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Washington Update Congressman J. Randy Forbes, Virginia's Fourth Congressional District Week of March 9 - 13, 2009 |
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ü Hosted a meeting with House Financial Services Committee experts on the U.S. economy. The roundtable discussed factors that led to our current economic crisis, the lack of progress by government bailouts designed to help, and what future steps might improve our economy going forward. Congressman Forbes is one of only 17 of 435 Members of Congress to vote against each of the government bailouts to date, because he is not willing to spend enormous sums of money on plans he is not confident will help our economy or create the jobs that need to be restored. ü Signed on as a cosponsor of H.R. 622, which would provide an important energy tax credit to encourage environmental stewardship. This bill would ensure that producers of biomass power for use on-site receive the same tax benefits as producers who produce power for the electricity market. Certain paper products facilities produce both renewable power and forest products, producing environmental benefits and reducing fossil fuel demand, but these facilities currently do not receive an energy tax credit because the facilities use the power on-site. H.R. 622 would aid papermakers who produce and use biomass at their own mills, which would provide further incentive for businesses to convert from fossil-fuel based energy to green, biomass power.
ü Spoke on the House floor on H.Con. Res. 72 calling on Congress to act on China's harassment of the USNS Impeccable. Ten days ago, an unarmed U.S. naval ship manned by a civilian crew avoided a grave escalation between China and the United States caused by dangerous and provocative action taken by Chinese ships. The House of Representatives recently passed a resolution calling on the China to cease its repression of the Tibetan people. Congressman Forbes believes that those individuals serving our country in international water deserve a voice from Congress just as much as Tibetans. The resolution currently has 29 cosponsors.
ü Appeared on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal to discuss H.R. 877, the Patients First Act, and to answer caller questions regarding stem cell research on live television. Recent studies are demonstrating the ability of adult stem cells to be reprogrammed to the point where they function exactly like an embryonic stem cells. These scientific advances show that research on human embryonic stem cells may become unnecessary and may pose a more costly route to patient treatment. Congressman Forbes introduced H.R. 877 to strengthen the benefits of stem cell research by promoting research and clinical trials using human stem cells that show the most evidence of providing near-term clinical benefit for human patients and are ethically obtained. This bill prioritizes stem cell research toward treating and curing patients and presents a unified, pragmatic approach to medical and scientific advancement. The studies show that science has bypassed the divisive political debate and the time to advance medical treatment and care of patients is now.
ü Signed a letter opposing a home port shift of an Aircraft Carrier to Mayport, Florida. Congressman Nye and Congressman Forbes crafted a letter in opposition to the homeport shift of a CVN citing this move as wasteful spending especially in a time where the Navy has claimed limited resources to meet its missions. The intention of this letter is to make sure the costs associated with this move are considered when developing and executing the FY10 budget. ü Served as Ranking Member for a House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee hearing on expanding the Army and Marine Corps. Congressman Forbes noted in his opening statement that this initiative needs to ensure our Soldiers and Marines are supported logistically as the force grows, and that serviceman and women should never return home to dilapidated housing. ü Addressed the National Ship Repair Industry Conference on the charge given to Congress by our Founding Fathers to raise and support Armies and Navies. He discussed this mandate in the context of the massive deficit spending stemming from the TARP/Housing bailouts under the Bush Administration and the Economic Stimulus during the Obama Administration. ü Voted in favor of H.Con. Res. 64, which urges the President to designate 2009 as the Year of the Military Family. Congressman Forbes was a cosponsor of this resolution. ü Signed a letter in support of basing the new Air Force Cyber Warfare unit in Hampton Roads. The close proximity of NETWARCOM and JFCOM, as well as a strong presence of all of the services make Langley and Virginia an ideal choice.
üCosponsored legislation to protect children from sexual predators. Congress passed H.R. 1422, the Adam Walsh Act, which would require sex offenders to register with state or local jurisdictions after incarceration or while on probation. A number of new grant programs were also funded under Adam Walsh to assist states in improving sex offender registration. ü Attended a House Judiciary Committee hearing on H.R. 848, the Performance Rights Act. This legislation would permit musicians to collect royalties when their songs are played on broadcast radio stations. Currently, the broadcast radio is the only forum where musicians do not collect a royalty when their songs are played. Satellite radio, internet radio, and cable radio platforms each compensate musicians under the law. The bill sets a flat fee for small radio stations and makes total exemptions for religious and public service stations. ü Attended a Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee hearing on the bankruptcy filing of Circuit City. Circuit City was forced to lay off its entire 34,000 person workforce after its attempt at Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy failed due to a lack of available credit going forward. The purpose of the hearing was to examine the effect of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) on Circuit City’s filing. Namely, BAPCPA sped up bankruptcy by forcing filers to make a final decision on their property leases within 210 days and file reorganization plans with the court within 18 months.
ü Signed a letter urging a study of flooding in the Chowan River Basin. This study is necessary to determine ways to protect the water resources of this highly productive basin, restore wetlands, reduce flood damages throughout the basin, and improve navigation on the Chowan River. In several locations within the basin, six of the top ten historical high water marks have occurred since 1998, including the flood of record (Hurricane Floyd in 1999). Flooding and other damage from each of these storm events have ranged from a minimum of $10 million dollars to more than $100 million dollars. However, this flooding is directly related to an infrastructure deficiency that is correctable. The study would determine ways to effectively correct this flood problem while protecting and restoring the region’s precious wetland natural resources.
ü Signed a letter urging oil exploration to reduce energy costs. The letter to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar encourages the Interior Department to proceed with the oil and gas lease sale at least 50 miles from Virginia’s shoreline. At the request of the Commonwealth, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) included Virginia in the current five year Oil and Gas Leasing Program for the Outer Continental Shelf. MMS has initiated the process of creating a new five year plan and Congressman Forbes urged the federal government to ensure that Virginia is included in this next plan. The likelihood of gas prices skyrocketing again in the coming months will create even greater financial distress for American families. Congressman Forbes believes we cannot wait until we are in a crisis to take critical steps towards solving our energy challenges and that we should move towards a comprehensive energy solution that includes conserving, tapping into alternative energy sources, and exploring new sources of oil.
ü Voted in favor of H.R. 1262, requiring an updated restoration plan for the Chesapeake Bay. A provision included in the Water Quality Investment Act of 2009 requires the EPA to develop an updated management plan for restoring the Bay. The overall measure approved funding for infrastructure projects dealing with sewage, water runoff, watershed restoration, and other water infrastructure projects. ü Opposed S. 22, which would have put millions of acres of land into government regulation. In doing so, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 would prevent Americans from exercising their right of property ownership and restrict access to the land for energy exploration. S. 22 would cost $6.4 billion and would block millions of acres from new oil and gas leasing, logging, mining, and all other business activity. The federal government already owns over 650 million acres of land, much of which are experiencing severe maintenance backlogs or is in disarray. This bill would force the taxpayer to fund the purchase of land that could be utilized in the private sector. This bill is more than 1,000 pages and is composed of 172 individual bills, 75 of which were never previously considered in the House of Representatives
For a comprehensive look at Congressman Forbes' work on legislative issues, visit the Spotlight Issues page on his website.
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