In this week's edition of e-news...

Strengthening SWPA Senior Retirement Programs
REMINDER: Medicare Open Enrollment Begins Monday
House E&C Committee Continues Work To Stop Subsidies
Murphy Urges Administration to Crack Down On China’s Illegal Trade Practices

Strengthening SWPA Senior Retirement Programs

The future of Social Security and Medicare was the primary topic of discussion during Wednesday’s Senior Expo in South Park. Congressman Murphy spoke with many at the event who expressed concern that earned benefits like Medicare and Social Security wouldn’t be available for their own children and grandchildren.

Murphy discussed several key pieces of legislation he’s been championing to strengthen and protect Medicare and Social Security.

First and foremost, Murphy discussed his Social Security and Medicare Protection Act, a landmark bill he authored to block Congress and the Administration from raiding the Trust Funds to spend on earmarks and other programs. Senior citizens have paid into these programs their whole lives, which is why Murphy has been working to ensure their money is not spent on other projects. The bill currently awaits further action before the House Ways and Means Committee.

Rep. Murphy and WWII Merchant Mariner Mike Kemple of Elizabeth Township chat at Wednesday’s Senior Expo. Back in 2007, Murphy had the honor of presenting Kemple with his military medals on Pearl Harbor Day.

Last month, Murphy’s bipartisan Strengthening Medicare and Repaying Taxpayers Act (SMART Act, H.R. 1063) was passed unanimously by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Under a complicated federal law called “Medicare Secondary Payer,” the Medicare Trust Fund must recover any medical bills that should have been paid by a private insurance company as part of a legal settlement. But Medicare’s bureaucracy is failing to carry out this law effectively and putting the burden on seniors instead of the insurance companies. This convoluted process puts legal settlements at risk and is causing some seniors to lose their Medicare coverage or have their Social Security checks garnished.

Murphy’s bill fixes these problems so no senior loses their health insurance because of bureaucratic error, and recoups billions of dollars owed by insurance companies to the taxpayers. With Medicare headed toward bankruptcy in five years, Murphy’s bill shores up the Trust Fund by recovering between $1 billion and $4 billion annually. The SMART Act also saves the Medicare agency countless hours of staff work pursuing claims of little or no value. Following the recent passage by the Energy and Commerce Committee, Murphy’s SMART Act awaits full consideration in the House, where strong bipartisan support is expected.

Rep. Murphy also heard from seniors who are concerned with the rising costs of prescription medications. To alleviate these costs, Murphy authored legislation that was recently signed into law bringing more life-saving affordable generic medications to market. Murphy’s legislation clears a backlog of 2,800 generic applications awaiting FDA review and factory inspection. Under the new law, drug companies – not taxpayers – will cover the expense of factory inspections and expedited approval of generic medications. To learn more about Rep. Murphy’s work on behalf of Pennsylvania seniors, visit his official website.

To ask a question about your Medicare plan or to share your thoughts on Social Security and Medicare, please click here.

REMINDER: Medicare Open Enrollment Begins Monday

Congressman Murphy reminds all of his constituents that Medicare open enrollment for 2013 begins Monday. Beginning today, and throughout the Open Enrollment Period, those on Medicare and their family members can use the star ratings to compare the quality of health and drug plan options and select the plans that are the best value based on their needs in 2013. For more information about Medicare open enrollment, please click here.

As always, Congressman Murphy welcomes additional questions, or if you are in need of more personalized help on Medicare plans and benefits, contact his local offices in Mt. Lebanon (serving the South Hills, western Allegheny suburbs and Washington County) at (412) 344-5583 or Westmoreland County (serving parts east) at (724) 850-7312.

House E&C Committee Continues Work To Stop Subsidies

Over the past eighteen months, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has been conducting in depth reviews and oversight of the Department of Energy (DOE), and more specifically on how and where DOE economic stimulus dollars have been spent.  Through this investigative process, the Committee uncovered the ‘Solyndra swindle’, ‘Fisker fiasco’ and other energy projects funded with billions in taxpayer dollars, yet never translated into real energy production or sustainable jobs.

In an ongoing effort to calculate the true cost of taxpayer subsidies in the energy market and focus on a real energy independence plan, Congressman Murphy joined his colleagues on the Committee requesting an official audit from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) of all federal spending, grants, loans, and subsidies for wind, solar, coal, natural gas, nuclear, and oil.

