Geoff Davis RSS Articles

CONGRESSMEN PASCRELL AND DAVIS APPLAUD SENATORS MENENDEZ AND CRAPO FOR INCLUDING WATER INFRASTRUCTURE BILL IN SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE-PASSED HIGHWAY BILL

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

WASHINGTON – Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) and Congressman Geoff Davis (R-KY) applauded Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) for their success in including H.R. 1802, the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Investment Act (SWIIA) of 2011, in the Senate transportation bill.

SWIIA was added as an amendment to the Senate transportation bill during a Senate Finance Committee markup on Tuesday. The SWIIA would encourage private investment in overdue water infrastructure upgrade projects. Congressmen Pascrell and Davis, who sponsored the bipartisan legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, called upon their colleagues in the House to support SWIIA’s inclusion in a final transportation bill.

"I want to thank Senators Menendez and Crapo for building support for this legislation in the Senate Finance Committee," said Pascrell. "I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee to see this provision through the legislative process. Our water infrastructure is in costly disrepair throughout our nation. The American Society of Civil Engineers report that by 2020, the US will have fallen $84 billion short of the investments needed in our critical water systems. This is work that needs to be done. Our common-sense, bipartisan bill helps make sure that work can get done by encouraging private investment to help fund critical projects nationwide."

“Cities, towns, and utilities across the country are facing major challenges in replacing their aging and worn out water infrastructure,” said Congressman Davis. “At the same time, communities in my district and around the country are also struggling to comply with federal water and wastewater regulations, leading to increased rates for customers. This bill will pump billions of dollars of private capital into public water infrastructure projects, while shifting the economic risk away from the municipality and towards the private sector and lowering costs to consumers. I want to thank Senator Menendez and Senator Crapo for working to have this legislation included in the Senate transportation bill. I hope we can continue to work to ensure this provision is signed into law.”

SWIIA provides for the removal of state volume caps on private activity bonds (PABs) for water and wastewater financing. Congress has already exempted airports, intercity high-speed rail, and solid waste disposal sites from these bond caps.

The legislation would allow water systems easier access to capital throughout the nation and would help to fill a projected $500 billion gap of needed investment in our water infrastructure.

PAB issuance would be one of the fastest forms of federal assistance when applied to water and wastewater projects, with only 90-120 days needed to complete the process – from approval to sale – and get Americans to work.

The Clean Water Council estimates that for every $1 billion invested, 28,500 jobs will be created in the first year.

Closing the Strip Club Loophole

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

One of the most important responsibilities of Congress is to ensure that taxpayer funds are spent appropriately and effectively. The Ways & Means’ Subcommittee on Human Resources, which I chair, has jurisdiction over a number of major social welfare benefit programs and am always looking for ways to improve them.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is one of those programs. TANF provides support for low-income families and children that helps them to move from welfare to work. Since it replaced the New Deal-era welfare program in 1996, TANF has been recognized as one of the most effective reforms of our social welfare system, with a success of cutting welfare dependence by fifty-seven percent. TANF is an important hand up, not a handout.

Even more importantly, by promoting work among single parents who are the most common welfare recipients, it helped to significantly reduce child poverty in female-headed families over time. Even at today’s elevated unemployment rates, TANF continues to promote more work and earnings – and less poverty.

Despite this overall progress, there are still areas where TANF can and should be strengthened. Recently, concern has been raised about TANF benefits being withdrawn and used at strip clubs, liquor stores, and casinos. This is an inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars and an outright abuse of taxpayer trust.

Many local news investigations and exposés around the country have verified this unfortunate abuse of a well-intended program.

In Seattle, Washington, King 5 News discovered through an investigation that 13,000 TANF recipients withdrew approximately $2 million at casinos just in 2010.

In California, an investigation by the Los Angeles Time found that $1.8 million in TANF funds were withdrawn in casinos, and $12,000 was accessed in strip clubs.

