Miller Newsletter

Statement

House Passes Continuing Appropriations Resolution
The House passed a Continuing Resolution that funds the government through December 15, 2013 at current levels. By doing this, the CR would keep the government open and allow the House to continue its work to pass the various annual appropriations bills in line with the House Republican budget. The CR would also require the U.S. Treasury to prioritize debt payments in the event of a debt ceiling breach to avoid a default by including language from H.R.807, the Full Faith and Credit Act of 2013, of which I am a cosponsor and voted for its passage in the House earlier this year. House Republicans also built on its continued efforts to shield the American people from the onslaught of Obamacare and the President's failed promise, by fully and permanently defunding Obamacare and rescinding all unobligated Obamacare funds.

The CR passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 230-189, and I voted AYE. The Senate must now seize the opportunity to act, listen to the American people, and follow the House's lead to rein in government spending, keep our government open, and fully and permanently defund Obamacare. The House has been fighting to do its part to help put this law to rest once and for all, and now the Senate must join us to prevent further damage to our economy and help put an end to forcing hard-working Americans to continue footing the bill for something it doesn't even want.

Tragedy at the Navy Yard
On the morning of September 16, just blocks from the U.S. Capitol, tragedy hit the oldest shore establishment of the United States Navy. A gunman entered Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters building #197 and went on a shooting rampage, taking the lives of twelve people and injuring eight others. These senseless acts of violence have left an indelible mark on our capital and have caused immense sorrow and disbelief across the Nation.

Vicki and I grieve for the victims and pray for God's blessings on their families and friends whose lives have forever been changed. I ask Northwest Florida to join us in prayer to support the military and civilian members of the Armed Forces and their families who have been impacted by this terrible tragedy.

In an interview with Washington radio station WTOP, I discussed how the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs is working with the Department of Veterans Affairs to learn more about the treatment the Navy Yard shooter received at VA facilities. You can listen to the interview here.

POW/MIA Recognition Day
America's commitment to supporting our men and women who have worn the uniform is stronger than ever. This obligation, however, is not only to our surviving heroes, or those who have reached their final resting place, but also to those whose whereabouts remain a mystery. Last Friday, as part of National POW/MIA Recognition Day, we asked all Americans to join us in honoring the selfless service and immeasurable sacrifice of the more than 83,000 brave veterans who have yet to return home from battle. Their stories deserve an ending, and we must continue to do all we can to bring these men home where they belong.

CBO 2013 Long-Term Budget Outlook
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its 2013 Long-Term Budget Outlook. CBO's report, which projects our debt and deficit outlooks for the next 25 years, highlights a stark reality: spending in Washington is completely unsustainable and, without significant spending cuts, an exploding national debt threatens our Nation's economic prosperity.

Under the baseline CBO projection, federal debt held by the public is expected to rise from its current level of 73 percent of our gross domestic product (GDP) to a staggering 100 percent by 2038. As many economists have warned, and as we have seen in numerous countries, public debt approaching 100 percent of GDP can trigger a serious fiscal crisis, like those experienced by many European countries in recent years. To put these debt numbers in perspective, since the stabilization of federal debt in the post-World War II era, public debt has averaged 38 percent of GDP, and just 5 years ago, at the end of 2008, debt held by the public stood at 39 percent of GDP.

But thanks to unprecedented levels of federal spending by the Obama Administration, with four successive years of trillion dollar deficits, our publicly held federal debt has nearly doubled, and as CBO points out, without serious actions to reduce spending, our debt will continue to grow.

Perhaps most troubling of all, however, is the CBO projections do not even take into account the serious damage that growing debt would do to our economy. As increasing federal debt crowds out public investment and does further harm to our economy, increasing interest rates would also make it more difficult to pay our debt. CBO projects that in 25 years just covering the interest payments on our debt will require 5 percent of GDP, which is more than we currently spend on defense.

CBO's report is further evidence that we must act now to rein in federal spending before it does permanent damage to our economic future. House Republicans have demonstrated our commitment to tackling Washington's out-of-control spending by passing a budget that balances within 10 years and starts to reduce our debt back to historical levels. It is now time for the President and Washington Democrats to get serious about our fiscal reality and join us at the table to solve our spending problem and avert a fiscal crisis.

