This Week In Washington

Congressman Sam Graves sends out a weekly e-mail newsletter with information about the happenings in Washington. I thought the most recent update was particularly useful, summing up a whole lot in a small amount of words about some big pieces of legislation:

Senator Max Baucus of Montana introduced his $856 billion version of health care reform legislation this week. Probably the biggest thing in it is an individual mandate for health insurance. The federal government will mandate that you carry health insurance or you will face a penalty of $900 for an individual or $3,800 for a family. This blatantly violates the President’s pledge that if you make under $250,000 you will not see your taxes go up.

If you are a small business and do not provide health insurance, there will be a $400 penalty per employee. This will be a huge incentive for businesses to drop health insurance coverage for their employees. This will result in more Americans who will have to find a new health insurance provider. This would break the President’s pledge that if you like your health care, you can keep it.

There were a few good things in the Baucus plan, but it did not get a single Republican co-sponsor and many Democrats said they would not vote for it. As I said earlier this week, we need to hit the reset button and work on bi-partisan bill for health insurance reform.

In addition to health care, the House voted to cut all funding for ACORN. I will be following this legislation very closely and hope to see it signed into law. This is a corrupt organization who I believe has misused taxpayer dollars. I hope the Federal Bureau of Investigation will open an investigation into their activities.

Legislation

H.R. 3246 - Advanced Vehicle Technology Act of 2009 – This bill would authorize appropriations totaling $2.85 billion over the 2010-2014 period for the Department of Energy to support research to reduce the number of vehicles fuels that generate high emissions. CBO estimates that implementing the legislation would cost $2.43 billion over the 2010-2014 period and $423 million after 2014. This bill passed on Wednesday by a vote of 312-114.

Republicans wanted to amend the bill to prevent double dipping and duplicative funding for vehicle technologies at the Department of Energy. This legislation has already been included in numerous other legislative measures. However that motion failed by a vote of 180-245.

2. H.R. 3221 - Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 –Yet another government takeover. The “Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act” would abolish the longstanding privately-run Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and replace it with taxpayer-financed lending from the U.S. Treasury. By giving the federal government a monopoly over student lending, this plan will eliminate choice, competition, and innovation in our student loan system. It passed on a 253-171 vote.

I know politics is quite painful to follow on a regular basis, but things are happening now that will drastically affect your life, so it's wise to pay attention. By reading this, you're ahead of the curve.

There's my two cents.