Hank on the Issues



THE ECONOMY AND JOBS

What Hank has done:
•Introduced the Fair Employment Act of 2011 – H.R. 1113 – which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect against discrimination on the basis of unemployment status.
•Helped deliver more than $200 million of federal investment in Fourth District job creation since January 2009, including $98 million to save more than 1,000 teaching jobs in DeKalb, Rockdale, and Gwinnett counties.
•Secured funds for road projects on Covington Highway, South & North Hairston Road, Sigman Road, Chamblee-Dunwoody Road, Briarcliff Road, and Shallowford Road.
•Secured funds to train EMTs at DeKalb Technical college, funds to train the chronically unemployed for clean energy jobs at Goodwill Industries of North Georgia, hundreds of thousands of dollars for MARTA, funds for Suniva Inc. to hire additional workers at their Norcross solar panel plant, funds to hire more firefighters for DeKalb County – among others.
•Voted against the Wall Street bailout.
• Voted for the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that ends the era of abuses by big banks that have cost the American people 8 million jobs and $17 trillion in retirement savings and net worth.
•Voted for President Obama’s Recovery Act, or stimulus package, which cut taxes for 95% of working families and made critical investments in education, clean energy and infrastructure.
•Cosponsored the Summer Jobs Act, which passed the House and would create 1,000 summer jobs for Fourth District youths and ease lending to small businesses.  Hank joined White House officials and former Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Barbara Lee to urge Senate passage of the bill.
•Voted for and offered a successful amendment to legislation to reform regulation of Wall Street.  It passed the House of Representatives.
•Cosponsored the successful legislation that raised the minimum wage to $7.25.
•Voted for the Employee Free Choice Act, which would crack down on union busting, provide mediation and arbitration for contract disputes, and ease the union forming process.
•Introduced the Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Fairness and Simplification Act in 2010 and 2011 to ensure that Americans who work in multiple places are not taxed by more than one state or local jurisdiction.
•Voted against the Peru Free Trade Act and the Columbia Free Trade Act, which would put more Americans out of work during a time of economic hardship.
•Supported trade adjustment assistance to Americans who become unemployed due to shifting global trade patterns.

What Hank will do:
•Continue to support investment in job creation for working Americans and the chronically underemployed.
•Support continued extension of unemployment insurance while unemployment remains high.
•Continue to call for Congress to respond to the severe deprivations of America's poorest people, especially during this period of economic difficulty.
•Continue to protect American workers as they seek to level the playing field in their bargaining with employers.
•Support tax relief for middle class households.
•Call for smarter regulation of a financial system that has become too corrupt and complex.



RAISING THE DEBT CEILING
There is no doubt that America’s mounting public debt threatens our long-term strength and prosperity.  But those who recklessly argue that the solution lies in a default on our financial obligations are dead wrong.  If Congress fails to raise the debt limit, we will face another financial crisis and shake the world’s faith in the United States.

The politically motivated, reckless posturing of those who argue we could default on our debt – abandoning our obligations to our creditors – is duplicitous and irresponsible. They argue that America should skip paying its national credit card bill, as if that is somehow the fiscally responsible course.  In fact, it would be the height of fiscal irresponsibility and all but guarantee a global financial crisis.  Fiscal responsibility requires fair reductions in spending and forward-thinking investment in economic growth – not a childish abandonment of our financial obligations.  America cannot, like a deadbeat, simply walk away from its commitments.



SENIORS AND SOCIAL SECURITY

SOCIAL SECURITY SOLVENCY
As it stands today, Social Security will be solvent through 2037.  Those who advocate making huge cuts to Social Security to balance the budget are misguided.  Social Security is an essential social safety net, providing critical income to more 53 million retirees, workers with disabilities, spouses and their children.  Congress must not grant huge tax cuts to the wealthy and tax subsidies to large corporations, and then try to balance the budget on the backs of our seniors.

DEFICIT REDUCTION AND SOCIAL SECURITY
The United States faces fiscal challenges, and we must find creative ways to cut spending and increase revenues over coming decades.  But a civilized nation does not balance its budgets by abandoning seniors.  There are plenty of places to cut the deficit: the bloated defense budget, wasteful subsidies to powerful industries, and unwarranted tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, for example.  We cannot balance the budget on the backs of our seniors.

