As I travel across our state and meet with North Carolinians back home and in my Washington office, the primary concern of everyone I talk to is creating jobs and growing the economy. Although the Majority Leader has largely ignored these concerns lately, we did have the opportunity to vote on several pieces of legislation this week that will increase job growth and stimulate our economy.
On Tuesday, a bill I cosponsored aimed at preserving American jobs and increasing the competitiveness of American companies in the global marketplace passed the Senate with resounding bipartisan support. The Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act will hold China accountable for undervaluing its currency, a practice that has an extremely detrimental impact on American manufacturing jobs and our entire economy by widening our trade deficit and giving China an unfair advantage in international trade. This has ultimately resulted in fewer American exports and the loss of millions of American manufacturing jobs, including many in North Carolina. Passage of this bill sends a signal to China and other nations that we are committed to fair trade and defending the interests of American workers.
A few days after this bill passed, the Commerce Department announced that our trade gap with China has reached an all-time high, underscoring the need to enforce sanctions on countries who manipulate their currency to give themselves an unfair trade advantage.
In another effort to increase job creation and open new markets for American products and services abroad, the Senate passed three trade agreements – with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea - on Wednesday. These trade agreements will have a positive impact on our state’s economy and represent a step in the right direction towards opening markets, expanding opportunities, and putting North Carolinians and Americans across the country back to work. Lowering tariff barriers with other nations will give American companies, including North Carolina businesses, the opportunity to grow and create jobs.
I am pleased that these trade agreements passed and that we are coupling them with an increased determination to put a stop to the unfair trade practices of other countries which harm U.S. businesses and cost jobs. Just as America is committed to free trade, we must also fight for fair trade to ensure that our businesses and workers have the best possible opportunities to market their goods and services.
On Thursday, I further fought to create and maintain American jobs by co-sponsoring the Medical Device Regulatory Improvement Act. This bill would help streamline the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulation of medical devices in order to spur innovation here at home and provide investors the regulatory certainty and predictability necessary to prevent them from pursuing opportunities overseas. Over the past few years, regulatory challenges at the FDA have delayed, and in some cases, prevented new and innovative devices from reaching the market, depriving American patients access to the best available medical technology. By streamlining and ensuring the least burdensome approach to FDA’s regulation of medical devices, we not only take a key step toward restoring America’s leadership in the research and development of life-saving products, but uphold our promise to patients in North Carolina and around our nation to continue innovating on their behalf. Read this press release to learn more about the bill.
Since the so-called “jobs proposal” that Majority Leader Reid brought to the floor on Tuesday night would not effectively spur job growth here in the U.S., I voted against part two of President Obama’s first failed stimulus bill. Fortunately, this jobs plan failed to pass this Senate since myself and others recognized that we have tried a stimulus before and it didn’t create the kind of job growth that it promised or that we need. A serious, successful jobs bill will not be about how much Washington can spend, but how we create an environment that allows our country’s job creators to grow. Instead of more short-term stimulus, we need to focus on long-term solutions, like comprehensive tax reform, to stimulate our economy and give businesses the certainty and predictability they need to create jobs. Reforming and simplifying our tax code would provide companies and small businesses the certainty and confidence in the economy they need to hire and retain employees.
Also on Thursday, I introduced a bill to protect the Second Amendment rights of our nation’s veterans. Currently, veterans who have a fiduciary appointed to help them with their VA benefits are deemed “mentally defective” and are reported to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), a system which prevents them from being able to purchase firearms in the United States. This legislation would protect the rights of veterans and their families by ensuring that only a proper judicial authority is able to determine who is referred to NICS. Taking away a Constitutional right is a serious action, and veterans should be afforded the same due process under the law as all other American citizens. Our veterans took an oath to uphold the Constitution and they deserve to enjoy the rights they fought so hard to protect. To read more about this bill, click here.
WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, today praised Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy’s announcement that the panel would soon hold a markup on the bill to repeal the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act. DOMA bans the federal government from recognizing legally married same-sex couples and denies loving and committed families equal benefits and equal dignity.
“This markup is an incredible step toward ending federal marriage discrimination that causes real harm to American families,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Chairman Leahy and Senator Feinstein have been leaders in this fight and we applaud them for continuing the momentum against this unjust law.”
The Respect for Marriage Act – the DOMA repeal bill – had a hearing before the committee in July where HRC President Joe Solmonese testified. It was the first time that DOMA had a hearing in Congress since its enactment 15 years ago and this markup represents another historic first.
“The federal government shouldn’t be in the business of picking which marriages it likes and which it doesn’t, but that’s exactly what DOMA does,” said Solmonese. “The reality of DOMA is heart-wrenching discrimination against loving families.”
DOMA prevents any of the over 1,100 federal rights, benefits and responsibilities of marriage from being afforded to legally married same-sex couples. These include Social Security survivor benefits, federal employee health benefits for spouses, protections against spouses losing their homes in cases of severe medical emergencies, the right to sponsor a foreign born partner for immigration, the guarantee of family and medical leave and the ability to file joint tax returns, among many others. 51 percent of voters oppose DOMA while only 34 percent favor it, according to a March 2011 poll by HRC and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 14, 2011
Michael Cole-Schwartz | michael.cole-schwartz@hrc.org | 202-216-1553
NC voters reject Pope-backed candidates in local school board battle
Voters in Wake County, N.C. headed to the polls yesterday in high numbers to reject a slate of conservative Republican Board of Education candidates who opposed a longstanding diversity policy aimed at avoiding high-poverty and racially-isolated schools.
I know that All politicians lie, but come on in this day and age where everything is recorded and posted on youtube.. the people can catch you telling lie much faster then ever before..
Matt Barber says the FCC must maintain decency standards because there is a conspiracy at work to indoctrinate children through programs like Glee. Following this broadcast, he retreated to his dildo-strewn office to catch up on Glee.
“I have to be honest with you Rick, when I was sitting there in my car that day and when she told me that those emails were coming from homosexuals, honestly, fear gripped by whole body, because I was very aware of the homosexual lobbyists and the power that they have. And people say, ‘oh you’re so brave, so heroic,’ but I’m not, I’m just a sinner saved by grace and I was gripped with fear that day. I just said, ‘Lord, what have I done?’ It entered our mind but honestly, and I mentioned this in the book, the Saturday night when my husband and I sit down and really talked about this and prayed about it, when we asked ourselves the question, are we willing to even lose our lives over this?” – Histrionic lunatic and Oklahoma Teatard Rep. Sally Kern, speaking on Christian radio.
Sally,,please we are to busy to worry about you, and all you are not worth killing or/and going to jail over.. Yes you might piss us off every time you open your mouth,but we have learn to tolerate your sick ass.
PSS, you need to get some work done, call a hair dresser and pay for the dye job,, you might want to spring for a facial too. I don’t think Hollywood is redoing the Wizard of OZ and time soon and I’m sure you are not on their list for the Wicked Witch of the West or East..
I fully support testing state workers asap, Starting with Tillis.
He proposed a “divide and conquer” approach, where he suggest that disable people should “look down” at unwed mothers and others who receive aid.
How he is claiming it was a poor choice of words..
Activist Gerrick Brenner, who have been to many of Tillis town hall meeting, which in most cases looks like a clan meeting, said he isn’t surprise by Tillis remarks at all.
"He's backing down from some pretty crass language that he really only feels comfortable voicing in front of his true believers," Brenner said. "In front of mainstream voters who have some common sense, he's a little uncomfortable about that."
Tillis is on a major power trip and need to be brought back down to Earth.
