SCHotline Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                  Contact:        Wes Hickman or Kevin Bishop

July 31, 2008                                                           (202) 224-5972 / (864) 250-1417

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) has signed a letter with fellow Senators pressing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to ensure passage of legislation reauthorizing the E-Verify program which is set to expire in November.

E-Verify is a web-based tool run by the Department of Homeland Security for employers across the country. The state of South Carolina has also passed into law legislation mandating the use of E-Verify for government contractors and private employers in coming years.

Graham noted the comprehensive immigration reform bill Congress debated last year contained an even stronger version of E-Verify for employment verification and mandated all business use the system.  However, Graham noted that even a watered-down version of electronic employment verification, like E-Verify, is better than none at all.

“Congress is running out of time to reauthorize and even enhance E-Verify,” wrote Graham.  “The number of employers relying on the program to hire legal workers is likely to grow.  Small businesses and companies that utilize it need to be able to know that Congress is not going to let this program die.” 

Known as the Basic Pilot Program since its inception in 1996, E-Verify provides employers with a process to verify the work eligibility of new hires.  Right now, nearly 80,000 employers use the program and according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, more than 1,000 employers voluntarily sign up to use E-Verify each week.

“Both sides of the aisle would like to see reforms to the electronic employment verification program,” said Graham. “Ultimately, we would prefer to pass a bill requiring mandatory participation in the program. Since there is very little time left in this session, we urge you to support a straight reauthorization of E-Verify.  Extending the program will keep employers accountable while giving them the tools needed to abide by the law in their hiring practices.” 

The letter was also signed by Senators Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania), Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia), David Vitter (R-Louisiana), Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia), Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama), James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), John Ensign (R-Nevada), Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), and Wayne Allard (R-Colorado).

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 30, 2008

CONTACT:    Ryan Murphy

(202) 225-2452 (Office)

(202) 689-4825 (Cell)

WASHINGTON – Congressman Joe Wilson (SC-02) issued the following statement after House Democrats voted 213-212 in favor of beginning their five week vacation after failing to bring to a vote legislation that will lower gas prices and break our dependence on foreign oil.  Not one House Republican supported the motion to adjourn.

“It is astonishing to think that this Democrat Congress believes it is entitled to a five-week vacation having denied a vote on comprehensive energy legislation while millions of American families struggle with rising energy prices,” said Rep. Wilson.  “The American people deserve better.  They deserve an up or down vote on legislation that will create more American-made energy, invest in renewable resources, and promote conservation.  They deserve to have their voices heard.”

“Real leadership means you address the issues that demand immediate attention not cut-and-run from responsibility.  Having refused to allow votes on bipartisan, comprehensive energy legislation and having voted to go home rather than do their job, this Democrat Congress has failed the American people.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact:        Wes Hickman or Kevin Bishop

July 30, 2008                                                           (202) 224-5972 / (864) 250-1417

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made this statement on the current situation on the floor of the U.S. Senate where Senate Majority Leader Reid continues to block consideration and votes on energy proposals to allow additional offshore drilling and conservation efforts.

Graham said:

“The Senate is reinforcing every day why it is held in such low standing.

“We should be solving problems, like our nation’s growing energy crisis, not going out of our way to avoid debating and voting on them.  It’s truly sad the world’s greatest deliberative body has been reduced to deliberately blocking attempts to debate and cast votes on solutions to our broken energy policies.

“I support tax extenders for American families and business.  I support the media shield law.  I support some of the other proposals we may eventually debate.  But we should not have to choose between solving these problems and abandoning our attempts to fix our nation’s energy crisis.  Let’s do all of them.  It can be done.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                              Contact:           Wes Hickman or Kevin Bishop

July 28, 2008                                                                                       (202) 224-5972 / (864) 250-1417

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) issued this statement after his vote against cloture on the motion to proceed to consideration of what is being called the Tomnibus, a $10 billion collection of measures blocked by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK). Graham has expressed support for his colleague Senator Coburn.

Graham said:

“Senator Coburn’s approach to his job is part of the solution while Majority Leader Reid’s approach to Tom Coburn is the problem.

“Senator Coburn, on behalf of the American taxpayer, wants to closely scrutinize legislation that could dramatically increase the size of the government.  This approach to legislating is welcome news to the American people and I strongly support Senator Coburn in this effort.  He is more than justified in his looking into the proposed spending increases, particularly whether or not it is appropriate for the federal government to be involved in the subject matter.  His approach can be defined this way — look more, spend less.

“The Republican Party was fired in 2006 by the American people because we did not take good care of the taxpayer’s dollar.  I hope that by supporting the efforts of Senators like Tom Coburn and John McCain — who have insisted on a new process when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars — we can again become the party of fiscal responsibility and return to the good graces of the American people.”

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Inglis opposes bloated, big government Housing Bill

Also votes against $8 billion “bailout” to Highway Trust Fund

U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) voted against the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 housing bill (H.R. 3221) in the U.S. House Wednesday, calling it “a bloated bill that bails out private housing interests for risky and flawed lending practices.”

