Newsletter: In the Know, 3/23

Press Release

In the Know, 3/23

On the House Floor

This week, the House approved H.R. 1227, the Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act of 2007, by a vote of 302 to 125. H.R. 1284, the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2007, also passed without opposition. It will increase the rates of veterans' wartime disability compensation, additional compensation for dependents, the clothing allowance for certain disabled adult children, and dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children. Additionally, the House passed H.R. 740, the Preventing Harassment through Outbound Number Enforcement (PHONE) Act of 2007 by a margin of 413 to 1. It will prohibit using or providing false caller identification information with intent to defraud or with intent to deceive the recipient of a call about the identity of the caller.

Bridge Funding Fast Track

This week, the Bush Administration revealed that it is set to fully fund the federal government's $62.7 million remaining share of the new Folsom Bridge over the American River in time to complete construction by December of 2008. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), the federal entity managing the design and construction of the new span, has allocated $48.7 million for the project in Fiscal Year (FY) 2007. Furthermore, the president's proposed budget for FY08 contains $14 million - which is enough to complete bridge construction in time for cars to cross it before the end of the 2008 calendar year. Defense Assistant Secretary of Civil Works John Paul Woodley, who participated in the bridge groundbreaking ceremony last month, made the project a top priority for the Corps pursuant to assurances he made to me. He understands how important this bridge is for our community and he has done everything possible to keep it on track.

Before the Bureau of Reclamation permanently closed the Folsom Dam Road for security reasons in February 2003, it had been a critical road linkage between Western El Dorado County, Folsom, and South Placer County, with 18,000 vehicle-crossings per day. The closure has negatively impacted regional traffic movement, the local economy, and air quality. The new bridge downstream of the dam was authorized by Congress as part of the Doolittle-Matsui compromise of 2003 as the ultimate solution to both security and transportation needs around the dam. It is truly remarkable that motorists will be able to drive over the bridge only five years after the project was authorized. The fact that we have kept to such a highly expedited timeline is a testament to the need for the bridge and the level of cooperation between the local community and the federal agencies involved.

Historic Tax Hike

In offering up their first budget plan since attaining majority status, Senate Democrats have proposed the largest tax increase in American history. Part of the plan calls for allowing the tax cuts of 2001 to expire. The results would be absolutely devastating both for individual households and the national economy. The spending blueprint would raise taxes by $900 billion over five years and a projected $3.3 trillion over ten years. That breaks down to a tax increase of $2,641 per household annually over the next decade. As a best case scenario, moderate Democrats have offered an amendment that would raise taxes by only $736 billion. The disastrous budget would also include 22 reserve funds that could be used to raise taxes by hundreds of billions more. It would further increase discretionary spending by nearly 9 percent in FY08 while not terminating a single federal program. Perhaps most importantly, it would do nothing to address the oncoming Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid crises caused by the aging of the Baby Boom generation. All of this is in sharp contrast to the last spending plan enacted by the Republican majority, which cut non-defense discretionary spending for the first time in 19 years and reduced the growth in mandatory spending for the first time in nine years.

Quote of the Week

"The planet has a fever." - Doomsday forecaster Al Gore in testimony on Capitol Hill in which he also recommended a ban on incandescent light bulbs, March 21, 2007.

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