GOP'ers Urge Senate To Bring 'Forgotten 15' To Floor

By Andrea Salazar

Six Republican members of Congress urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Thursday to bring 15 Republican jobs bills that passed the House with bipartisan support to the Senate floor for debate.

Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Reps. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) and Bill Flores (R-Texas) called for an end to overregulation, via measures included in the “Forgotten 15,” as a means to expand businesses.

“These are all things the House has done and the Senate ought to be working on, and done in a bipartisan way,” Thune said. “We need to be working on things for which there is bipartisan support, and I would argue that the 15 that passed in the House would have bipartisan support in the Senate as well.”

Some of the “Forgotten 15,” or “Ignored 20” as Portman called them, include bills that would prohibit the government from regulating the Internet and greenhouse gas emissions and that would allow for offshore oil drilling.

Asked about the stalemate between Democrats and Republicans on increased revenue, Sens. Thune and Hutchison rejected the idea that increasing taxes would solve, what Thune called, a spending problem.

“I am for revenue increases the old fashioned way - by growth in the private sector,” Hutchison said. “Create jobs and then we will have more revenue. That’s the way you get more revenue. The idea of raising taxes permanently for spending programs that are temporary is bad policy. That’s why we’re saying we don’t want tax increases, we want to encourage business.”

Echoing Hutchison, Flores, a businessman himself, dismissed the president’s jobs plan and called for less business regulation.

“The president’s American Jobs bill will not work because it’s a Washington solution,” Flores said. “The American people want Main Street solutions.”

GOP Senators Intro Bill To Protect SC Boeing Facility

By Andrea Salazar

A group of Republican senators urged Congress Wednesday to pass a bill limiting the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) ability to shut down a Boeing Company facility in South Carolina.

The Acting General Counsel of the NLRB issued a formal complaint against Boeing alleging that it “violated federal labor law by deciding to transfer a second airplane production line from a union facility in the state of Washington to a non-union facility in South Carolina for discriminatory reasons.”

Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), John Thune (R-S.D), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) warned against shutting down the South Carolina plant fearing negative economic effects.

“We want to make it easier for Boeing and Motorola and Westinghouse and Nissan and Toyota to build in the United States what they sell in the United States,” Alexander said. “NLRB’s action is making it easier for manufacturers to look at the United States and say, ‘We’re going to build overseas’.”

The bill, introduced by Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), would “prohibit the National Labor Relations Board from ordering any employer to close, relocate or transfer employment under any circumstance.”

“It’ll be hard to continue to make products in America if the NLRB can tell a company after they make an investment, ‘By the way, we’re going to veto your decision’,” Graham said. “The amount of power that this would give an unelected bureaucracy in an American economy is chilling.”

GOP Senators: Let’s Start Over On Health Care

By Courtney Ann Jackson- Talk Radio News Service

Republican Senators reiterated Wednesday their desire to let the public to see the health care bill before Congress considers passing it, adding that if a bipartisan bill couldn’t be created that included the key elements of their proposals such as cutting costs and coverage for everyone, they should just start over.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) argued that attempting to pass a health care bill before the August recess creates a “false deadline.”

“My recommendation to the President is to back off on that [deadline]. He’s going to find plenty of us to work with on a common sense proposal,” said Coburn. “Back off...and take us at our word that we truly want to work to solve this problem and I think that’s reflective of the vast majority of our conference.”

Coburn was joined by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) to discuss the Republican health care agenda. Both Coburn and Barrasso are the Senate’s only two doctors.

Barrasso said physicians know we need health care reform. He also noted that we must get the costs under control and improve patient care.

“We’re here as two doctors to say we want to make this system better for all Americans,” said Barraso.

Coburn highlighted the need for Republicans to continue working and not slow down or lose focus as they continually push for their proposals to be seriously considered.

Health Care Marketplace: Cut Costs And Create Competition

By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service

The issue of promoting competition and preventing rising health care costs was discussed by the Consumer, Product Safety, and Insurance Subcommittee during a hearing Thursday morning.

“For too long, too many health care decisions have been made behind closed doors with industry profits, not the patient’s best interests in mind,” said Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.). “It is no surprise that without any transparency or the force of competition to keep them honest, industry profits soared, as have consumer costs and the barriers to necessary medical care.”

Representatives from various organizations including the Federal Trade Commission, New America Foundation, Center for American Progress, Arkansas Pharmacists Association and Galen Institute testified at the hearing.

Richard Feinstein, Director of the Bureau of Competition at the Federal Trade Commisssion (FTC), highlighted the need to prevent or stop anticompetitive agreements that raise health care prices. He said anitrust enforcement saves money that consumers, employers, and governments could spend on health care. All the panelists agreed that reform is needed, and more should be done to create more health care incentives for the public.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) also held a health care discussion of his own Thursday. Barrasso and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) are hosting a new online show entitled “The Senate Doctors Show.” Barrasso and Coburn are the only doctors in the Senate and their new show will feature them answering questions from the public about health care proposals under debate in Congress.

“I think you ought to take the bill home, read it, talk to people about it. The best ideas don’t come from Washington...I think the American people have a right to expect to see the bill, read the bill, think about the bill, and come up with some suggestions,” said Barrasso.

"The Senate Doctors Show" is streamed live at http://republican.senate.gov/doctors every Tuesday and Thursday at 4:00 p.m. EDT.

GOP Wants More Time For Gitmo

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

It was a day of confrontation for Senate Republicans today as more members of the GOP decided not to back President Obama on his decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) recently returned from a visit to the Cuba-based facility.

Both agreed that the detention center is the best solution for the allocation of the Guantanamo prisoners, at least for the moment.

“It is a remarkable facility, it really seems to be the perfect facility for these detainees,” Barrasso said. “The facility that they have there is remarkably equipped, it is safe, it is secure, there has been no escape from that area and the treatment these detainees are receiving was surprising to me because it is so good.”

In terms of Human Rights, Barrasso argued that the medical treatment in the prison is “Health care at the level that you’d want for the people of this country.”

Calling to all Republicans, Brownback said “ I think it’s important for us to send a signal and hopeful that we get an affirmative vote in the Senate not to have detainees to the U.S. and I think we should have that vote and do it on the supplemental this week.”

Additionally, Barrasso warned that “I would challenge the President to go to Guantanamo Bay. Look at this facility before you make your final decisions and determinations, I think you should take a look at this
facility.”

“When you say I want to close it if you choose to still do that, I recommend that you have a specific plan before coming to the senate and this specific plan should say what you want to do with the detainees, but it shouldn't be bring them to the U.S.,"said Barrosso in his message to President Obama.