An investigation in Arizona found TANF cash benefits were accessed in liquor stores over 100 times in a three month period.

Some States, like Washington, New Mexico, and Texas, have begun to take action, but oversight and enforcement can be sporadic. ABC7 in Denver, Colorado found that TANF cash benefits were being withdrawn in strip clubs, casinos, and liquor stores even though Colorado has a law to prohibit such transactions.

To help ensure taxpayer confidence in this program, there should be a nationwide solution since the program is funded primarily with federal dollars. A member of the Human Resources Subcommittee, Rep. Charles Boustany [LA- 7], introduced H.R. 3567, the Welfare Integrity Now for Children and Families Act of 2011, to address this issue.

H.R. 3567 would close this so-called “strip club loophole.” Within two years of enactment, States would be required to block welfare benefit card transactions in casinos, liquor stores, and strip clubs. In plain language, welfare benefits could no longer be accessed at any of these facilities. The bill passed the House by a vote of 395-27.

This bipartisan, bicameral program integrity provision will safeguard taxpayer funds from abuse and ensure that TANF benefits continue to provide a helping hand to families in need. The Senate should pass H.R. 3567 without delay.

A Disappointing State of the Union

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Last week, President Obama delivered his third State of the Union address to Congress. This annual update to Congress and our country should be a time to reflect on where we are as a nation, what we have done well, and what more we can be doing.

America faces a crushing debt of over $15 trillion and a still unacceptably high unemployment rate over three years after the first stimulus bill was signed into law.

The President conveniently left out that the date of the speech (January 24, 2012) marked the 1,000^th day since the Senate last passed a federal budget. Without a budget, there is no long-term plan about how the federal government spends your money. A failure to plan is a plan to fail.

Rather than working to make America more competitive and position the nation for growth and job creation, the Senate and the White House have consistently pursued policies that make us less competitive and make it harder for the private sector to grow and create new jobs.

The President’s policies have not worked to improve the economy. Since 2009 when he took office, almost two million more Americans are out of work. Our national unemployment rate has been more than eight percent for thirty-five months in a row, making this the longest period of high unemployment since the Great Depression.

Over the past year, the House has passed a fiscally responsible budget, put forth tax reform proposals, and passed over thirty jobs bills, twenty-eight of which are still awaiting consideration in the Senate including the REINS Act. The President should call on the Democratic-controlled Senate to pass these jobs bills.

The President recently missed a golden opportunity to make a decision that would lead to both job creation and more energy independence with the Keystone XL Pipeline expansion. The pipeline alone could cut our dependence on Saudi Arabian oil in half by supplying 830,000 barrels of oil per day. But, despite his rhetoric about energy independence and job creation, he rejected the pipeline permit.

From the Boiler MACT regulation to a health care law that is stymieing employers to shipping the Keystone Pipeline jobs abroad, the Administration has repeatedly moved in the exact opposite direction of job creation.

The President also failed to address in his speech our ever-growing debt, instead choosing to outline new ways to spend money we simply do not have. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels put it this way in his State of the Union response: “The President’s grand experiment in trickle-down government has held back rather the sped economic recovery…a government as big and bossy as this one is maintained on the back of the middle class, and those who hope to join it.”

Since the President took office three years ago, the national debt has increased forty-three percent to $15.23 trillion. The House budget proposal passed last year would have cut $6.2 trillion and would start to reduce the debt. When the President puts forward his budget proposal for fiscal year 2013 in the coming weeks, he would do well to take our fiscal crisis more seriously and put forward real reforms to cut government spending.

My House colleagues and I are ready and willing to work on the pressing issues facing our country, but we need partnership and action from both the President and the Senate to correct the state of our union, not another campaign speech or hollow call to address the urgent challenges acknowledged by the President himself. Addressing the state of our union requires less rhetoric and more action.

