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| The House Chooses Life |
The Senate is in recess until Monday. When the Senate returns, it will take up H.R. 2112, the vehicle for three combined Fiscal Year 2012 appropriations bills: Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development.
Yesterday, the Senate voted 48-44 to confirm Allison Nathan to be District Judge for the District of Southern New York and 83-8 to confirm Susan Hickey to be District Judge for the District of Western Arkansas. By unanimous consent, the Senate confirmed Katherine Forrest to be District Judge for the District of Southern New York and Sung Kim to be Ambassador to the Republic of [South] Korea.
Today, a majority of the the House came down on the side of life. The House With bipartisan support from 15 democrats, the House passed (251-172) HR 358, the "Protect Life Act" which prohibits federal funds from being used to cover any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion services. Pro-life advocate and candidiate for Indiana Governor, Rep, Mike Pence (R-IN) said, "Obamacare should be repealed, but in the meantime, let's take this moment to say yes to life."
Yesterday, the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee passed (20-12) a fiscal year 2012 authorization bill (HR 3116) for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Rep. Peter King (R-NY), chairman of the committee, called the bill "an effective vehicle for reducing wasteful spending at DHS by hundreds of millions of dollars while requiring more efficient operations." The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed a companion authorization bill (S 1546) on Sept. 21. Both the full House and Senate must take up their respective bills and then reconcile them in a conference committee.
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed (275 to 142) a bill to delay EPA limits on pollutants from industrial boilers.
More and more often news stores are showing the impact of costly regulations imposed on the economy by the Obama administration. Yesterday, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported, “Smart Papers, the Hamilton-based paper maker, said Thursday it has begun winding down operations while it seeks a potential buyer for all or part of its nearly 120-year-old paper business. The company, which is the last North American manufacturer of premium coated printing papers used for everything from packaging to corporate reports, employs about 200. Competition from Asia, rising costs of raw materials and uncertainty surrounding new federal pollution rules contributed to the decision, said Tim Needham, Smart Papers’ chairman.”
The Enquirer notes, “[Needham] said the rapid expansion of low-priced Asian coated paper manufacturing, increased costs of raw materials, and new federal pollution rules were also factors. Those new rules, Needham suggested, could make a sale more difficult. The Environmental Protection Agency rules, known as the boiler MACT – maximum achievable control technology – aim to reduce hazardous air pollutants caused by industrial boilers. The EPA issued the rule in March under a court-ordered deadline, and has said it plans to reconsider those rules by April 12. . . . But as written today, Needham said the rules would require his company to essentially replace its existing boilers. . . . Beyond the cost of new boilers, Needham said, current boiler technology doesn’t exist to comply with the EPA standards.”
It’s these kinds of job-killing regulations that Republicans are proposing legislation to block. Senate Republicans, led by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), have introduced the Jobs Through Growth Act which tries to remove the government-imposed obstacles to job creation generated by the Obama administration. The Senate Republican jobs plan “includes a moratorium on new regulations, and also a new process for Congressional approval of regulations through the REINS Act (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny). The plan repeals burdensome regulations like greenhouse gas emissions and farm dust requirements.”
And yesterday House Republicans passed a bill to block the costly EPA regulations that will shutter businesses like Ohio-based Smart Papers. According to Bloomberg News, “The measure was approved 275-142 yesterday as Republicans push to curtail Environmental Protection Agency regulations they say are harming the economy. . . . The House vote sends ‘a strong message of the importance of providing EPA with additional time to issue achievable standards,’ Thomas Ryan, a spokesman for Memphis, Tennessee- based International Paper Co., the world’s largest paper and pulp producer, said in an e-mail before the vote.”
As Sen. Paul said, “The president’s jobs plan was voted down this week by members of both parties. We simply cannot look to the failed policies of the last two years for an example of how to grow our economy and create jobs. More government spending and excessive regulation are the problem not the solution. We have spent too long increasing the tax and regulatory burdens on job creators, instead of allowing them to operate more freely and create more jobs.”
Tags: Obama administration, regulations, killing jobs, US Senate, US House, life, stopping abortion with federal money To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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