Senator Chuck Grassley made the comment below about the Senate Majority Leader delaying a decision on whether to raise taxes until after the November elections.  As Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Grassley worked to get through Congress bipartisan tax relief, including the 2001 across-the-board rate reduction.  This legislation made the tax code more progressive.  It reduced the tax rate on the lowest taxable income from 15 to 10 percent. It removed millions of low-income workers from the tax rolls entirely.  It increased the child tax credit from $500 to $1,000 and expanded the credit to low-income people without any tax liability.  The legislation included marriage penalty tax relief.  Twelve Democratic senators supported the 2001 legislation.  Two years later, after 9-11, Grassley worked to get through dividends and capital gains tax rate cuts to help spur economic growth.  The result was more revenue to the federal Treasury.  The expanding economy helped reduce the annual budget deficit from $415 billion in 2004 to $167 billion in 2007.

Grassley comment:

"This delay is irresponsible and reckless.  It's no wonder the American people are fed up with the leadership of Congress.  Every family in America faces a major tax increase next year because the Senate majority leader has failed to take action to prevent it.  Without congressional action, a family of four who earns $50,000 will see a $2,155 increase next year.  If congressional leaders are stalling in order to protect their members from votes or to raise more revenue for even more government spending, they are completely out of touch with reality.  People understand the problem isn't that they're taxed too little, but that Washington spends too much.

"Leaving people with uncertainty is a dereliction of duty.  One party has control of the White House and both houses of Congress and still can't get the people's business done.  And uncertainty is terrible for the economy.  Small businesses don't hire people while they sit in limbo, wondering if they'll get hit with a tax increase."

Senators Call on Obama to Fire Government Watchdog for Afghanistan

The group expresses frustration with president's failure to act sooner

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A bipartisan group of four senators today called on President Barack Obama to fire the government watchdog responsible for investigating tax dollar misuse in Afghanistan amid mounting evidence of incompetence and mismanagement.  U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), along with Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Charles Grassley (R-IA), sent a letter asking the president to remove Arnold Fields as the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

"It has been clear for several months that SIGAR's mission is not being served effectively.  It is for this reason that we have concluded that SIGAR would be better served with new leadership," the letter states.

Over the past 18 months, all four senators have repeatedly raised concerns regarding SIGAR's performance, but recent actions by Fields have spurred the senators to more aggressively press the president for action.  Fields exhibited questionable judgment by entering into a no-bid $95,000 contract with Joseph Schmitz as a consultant for the agency.  Schmitz, a former Department of Defense Inspector General, resigned among serious allegations of misconduct, including obstructing criminal investigations, quashing audits, and misleading Congress.  He has been hired to independently monitor SIGAR's performance in implementing the recommendations of Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE).  CIGIE is an independent government organization that reviews the work of inspectors general and found earlier this year a number of serious deficiencies in SIGAR's performance.

Beyond calling for Fields' dismissal and expressing outrage over the hiring of Schmitz, the senators also expressed their frustration with the president's failure to change SIGAR leadership sooner.

"We urge you to act now.  We are disappointed by your Administration's ongoing failure to take decisive action to improve SIGAR," they wrote in the letter.

CIGIE recently released three reviews of SIGAR, and found numerous problems with the agency's work, including their failure to meet minimum standards for their investigations.  The reviews also found that the agency has no meaningful strategic plan for their audits and investigations and that leadership at SIGAR remains more concerned with the quantity of their work rather than the quality.

A copy of the letter is available here.

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Thursday, September 23, 2010

WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today joined fellow foster youth advocates to release new data showing the educational playing field is not level for children in foster care, whose academic careers are often affected by multiple school relocations.  Grassley is founder and co-chair of the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth and ranking member of the Finance Committee, with jurisdiction over foster care programs.

"One of the primary goals of the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth is to get these kids involved in shaping the policy that affects them," Grassley said.  "We've heard firsthand from foster youth how hard it is to stay in the same school. A foster youth might get a new placement that's a few miles from his current school, yet have to switch schools because of school district rules. New schools don't always accept paperwork from the old school. Congress needs to look at whatever can be done to ease the burden on these kids and help them make healthy, lasting connections. And we'll continue to hear from the kids themselves as we move forward on policy."

Grassley joined a news conference held by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute and Fostering Media Connections to release preliminary findings from a pilot program showing that foster youth in four counties in California are less likely than their closely matched peers and the general student population to achieve proficiency in English and math at all grade levels.

As one of the principal drafters of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 - the most significant foster youth legislation to become law in recent years -- Grassley supported provisions to promote stability in educational placements for youth in foster care.

Earlier this year, Grassley spearheaded a request from the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee encouraging the committee to hear from foster youth in hearings on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The committee agreed and heard testimony from a former foster youth.

To watch video of Grassley's remarks at today's press conference, please click here.

WASHINGTON, DC - Sept. 21, 2010 - This week, more than 100 nonprofit home health and hospice leaders will convene on Capitol Hill for the Visiting Nurse Associations of America (VNAA) Public Policy Leadership Conference (PPLC), September 22-23, to educate lawmakers about the nonprofit home health and hospice delivery systems and the vulnerable patients they serve.

A primary focus of this year's conference is to reduce the additional case-mix creep cuts and increase flexibility in new regulatory burdens such as the face-to-face visit requirements. PPLC attendees will also welcome VNAA's 2010 Congressional Champions and Congressional staff award recipients during the Capitol Hill Reception on Wednesday evening. Congressional Champions Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Representative John Lewis (D-GA) and Representative Bruce Braley (D-IA) are planning to attend. Appearances by other VNAA Champions and additional members of Congress and their staff are also expected. A full listing of this year's Congressional Champions and Congressional staff award recipients is available on the VNAA's Website.

The PPLC exposes attendees to expert speakers on healthcare reform implementation and the CMS proposed rule for home health and hospice. Conference speakers include :

• Jennifer Beeson, Director of Government Affairs at Families USA.
• Dr. Mary Naylor, FAAN, RN, Medicare Payment Advisory Commissioner (MedPAC) and Professor in Gerontology at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Congressional Panel consisting of congressional staff from key committees to healthcare, such as Chuck Clapton (HELP Committee), Tony Clapsis (Senate Finance Committee), Jennifer Friedman (Subcommittee on Health, Ways and Means) and others.
• Panel of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) officials from the Center for Medicare Management, Center for Medicaid, CHIP and Survey and Certification and the Office of Clinical Standards and Quality.

View a full PPLC agenda, speaker listing and the VNAA's comments on the latest home health and hospice regulations, visit www.AdvocacyConference.org.

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