Washington, DC - A study released last week by the National Association of Manufacturers indicates that across-the-board budget cuts to the Department of Defense scheduled to begin in January 2013 would cost approximately 1 million jobs at a time when the nation's unemployment has remained at or above 8 percent for 40 consecutive months.  According to the NAM study, Illinois, with its 8.6 percent unemployment rate, is among the top 10 states to be impacted by job losses, with more than 35,400 jobs on the line in the next two years alone.

With the support of Congressman Bobby Schilling (IL-17) the House of Representatives in May passed H.R. 5652, the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act, which would provide mandatory spending cuts to reduce the deficit and replace automatic cuts to discretionary spending in 2013 under the Budget Control Act.  It also passed H.R. 4310, the Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act.  To date, the Senate has passed neither.

This month House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Buck McKeon (CA-25) and Chairman of the HASC Subcommittee on Readiness, Congressman Randy Forbes (VA-04) joined Schilling in western and northern Illinois for discussions on the region's defense manufacturing capabilities and how local communities will be impacted by defense cuts if sequestration is not avoided.  For more information on these discussions and the impact of massive cuts to defense on our region, see the Quad-City Times and the Rockford Register Star.

Schilling, a member of HASC, today released the following statement urging the United States Senate to take immediate action to preserve Illinois jobs and our national security:

"For 50 years in a row, the Congress has approved a defense authorization bill.  But in recent years, passage of that bill has become further and further delayed.  We in the House approved our bill before Memorial Day, yet as we approach the 4th of July the Senate has still not scheduled time for floor consideration of this vital legislation.

"Congressman Loebsack and I have succeeded in winning key provisions to help increase the Rock Island Arsenal's ability to grow its workload and ensure that the Department of Defense recognizes in its overarching national security strategy the critical manufacturing work done at facilities like the Rock Island Arsenal.  The full Senate has yet to act.

"The military's manufacturing base plays a fundamental role in our national security.  In Iraq in 2004, for example, the Rock Island Arsenal was able to respond to the enemy threat from Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) by up-armoring our HUMVEES in as little as one-third of the time it would have taken the private sector because the necessary design, modeling, and manufacturing expertise was already operating and integrated at the Arsenal.  Countless lives were saved because our military could turn to the Rock Island Arsenal rather than wait for the private sector to design a solution.

"However, this critical manufacturing base is at risk not only because the Senate has not yet passed its NDAA but also because the Senate's inaction on sequestration threatens to further reduce meaningful defense programs that support the arsenal.

"The Budget Control Act charged a 'Super Committee' with recommending $1.2 trillion in savings or risk mandatory, across-the-board cuts known as 'sequestration.'  The Super Committee could not agree on spending reductions, but since then the House of Representatives has passed another annual budget, as required by law, as well as an alternate plan to achieve the savings we need to avoid an even greater debt crisis.  The Senate remains unwilling to act.

"The cost of this failure is well documented:  $50,000 of debt per American and rising.  With 10 kids and two grandkids, that's over half a million dollars in national debt just sitting at our dinner table every Sunday.

"Less documented is the cost of looming sequestration.  Instead of working with the House on specific reductions and reforms to wasteful, outdated, or duplicative programs, the Senate is happy to risk slashing every program equally -- valuable or not.  This will protect spending that is not in the national interest, and devastate critical programs that can't afford further cuts.

"Although national defense accounts for 20 percent of our spending, after sequestration it will have suffered more than 50 percent of the spending cuts.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says this is 'their share of the burden,' but I disagree.  Our military and their families have borne their fair share.

"Sequestration will mean fewer personnel and therefore longer and more frequent deployments; antiquated technology on the battlefield; and permanent loss of critical civilian expertise on our assembly lines, in our labs, and on our testing ranges at facilities like the Rock Island Arsenal, all of which pose a serious threat to our nation's defense.

"The House of Representatives has offered a plan to avoid these devastating cuts to our national defense.  But the House cannot do it alone.  It is time for the Senate - especially the leadership of the Senate - to step up.