Inglis also joined 37 fellow conservatives in voting against an $8 billion transfer from the general fund to the highway trust fund that was designed to make up for a shortfall created by flawed process and excessive spending. The bill cleared the House by a vote of 387-37.

“Taxpayers don’t have to jump in to save every risky venture, every bad management practice and every shortfall,” Inglis said.

The housing bill includes a $300 billion mortgage refinancing program, unlimited borrowing authority from the U.S. Treasury by the troubled Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation – Freddie Mac and the Federal National Mortgage Association – Fannie Mae. These stockholder-owned, private corporations are authorized by the government to make housing loans and guarantees. They have run up huge losses as a result of bad loan practices.

The housing bill also would create a new $4 billion program for buying and selling foreclosed homes and create a new tax to fund two affordable housing funds.

Inglis said that the housing bill would give lenders and investors the opportunity to dump their riskiest and worst loans onto the FHA.

“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need stabilization and must not fail, but writing a blank check for bad management is not the way to help the housing market.” Inglis said. “Some high-flying Wall Street types and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac traded in worthless mortgages from borrowers who lacked—from the inception of the loans—the ability to repay. The holders of those notes and mortgages need to take a haircut. It should be a very painful time for them; there’s no reason to make it a painful time for taxpayers.”

Inglis said the add-on programs in the bill were “typical of Washington to seize on a perceived crisis and grow programs and grow spending.”

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need to come out of their self-induced crisis much smaller and tighter in their operation, he said.

Inglis also voted against amending the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to restore the Highway Trust Fund (H.R. 6532) because of the $8 billion addition of deficit spending.

The Department of Transportation has projected a $3.2 billion shortfall with the HTF due to fewer cars on the road as a result of increased gas prices. The bill would transfer $8 billion from the General Treasury to cover this shortfall, which includes earmarks from the original highway bill.

The 2005 highway bill included $286 billion in guaranteed spending, including 6,300 earmarks for projects amounting to $24 billion.

“This amounts to another bailout to the tune of $8 billion. Budgets are set for a reason and when you start borrowing from the General Treasury, it sets up a bad precedent,” Inglis said. “Instead of a short term fix, the HTF needs a long-term solution.”

Inglis is supporting Rep. Jeff Flake’s (R-AZ) bill that would eliminate the HTF shortfall by rescinding expected earmarks from the 2005 highway bill.

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CRS Report: 94% of Senate Bills Passed in Secret

855 bills have passed the Senate with no debate, no amendments, no votes

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) and Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) released a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) finding that 94 percent of bills the Senate has passed in the 110th Congress have been without a vote, debate or a single amendment. The 855 bills that have been secretly passed spend more than $9 billion, though a final total is not available because many of the bills were rushed through before a cost analysis could be performed.

Senator DeMint: “It would surprise many Americans to learn that the ‘World’s Greatest Deliberative Body’ passes the overwhelming majority of legislation without any debate at all. Democrats think they are entitled to pass bills without debate or votes, and they’ve tried to ram them through right before recess to pressure us to give up. But, Senators shouldn’t fear debate on these important bills. It’s in the best traditions of our republic to demand the Senate actually do its job and have a public debate on bills that expand government and increase the burden on taxpayers. Senator Reid can complain all he wants, but Republicans represent millions of Americans whose voices are being silenced by Democrat strong-arm tactics.”

Dr. Coburn: “The U.S. Senate has a nine percent approval rating because the American people believe that much of our work is done in secret with no debate, no transparency and no accountability.  This report shows that the reality is worse than the public’s fears.  Instead of encouraging open debate, I’m disappointed that Majority Leader Reid often chooses secrecy or demagoguery.  For instance, he has depicted my effort to reduce the number of bills that pass the Senate in secret by ten percent as ‘unprecedented obstruction.’  What is unprecedented and ahistorical, however, is the Majority Leader’s view that Senators should have a king-like right to pass massive spending bills in secret with no debate, no amendments and no recorded vote.”

The CRS report states, “[T]he vast majority of measures passed or agreed to by the Senate so far in the 110th Congress have not received formal parliamentary debate on the floor of the Senate.” This practice, known as “hotlining,” has traditionally been reserved for noncontroversial bills with little to no cost to the taxpayer, like the naming of post offices. However, the practice has been abused to sneak through large bills that cost the taxpayers billions of dollars and have significant policy implications.

On March 3, 2008, U.S. Senator Richard Durbin stated on the Senate Floor:

“My good friend, the late Congressman from Oklahoma, Mike Synar, used to say: If you don’t want to fight fires, don’t be a firefighter. If you don’t want to stop crime, don’t be a policeman, and if you don’t want to vote on tough issues, don’t run for Congress.”

“I agree with him. I don’t like facing tough votes, but it is a part of the job. You ought to at least have enough confidence in your beliefs to cast that vote and go home and explain it.”

Highlights from the Congressional Research Service Memorandum –  “The Clearance Process in the Senate and Measures Approved in the 110th Congress through June 30, 2008”:

“Nearly every day the Senate is in session, the majority and minority leaders consult to identify bills and resolutions that have been “cleared” by the Senators in both parties.  A measure is considered cleared if no Senator has informed party leadership … that he or she is opposed to passage of the measure without debate.”