Through this audit, the GAO will also examine how foreign governments like China are subsidizing new energy technologies. This provision was included at the request of Rep. Murphy, who has said the information is critical in determining whether American businesses are competing fairly in the global marketplace noting that countries like China heavily invest in the energy sector and manipulate global energy prices. Towards that end, the Commerce Department announced on Wednesday it would move forward with tariffs against Chinese-made solar panels because the products are heavily subsidized by Beijing. To learn more about why this audit is an essential step in crafting an energy independence plan, read this article in The Hill.

Murphy has also been working on other policies focused on lower energy prices and job creation  for Southwestern Pennsylvania families by backing the expansion of clean coal and natural gas exploration. Most recently, Murphy fought to end the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ‘War On Coal’ by voting in favor of legislation (H.R. 3409) to stop new EPA regulations from shutting down coal mines. Coal provides between 35 and 50% of the nation’s electricity. Responsible for over 52,000 Pennsylvania jobs, Murphy said he’d keep working on policies that ensure the coal industry survives and is able to provide affordable electricity to heavy manufacturers and residences.

To watch Congressman Murphy discuss the importance of clean coal and energy expansion, visit his official YouTube page.

To share your thoughts with Congressman Murphy about energy subsidies, please click here.

Murphy Urges Administration to Crack Down On China’s Illegal Trade Practices

According to the Economic Policy Institute, the United States has lost 2.1 million manufacturing jobs as a result of China’s undervalued currency and unfair trading practices. China steals patents, copyrights and reverse engineers U.S. technology and products while offering below market government loans to companies owned by communist government entities.

In an effort to level the playing field with China and hold one of the largest U.S. trading partners accountable in the global marketplace, Congressional Steel Caucus Chairman Congressman Tim Murphy is working with Vice Chair Pete Visclosky (D-IN) on a formal letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Acting Secretary Rebecca Blank urging her to enforce a trade ruling adopted in 2010 to stop China from dumping subsidized steel pipe used in oil and gas drilling onto the US market.

Recent reports indicate Chinese steelmakers are shipping steel through intermediary countries to circumvent duties put in place to support a free market. If the Chinese continue to break the law by using pass-through countries, American steel jobs will be lost. The full text of the letter can be read below.

During the past session of Congress, Murphy has testified before the U.S. International Trade Commission in support of penalties against dumped and subsidized steel coming from Korea, Mexico, and China. Murphy also co-authored bipartisan legislation (HR 639, the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act) that levels the playing field for manufacturers and steelmakers who struggle to compete with China’s illegal currency manipulation, which often results in Chinese exporters receiving a 20-40 price advantage against US-made products.  

To stay updated on Rep. Murphy’s work to end illegal currency manipulation, visit his official website.

To share your thoughts with Congressman Murphy on China’s unethical trade practices, please click here.

The Honorable Rebecca M. Blank
Acting Secretary of Commerce
U.S. Department of Commerce
1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20230

Dear Secretary Blank:

We write to express our continued support for strong enforcement of the antidumping (“AD”) and countervailing duty (“CVD”) orders on oil country tubular goods (“OCTG”) from China, and urge you to take specific steps to prevent evasion of these orders through minor processing in third-party countries.  

These orders, which went into effect in 2010, have provided much needed relief for the U.S. industry and the thousands of American workers who were being harmed by a flood of billions of dollars of dumped and subsidized Chinese OCTG. Unfortunately, since they were first put in place, these orders have faced a constant barrage of attempts to weaken their effectiveness by evasion, circumvention, and more subtle — but just as damaging —narrowing the scope of products covered by the orders. If allowed to succeed, these attempts will have the disastrous consequence of enabling Chinese producers and exporters to continue to ship dumped and subsidized Chinese OCTG to the United States without paying the legally-required AD and CVD duties, causing further injury to U.S. jobs and businesses.

The Department of Commerce should not permit the AD and CVD orders on OCTG from China to be weakened in this way. The orders must be effectively enforced against the full range of covered OCTG products. Of particular importance, the Department should make clear that – consistent with the plain language and original intent of the orders – minor processing of OCTG from China in other countries (such as through heat treatment or other finishing operations) does not change the underlying country of origin. It is insufficient to exempt such OCTG from the scope of the orders. Only by those actions, and by emphasizing that attempts to weaken orders will not be tolerated, can the Department uphold the effectiveness of the orders, the integrity of the statute, and congressional intent.

Thank you for your consideration and your continued efforts to ensure that the U.S. OCTG industry and American workers receive the relief from China’s unfair trade practices that they have fought so hard to achieve. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Respectfully submitted,
                                                                
Tim Murphy                                                                                                       
Chairman                                                                                                            
Congressional Steel Caucus                                                                         

Peter J. Visclosky
Vice Chairman
Congressional Steel Caucus