“While everyone in Southern Missouri was happily wrapping up gifts for family and friends, Congress was doing some wrapping up of its own.

Several major and much-needed pieces of legislation were passed in the final days of 2007 that have a pointed impact here at home.  From tax law to children’s health insurance to making sure our doctors can provide services under Medicare, key legislative initiatives were approved and became law.

First, Congress applied a one-year “patch” to the Alternative Minimum tax (AMT).  This arcane law was designed to target only 155 families in 1969.  This year, it threatened some 25 million.  The solution to this problem is only temporary, but it prevents 21 million American tax filers from falling into the AMT’s clutches and owing thousands more in federal income taxes than they do under the regular tax code.  Clearly, this is an issue which must be addressed again in the coming year, but the short-term fix is a good solution that stops a tremendous tax increase from falling at the feet of American families for the time being.

Also in the last week of the 2007 congressional session, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was extended until March 1, 2009.  Not only does this extension enable the program to continue to function as it does today, it also gained strong bipartisan support.  Without the SCHIP extension, health insurance for millions of American children in low-income families would have lapsed.  So this is a responsible bill which, like the AMT solution, requires Congress to revisit the issue in the future to renew the program for the long term.

 
In the same legislation which extended SCHIP, a cut to reimbursements for doctors who serve Medicare patients was prevented.  Instead of trimming those payments by nearly ten percent, and making it nearly impossible for rural doctors to not lose money for each Medicare patient they see, a modest one-half percent increase was applied to those reimbursements for the next six months.  This legislation is absolutely crucial for our senior citizens in rural areas because it keeps the doors of our best doctors open to them during their times of need.

Finally, Congress passed a year-end appropriations bill containing the language of 11 other spending bills.  I don’t like to vote for any omnibus package because I strongly believe in the transparency and oversight done in individual appropriations bills, but this bill contained a responsible level of spending on which the president and the Congress agreed.  It also contained key initiatives for our part of the state: road and river transportation infrastructure, flood protection, law enforcement funding for drug task forces that fight the manufacture and trafficking of methamphetamine, and agricultural research projects that take place right here in Southern Missouri.  This bill will help finish roads, dredge ports, build levees, stop drugs and bring new ideas into practice in our farming and ranching operations.

Certainly, the coming year poses many challenges for the Congress.  Much work remains, including more reforms to improve Medicare benefits and better policy to protect American energy security.  As the House of Representatives goes back to work in January, these priorities will be foremost in my mind.”