MEDICARE FRAUD
Hank joins seniors and all Americans in opposing Medicare fraud.  Medicare fraud robs our seniors of quality health care and increases costs for all taxpayers.  Hank voted for health care reform that gives Medicare new authority to uncover waste, fraud, and abuse.  Specifically, reform provided $700 million to fight fraud, allows CMS to conduct background checks and site visits to expose fraudulent providers, and creates new penalties for submitting false data to Medicare or Medicaid.  Passing the health reform law was the first step, but cutting out the fraud will be in the implementation of the law.  Hank will vigorously monitor CMS's efforts in this area to protect America's seniors.

ACCESS TO DOCTORS UNDER MEDICARE
Too many doctors are continuing to close their doors to Medicare patients because Medicare continues to cut reimbursements.  Hank understand how important it is to see the doctor of your choice, and that is why he voted for legislation to fix the broken formula, which cuts doctors payments and makes it harder for seniors to see their doctor.  Congress must make this issue a priority.

WHAT IS YOUR PLAN TO HELP OLDER WORKERS GET BACK TO WORK AND TO IMPROVE ECONOMIC SECURITY FOR PEOPLE OF ALL GENERATIONS?
The federal government has to support retraining and continuing education programs so older workers can adapt in a rapidly changing global economy.  Congress also needs to strengthen the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which was recently weakened by the Supreme Court, to protect older workers and job applicants from discrimination.
Hank’s Fair Employment Act of 2011 would also address discrimination against older workers.



HEALTH CARE

What Hank has done:
•As Southeast Regional Whip during the 111th Congress, helped lead passage of President Obama's historic health care reform legislation.
•As Chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s Competition Policy Subcommittee during the 111th Congress, co-authored provisions of the health care reform legislation in the House of Representatives that removed the insurance industry's immunity to anti-trust regulation.
•Actively defended Georgia’s critical PeachCare children’s healthcare program.
•Voted for the successful bill that directs the federal government to negotiate lower Medicare drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, and urged Medicare to re-examine its specialty-tier drug system.

What Hank will do:
•Ensure that the health care reform legislation is implemented such that it protects consumers and empowers ordinary Americans seeking affordable health insurance.
•Continue to pursue additional funds for Georgia’s critical PeachCare program.
•Continue to support a public option to counter insurance industry price gouging.
• Introduced the “Neglected Infections of Impoverished Americans Act of 2011” – H.R. 528 – which would require Health and Human Services to report to Congress annually on the impact of parasitic diseases – mostly in poor, minority populations along the U.S.-Mexico border, the rural South, Appalachia and distressed urban areas – to address their threat and make funding recommendations on how to eradicate them.
•Continue to support investment in health care research.




CONSUMER PROTECTION

What Hank has done:
•As Chairman of the Courts and Competition Policy Subcommittee during the 111th Congress, led Congressional efforts to crack down on anti-competitive business practices, monopolies, and cartels.
•Introduced (with Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota) the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2011, which will protect consumers and stop business practices that require consumers to cede their rights to a jury trial as a condition of service. Hank first introduced this bill in 2007.
•Cosponsored the Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act, which passed House and Senate. It dramatically expands the CPSC’s capacity to oversee the consumer goods manufactured in and imported by the United States. This became obviously necessary, after the repeated introduction of toxic imported children’s toys and tainted pet food.

What Hank will do:
• From his post on the Judiciary Committee, continue to introduce legislation designed to level the bargaining and legal playing field between consumers and service and product providers.
•Support increased funding of and oversight on the part of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
•Call for quality control and safety assurance mechanisms in any trade agreements.



