely repeal these rights, subjecting American families to an old, unstable system where unjust insurance company practices go unchecked.

The effort to repeal these protections will return us to a time when insurance companies were putting profits before patients.

Brawley Fire Department receives federal funds

I announced last month that the Brawley Fire Department will receive $99,511 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

This is great news for fire protection in Brawley! This money will go a long way to making sure the Brawley Fire Department has the funding it needs to protect our neighborhoods.

The funds were awarded as part of a competitive grant process under the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program of FEMA.  The grant is slated to go towards operations and safety, which includes training, equipment, personal protective equipment, wellness and fitness, and health and safety modifications to stations and facilities.

Legislation to address employment for veterans advances

As a country, we must do more to provide for all America’s veterans. That’s why I have been working as Chair of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee to move forward legislation to address the emerging needs of our veterans by expanding certain benefits to address their employment needs.  As a country at war, veterans are returning to a troubled job market and a contracted economy.  We can never fully repay our brave troops for their service, but we can continue to thank them by providing the education and training they missed while serving our country. 

Last month, the committee approved several bills to help stem the tide of unemployment among veterans.  Among them was a bill I authored, H.R. 6132 – The Veterans Benefits and Economic Welfare Improvement Act of 2010. This comprehensive bill would establish a transition program for new veterans not eligible for other employment aid programs and who had a military occupational specialty of limited transferability to the civilian job market.  The bill includes provisions to improve the disability claim system by extending the 120-day limit for the filing of an appeal to the Court of Veterans Appeals after a final decision of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals upon a showing of good cause for such time as justice may require.  The bill would also increase the pension amount for Medal of Honor recipients, establish an award program that will permit the VA to recognize businesses for their contributions to veteran’s employment, and protect veterans from losing their non-service connected pension benefits because they received payments to cover expenses incurred after an accident, theft, loss, or casualty loss. 

Congressman Filner votes to create clean energy jobs

Last month, I voted for legislation that will spur job creation in the American clean energy industry and strengthen rural economies.  The Rural Energy Savings Act, or “Rural Star,” will provide loans to American families and farmers to improve their energy efficiency and lower their utility bills, creating American manufacturing and installation jobs in the process.  This will help bring down the cost of energy for households, businesses and farms, boost the local economy and help create a clean energy future.

The high up-front cost for clean energy upgrades prevents people from making these improvements to their homes and businesses – this will help solve that problem and help get people back to work in the energy industry.  The programs in this bill will offer homeowners loans of about $3,000 to $7,500 to eliminate the upfront cost of home energy upgrades, which customers will then repay over 10 years on their electric bill -- with their energy savings from the renovations covering most of the cost of the loan. 

The Rural Star and Loan Star programs will boost demand for energy efficient products, materials, and construction and installation services that are made in America; over 90% of these products and materials —caulking, insulation, HVAC systems, hot water heaters, sealant, windows, doors other structural materials — are made in America.

Federal funding for SANDAG border security study announced

Last month, I announced that the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) has been awarded $ 299,136 by the U.S. Department of Justice to study collaborative efforts to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of combating criminal narcotics activity along the U.S.-Mexico border.

We need to make sure that the federal funds going to local efforts to curb drug trafficking along our border are working. This study will analyze if these funds are being used in the best way possible.

The Department of Justice is funding this project through a Recovery Act program called the Research and Evaluation of Recovery Act State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance.  It will include a two-year evaluation of the Chula Vista Police Department and San Diego County Sheriff's Department which received federal funding to target crime on the California/ Mexico border.

The study will look at both San Diego County and Imperial County through interviews and historical records. Additionally, surveys will be conducted with stakeholders across local, state, and federal agencies that have been directly involved in these efforts, as well as those who have not. Resident surveys and statistics related to border drug trafficking will also be compiled. An analysis of the compiled data will be used to determine if opportunities for better coordination exist, trend analysis to determine how drug-trafficking organizations have been disrupted/ dismantled, and determine if maximum effectiveness and efficiency were realized.

Foreclosures Must Stop!

One of the most important issues facing us today is protecting those who have become victims of this economy.

But instead of helping those who needed it most, Washington chose to bail out the big banks with hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money.  And now it is those same banks that are turning around and being unreasonable when it comes to working with homeowners to help them stay in their homes.

During the civil rights era we used community demonstrations to bring attention to a fundamental injustice being perpetrated by the government, private companies and individuals.  In 1961, as a Freedom Rider, I spent two months in a Mississippi jail to fight racial segregation.  It was a last resort, but because we came together to challenge the status quo, we played a crucial role in ending segregation in the South.

So what do we do when we see an injustice today?  When we see a families being evicted from their homes, what do we do?

The answer is the same now as it was then. We must stand by them and stand up for them. 

Foreclosures must stop!

National Association for Black Veterans holds office hours at the Chula Vista Library

The National Association for Black Veterans (NABVETS) California State Commander McCail Smith, Jr is available to help veterans and their families every Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the veterans wing in the Civic Center Branch of the Chula Vista Public Library located at 365 F Street, Chula Vista CA 91910. NABVETS is a nationally certified Veterans Service Organization and a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs claims representative.

NABVETS works with the community to end homelessness and to empower low-income and minority veterans and disadvantaged youth. The organization is continually building and expanding its programs, including transitional and permanent housing and day services for low-income veterans and their families; historical preservation of the contributions of minority veterans; and Amnesty for Vietnam era veterans.

Congressional presentation at an Eagle Court of Honor

I recently had the honor of presenting a U.S. flag and a Congressional certificate of recognition to Blake Larson at his Eagle Court of Honor.

Constituent Mail Bag

From Chula Vista:

I have applied for a SBA 7(a) loan. I am told that my concept, buisiness plan and credit look great.

The apparent problem is that there is a lack of funding by congress for these loans. I am told that a vote will be in the house soon.

Please add your support to any and all funding for SBA 7(a) loan.

Thanks!

Congressman Filner replies: 

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 (H.R. 5297).

I hope you will be pleased to know that I voted for the final version of H.R. 5297, which passed the House on September 23rd. This bill will lower taxes and help provide loans to millions of small business owners who create most of the new jobs in this country.

The President is soon expected to sign the legislation into law!

Useful Website: Wildfire Preparedness

We know all too well the terrible costs that wildfires have inflicted on California. I ask that you take a look at the U.S. Fire Administration website with some helpful hints on how to protect your home from fire http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/citizens/all_citizens/home_fire_prev/wildfire/.

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