CHICAGO - December 22, 2011. Governor Pat Quinn today released the following statement praising a deal reached by Congress to extend unemployment benefits.

"I would like to commend Congress for reaching an agreement to extend unemployment benefits.  This will ensure that individuals who are looking for work will continue to receive the benefits they need.

"I thank President Obama for his strong leadership to reach a bi-partisan agreement that has put working families of the United States, and working families here in Illinois first.  I urge members of the House to pass this bill swiftly."

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LeClaire, IA, December 21, 2011 - The homegrown allure of locally made spirits has caught the attention of a national news anchor.  John Roberts, Senior National Correspondent for FOX News and former anchor and reporter for CNN and CBS News, toured Mississippi River Distilling Company in LeClaire while visiting family in the area over the weekend.  He was so enamored with the distillery and tour that he decided to tell the story to the world.

Roberts penned a "Food & Drink" feature article for FoxNews.com.  "When you walk into the tasting room, with its expansive view of the Mississippi River, you're hooked." he wrote.  Roberts contacted distillers Ryan and Garrett Burchett on Tuesday to ask a few questions for the story.

"What was really cool about talking with John is that he sincerely enjoyed his time at the distillery.  It's always fun to hear different impressions from tourists about what we're doing here.  It's a real thrill to have someone who has seen the world tell us he gets a kick out of what we're doing here and enjoys our products." said Ryan.

Garrett gave the tour to John and his family.  As mentioned in the story, John was worried that he asked too many questions.  "We get a lot of questions on every tour.  So I never thought twice about it." said Garrett. "But I guess it's not every day that you're questioned by a national news correspondent."

The brothers told John that if he makes it back to Iowa for the January Caucuses, they'd love to have him back to check on the progress of the next batch of Cody Road Bourbon Whiskey.  The whiskey was sold out while John was on his visit.

You can read John's entire article online at:
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2011/12/21/new-use-for-corn-in-iowa/

Mississippi River Distilling Company in LeClaire is open from 10 AM to 5 PM Monday through Saturday and from 12 to 5 PM Sundays.  Free public tours are offered daily on the hour from 12 to 4 PM or by appointment.  The tour takes visitors through the entire distilling process and ends in the Grand Tasting Room with free samples for patrons over 21 years old.  The distillery will be closed December 25 and 26 as well as January 1 for the holidays.

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Defense Contractor Salary Cap Included in Defense Authorization Bill Awaiting President Obama's Signature

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Congressman Paul Tonko (D-NY) today called on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to immediately implement a new benchmark for taxpayer-funded salaries for defense contractors, especially in light of the National Defense Authorization Act's new provision that will ensure that all defense contractor employees are subject to the same limit on taxpayer-funded salaries.

Currently government contractors can charge taxpayers $693,951 for the salaries of their top five employees, based on an executive compensation benchmark last amended in 1998. Employees of government contractors outside of the top five can and do earn taxpayer-funded amounts in excess of the current benchmark.

The Administration has already told lawmakers that it considers the current cap on taxpayer-funded salaries for contractors to be "unreasonably high." But the Administration has not yet released its salary benchmark for 2011, even as 2012 quickly approaches.

In their letter, the legislators urged OMB to implement the National Defense Authorization Act's new rules quickly and provide lawmakers with regular updates on its progress in addressing this important issue.  The National Defense Authorization Act was enacted earlier this month.

The text of the letter follows:

December 19, 2011

The Honorable Jacob J. Lew

Director
Office of Management and Budget
725 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20503

Dear Director Lew:

We write to follow up on a letter we sent in September 2011 regarding the executive compensation benchmark for government contractors.  As we are now only days away from the start of 2012, we note that you have still not announced the new benchmark for 2011.

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2011 (NDAA) includes an important provision that extends the benchmark to all employees of defense contractors, with narrowly targeted exceptions for scientists and engineers.  While we were disappointed that the final conference language did not include the exact language of the Boxer-Grassley amendment to align the benchmark with the salary of the President of the United States, we are encouraged that real savings will result from applying the benchmark to all defense contractor employees.

As you noted in your response to our previous letter, increases in the compensation benchmark are "forcing our taxpayers to cover levels of compensation that we in the Administration view as unreasonably high."  We could not agree more with your statement - which is why we are requesting that OMB implement this law as soon as possible.

Section 803 of the NDAA requires that regulations to enforce this provision be implemented within 180 days of enactment of the law.  To ensure that new regulations are published in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) no later than July 2012, we request that you provide us, in writing, with regular updates on the FAR Council's progress in complying with the law.

We believe that taxpayers should not be on the hook for exorbitant contractor salaries, and we look forward to your prompt response.

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer

United States Senator

Chuck Grassley

United States Senator

Paul D. Tonko

United States Representative

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Urges bipartisan cooperation on extending middle class tax cut 

Washington, DC - Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) released the following statement after supporting an agreement on a bill that funds US government operations through 2012:

"It's disappointing that Congress failed to do its job for months and didn't pass a bill to keep the government operating until today.  I'm relieved that there won't be a government shutdown for the holidays.

"The political jockeying over extending the middle class payroll tax cut needs to stop.  Extending the middle class tax cut is simply the right thing to do.  This tax cut has everything to do with strengthening the economy; it shouldn't have anything to do with Republicans or Democrats scoring political points.  I urge Congressional leaders to put their differences aside and extend these vital tax cuts for Iowa families."

Extending the middle class Social Security payroll tax holiday for an additional year would mean an average Iowa family making $50,000 per year would save $1,000 on their taxes.