"I remember how long it took President Reagan to rebuild our military after the post-Vietnam cuts.  I urge those who care about the future of the Rock Island Arsenal, our region's remarkable defense manufacturing capabilities, and our national defense to speak up and make your voices heard.  These cuts are avoidable, but only if our leaders put partisan politics aside, come together, and do the job they were elected to do for our community, our state, and the security of our great nation.

"Last year I voted for the Budget Control Act to change business as usual in Washington.  After years of both parties increasing our debt limit with no plan and no cuts, we passed a bipartisan bill to avoid default, cut spending, and change business as usual.  I hoped that after two and a half years of failing to do its job and pass a budget, the Senate would finally join the House, face reality, and do the tough work necessary to get our financial house in order, our economy back on track, and Americans back to work.  Unbelievably, the Senate continues to be content to fail.

"The Senate has gone more than three years without a budget.  They are sitting on more than 25 bipartisan House-passed jobs bills and have failed to advance a single appropriations bill this year.  The Senate showed no willingness to make meaningful spending reductions during the Super Committee process.  The Senate has yet to pass its version of this year's defense bill, and now, with the meat cleaver hanging over the Department of Defense and by extension the hard-working men and women at the RIA, the Senate is once again A.W.O.L.  We need to get the Senate to work for the American people."

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Budget-neutral Braley provision dedicates more funds to cracking down on reckless drivers

Washington, D.C. - In a unanimous, bipartisan vote late last night, the US House of Representatives added an amendment authored by Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) to a key transportation funding bill requiring the federal government to devote at least $10 million to helping states enforce traffic laws that punish reckless drivers for illegally passing stopped school buses.

The amendment is completely budget-neutral because it simply redirects operations funding for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to school bus traffic law enforcement.

"Kadyn's Amendment", which passed last night by unanimous voice vote, is named after 7-year-old Kadyn Halverson, who was fatally struck by a pickup truck in May 2011 as she crossed the street to board her school bus near Northwood, Iowa.  The provision devotes $10 million of federal funding for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to strengthening the enforcement of existing state laws prohibiting drivers from passing stopped school buses that have warning lights flashing and stop arms extended.

"When reckless drivers ignore warnings and pass stopped school buses, children's lives are put at risk," Braley said.  "The budget-neutral 'Kadyn's Amendment' will strengthen the enforcement of laws punishing drivers who ignore school bus warning lights without costing taxpayers another penny.  This measure will help save lives and convince drivers to slow down and act more responsibly around kids and schools.

"Today, Kadyn's memory has brought together an often divided Congress to make our streets safer for our kids as they head off to school.  As a father of three, I know how important that is."

Iowa Rep. Tom Latham (IA-04) authored the transportation funding bill that Kadyn's Amendment was attached to.  Braley and Latham worked together to gain support for the amendment from the full House, and Latham's support was essential to its passage.

In March, Braley introduced Kadyn's Act, a bill modeled after Iowa's new law of the same name, to require states to strengthen penalties for drivers who pass stopped school buses or risk losing federal highway funding.  Even with the passage of Kadyn's Amendment this week, Braley will continue work to pass Kadyn's Act.

The National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services estimates that cars illegally pass stopped school buses 13 million times per year.  An average of 16 children per year are killed by drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses.

The Library of Congress has acquired the personal papers of American astronomer, astrobiologist and science communicator Carl Sagan (1934-1996). A celebrated scientist, educator, television personality and prolific author, Sagan was a consummate communicator who bridged the gap between academe and popular culture.

The Sagan collection has come to the Library through the generosity of writer, producer and director Seth MacFarlane, and is officially designated The Seth MacFarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive.