Washington Update

H.R. 3102 - Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013
Federal nutrition assistance programs have ballooned in recent years, and today one in seven Americans is receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. While it is important to provide a safety net for those who are truly needy, much of the growth in this program is attributable to loopholes in the law that allow individuals to enroll even if their income exceeds the criteria, government policies that actively advertise to recruit individuals to sign up, and widespread fraud, waste, and abuse throughout the system. Costs for this program have now reached $80 billion, forcing middle class families who are struggling to make ends meet to foot the bill for a safety net that has gone far beyond its intended purposes.

For many years, agricultural policy and federal nutrition programs have been tied together through a farm bill. This year, however, the House has separated these two different provisions to ensure that each of these programs receives full and proper legislative oversight. After passing the farming portions in July, the House took up H.R. 3102, the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013 last week by a vote of 217-210.

H.R. 3102 would help bring fiscal responsibility to federal nutrition programs by reducing spending by $40 billion over 10 years and bringing much needed reforms to the program that will help to curb fraud, waste, and abuse to ensure that only those who are truly eligible receive benefits. H.R. 3102 builds on the successful 1990s welfare reform efforts, which instituted commonsense work requirements for able-bodied adults to help move individuals from government assistance to self-sufficiency and brought 2.9 million children out of poverty within 7 years, while seeing the number of individuals reliant on welfare drop by 67 percent nationwide and 85 percent in Florida. Yet, the work requirements for SNAP have consistently been waived by the Administration, leaving the program rife for abuse. H.R. 3102 would stop this practice by restoring the work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents.

H.R. 3102 would also ensure that benefits only go to those who are truly eligible by requiring strict verification that individuals meet all income and asset requirements and are verified to legally be in this country. These reforms would only apply to individuals who are not truly eligible for SNAP under the law and should not be receiving these benefits in the first place.

Fraud, waste, and abuse in the SNAP program is a disservice not only to hard-working American taxpayers who fund the program, but also to the truly needy individuals who the program was set up to help lift out of poverty. By instituting commonsense reforms to root out those who are abusing the system and instituting work requirements for able-bodied adults, H.R. 3102 would help reduce federal spending and ensure that the federal safety net serves as a springboard out of poverty for those who most need it.

H.R. 761- National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2013
U.S. mineral production is a vital economic activity that helps to provide the necessary materials for nearly every major industry in our Nation, including agriculture, communication, construction, defense, health care, information technology, manufacturing and transportation. Yet, despite an abundance of many important minerals here at home, the U.S. currently imports 61 non-fuel minerals to meet our mineral needs. We are forced to import these minerals largely due to an excessive and convoluted federal regulatory regime that leads to permitting delays and means that the average timeframe to acquire the necessary permits for domestic mine production on federal lands is seven to 10 years. In fact, a recent study of countries for mining investment ranked the U.S. dead last on permitting, level with Papua New Guinea.

Permitting delays put American businesses at a significant disadvantage and make it difficult for businesses to grow and create jobs. To rectify this situation, the House passed H.R. 761, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2013 last week by a vote of 246-178. This commonsense bill would streamline the permitting process and allow domestic miners to more efficiently and responsibly develop mineral resources that are of strategic and critical importance to our country.

Since taking control of the House of Representatives, Republicans have made economic growth and job creation one of our top priorities. I was glad to support H.R. 761, which would help pave the way for economic growth by removing the unnecessary regulatory red tape that stifles domestic mineral production and increases business costs throughout our economy.

Hearing on VA Transparency Challenges and Failure to Cooperate
I presided over a full committee hearing of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee that focused on VA's reluctance to give Congress timely access to the information it requests. VA is currently sitting on more than 70 requests for information made by HVAC Republicans and Democrats. Some of these requests are more than a year old and some relate to committee investigations into preventable veteran deaths and delays in care at a number of VA medical facilities around the country. The leisurely pace with which VA is responding to many requests -- and in some cases not responding to them -- has become a major impediment to the basic oversight responsibilities of the committee, drawing loud and open criticism from HVAC Republicans and Democrats. In order to keep a running record of outstanding information requests made to VA by both Democrat and Republican members of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the committee has launched a webpage called Trials in Transparency, which can be found here. As new information unfolds, I will continue to keep you updated on this issue as well as the many others the Veterans' Affairs Committee is investigating.

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