Davis Reacts to State of the Union Address

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Congressman Geoff Davis made the following statement regarding tonight’s State of the Union Address:

“America faces a crushing debt and unacceptably high unemployment. Given the significant struggles facing our country, a failure to plan is a plan to fail. The President conveniently left out of his speech tonight that today marks 1000 days since the Senate last passed a federal budget.

“Rather than working to make America more competitive and position the nation for growth and job creation, the Senate and the White House have consistently pursued policies that make us less competitive and make it harder for the private sector to grow and create new jobs. From moving forward with the Boiler MACT regulation to shipping the Keystone Pipeline jobs abroad, the Administration has repeatedly moved in the exact opposite direction of job creation.

“Over the past year, the House has passed a fiscally responsible budget, put forth tax reform proposals, and passed over thirty jobs bills, twenty-eight of which are still awaiting consideration in the Senate including the REINS Act.

“My House colleagues and I are ready and willing to work on the pressing issues facing our country, but we need partnership and action from both the President and the Senate to correct the state of our union, not another campaign speech or hollow call to address the urgent challenges acknowledged by the President himself. Addressing the state of our union requires less rhetoric and more action.”

Find additional information, fact sheets and responses at: http://www.speaker.gov/blog/.

A First CLASS Budget Gimmick

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

During debate over the new health care law, concerns were raised about a wide variety of provisions in the bill, but few provisions raised quite as many eyebrows as the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) program. CLASS established a new federal long-term care insurance entitlement program. Despite bipartisan warnings that the CLASS program was financially unsustainable and a budget gimmick, the program was included anyway to help “pay for” the health care bill.

According to Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND), the CLASS program was “A Ponzi scheme of the first order, the kind of thing Bernie Madoff would be proud of.” The program was set to start collecting premiums for eight years of the ten year budget window (at the time, 2010-2019), but not pay any benefits until 2017. This rigging of the delayed payment of benefits allowed Democrats to claim the bill reduced the deficit by $70 billion by counting CLASS program enrollees’ premiums as “revenue.”

Beyond the budget gimmicks used to sell the health care law, many people raised serious concerns about the structure and viability of the CLASS program itself.

Fortunately, a provision was included in the law that required the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to certify that the program would be solvent for seventy-five years before it could be implemented.

In October 2011, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius determined that HHS could not make the program fiscally sustainable while keeping the premiums at a reasonable level, admitting there is no “viable path forward.” In order to remain solvent, CLASS premiums would have to be so expensive that the only people likely to enroll in the program would be those in imminent need of the insurance benefits, creating an actuarial nightmare.

While HHS Secretary Sebelius has already said the program cannot be implemented, Congress must still repeal the program. If we do not repeal it, many taxpayer advocates, employer groups and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) have warned that it could return. When the HHS Secretary misses an upcoming October 2012 deadline still in law to determine the final implementation plan for the CLASS program, CRS legal experts have told us that a federal judge could then force HHS to move forward anyway with this fiscally unworkable program.

With that in mind, H.R. 1173, the Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act, was introduced by my friend Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) to repeal the program outright. Both the House Ways and Means Committee, of which I am a member, and Energy and Commerce Committee favorably reported the bill and a vote is expected this week in the full House.

Congress must repeal the CLASS program to make certain that it will not haunt future generations with required taxpayer subsidies or failure to meet promised benefits. Instead, we should work through regular order to come up with other ways to improve awareness about and access to long-term care options and retirement planning.

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Davis Introduces Innovative Regional Infrastructure Improvement Zones Bill

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Citing the need for improving infrastructure and job creation, Congressman Geoff Davis introduced H.R. 3780, the Regional Infrastructure Improvement Zones (RIIZs) Act today. RIIZs would allow businesses or individuals in a community to contribute tax deductible funds towards the construction or maintenance of public infrastructure if that infrastructure is part of an approved regional plan.