NATIONAL SECURITY & FOREIGN POLICY

What Hank has done:
•Played host to former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Thomas R. Pickering on Capitol Hill in April 2011 to discuss the path to a political settlement of the war in Afghanistan.
•Consistently opposed the Iraq War and supported removal of our forces from Iraq.
•As member of House Armed Services Committee, always voted to protect and support our Armed Forces.
•Cosponsored the successful legislation of the 9/11 Commission's official recommendations.
•Introduced and passed a resolution officially calling upon the warring parties in Uganda, the government of the United States, and the international community to work to peacefully resolve that country's brutal civil war.
•Voted to restrict "no-bid" defense contracts, by which politically-connected companies like Halliburton receive Pentagon contracts with no competition.
•Introduced legislation to establish a National Commission on Detainee Treatment to review United States policy regarding the capture, custody, treatment, judicial proceedings, and repatriation of suspected "unlawful enemy combatants."
•Co-authored legislation to impose sanctions on Iran’s petroleum sector.  It passed the House.
•Cosponsored the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act, which passed the House. It would sanction Iran for its failure to make good on its international legal commitments with regard to its clandestine nuclear program.
•Cosponsored the successful Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act, which states that it is U.S. policy to support state and local efforts to divest funds from, or restrict investments in, companies that conduct business operations in Sudan.
•Voted to increase U.S. funding for the global fight against diseases such as HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria, which exacerbate global poverty, pose an international health risk, and undermine the stability of entire regions.

 

What Hank will do:
•Continue to support a tough, smart foreign policy focused on the maintenance of international stability via multilateralism and diplomacy.
•On the Armed Services Committee, oversee implementation of President Obama's Afghanistan policy, supporting a window of opportunity for the Administration to improve security and political conditions in Afghanistan.
•Continue to vocally support universal respect for fundamental human rights.
•From my post on the Armed Services Committee, work toward our self-extrication from the senseless war in Iraq.
•Support continued investment in the world's finest military to address the challenges of upcoming decades.
•Push for the closure of our detainment facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
•Vote for committing the United States to the global fight against famine and disease.



ARMED SERVICES & VETERANS' AFFAIRS

What Hank believes:
•The U.S. military is greatest fighting force in history, and the men and women who serve in it must be honored and amply rewarded -- never neglected.
•We should always seek diplomatic solutions first, but we must maintain our capacity to defeat any enemy.
•American forces in harm’s way must receive all of the equipment necessary to safely achieve their objectives, regardless of legislators’ opposition to the broader war.
•Veterans are owed the best services and compensation for their bravery that can be offered by the United States.
•The House Armed Services Committee, on which I serve, must be accessible to all veterans and active duty personnel.

What Hank has done:
• Hank helped more than 400 veterans, military personnel and their families received help at his 2011 Veterans and Armed Forces Expo at DeKalb Technical College in Clarkston in April 2011. Helping veterans and military personnel receive the benefits they deserve is one of the main reasons why Hank serves. Since 2007, Hank has helped hundreds of veterans receive the benefits owed them by the federal government.
•Cosponsored the Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act, which passed both House and Senate. It will implement a comprehensive policy for the care and management of members of the Armed Forces who are undergoing treatment, recuperation, or therapy, are in medical hold or holdover status, or are otherwise on the temporary disability retired list for serious injury or illness.
•Cosponsored the Veterans Guaranteed Bonus Act of 2007, which passed the House. It will prevent the Department of Defense from breaking its promise to provide bonuses for members of the Armed Forces who are retired or separated for disability due to a combat-related injury.
•Cosponsored the SBA Veterans’ Programs Act of 2007, which passed the House. It expands the Small Business’ Administration outreach to and service of veteran entrepreneurs and business owners.
•Condemned and investigated the shameful treatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed.

What Hank will do:
•From his post on the Armed Services Committee, call for increased funding of veterans’ services to ensure the highest level of care for those who have sacrificed for this country.
•Effectively oversee the activities of the Department of Defense and its contractors, as according to the Constitution's Congressional mandate.
•Support the continued development of history’s finest military as it evolves to address future challenges.



