State Rep. Vernon G. Smith: Indiana Dems Moderate Radical Right HB

State Rep. Vernon G. Smith

DEMOCRATS ACHIEVED GOAL OF MODERATING RADICAL REPUBLICAN BILLS

INDIANAPOLIS —— State Rep. Vernon G. Smith (D-Gary) said Indiana House Democrats returned to the Statehouse after gaining concessions on several Republican bills now before the Indiana House of Representatives.

Smith said the protest by Democrats did not cost taxpayers any money as House Republicans claimed. He said the business before the Indiana House and Senate should be completed by the end of April, so no special session is necessary. In addition, House Democrats gave up their daily stipend, while their Republican colleagues collected theirs. The Democrats also were fined $350 per day by the Republican majority for denying a quorum in the House.

“When I calculated what our protest cost me in fines, loss of daily stipend and other expenditures, the figure was more than $8,000,” said Smith. “It has been a significant drain of personal finances, yet it was worth the cost. If we had not left the state to prevent a quorum, these extreme, Republican bills would have decimated our public education system and severely damaged the earning power of working-class families in Indiana.

“The Republicans were pushing these bills through the process as quickly as possible, which prevented proper, public review of these devastating measures,” explained Smith. “The stop-action allowed a timeout for millions of Hoosiers, so they could learn more about what was happening in Indianapolis. Our protest was absolutely necessary.

“With the solid support and thunderous voice of a vast number teachers, in addition to thousands of working families, many from Northwest Indiana, we were able to force the House Republicans to compromise on several of the bills,” added Smith. “The compromises are not perfect, but those particular bills are much better than they were. I appreciate Speaker Bosma’s willingness to negotiate with us and help find solutions to our most serious concerns.”

Smith said the compromises included several areas of contention:

• the so-called “right-to-work” legislation is off the table, preserving collective bargaining rights and preventing Hoosier wages from being drastically reduced;


• the permanent ban on public employee bargaining is off the table in the House;


• collective bargaining rights for teachers is protected;


• enabling legislation for the private takeover of public schools is off the table in the House;


• private school vouchers will be limited to 7,500 students in the first year and 15,000 in the second year, rather than creating the largest voucher program in the country, which would have shifted $1 billion in state tax money from public schools to private schools;


• instead of an outright ban of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs), as originally proposed by Republicans, PLAs will still be able to be included with projects passed by public referendum; and


• the threshold for applying the common construction wage to projects would be $250,000 for 2012 and $350,000 for 2013, instead of the GOP’s original $1 million threshold, which would have had a significant, negative impact on Hoosier workers.

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If you wish to share your views or opinions about these issues or any other topics related to Indiana state government, please contact me. Please take a moment—if you have not already done so—to sign up for periodic Statehouse eUpdates about the Indiana State Legislature.

Walgreen to install electric car charging stations - Chicago Breaking News

Walgreen to install electric car charging stations - Chicago Breaking News
Smart move!

Is 'racial resentment' behind health reform backlash?

Is 'racial resentment' behind health reform backlash?
(yes)
Ask a truthful (many are) southern white man how he feels about taking orders from a black man(or woman) . Now ask any man. What did you find out?
Surprised? I'm not. I live with this fact everyday that I am black.

I am reading the Book of Revelation right now, learning about how God warns us humans to repent from our evil ways and all but a few ignore his warnings. If people won't listen to their Creator, why do I expect them to listen to me? We have to stop hindering and mistreating each other. What good comes of it?

"A mob of 10,000 white men destroyed the prosperous black community of Tulsa, known as Greenwood or Black Wall Street. The white community, resenting the success of their African-American neighbors, killed at least 300 black residents, possibly many more. "

Philippine priest in ancient battle with 'demons' - Yahoo! News

Philippine priest in ancient battle with 'demons' - Yahoo! News
"With God by your side, you can do no wrong."
This article is about a priest who left a comfortable lifestyle to serve the Lord in a capacity that many pretend do not exist. He banishes demons and unclean spirits from the souls of humans.

Japan: Significant Needs in Remote Quake and Tsunami-hit Areas | Doctors Without Borders

Japan: Significant Needs in Remote Quake and Tsunami-hit Areas | Doctors Without Borders

Oxygen, non-food, medical items and water needed.