Congressman Davis said, “Improving our failing and out of date infrastructure is imperative to our long-term economic growth. With federal, State and local budgets already stretched thin, creative solutions are needed to maintain and improve our infrastructure. RIIZs are a local and regional tool to incentivize private sector investment, move infrastructure projects forward and enable additional job creation.”

“We commend Congressman Davis for his leadership in the introduction of the RIIZ legislation,” said Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI) Board President Edwin Humphrey. “RIIZs represent a remarkably innovative financing measure that will assist local and regional entities in meeting their growing infrastructure needs.”

"This commonsense legislation supports much needed investment in local infrastructure through a grassroots effort that upholds proven processes, reinforces local decision-making, underscores the benefits of regional planning, and engages the public and the business community," said Mayor Ron Morrison, National City, CA and President, National Association of Regional Councils. "We thank Congressman Davis for his commitment to improving the safety, economy and future for urban and rural communities alike and look forward to ensuring RIIZs are an available tool for local governments."

Background:

Businesses and/or individuals who want to form a RIIZ would apply through their local multi-jurisdiction regional planning organization. The regional planning organization would then determine if the investment fits within the region’s plans and has the support of local governments and stakeholders. The planning organization would issue a certificate of approval to be filed with the State’s Attorney General and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). After these steps, individuals and businesses could begin contributing tax deductible funds to approved projects within the RIIZ.

Infrastructure projects would be eligible under a RIIZ as long as they are on the approved comprehensive regional plan, go through the public approval process, and enhance the infrastructure system of the area. RIIZs would not cover operating expenses related to infrastructure. Eligible projects could include, but are not limited to: highways, roadway bridges, and public transit, as well as drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater treatment facilities.

An Opportunity to Create Jobs: Will the President Act?

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

At a time when more than 13 million Americans are unemployed, we should be doing everything it can to create a stable atmosphere for our economy and encourage job creation.

Too often, the message from Washington speaks of job creation, but the actions do not match the words.

One action that could be taken to immediately open the door to 20,000 jobs is approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline. The proposed pipeline would transport 500,000 barrels of oil daily from Canada to oil refineries in the U.S. A group of House Democrats even wrote to President Obama in support of the pipeline noting the 20,000 direct jobs and that the project would “spur the creation of 118,000 spin-off jobs.” Recognizing the positive economic impact of the project, it has won broad support from business groups to labor unions. Read more about the project including the letters of support at http://transcanada.com/keystone.html.

The Keystone XL Pipeline represents one of the most straightforward and simple opportunities to create American jobs. This shovel-ready project not only creates jobs, but decreases U.S. dependence on unstable foreign sources of oil.

So what is holding up the creation of these jobs? The President of the United States has refused to approve the project. In November, he gave in to pressure from the environmental lobby and delayed the decision on the pipeline until after the 2012 election.

The President has often said that we cannot wait to act on jobs for America, but that is exactly what he has done with his pipeline punt when time is of the essence. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the President that if the U.S. delays its decision, Canada will start shipping its oil to Asian markets.

Understanding the importance of these jobs and that a decision on the pipeline simply cannot wait, Congress passed legislation compelling the President to make a decision on the pipeline by February 21, 2012. If the House of Representatives did not push for this provision in the end of the year agreement, the pipeline jobs might not have been just delayed, but lost forever.

The President’s rhetoric on jobs sounds hollow not only for his actions on the Keystone pipeline, but for his own Environmental Protection Agency’s record. We have seen several examples of this Administration’s EPA proposing massive, job-destroying regulations. For example, consider the EPA’s Maximum Achievable Control Technology Standards for boilers, otherwise known as the “Boiler MACT” regulation. Boilers burn fuels to produce steam that is then used to produce electricity or heat. In 2011, the EPA proposed technologically unworkable emission limits for boilers used in manufacturing, commercial, and residential settings. The Council of Industrial Boiler Owners said the regulation, as originally proposed, would cost $14 billion to implement and place over 200,000 jobs at risk.