ENERGY

What Hank believes:
•We must strive to reduce our reliance on oil, an increasingly scarce resource. Our continued addiction to this rapidly depleting energy source damages the environment, undermines our national security, and gravely threatens our economy.
•We must never again be fooled by low oil prices and neglect to take necessary steps toward reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
•"Peak oil" is a real phenomenon. Oil is a finite resource and global oil extraction and refinement will peak – soon. That means it will reach its highest possible volume, then begin a continual decline. Supply will fall as demand continues to rise worldwide, and the price of all petroleum-based products – gasoline, transportation, and plastic products (to name a few) – will dramatically rise.
•America should invest heavily in becoming the world’s leading producer of clean, efficient, renewable energy.
•Coal is not a clean solution to our energy crisis. Biofuels, especially corn ethanol, divert precious agricultural produce away from food production, causing the price of staples like rice, corn, and soy to skyrocket. Natural gas could be an acceptable bridge to an era in which clean renewables like solar, wind, and hydro are dominant. This must be the ultimate goal.
•The EPA needs additional resources and a Congressional mandate to aggressively defend the environment, which is a public good, and it should engage in regulation of carbon dioxide emissions.
•Congress should aggressively tighten efficiency standards, especially fuel standards for automobiles, and implement legislation to dramatically cut pollution.

What Hank has done:
• Introduced the Resource Assessment of Rare Earths (RARE) Act of 2011, which directs the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct a three-year, comprehensive global mineral assessment of rare earth elements (REEs) critical to high-tech clean-energy and defense manufacturing.
•Cosponsored the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which would:
•move the United States toward greater energy independence and security;
•increase the production of clean renewable fuels;
•protect consumers;
•increase the efficiency of products, buildings, and vehicles;
•promote research on and deploy greenhouse gas capture and storage options;
•and improve the energy performance of the Federal Government.
•Voted to remove subsidies to oil and gas companies.
•Cosponsored legislation to establish the H-Prize, which would award competitive cash prizes to advance the research, development, and commercial application of hydrogen energy technologies.
•Cosponsored the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008, which passed the House. It extends tax credits for the production of electricity from renewable resources.

What Hank will do:
•Support measures to dramatically increase mandatory automobile fuel efficiency.
•Advocate for a significant development fund to sponsor wide-scale research, development, and production of energy from renewable sources. America must strive to become the leader of this industry.
•Continue to protect consumers from energy price gouging.



JUSTICE, CIVIL LIBERTIES, & GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY

What Hank believes:
•The criminal justice system is ridden with injustice that penalizes minority and poor Americans.
•Mandatory minimum sentencing is fundamentally unfair.
•The death penalty is immoral.
•The government should serve and protect – not harass or inconvenience – American citizens.
•The government should not detain or spy on Americans without a warrant.
•Congress should exercise its government oversight prerogatives to their fullest in an effort to destroy waste and corruption.
•The federal government's reckless borrowing and spending threaten America's economic and national security, and unfairly and unethically burden future generations who will be responsible for repaying today's debts.
•It is irresponsible and unsustainable to increase spending while cutting taxes, as the Bush Administration did.

What Hank has done:
•Introduced the Effective Death Penalty Appeals Act in 2009, which would ensure that death row inmates have the opportunity to present newly discovered evidence of innocence. 
•Cosponsored the successful Second Chance Act of 2007, which will lower crime rates in communities by increasing the care and aptitude with which the criminal justice system deals with ex-prisoners, probationers, and recidivists.
•Cosponsored the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which passed the House. It enables the federal government to assist local law enforcement with the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes.
•Cosponsored the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, which passed the House. It directed the Department of Justice to open an office for the investigation of unsolved civil rights crimes committed before 1970.
•Cosponsored the COPS Improvement Act, which passed the House. It expands the authority of the Attorney General to make grants for public safety and community policing programs.
•Cosponsored the Stop AIDS in Prison Act, which passed the House. It would direct the Bureau of Prisons to implement a comprehensive policy to provide HIV testing, treatment, and prevention for inmates in federal prisons and upon re-entry to the community.
•Voted, during the first 100 Hours of this historic 110th Congress, to reestablish the PAYGO system, which requires that new spending or tax breaks not be added to the federal deficit; costs must be offset elsewhere in the budget.

What Hank will do:
•From his post on the Judiciary Committee, continue to support efforts to rid our criminal justice system of discriminatory practices.
•Serve as a check against undue government interference in the daily lives of Americans.
•Continue to provide federal and local law enforcement with the resources needed to fight crime effectively and humanely.
•Work to form a bipartisan consensus which resolves that, by avoiding unnecessary wars and eliminating unfair subsidies to powerful constituencies, we can balance the budget without cutting vital social services like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Food Stamps.



