Transparency for Congressional Committees
Speaker Pelosi has repeatedly broken her promise of this being “the most open Congress.” Over the past nine months, major pieces of legislation have repeatedly been drafted, filed and then changed in the dark of night or behind closed-doors. It happened with the so-called stimulus, with the cap and trade national energy tax, and it happened with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s health care legislation.

This is only my first year in Washington, but if this is “business as usual,” then it’s time for business to change. That's why yesterday, I introduced House Resolution 835, which requires congressional committees to post legislation online within 24-hours to give all members of Congress as well as the American people time to read and understand the legislation.

I am proud to say 96 of my colleagues in the House have cosponsored my resolution, and I am hopeful Speaker Pelosi will follow through on her promise of accountability and transparency and let this bill come to vote before the House. You can read the bill here.

Homeland Security Funds NBAF
This week, the House passed the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, which included $32 million to finish design and begin construction of the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF). Making sure the NBAF facility moves forward has been a priority of mine since it was announced last year that the facility would be built in Manhattan, Kansas. After voting against the House version of this legislation in June because it did not include NBAF funding, I have been working with my colleagues in the House and Senate to make sure this funding would be included in the final bill.

The research that will be done at the NBAF is vital to our nation’s security and will further solidify Kansas as a leader in animal health research. The passage of this bill is especially great news for Kansas, since the NBAF will bring 1,500 construction jobs and 450 permanent jobs at the facility. At a time when good economic news is difficult to come by, this facility will generate much needed growth in the Kansas economy. This bill now heads to the Senate where I hope they can pass it and send to the President for his signature.

Senate Finance Passes Health Care Bill
On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee passed the Baucus health care bill out of committee. I am very concerned with the penalties and taxes included in this bill that will hit middle class Kansans the hardest. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Baucus bill comes with $507 billion in new taxes and fees. In fact, this bill will tax families $1,900 for not having health insurance. At a time when Americans are losing jobs and finding it difficult to pay their current bills, additional taxes on middle class families is unacceptable.

I have spent a great deal of time working with the House Republican;s Health Care Solutions Group on alternative solutions to reforming our nation’s health care. I am extremely disappointed Speaker Pelosi has shut Republicans out of this debate, only negotiating between members of the Democrat conference. Check out my website here to see our plan for health care reform.

I will continue to support medical liability reforms to put an end to costly defensive medicine, provideing assistance to folks who truly need help and allowing small businesses to band together to provide affordable care to their employees. Rather than forcing through a government takeover of health care, Speaker Pelosi needs to work with all House members on common sense reforms to fix the system without destroying it.

Where are the Jobs?
The Administration promised the American people that unemployment would not rise above 8 percent. However, since the so-called stimulus bill became law in January, our nation has lost nearly three million jobs, taking unemployment to 9.8 percent – the highest unemployment rate in 26 years. Just yesterday, the White House announced the federal contracts totaling $16 billion that have been awarded to date have created less than 31,000 jobs nationwide – only 209 of those are in Kansas. Additionally, it has been reported that many of the jobs created were not in states with the highest unemployment but in fact, in Washington, D.C.

As Kansas families continue to make sacrifices to get through the challenging times, I urge the Democrat leadership to put partisan politics aside and work across the aisle on common sense solutions to jumpstart our nation’s economy. I believe a better approach is the economic stimulus package that even President Obama’s economic advisors admit would create twice the jobs at half the cost.

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