Tiberi Congressional Update

This just in a little earlier today...

Making Headlines This Week:

The lack of progress on passing a terrorist surveillance bill that would reauthorize an important tool our intelligence community uses to track terrorists who want to harm Americans. This program expired about two weeks ago, forcing members of our intelligence community to “lawyer up” before being allowed to monitor phone calls between suspected terrorists in foreign countries. The Senate passed a good, bipartisan bill to reauthorize this program, but the Democratic Majority has refused to consider the Senate bill. A good summary of what has happened in the past few weeks regarding this bill is summed up in this featured video. We need to pass a new terrorist surveillance bill quickly to remove the intelligence barriers to help prevent future attacks.

We received some sobering reports this week on the state of our economy. Growth has slowed and home foreclosures continue to threaten families. All the while energy prices are on the rise again.

A bill was introduced this week to reform Medicare since for the second year in a row Medicare spending has hit certain levels. Several years ago, Republicans passed legislation requiring a mandatory response from the Administration to try and reign in excess spending if Medicare spending reached a certain level for two years in a row. This trigger could open the door to crucial conversations about how to make sure our children will still be able to receive benefits.

All of these issues are critical, “kitchen table” topics concerning every person’s safety and well-being. “Is my family safe?” “Will we be able to pay our bills?” “Will my parents be able to get the healthcare they need?” They are things I hear about again and again from constituents and I know they concern families across Central Ohio.

Democratic Leadership?

Given the few very important issues listed above, here’s a brief look at the weeks accomplishments in the House under Democratic Leadership.

We passed five bills naming post offices, roads, or other federal buildings.
We passed seven non-controversial bills, including measures involving the use of the Capitol for inauguration ceremonies.

We passed another “No Energy” Energy bill. The Democrats’ bill does not do anything to reduce fuel costs or increase domestic oil production. In fact this bill would likely cause massive tax hikes, in the range of $18 billion. This is the fourth time we’ve considered bills like this, and every time the bill hasn’t passed the Senate.

Coming Up Next Week

The Democrats have indicated we’ll consider legislation to improve mental health care and funding.

The Budget Committee, of which I am a member, will begin to write the fiscal year 2009 Budget. It’s my hope that we can keep spending in check, begin to address the out-of-control spending increases in entitlement programs like Medicare, and make the middle class tax cuts, like the marriage penalty repeal and the increased child tax credit, permanent. There are many topics that need to be addressed in the budget. I found this editorial in USA Today offers a different look at the budget. You may find it interesting.

Democrat Leaders did indicate that we might consider legislation to extend the terrorist surveillance program. I certainly hope that we consider the Senate-passed terrorist surveillance bill. It takes the right steps to give our intelligence community the tools they need to keep us safe. As the Director of National Intelligence Admiral Mike McConnell has said in media reports, the risk we face by not having the intelligence tools allowed by the Terrorist Surveillance bill, increases exponentially with each passing day.