ENVIRONMENT

What  Hank believes:
•We cannot achieve or maintain a high standard of living if our environment is severely degraded or damaged.
•The window of opportunity to secure our natural environment against existential threats produced by human activity is rapidly closing.
•Humans are in large part responsible for climate change, a potentially devastating threat to our security and health that must immediately be addressed.
•Clean water is becoming increasingly scarce, and efforts must begin now to secure safe, clean drinking water for all Americans, today and in the future.
•We must immediately work to reduce U.S. dependence upon and consumption of oil, a scarce resource that is approaching its "peak," or the moment after which production will continually fall.
•If it continues to proceed so recklessly without international cooperation and coordination, unregulated human economic activity will destroy our planet's delicately-balanced ecological equilibrium

What Hank has done:
•Awarded 100% for his environmental voting record in 2010. The 2010 Scorecard – released amidst the greatest attack on the EPA’s budget in 30 years and current Congressional assaults on the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, wildlife and wild places.
•Introduced the TIRE (Tire Investment, Recovery, and Extension) Act of 2007, which would provide tax credits for large vehicle-operating companies (like UPS, Federal Express, or DHL) to purchase tires made from recycled rubber.
•Cosponsored the successful Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which will:
◦move the United States toward greater energy independence and security;
◦increase the production of clean renewable fuels;
◦protect consumers;
◦increase the efficiency of products, buildings, and vehicles;
◦promote research on and deploy greenhouse gas capture and storage options;
◦and improve the energy performance of the Federal Government.
•Voted to remove subsidies to oil and gas companies.
•Testified before colleagues in Congress to explain the severity of Georgia's water crisis and worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state governments to help broker water-sharing agreements in the Southeast.
•Cosponsored legislation to establish the H-Prize, which would award competitive cash prizes to advance the research, development, and commercial application of hydrogen energy technologies.
•Cosponsored the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008, which passed the House. It extends tax credits for the production of electricity from renewable resources.
What Hank will do:
•Never compromise my commitment to the defense of non-renewable resources, healthy ecosystems, wildlife, clean air and water, and pristine national parks.
•Make energy independence a central cause of my service.
•Demand stringent environmental regulation of industry by the EPA, no matter who is the president.
•Continue to introduce legislation that aims to reduce our overall negative environmental impact, in broad strokes and bit by bit.



EDUCATION

What Hank believes:
•High-quality education (like health care) must be a right of all Americans, not a privilege.
•Chronic underinvestment in education seriously threatens America’s future competitiveness and well-being.
•The single most important investment we can make is in the literacy, aptitude, productivity, and enlightenment of all Americans, young and old.
•We must strive to make college and higher education a possibility for all Americans who are eager to achieve that level of scholarship and post-secondary and training/re-training opportunities available to everyone.
•Teaching is among the noblest and most essential callings in society and should be rewarded accordingly.
•Massive inequality within our educational system effectively condemns Americans living in poor and under-served communities to economic hardship.
What Hank has done:
•Cosponsored the College Student Relief Act of 2007, which cuts from 6.8% to 3.4% the interest rate charged undergraduate student borrowers under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and Direct Loan (DL) programs.
•Cosponsored the College Student Relief Act of 2007, which cuts from 6.8% to 3.4% the interest rate charged undergraduate student borrowers under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and Direct Loan (DL) programs.
•Voted to override President Bush’s veto of the American Competitiveness Scholarship Act, which would provide $10.2 billion in necessary funding for education in America.
•Convened a forum of public leaders, education experts, and hundreds of interested constituents -- including Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, Georgia Perimeter College President Dr. Anthony Tricoli, and Clark Atlanta University President Dr. Walter Broadnax -- to discuss the importance of closing the educational achievement gap.

What Hank will do:
•Work to drive more funding to struggling public schools.
•Work to protect the futures of college students and other post-secondary students who have taken on debt to attend school.
•Support significant increases in funding for public education nationwide, including full funding of neglected No Child Left Behind mandates.
•Continue to insist that teaching is a vital profession and ought to be rewarded with dramatically higher pay; we must make teaching a career that will lure America’s best and brightest.

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