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Thank
you for reading The Conaway Chronicle, a weekly review of my activities
in Congress. This newsletter is to let you know what’s going on in
Washington and what important issues are being debated in Congress.
Democrat Cap-and-Tax Bill
Last week was a frustrating week for Republicans in Congress. After
hundreds of phone calls from citizens of District 11 urging opposition
of this bill, and many hours of debate on the House floor, the
Democrat's Cap-and-Tax bill barely passed the House by a vote of
218-212. This bill will cause significant harm to our economy, our way
of life, and the overall infrastructure over the coming years. The
climate is changing; History has proved that. Passage of this bill
seems to be driven by the misguided desire by its supporters to hand
President Obama an emissions cap that he can use at the Copenhagen
world gathering on climate change in December. It will be a great
photo-op for him. However, behind the scenes, the leaders of India and
China will be laughing at Congress and the President for constricting
our own economy with this ill-advised policy.
Proponents of this bill say that man is causing the change in climate.
This is simply not true. There are scientists all over the world who
argue that new facts are driving a new understanding of climate change.
Proponents also say that it will create millions of new ‘green’ jobs.
However, the Spanish experiment of almost twelve years proves that for
every job created in the ‘green’ world, two jobs were lost. The Spanish
experiment also proves that for every ten ‘green’ jobs created, only
one of those jobs is permanent.
All of us want to breathe clean air and drink clean water. This bill
does nothing to effect these things. It is simply a quest developed by
my colleagues on the hard left who want to do away with carbon-based
fuels.
There are no benefits to passing this bill. President Obama himself has
said that electricity rates will necessarily skyrocket, and that coal,
and coal-based power plants will be disadvantaged and jobs will be
lost. The cost of this bill is both monetarily high and will reduce our
standard of living. I want to thank everyone who called my office last
week to have their voices heard on this matter. I am sorely
disappointed that this disastrous legislation passed, and sincerely
hope that the Senate will block this legislation and prevent it from
being signed by the President.
Click here to watch me speak on the House floor following the passage of this bill.
National Defense Authorization Act of 2009
Last week, the House passed the National Defense Authorization Act by a
vote of 389 to 22. It is a bipartisan bill that provides our troops
with the key funding needed to succeed in our mission in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
While I am pleased that aid is on the way to our troops, I am
disappointed as to what is not in this bill. Unfortunately, my
colleagues and I were not able to have the opportunity to take a stance
on an issue that is very important to the safety of our troops, an
amendment that our friends in the Senate voted unanimously in favor of:
the release of the detainee photographs to our enemies abroad.
After listening to our commanders on the ground, General Petraeus and
General Odierno, President Obama also decided that it is in everyone’s
best interest to keep these photos out of the hands of our enemies.
These photos will, without a doubt, put American troops in danger, be
used as a recruiting tool by Islamic Jihadists, and, in my opinion,
could be used by President Ahmadinejad to turn the pro-democracy
protests going on in Iran against the United States.
We need a legislative fix that will prevent the release of these
photographs into the public arena, and my amendment, which is an exact
replica of the one in the Senate, would allow these photos to be
properly protected. There is no good reason to release these
photographs, and I wish the Rules Committee would have allowed debate
on this issue.
With that said, I believe that the support for our men and women in
uniform is paramount, and I am pleased that we were able to craft a
bipartisan bill that will ensure that their needs are met and the
Department of Defense can carry out its mission of ensuring national
security.
Click here to watch me discuss this amendment on the House Floor.
Happy 233rd Birthday America!
This year, American's across the country will celebrate the birth of
our great nation with baseball games, carnivals, barbecues, fireworks
and parades. I want to urge everyone this coming Saturday to stop and
think about the many freedoms that we celebrate living in this
wonderful country and show off your patriotism.
July 4th is a celebration of the freedom that we as Americans are so
proud to share. It is the day when the United States established itself
as a nation with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I am
so proud to be an American, and may God continue to bless our great
nation. I hope that everyone had a wonderful and safe holiday. God
Bless America!
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