Washington, DC - Members of the House Populist Caucus, the House Trade Working Group, and the Progressive Caucus introduced today the American Jobs First Platform, four pieces of legislation designed to put struggling Americans back to work and on a level playing field with workers in other countries.  Caucus Chairs Bruce Braley (IA-01), Mike Michaud (ME-02), Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07) and Lynn Woolsey (CA-06) announced the platform in a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

"As you know, the recession has been devastating to American workers," the letter states. "Despite some recent improvements, the unemployment rate remains high and hundreds of thousands of Americans lost their jobs last year.  We commend and thank you for your strong leadership during these tough economic times, but we believe that we can do more to put Americans back to work and to put them on a level playing field with workers in other countries.

"Unfortunately, free trade agreements (FTAs) like NAFTA and CAFTA have decimated the American manufacturing sector, caused the loss of millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs, and contributed to our current economic and unemployment problems.  However, despite the detrimental effects of our current trade policy, both the Bush Administration and the Obama Administration have attempted to push forward with more of the same, including Bush-negotiated FTAs with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea."

The following Members signed on as supporters of the American Jobs First Platform: Bruce Braley (IA-01), Mike Michaud (ME-02), Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07), Lynn Woolsey (CA-06), Peter DeFazio (OR-04), Keith Ellison (MN-05), Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Bob Filner (CA-51), Gene Green (TX-29), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL-02), Carolyn Kilpatrick (MI-13), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Tim Ryan (OH-17), Dan Lipinski (IL-03), Phil Hare (IL-17), Steve Kagen (WI-08), David Loebsack (IA-01), Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01), Betty Sutton (OH-13), Larry Kissell, (NC-08), Tom Perriello (VA-05), Chellie Pingree (ME-02).

The American Jobs First Platform consists of the following four bills introduced in the 111^th Congress that would require the United States to make an honest and comprehensive assessment of our current trade policies and set us on a path towards a new, improved model for trade agreements, reducing the trade deficit, and reinvigorating American manufacturing:

· H.R. 3012, the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development, and Employment (TRADE) Act, would require a comprehensive GAO review of existing major trade pacts and spell out what must be included in trade agreements, including core standards on labor, the environment, food and product safety, agriculture, human rights, currency anti-manipulation, national security, procurement, and investment, and also what must not be included in FTAs, including Buy American bans, anti-sweatshop rule bans, and new rights for foreign investors to promote offshoring.  The bill also ensures strong enforcement of these standards, and would require the President to submit renegotiation plans for current trade agreements so that they include these core provisions before Congressional consideration of additional agreements.  We believe this bill would help reverse the negative effects of job-killing trade deals like NAFTA and CAFTA and would ensure that both our current and future trade agreements are fair and put American workers on a level playing field.

· H.R. 1875, the End the Trade Deficit Act, would establish the Emergency Commission to End the Trade Deficit to document the causes and consequences of the trade deficit and to develop a plan to eliminate the trade deficit within the next 10 years.  This bill would also place a moratorium on new FTAs until the Commission has issued a final report and Congress has conducted hearings on the Commission recommendations to end the trade deficit.  The elimination of the trade deficit by 2019 would support millions of additional U.S. manufacturing jobs.

· H.R. 4692, the National Manufacturing Strategy Act would require the Administration to convene an interagency Manufacturing Strategy Task Force to examine the current domestic and international environment for U.S. manufacturing and to develop a National Manufacturing Strategy that includes recommendations to sustain and increase employment, increase global competitiveness, and increase resilience to global economic trends in the U.S. manufacturing sector.  This bill seeks to proactively create and sustain good American manufacturing jobs.

· H.R. 4678, the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act would require foreign manufacturers doing business in the U.S. to identify a registered agent authorized to accept service of process on behalf of the manufacturer.  Registering an agent would constitute an acceptance of jurisdiction of the state in which the agent is located.

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DAVENPORT, IOWA - New Ground Theatre presents Marsha Norman's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama 'night, Mother opening April 30th at 7:30 p.m. at the Village Theatre, 2113 11th Street, Davenport.

The production stars Jamie Em Behncke and Susan Perrin-Sallak as a mother and daughter spending their final night together because the daughter has decided that life is not worth living any longer. Reviews of 'night, Mother say "...honest, uncompromising, lucid, penetrating, well-written, dramatic, and...unmanipulatively moving..." ?NY Magazine. "It is sparse and concise, introspective and penetrating, powerful and uncompromising, intense and intelligent, warm and theatrical. It is THE American tragedy." ?New England Entertainment Digest. 'night, Mother is directed and designed by Lora Adams with lighting by Tristan Layne Tapscott. "Marsha Norman has written an extraordinarily beautiful play about love and letting go" said director Adams.