The next time the President argues we cannot wait to act on jobs for America, consider his record on the Keystone XL pipeline and the Boiler MACT regulations. The President’s actions speak louder than his words. In the next few weeks, we will have an even better picture of where the President stands when he makes the final decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. I hope he does the right thing for job creation and approves the pipeline.

Washington has a choice to make: does it want to continue imposing job-destroying regulations, or does it want to create jobs? One of the best ways to jumpstart our lagging economy is to provide regulatory certainty for job creators and lower energy prices for struggling families and small businesses. The House of Representatives has taken this approach, passing over thirty job creation bills that reign in out of control regulations from the EPA, create regulatory certainty, fix the tax code, and maximize domestic energy production.

Supreme Court Should Overturn Health Care Law

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Since the new health care law was enacted in March 2010, debate has swirled about the constitutionality of one provision in particular: the individual mandate.

The individual mandate of the 2010 health care law is a provision that requires everyone to obtain health insurance (whether it is paid by you, an employer, or the federal government and taxpayers) starting in 2014, or pay a fine. The mandate is unconstitutional because nothing in the U.S. Constitution gives the federal government the power to impose such a requirement. If the federal government can require everyone to purchase a product or service, what will the next requirement be? What then are the bounds on constitutionally-limited government?

This debate will be heard in March by the Supreme Court with a crucial final decision in the months to follow.

I joined over 120 of my colleagues in Congress and the American Center for Law and Justice in signing an amicus brief to the Supreme Court urging them to rule the individual mandate as unconstitutional, as well as overturn the entire law. In the brief, we agree with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, but do not agree that the health care law could stand on its own without this provision. This is a legal concept known as “severability.”

Most major pieces of legislation include a severability clause as protection in case any provision within the law is found to be invalid and unenforceable. The severability clause states that, in that case, the rest of a law should not be affected. The health care law, however, did not include such a clause.

To put severability into an everyday example, think of a recipe. Spaghetti and meatballs is a common meal popular in many households. It includes three main ingredients – spaghetti pasta, tomato sauce, and meatballs. The tomato sauce binds it all together and you could not technically call a meal “spaghetti and meatballs” without tomato sauce. If you were to make the recipe without sauce, it would not be the same. It would not taste right, the noodles would stick together, and everybody would know this is not really a plate of spaghetti and meatballs despite what you might try to tell them. The sauce is not “severable” from the dish as a whole.

Without the individual mandate, the rest of the health care law does not work; it is the foundation on which the rest of the law’s concepts were built. Judge Roger Vinson, a senior federal judge for U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Florida, stated in his decision on this case that the lack of a severability clause in the law was not a mistake, but rather an acknowledgment that each piece was necessary for the law to achieve its goals and work as intended. Judge Vinson ruled that “because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void.”

In our brief, we too argue that the individual mandate is the essential component of the health care law’s efforts at health insurance reform. Without it, the remaining provisions could not function properly or affordably.

Another amicus brief filed by the American Action Forum on behalf of over 100 economists argued against severability because of the incredible costs with little countervailing benefits.

The sustainability and effectiveness of the health care law is shaky at best, but without the individual mandate, it is certain to wreak havoc on our health care system not to mention our economy and debt. The entire law should be overturned. While the Supreme Court deliberates over this crucial decision, Congress must continue legislative efforts to repeal and roll-back the health care law. In addition, we must keep the dialogue going over the best way to truly reform our health care system to ensure greater access and affordability for everyone.

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The American Center for Law and Justice’s Amicus Brief is available at http://c0391070.cdn2.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/pdf/aclj-obamacare-supreme-court-amicus-brief-florida-v-hhs.pdf.

The American Action Forum’s Amicus Brief is available at http://americanactionforum.org/topic/severability-amicus-brief.

