Washington, DC - On the very day the Administration expressed "no opinion" about whether the Senate should pass a budget, Congressman Bobby Schilling (IL-17) joined with the majority of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle in supporting bipartisan efforts to reform the budgeting process. 

"Neither side of the aisle is blameless for the fiscal crisis we are in, and both are responsible for guiding us out of it," Schilling said.  "The current budgeting process is neither transparent nor accurate, and - if you take a look at the 1,015 days since the Senate last passed a budget - hardly mandatory. 

"The fact of the matter is that we are in a spending-driven crisis with a national debt of more than $15 trillion.   We will be unable to get ourselves out of it unless we seriously develop a credible plan to get our fiscal house in order, grow our economy, and get Americans back to work.  The House has passed more than 25 bipartisan jobs bills that are currently stalled in the Senate and I am pleased to support these two budget reform bills, continuing to fundamentally change how Washington does business and end its spending addiction once and for all."

Schilling this week voted in favor of H.R. 3521, the Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act, put forth by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).  This bill would give the president authority to identify reductions in spending provisions within an appropriations bill, which would only take effect if legislation was passed by an up-or-down vote in both chambers of Congress.  Each dollar of savings from the rescission would be devoted to deficit reduction.  Schilling yesterday supported H.R. 3581, the Budget and Accounting Transparency Act, which would  increase transparency and accuracy in budgeting for federal credit programs, the housing-related government sponsored enterprises, and the publication of budget-justification materials.  More information on these bills can be found on the House Budget Committee's website.

In addition to introducing the Govern Before Going Home resolution in 2011, Schilling has cosponsored the H.R. 3643, the No Budget, No Pay Act, which would prohibit Members of Congress from getting paid should they miss deadlines for annual budget and appropriations bills, and ensures that missed pay could not be recouped retroactively.

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Washington, DC - Congressman Bobby Schilling (IL-17) released the following statement upon Caterpillar Inc.'s announcement that it will not be building its new North American plant in the state of Illinois:

"Caterpillar's announcement, though certainly disappointing, is not at all surprising.  As a small business owner myself, I understand Caterpillar's concerns about Illinois' unfriendly business climate.  With nearly 10 percent of Illinoisans searching for work, we simply cannot afford any more missed opportunities.  If nothing else, this decision must serve as a wakeup call  for our state legislators.  Our state can fix this, but it is long past time to change course.  We need leaders in Springfield to speak out, guide our state out of this mess, and work to create an environment that invites companies to build their businesses here and hire the unemployed men and women of Illinois."

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Washington, DC - Along with Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA-32), Congressman Bobby Schilling (IL-17) today introduced the bipartisan Building Better Business Partnerships Act.  The bill, which is part of the House Committee on Small Business contracting reform initiative, is intended to help remove bureaucratic impediments for small contractors wishing to do business with the federal government.

Small businesses have proven that they can perform a service or produce goods for the government at a lower cost and often at a faster pace than their larger counterparts, however - as illustrated in this CNBC piece, "Fifth Time's a Charm: Winning a Government Contract" - too many challenges remain for too many businesspeople seeking to break through the bureaucracy. 

Rep. Schilling said, "As a small business owner, I understand that many federal programs intended to help businesses are ultimately too time consuming or onerous to navigate.  Unfortunately, many mentor-protégé programs are no different.  The Building Better Business Partnerships Act would streamline the contracting process, and place the SBA in charge of overseeing and setting standards for mentor-protégé programs based on what we know works.  This bill also adds transparency to the program by requiring the SBA to report on the number of small businesses participating in each program, including the number of those that are women-owned, disadvantaged, HUBZone, or service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.  This will help all small businesses to more easily and more effectively contract with the federal government, enabling them to grow, create jobs, and get folks back to work."

Mentor-protégé programs are intended to partner small businesses with established mentors in order to improve the small business' ability to win and perform on contracts and subcontracts, but the 13 federal agency programs lack standardized measures of success and are duplicative.  This creates an unnecessary paperwork burden for participants.  The Building Better Business Partnerships Act allows the Small Business Administration (SBA) to oversee civilian agency mentor-protégé programs in order to promote portability of agreements between the agencies, guarantee that the programs benefit small businesses, and ensure that the mentor-protégé agreement doesn't inadvertently harm the protégé's small business status.  It also encourages equal treatment among small businesses (women- and minority-owned, etc) by authorizing the SBA to have mentor-protégé programs for all small businesses. 