The collection comprises approximately 800 boxes of materials that document Sagan's life and work and includes his extensive correspondence with scientific colleagues and other important figures of the 20th century. It also includes book drafts, publications files, "idea files" on various subjects, records of various symposia, NASA files and academic files covering the years he taught at Cornell University. Among the personal files are his birth announcement, handwritten notebooks of his earliest thoughts and grammar-school report cards. In addition to manuscript materials, the collection includes photographs, audiotapes and videocassettes. Researchers and scholars will be able to use the collection once it has been fully processed by the Library's archivists.

"We are honored to preserve and make accessible to researchers the legacy of Carl Sagan, a man who devoted his life to the study of the universe," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. "The Sagan papers are a rich addition to the Library's already-outstanding collection of science manuscripts and other materials from such prominent figures as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Sigmund Freud, J. Robert Oppenheimer and E.O. Wilson."

"Carl was the exemplar of the citizen scientist," said Druyan, Sagan's long time professional collaborator and his widow. "For him, the values of democracy and science were intertwined. I can think of no more fitting home for his papers than the nation's library. Thanks to Seth, Carl's prodigious life's work will endure to awaken future generations to the wonders of the scientific perspective."

Sagan and Druyan co-wrote several books, and the "Cosmos" television series and were co-creators of the motion picture, "Contact." Druyan was the creative director of NASA's Voyager Interstellar Record Project (http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/goldenrec.html).

"The work of Carl Sagan has been a profound influence in my life, and the life of every individual who recognizes the importance of humanity's ongoing commitment to the exploration of our universe," said MacFarlane. "The continuance of our journey outward into space should always occupy some part of our collective attention, regardless of whatever Snooki did last week."

MacFarlane is the creative force behind the television shows "Family Guy," "American Dad!" and "The Cleveland Show." "Family Guy" has garnered four Emmys and seven Emmy nominations, including one in the Outstanding Comedy Series category. MacFarlane makes his directorial feature film debut on June 29, 2012, with the live-action and computer-generated comedy, "Ted." His orchestral/big band album, "Music Is Better Than Words," debuted at number one on the iTunes Jazz charts on Sept 27, 2011, and received two Grammy nominations, including Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

MacFarlane has teamed up with Sagan's original creative collaborators?writer/producer Ann Druyan and astrophysicist Steven Soter?to conceive a 13-part "docu-series" that will serve as a successor to the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning original series, "Cosmos." Produced in conjunction with FOX and the National Geographic Channel, "Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey" will explore how human beings began to comprehend the laws of nature and find their place in space and time. By exploring never-before-told stories of the heroic quest for knowledge, the series aims to take viewers to other worlds and travel across the universe for a vision of the cosmos on the grandest scale.

Carl Sagan earned a Pulitzer Prize for his bestseller, "The Dragons of Eden: Speculation on the Evolution of Human Intelligence." His science-fiction novel, "Contact," became both a bestseller and a feature film. It is estimated that more than a billion people around the world have viewed his popular PBS show, "Cosmos."

Sagan specialized in planetary astronomy. His early work on planetary surfaces and atmospheres is considered pioneering, and he made landmark contributions to NASA's Mariner, Pioneer, Apollo, Galileo, Viking and Voyager space-exploration programs. For his unique contributions, he was awarded medals for Distinguished Scientific Achievement and Public Service from NASA, the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences.

A staunch advocate of the scientific method, Sagan was known for his research on the possibilities of extraterrestrial life, for his research and campaigns of public education on the dangers of global warming and the "nuclear winter" that could result from a nuclear war.

To examine Sagan's legacy as a role model for future American scientists, the Library of Congress will sponsor a "Summit on Science Education" late next year. The event, which will bring together scientists, educators, policy-makers and students, will underscore Sagan's conviction that it is critical to understand and appreciate the centrality of science in the everyday lives of Americans and to create a renewed national consciousness about preparing the next generation of scientists.

The Library of Congress, the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, holds more than 151 million items in various languages, disciplines, and formats. The Library seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs, publications and exhibitions. Many of the Library's rich resources can be accessed through its website at www.loc.gov.

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