Nominate Guard and Reserve Employers for 2012 Freedom Award

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

As our nation faces continued high unemployment and ongoing military conflicts, members of the National Guard and Reserve often face challenges finding employment opportunities that accommodate their commitment to our country. Thankfully, there are thousands of employers across the country that go out of their way to help Guardsmen and Reservists and their families.

These employers deserve recognition for their contribution to our military heroes and to our national security. They make it possible for Guardsmen and Reservists to serve our country in uniform, without sacrificing a good paying job when they return from deployment.

To highlight these job creators, the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), an agency within the Department of Defense, established the Secretary of Defense Freedom Award in 1996.

The Freedom Award is the Department of Defense’s highest award for civilian employers who support Guard and Reserve members. The award recognizes employers that go above and beyond in their support of Guardsmen and Reservists and their families, and promotes their support as a model for others to follow.

All employers, large, small, public and private, are eligible to be nominated. Last year’s recipients included diverse employers, including a large car company, a financial services firm, two sheriff’s departments, a small town, and a church.

More than 1,700 service members have already submitted nominations for the 2012 Freedom Award including twenty-four from Kentucky. Kentucky has a great history of military service and supporting our troops. If you are a Guardsman or Reservist, there is still time to nominate your employer and bring them the recognition they deserve.

Service members, or a family member acting on their behalf, may submit nominations at http://www.FreedomAward.mil through January 16, 2012. The 2012 award recipients will be announced in early summer and honored in Washington, D.C. during a special ceremony next fall.

I hope to see an employer from Kentucky receive this award not only because it would showcase our communities’ support for our troops, but it would also bring attention to the needs of our servicemen and women. By recognizing those who support our troops, we encourage others to do the same.

To overcome the challenges of this weak economy, members of the National Guard and Reserve and their families depend on their civilian jobs. Please help give back by encouraging Guardsmen and Reservists to nominate exceptional employers for this national award.

To learn more about supporting our troops, please visit my website at: http://GeoffDavis.house.gov/Troops/.

Congressmen Davis and Levin Introduce Bipartisan Food Donation Bill

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Today, Congressman Geoff Davis (R-KY) and Congressman Sandy Levin (D-MI) introduced H.R. 3729, to expand and make permanent an important tax incentive for businesses and individuals to donate excess food inventory to charity.

Congressman Davis said, “As our economy struggles to recover and millions of Americans are unemployed or underemployed, it does not make sense to let needed food go to waste. During this season of giving, we should do more to encourage the donation of food inventory to charities such as food pantries and soup kitchens. This bipartisan, commonsense legislation would help feed more Americans in need, and I look forward to continue working with my friend, Congressman Levin, to pass this bill into law.”

Congressman Levin said, “It is difficult to overestimate the toll hunger takes on families and communities. Far too many Americans are having difficulty affording enough food, and food banks are struggling to meet the increased demand for assistance. By strengthening the incentives for businesses to donate food inventory to their local food banks, we can help take food out of landfills and put it into the empty pantries of hungry Americans.”

“We truly appreciate the leadership and effort that Congressman Davis and Congressman Levin have put into this legislation”, said Jim Larson, Director at Food Donation Connection, a company that administers and coordinates food donations across the nation. “Both Congressmen have a long history of addressing the need and the opportunities for food service organizations to donate food. This is an excellent opportunity to increase awareness and encourage those who have surplus food to donate.”

“We are thankful for the support and leadership of Representative Geoff Davis and Representative Sander Levin for reintroducing legislation to extend and expand the charitable deduction for donated food,” said Vicki Escarra, President and CEO of Feeding America. “This bill will help the Feeding America network get more food to Americans living at risk of hunger. This legislation will help redirect food from farmers, food manufacturers, restaurants, and retailers out of the landfill and into the pantries of struggling Americans.”

The provision in current law expires at the end of 2011. Congressman Davis and Congressman Levin sponsored similar legislation during the 111^th Congress. A one year extension of the provision was enacted as part of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010.

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