•       Only 56 bills (6%) were passed by vote (53 by roll call vote, 3 by voice vote)

•       855 bills (94%) were passed by Unanimous Consent (no debate, no vote)

o        388 were passed by UC on the same day they were introduced

o        381 were passed by UC without debate

o        88 were passed by UC with some debate

o        9 were passed by UC without debate after debate on a Senate companion bill

•       35% of the bills passed by UC were agreed to in the week before a recess

•       52% of the bills passed by UC were agreed to during the two weeks before a recess

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CLYBURN ON THE 60th ANNIVERSARY OF THE INTEGRATION OF THE ARMED FORCES

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn today participated in a U.S. Capitol Rotunda ceremony to commemorate President Truman’s executive order signed 60 years ago that marked the beginning of racial integration in the Armed Services.  Other participants in the ceremony were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader John Boehner, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell, and two distinguished members of the 370th Regiment, 92nd Infantry (Buffalo) Division, Captain Spencer C. Moore and Sergeant A. William Perry.  Following are his remarks from the ceremony.

“History records that Crispus Attucks, one of five people killed at the Boston Massacre, was of African and Native American ancestry.  He is generally reputed to be the first to die in the birth of this country.

“Throughout the Revolutionary War about 5,000 African American Soldiers are thought to have served in Washington’s Army, in spite of a 1775 edict prohibiting such service.

“Throughout the history of our military we have struggled with how best to utilize the talents and patriotism of African Americans.  That struggle, to me, is best epitomized by the words of General Andrew Jackson, who said during the war of 1812, ‘Through a mistake in policy, you have heretofore been deprived of participation in the glorious struggle for national rights in which our country is engaged.  This no longer shall exist.  As Americans, your country looks with confidence to her adopted children for a valorous support.’

“Unfortunately, Jackson’s edict was short-lived.  On March 3, 1815, the United States War Department issued a memorandum that dismissed black soldiers, returning to the pre-1812 status-quo.

“For the next 133 years our nation struggled with the contradictions inherent in the words of Frederick Douglass, which were uttered during the Civil War, ‘Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.’

“In spite of these prolific and I dare say accurate words, our nation continued to struggle with the proper utilization of people of color in the defense of our country.

“We have glorified their contributions through the depictions of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, we have glamorized those contributions through the unmatched heroics of the Tuskegee Airmen, and we have moved to correct the injustices done to James Webster Smith, the first black cadet admitted to West Point and John Henry Conyers, the first black Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy—both of whom I might add, were South Carolinians.

“In spite of all of these honorable attempts, it was not until President Truman signed Executive Order 9981, on July 26, 1948, did this country finally, and I hope permanently, commit itself to Frederick Douglass’s admonition.  And I’m proud to be here today to share this podium with General Colin Powell, Captain Spencer Moore, and Sergeant A. William Perry who stand on the shoulders of people like Benjamin Davis Senior and Junior, Colonel Charles Young, and General Chappie James who never gave up on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

“Truman’s Executive Order was not met with unanimous support, but given the history and contribution of these aforementioned African Americans and the sacrifices of many, like Joseph Henry Washington, he was also the brother of my wife’s mother, and another South Carolinian, whose place in history will only be recorded as one of the colored sailors who survived the assault on the U.S.S. Arizona, on that fateful day, December 1941, in Pearl Harbor.

“We should never forget them or President Harry Truman for his great wisdom.”

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BROWN: BOATERS PROTECTED FROM OVERREGULATION

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Henry E. Brown, Jr. (SC), the representative of 75% of South Carolina’s coastline and many of the state’s recreational and commercial boaters, made the following statement today after the House sent to the White House legislation that would permanently prevent recreational boaters from being subject to efforts to regulate “incidental discharges” such as deck wash:

“Like many, the decision by a federal court in 2006 to require all 16 million vessels in the United States to obtain permission from the EPA to operate their boat came as an unpleasant surprise.

Today, however, both the House and Senate did the right thing and set up environmentally responsible exemptions and standards for incidental discharges from recreational boats.  This measure will preclude the thousands of recreational boaters who enjoy the waters of the 1st District from obtaining a permit or being subject to costly fines.  Additionally, it sets up standards that ensure the protection of our environment.”

The legislation (S. 2766) was introduced following a 2006 court decision that ended 30-year-old “incidental discharge” exemption.  Without Congressional action, boat owners, would have needed permits starting this fall for discharges that occur because of the simple operation of a vessel, or become subject to fines of up to $32,500 per day.  All recreational boats would have been covered, including sailboats, kayaks, and other motorized and non-motorized recreational boats.

Congress also passed legislation (S. 3298) that provides a two year permit exemption for all fishing and shrimping vessels and all small commercial vessels under 79 feet.  This will give the EPA time to better evaluate the correct way under federal law to regulate incidental discharges from these vessels – either by permits or through simply developing national standards that ensure the protection of the environment.  Brown was actively involved in the development of this legislation that will give EPA time to craft a common-sense regulatory approach.

Today’s legislation does not change existing federal law that regulates and limits the discharge of oil and other pollutants or discharges from cruise ships and or ocean-going ships.

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