The performance will take place April 30th, May 1st, May 4th, May 7th & May 8th at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays, May 2nd and 9th at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are available by calling 563-326-7529.

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Q: How did National Foster Care Month begin?

A: Since 1988, May has been designated as National Foster Care Month.  The purpose of National Foster Care Month is to honor the generous contribution and commitment that foster parents make in providing care to over 500,000 children and teenagers in foster care nationwide.  I've worked in the Senate to strengthen the foster care system, on behalf of the children it serves, with federal grants to train judges, attorneys and legal personnel in child welfare cases, and with federal grants to strengthen and improve collaboration between the courts and child welfare agencies.  I've also worked to strengthen the Social Services Block Grant Program that helps to fund child welfare services.  As Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, I held the first Senate hearings in a decade on child welfare in order to focus on programs aimed at helping troubled families, caseworker visits for children in foster care, and state and community organizations committed to combating substance abuse.

In addition to working to improve the foster care system, I've worked to break down the barriers to adoption for kids in foster care so that more children have the security of a permanent, loving family and home.  Legislation I developed, in 2008, resulted in enactment of a new law to provide additional federal incentives for states to move children from foster care to adoptive homes.  The legislation made it easier for foster children to be permanently cared for by their own relatives, including grandparents and aunts and uncles, and to stay in their own home communities.  The Grassley provisions in the law also made all children with special needs eligible for federal adoption assistance.  Previously, that assistance had been limited.  The law broke new ground by establishing opportunities to help kids who age out of the foster care system at age 18 by giving states the option to help them pursue vocational training and higher education.  The legislation was supported by the Iowa Foster and Adoptive Parents Association, the Iowa Citizen Action Network, the Children's Defense Fund, and the National Foster Care Coalition, among hundreds of other organizations.

Q: What is the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth?

A: Last year, Senator Mary Landrieu and I formed a new, bipartisan Senate Caucus on Foster Youth.  Senator Landrieu and I have worked together on a number of child welfare and adoption issues over the years.  The purpose of the Caucus is to focus attention on the multiple needs of youth in care and those who have aged out of care, particularly those who are disconnected from support networks and stable permanent families.  Most of all, the Caucus is a place where these young voices can be heard in order to help facilitate improvements to the child welfare and foster care systems.   The Caucus will host briefings from researchers, think tanks, foster care collations and other associations focused on child welfare with an emphasis on current or former foster youth.  Planning for Caucus events to highlight National Foster Care Month is underway.

April 19, 2010

State Ranks Third in Nation for Transparency of Spending

CHICAGO - April 17, 2010. Governor Pat Quinn today highlighted Illinois' efforts to improve transparency. The U.S. Public Interest  Research Group (PIRG) this week gave Illinois a "B" and ranked it third in the nation for improved transparency of government spending.

"In a democracy, the people must have a voice in their government, and their government must be held accountable," said Governor Quinn. "U.S. PIRG's report shows that we have made great strides in improving transparency, but our work is not done and we will continue to expand on our efforts."

On Tuesday, PIRG released "FOLLOWING THE MONEY: How the 50 States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data." The report examined all 50 states and found that 32 provide detailed online databases of government expenditures. Seven states, including Illinois, were seen as national leaders for having easy-to-use, searchable Web sites that contain a wide range of spending information.

Illinois was recognized for its Corporate Accountability site, ILCorpacct.com, which is maintained by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). The site tracks grants given to companies for job creation and provides yearly progress on the numbers of jobs actually created. The site will have received approximately 1 million hits since its creation.

"It is our responsibility to ensure that the public's money is being used in the best possible manner, to further the state's job creation and economic development goals," said DCEO Director Warren Ribley. "We are pleased that our Corporate Accountability and Grant Tracker sites are helping bring state government into the light."

Additional efforts by the state to further enhance the transparency and accessibility of state government include :

· Illinois Sunshine Portal (Sunshine.Illinois.gov) - A new one-stop shop where the public can review many public records and documents online. Through the site, citizens can access detailed information on state employee pay and state expenditures via the Illinois Transparency and Accountability site; review public facilities' inspection reports, including those for schools and nursing homes; and much more.

· Grant Tracker (www.ildceo.net/granttracker) - This new site gives citizens greater access to information about DCEO grant recipients, where the money was spent, and for what purpose. Visitors can search by numerous grant categories, funding streams, regions and by organization name.

· Illinois Hospital Report Card and Consumer Guide to Health Care (www.healthcarereportcard.illinois.gov) - This site helps people make better health care choices by becoming better informed consumers. The site offers information on the volume and cost of services in hospitals and treatment centers statewide, quality and safety data, and patient satisfaction surveys.

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