November 2010 Archives

New Medical Loss Ratio regulations issued today by the Department of Health and Human Services(HHS)  require health insurers to spend 80 to 85 percent of consumers’ premiums on direct care for patients and efforts to improve the quality of care.

“Our health care system should deliver quality affordable care for all Americans, not inhumanely deny claims to enrich shareholders and executives. Thanks to passage of historic health care reform, Americans can be confident that health insurance is about providing quality care, not maximizing profits.”

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Thanksgiving is upon us – how quickly the year has flown by!  Here’s the latest from Washington, D.C., and the Fourth District.

TAX CUTS FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS: There is a lot of misinformation about tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush, which are scheduled to expire at year’s end.

Some believe we should extend all of the cuts, including those for millionaires and billionaires.  They claim that any increase will hurt our economic recovery.  Like President Obama, I favor extending only the middle-class tax cuts. Renewing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans will cost $700 billion over 10 years.  That’s too expensive.

The claim that President Obama’s middle-class tax cut proposal would hurt small businesses was examined by the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking Web site “PolitiFact.”  PolitiFact investigated and found that such claims are completely false.  More than 97 percent of small businesses would not pay a penny more under President Obama’s plan.

We can protect our small businesses, cut the deficit, and help middle-class families all in one bill. I look forward to voting to extend the middle-class tax cuts!

FIGHTING FOR THE UNEMPLOYED: I sent a letter to the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission this week urging them to investigate discrimination against the unemployed. It has come to my attention that some job listings explicitly exclude unemployed applicants. Some ads say “must be currently employed” to apply or stipulated that “no unemployed candidates will be considered at all.” That is fundamentally wrong, and with unemployment at 9.6%, discrimination against the unemployed will only prolong our jobs crisis.  More than 50 Congressional colleagues co-signed my letter.

EXTENDING BENEFITS: I voted this week to extend unemployment benefits, but sadly most Republicans rejected it. More than 2 million Americans will now lose their benefits by the end of the year and 4 million by February 2011 if we don't find a solution. We’ll take up the measure again after Thanksgiving.

Economists agree that terminating benefits will hurt the economy and kill 1.8 million jobs. Unemployment insurance is a necessary lifeline to help people stay afloat as they continue to search for work.  I’ll keep fighting to extend it. 

THE ‘DOC FIX’: I also support a permanent fix to prevent a scheduled reduction in Medicare reimbursements to doctors. On December 1 of this year, the current “doc fix” extension is set to expire and if Congress does not act, physicians will face a 23 percent reduction in Medicare reimbursements. While I support a 13-month extension, I will work for a permanent solution. For more on Medicare, click here.

SAVE THE DREAM PROJECT: The dReam Project, a HUD Certified Housing Counseling Agency is offering free foreclosure prevention workshops Sunday, Nov. 21 and Monday, Nov. 22 at the dReam Center Church of Atlanta, 4183 Northeast Expressway, Atlanta, 30340. For more information, call program director Doreen Carter at 678-381-1164.

BAN ON APPROPRIATIONS: I understand Americans’ frustration with wasteful spending in Washington. It’s one of the reasons I proudly post all my appropriations requests – “earkmarks” -- on my Web site.  All of my constituents should be able to review the funding that I request for our community.

While earmarks have become a dirty word that symbolize out-of-touch Washington, I want people to understand that not all appropriations are wasteful pork-barrel spending. My earmarks have funded critical investment in Rockdale County law enforcement to fight drugs and gangs, road improvements and assistance for MARTA in DeKalb County and community improvement district funding for Gwinnett County – to name just a few.

You elected me to fight for you in Washington. Doing away with earmarks – which represent just 1-to-2 percent of all federal spending – gives bureaucrats, not elected officials who are accountable to the people, more sway over federal investment in our communities. There’s no doubt that earmarking has been abused in the past.  The process must be transparent.   But I urge everyone to look at facts first before making decisions based on emotion.

GWINNETT RECYCLES: Gwinnett County is participating in America Recycles Day on Saturday, Nov. 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Coolray Field, home of the Gwinnett Braves. For more, click here.

ROCKDALE TURNING GREEN: Rockdale County residents please take a look at the County’s new Energy Exchange and Energy Rebate programs – save energy, water and money all at the same time.  For more, click here.

DEKALB MOVING FORWARD: DeKalb County has had a water and energy saving program for some time now, but it just held its Neighborhood Summit and Green Expo last week at Georgia Perimeter College. Congrats! For more on their programs, click here.

MEDAL OF FREEDOM: Congratulations to Congressman John Lewis as the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom!  For more, click here.

I want to wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving. Please have a safe, happy and healthy holiday.

Thanks,

Hank
 

Congressman responds to reports of job ads that read: ‘no unemployed candidates need apply’

 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, Rep. Hank Johnson (GA-04) sent a letter to U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Jacqueline Berrien to request an investigation into possible discrimination against the unemployed.

Congressman Johnson is responding to reports of job listings that explicitly exclude unemployed applicants. Some advertisements stated that applications “must be currently employed” to apply or stipulated that “no unemployed candidates will be considered at all.”

