Solutions for America are Stuck in the Senate 10.31.14

We have heard a lot about partisan gridlock lately, but the truth is that over the past two years the House of Representatives passed hundreds of bills that would improve the lives of Americans. We’ve passed bills to put Americans to work, get energy costs down, and ease burdens on businesses. But where are those bills now? They’re stuck in the Senate.

The 387 bills stuck in the Senate are the solutions America needs to prosper and the solutions Americans have been demanding.

Take the American Energy Solutions for Lower Costs and More American Jobs Act. It would help the Keystone XL pipeline move forward by removing the Presidential Permit process and would keep the EPA from implementing even more regulations which could cost more than $1 billion.

The Jobs for America Act would repeal the Obamacare designation of 30 hours per week as full-time employment, and repeal the medical device tax. It would give companies the certainty they need to plan, hire, and expand by making critical tax credits permanent for research and development and small businesses.

In addition to jobs bills, and energy bills, and tax credits, there are bills to protect our way of life. The Farmers Undertake Environmental Land Stewardship (FUELS) Act would protect farmers from unfair EPA regulations, and the Equitable Access to Care and Health (EACH) Act would add additional protections for religious freedoms from the Obamacare mandate.

Families would keep more of their hard-earned money with the Child Tax Credit Improvement Act of 2014, which would raise the income cap for the credit and make more families eligible.

The House of Representatives has been hard at work pursuing real solutions to the problems facing America while the Senate has been sitting on its hands. Since the start of 2014, the Senate has had only 88 votes on passing or advancing legislation, or just about two legislative votes a week. During the same time period, the House has taken 515 roll call votes to pass or advance legislation and help the American people. That averages to about 12 legislative votes a week. Today, there are 387 House bills stuck in the Senate that won’t even be considered, and 95 percent of them passed with bipartisan support.

The House of Representatives has passed the solutions to bring good paying jobs, energy independence, and long overdue regulatory reform. Now it’s time for the Senate to act so we can move forward.

THIS WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS

I hope you had a safe and happy Halloween. Our Farmington district office had the pleasure of greeting more than 500 trick or treaters at the Annual Harvest Night where they picked up a constitution and a roll of Smarties.

This week I wrapped up National Manufacturing Month. On Wednesday I visited Tower Rock Stone in Ste. Genevieve which employs 180 workers. The quarry just won another Sentinel Safety Award, having achieved that national honor before in 2005, 2006 and 2009. Owned by the Luhr Brothers of Columbia, Ill., the Ste. Geneveive facility produces 6 million tons of stone annually and supply stone to job sites throughout the country.

Sincerely,

Jason Smith
Member of Congress