"I hear one question over and over again from small businesses: How do I break into federal contracting?" said Rep. Chu, Ranking Member on the Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce.  "With annual spending averaging $500 billion, there is no better way for small businesses to expand during these tough times than through federal contracts.  Unfortunately, only 20 percent of that spending is going to small businesses right now.   The Building Better Businesses Partnership Act of 2012 will help small firms break into federal contracting by making it easier for them to join mentor-protégé programs. Helping small businesses win contracts will help put Americans back to work, and with two out of every three jobs coming from small businesses, this bill will help the true driving force behind America's economy."

As part of the Committee's contracting initiative, two other bipartisan pieces of legislation were introduced today with the goal of creating protections to fight contracting fraud and empowering advocates who fight for small business during the federal acquisition process.  More information on the Committee's initiative can be found here on the Committee's website.

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Washington, DC - Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) today urged Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to immediately reconsider an Air Force recommendation that would lead to the loss of all F-16 fighter aircraft operated by the Iowa Air National Guard in Des Moines.

21 jets at the 132^nd Fighter Wing of the Iowa Air National Guard would be removed within two years under the plan, part of a larger effort to cut $8.7 billion from the Air Force budget.

"The Air Force gets an incredible value from the experienced pilots and maintenance personnel of the 132^nd Fighter Wing," Braley said.  "That's why I'm disappointed that the Air Force has chosen to target one of the most cost-efficient units in their force to find savings.

 

"It doesn't make sense that the Iowa Air National Guard is on the chopping block while less efficient units and less experienced pilots are preserved as part of this plan.  How can you justify this decision when it's not in the best interest of our national security and not in the best interest of American taxpayers?"

 

Braley met earlier today with Iowa National Guard Adjutant General Timothy Orr and senior leaders of the Iowa Air National Guard to discuss the Air Force proposal.  Tomorrow, Braley will join the rest of the Iowa Congressional delegation for a meeting with Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley to discuss the removal of the jets.

Braley made the request in a letter to Secretary Panetta.  Text of the letter follows; a copy of the signed letter is attached.

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February 8, 2012

 

Secretary Leon Panetta

Department of Defense

1000 Defense Pentagon

Washington, D.C. 20301

 

Dear Secretary Panetta,

I write with serious concern regarding the Air Force's recently clarified decisions on force restructuring and its impact on the Air National Guard.  The combat aircraft retirements and re-missioning discussed in the Air Force proposal unduly affect the Air National Guard over the Active Component, and do not reflect an effort to maintaining the Guard and Reserve or show a balanced approach to achieving budget efficiencies.

Mr. Secretary, you've stated yourself that the Guard and Reserve forces have proved their combat readiness and combat effectiveness over the past 10 years.  As decisions are made to reorient our force and drawdown our current combat commitments, we must work to maintain that readiness and effectiveness while also capitalizing on the wealth of knowledge and experience within our Guard and Reserve units to maintain the total force.  The Air Force proposal highlights the value of our Guard forces in associations with the active component while also removing a significant number of combat aircraft from them

Furthermore, I have serious concerns over the lack of budgetary consideration in the decision. While I applaud the Air Force's efforts to find budget efficiencies through the early retirement and delayed procurement of some aircraft, I have great concern that the bulk of retirements appear to come at the expense of Guard and Reserve units.  The Guard and Reserve are highly efficient forces, maintaining experienced pilots and performing many of the same missions of active component forces when activated at a much lower costs to the Active Component over the long-term. The shifts of combat aircraft to Active Component and elimination of missions in the Guard Component achieves significantly less savings than if the situation were reversed. Furthermore, the decisions to replace combat air force missions in the guard with unmanned aircraft Remote Split Operations missions also make little budgetary sense as there is a continued need for unmanned aircraft in Afghanistan and elsewhere. These missions will require a significant investment of time beyond the standard drill periods of many of our Guard that will have a higher cost and a greater impact on our Guardsmen's civilian careers.

I recognize that the funding constraints we currently face require difficult decisions to be made in prioritizing the roles and resources of all aspects of the Air Force. I am disappointed that faced with these challenges, the Air Force chose to target one of the most efficient aspects of their force in finding reductions.  This proposal is deeply flawed and deserves a full explanation of the budgetary analysis that went into making it.  I urge you to reconsider this decision to better protect the National Guard and support its long-term viability as part of the force.

Thank you for your consideration of this important issue.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bruce Braley

Member of Congress

 

Cc: Mr. Michael Donley, Secretary of the Air Force

 

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