U.S. Senator George V. Voinovich (R-OH), a senior member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, today announced that more than $1 million is expected for the state of Ohio as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s Fiscal Year 2009 Driver’s License Security Grant Program. The program is intended to prevent terrorism, reduce fraud and improve the reliability and accuracy of state driver’s licenses. Sen. Voinovich led the Senate in securing additional funding for driver’s license security by authoring a letter to Senate appropriators seeking the funding. Ohio is expected to receive almost $1.1 million through this program.Some might find this somewhat controversial. I am not one of those... I don't like the price tag but whatever it takes to secure our identification system is okay by me.
“This funding is critical to the safeguarding of our state-issued IDs,” Sen. Voinovich said. “We must do everything we can to protect our citizens from fraud and terrorism on our soil.”
For more information, visit www.dhs.gov.
Of course, Strickland will find a way to blow this money and not actually achieve the intended results, but that's another story for another time...
Dear Secretary Paulson:Oddly, I don't see another plea in there to use TARP funds for Auto Bailout.....
When Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA), Treasury ensured that this act would strengthen the financial infrastructure of our country and encourage banks to start lending again. To date, Treasury’s actions have been focused on bringing stability to the financial markets, particularly providing capital infusions to banks with the largest market share. The Treasury has invested in all but one of the twenty-five largest domestic banks, including several that continue to incur losses. The fundamental shift in the focus of EESA from buying toxic mortgage assets to direct capital infusions shows a rift in the legislative intent at the time of passage and Treasury’s priorities today. Treasury must do more to ensure community banks are receiving the assistance they need so they can continue to play a vital role in providing lending across the country.
In order to truly aid economies like my home state of Ohio, community banks must be a part of the solution to ensure wider stability in the financial sector. It is unacceptable that Treasury only provide aid to the country’s largest domestic banks and ignore the community banks. Community banks are an essential link to capital in smaller communities across the nation. EESA must make restoring credit portfolios a priority, just as it has made large financial institutions a priority.
It is still unclear how Treasury is determining which financial institutions receive a capital infusion. In order to understand why one bank is receiving assistance and another is not, the public must be able to clearly understand the factors Treasury is relying upon to make the decision. It has been said that capital infusions are only going to financially viable banks; if this is indeed the case, Treasury needs to define what makes an institution viable. How can I explain to Ohioans why a bank in Honolulu recently received a capital infusion when they were told directly by a regulator to raise capital to address its financial problems, but banks in Ohio have been denied assistance when regulators determine increased capital is needed? If ailing banks are receiving assistance from the EESA to meet regulatory requirements, then the intent of the program has certainly changed.
In closing, I would like to ask you how have the actions by Treasury to date increased lending? As far as I can see the large domestic banks that have been the receipt of capital infusions are hoarding the funds. Treasury must ensure that capital infusions result in increased lending. The congressional intent was for banks to start lending again and we must demand these banks start lending to spur economic activity. As the Treasury prepares for the transition in January to President-elect Barack Obama’s administration, it is critical that assistance to community banks is at the core of the next steps in carrying out the next stages of the EESA.
Sincerely,
George V.Voinovich
United States Senator
For a two-party system to operate effectively, there needs to be a loyal opposition—not a supine pack of whining lapdogs.Emphasis added.
The former calls for working with the majority when and where appropriate, and yet adhering to a certain set of principles that will not be compromised under any circumstances. Unfortunately for Republicans, even when the GOP was in the majority, it was more like the latter. The world was upside-down. It was as if they had not even won elections.
Most acts were guided under the prism of gaining consensus. As such, they were not rooted in principle.
And now, as the GOP moves into its third year of a dwindling minority status, two Republican Senators appear committed to preserving the GOP’s lapdog, “go-along-to-get-along,” consensus-driven agenda.
...
Case in point: Senator Patrick Leahy is planning to hold a hearing for Eric Holder to be the next Attorney General on January 8th. To its credit, the Senate Republican Caucus is nearly united in telling Mr. Leahy that is simply not enough time to prepare for the hearings. Mr. Holder, known for his anti-Second Amendment proclivity and his leading the charge in bogus pardons at the end of the Clinton Administration, has a number of background issues that the Senate minority wants to openly explore.
According to top Capitol Hill sources, Senate Republicans want the hearing delayed. And there would be consequences for not giving the opposition enough time to question Mr. Holder and to explore his background if the hearing is held on January 8th.
A letter objecting to the process has been signed by every Republican Senator—even moderate Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins—except for Senators George Voinovich and Richard Lugar of Ohio and Indiana, respectively.
We passed this around the Alliance email list today and I asked Team Voinovich what the deal was... Apparently, our senior senator wants it both ways...again. According to my source, Voinovich wants the hearing delayed -- and spoke directly with Sen. Leahy. If I understand my source correctly, Voinovich believes that this is the best course of action to actually accomplish a delay. As usual, I think we're seeing a stunning display of hubris. George Voinovich thinks that he can talk Pat Leahy in to doing the honorable thing all by himself...
More to the point, where is Mitch McConnell on this? Why isn't there an effort to instill a sense of unity in the Senate GOP? Somebody needs to remind Senator Voinovich which party he belongs to...