“Employer discrimination against unemployed job applicants is fundamentally wrong,” said Rep. Johnson, who represents parts of DeKalb, Rockdale and Gwinnett counties in eastern metropolitan Atlanta.  “With unemployment at 9.6 percent and more than 15 million Americans out of work, this discrimination will only prolong the crisis.”

According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report in October 2010, the national unemployment rate was 9.6 percent.  The rates for African-Americans and Hispanics, however, are 15.7 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively.

“On behalf of our constituents, we are urging you to investigate how this discriminatory practice can have an adverse impact on the unemployed, minority groups and be an unnecessary barrier to employment for minorities,” said Rep. Johnson.

Congressman Johnson, who authored the letter, has worked over the last week to rally support from his colleagues -- more than 55 members of Congress had signed the letter– many of them in House leadership: Rep. John Lewis of Atlanta, Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Barbara Lee of California, House Education and Labor Committee Chair Rep. George Miller of California, Judiciary Chairman Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois and Chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support Jim McDermott of Washington state.

Read the letter | In the AJC | On NPR, WABE 90.1 | CBS

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Washington, D.C. – Congressman Hank Johnson, GA-04, issued the following statement in recognition of Veterans Day, which will be celebrated tomorrow:

We must all be committed to keeping our promises to the nation’s 3 million troops and reservists, their families, and 23 million veterans, including 51,000 here in the Fourth District. Let’s all come together to honor our veterans – the debt we owe them is immeasurable.

As we take pause this Veterans Day, it’s important for Americans to not only recognize the military personnel  who have served our country around the world in the name of freedom and democracy, but to reach out to veterans and active military  of all the branches and volunteer a little of our time to make their lives better. 

One of the most sacred duties of my office is providing the best veterans’ services possible. But all citizens can participate by volunteering at your local Veterans Hospital or getting involved with local veterans’ organizations.
 
Be sure to pause on this Veterans Day to remember those who have given “the last full measure of devotion” to protect our freedoms. 

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Announces Two New Programs for Women Vets, Guard, Reservists and Families:

 WASHINGTON – With thousands of service men and women returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Small Business Administration and Syracuse University are expanding their Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) to a seventh school, Louisiana State University, and launching two new entrepreneurship programs for women veterans and National Guard and Reserve members and their families. 

According to the SBA, nearly one quarter of veterans indicate they are interested in starting or buying their own small business, and that percentage is even higher among women veterans. With that in mind, the growing partnership between SBA and Syracuse University provides training on how to start and grow a small business to veterans, with programs targeted to service-disabled veterans, women, National Guard and Reserve members and their families of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

“When you consider the leadership and management skills our veterans develop while on active and reserve duty, it’s no wonder we see more of them pursuing their dreams as entrepreneurs and small business owners,” SBA Administrator Karen Mills said. “Through our partnership with Syracuse University we are continuing to strengthen the tools and resources available to them.”

“We often speak about the sacred trust we have with our service men and women, and one way we honor that trust is ensuring they have every possible opportunity for success,” Mills continued. “When it comes to entrepreneurship, their success also means success in driving economic growth and creating jobs.”

In 2009, SBA partnered with Syracuse University, providing a three-year cooperative agreement providing funding totaling $450,000, to support the university’s year-long EBV program on six campuses. Now in the second year of the partnership, with SBA’s support, the “boot camp” is expanding to a seventh campus, E.J. Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University.
The other five campuses are: the University of Connecticut School of Business, Mays Business School at Texas A&M, UCLA Anderson School of Management, Florida State University’s College of Business, and the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University.

Created and delivered by a network of some of the best business schools in the country, it is designed to leverage the skills, resources and infrastructure of higher education to offer experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to veterans. Last year, the first year SBA partnered with Syracuse University, 129 service-disabled veterans participated in the program. Since the program’s inception, more than 320 wounded warriors have graduated to date and more than 150 businesses to date have been launched by graduates.

Additionally, SBA is also providing $2.6 million through a cooperative agreement over three years for two new programs supporting veteran entrepreneurs. The first, Women Veterans Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship (V-WISE), focuses on training, networking and mentorship for women veterans. The three-day, off-site training program, online training and network support structures will be delivered in several locations around the nation, and anticipates serving up to 1,400 female veterans over a 36-month period. 

The second new program, Operation Endure & Grow, targets National Guard and Reserve members, their families and business partners. The goal of this program is to mitigate the economic hardship of deployed members and their families. The eight-week online course will focus on the fundamentals of launching and/or growing a small business for those who will sustain the business when the service member is deployed, injured or killed. Initially 550 individuals are expected to participate. In total V-WISE and Operation Endure & Grow will serve over 1,950 individuals and their families.

The expansion of SBA’s partnership with Syracuse University builds on more than $1.25 billion in loan guarantees for veterans in its flagship 7(a) and 504 programs, and through its Patriot Express loan pilot initiative. In three years Patriot Express has supported nearly $550 million in loans to more than 6,500 veterans and spouses looking to establish or expand their small businesses.

SBA reaches out to veterans through its 68 local SBA district offices, 16 Veterans Business Outreach Centers nationwide, and its partnership with 1,000 Small Business Development Centers and some 12,000 SCORE – Counselors to America’s Small Businesses volunteers. SBA has numerous programs creating government contracting opportunities for vet-owned small businesses. For more information visit www.sba.gov/vets and www.sba.gov/reservists.

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