7 Ways You're Exposed to Radiation -- When Should You Worry? (When should you pray.)

7 Ways You're Exposed to Radiation -- When Should You Worry?
We humans should stop poisoning the earth. Radiation affects all living things--animal, plant and human. These facts are based on adult exposure, not children, women in their childbearing years, infants or babies-in-the-womb.

Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Jay Carney aboard Air Force One en route Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Barack Obama | Government News from the White House and Congress - Senate/House of Representatives

Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Jay Carney aboard Air Force One en route Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Barack Obama | Government News from the White House and Congress - Senate/House of Representatives

Release Time:

For Immediate Release

Aboard Air Force One
En Route Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1:06 P.M. EDT

MR. CARNEY: So, here we are flying to Philadelphia. I’m here to gaggle. And I just wanted to quickly brief you on phone calls the President made this morning to Senator Reid and to Speaker Boehner. He had good conversations with both leaders, got an update on negotiations over funding for fiscal year 2011, and will monitor progress as the day progresses -- as the day continues, and will -- he’ll call another meeting at the White House if he believes that that’s required. But for now, he was just getting an update.

Q Can you provide an update on the thinking from the White House now on a short-term CR just until they can finalize these negotiations?

MR. CARNEY: What the President said yesterday is what his position is today, which is that he would entertain a essentially clean, very short-term CR if there were an agreement entrain and all that was necessary was a few more days to essentially file the paperwork and get it through the process on Capitol Hill.

Q Jay, the President said yesterday that he would call another meeting today if there wasn’t an agreement yesterday, and then the next day if there wasn’t an agreement --

MR. CARNEY: No, he said if there wasn’t progress. And we all -- you all have reported that there has been some progress in these conversations, in these meetings. And that’s good, obviously -- not an agreement, but progress. And he will monitor the progress or lack thereof on the Hill and will call a meeting if he thinks it’s necessary.

Q With that said --

Q -- his speech to come back for the meeting?

MR. CARNEY: He’ll call a meeting at whatever hour of the day is necessary if he believes that progress is not being made, because we are very close to a situation that would bring about a shutdown in government. And he thinks it would be the -- highly unnecessary and the height of irresponsibility to not get an agreement when agreement is so clearly within reach.

We are, as we talked about yesterday, the Democrats and the President have shown -- demonstrated a willingness to move more than halfway towards the Republicans, willingness to accept the largest domestic discretionary spending cuts in history, discretionary spending cuts that represent the largest cuts as a percentage of GDP since 1982, cuts in programs that in an ideal world he would not want to have to make.

So he’s -- but also he’s laid out his priorities and the choices that he thinks face us now as we are in these final stages of negotiations.

Q Will the President still go to New York even if he needs to call a meeting?

MR. CARNEY: We have no -- well, that's an “if, if” question, a speculative question. We have no plans to change our schedule. As I said, if a meeting needed to be called -- and as of now, there are reports of progress on the Hill. So I’m not saying -- I’m not saying a meeting will happen or not happen today. It may happen tomorrow if necessary. Or as he said, if he needs to meet tomorrow, he’ll meet tomorrow. If he needs to meet today, he’ll meet today, Thursday, Friday, as the President said yesterday.

Q Is he going to talk about that in either appearance today, about the budget negotiations?

MR. CARNEY: I don't want to anticipate what he’ll say. The trip to Philadelphia, he’ll have a town hall meeting to talk about things that Americans really care about as opposed to bickering in Washington over very small -- small ball.

Q Right, but they care about whether the government will shut down or not, right?

MR. CARNEY: Well, they care about gas prices and they care about how energy prices affect their livelihoods and they care deeply about an energy policy that would reduce our dependence on foreign oil in the long term so that we don't have these kind of situations, the shock that people get when prices go up at the gas pump like they have.

So I think that most Americans would -- you would find are much more worried about that than they are about CR FY2011 budget negotiations.

Q Can I just ask one more -- on the wire, it said, right before we took off, that “U.S. official says Qaddafi appeals to Obama in a letter to halt NATO campaign.” Can you -- do you have anything on that, Jay?

MR. CARNEY: Well, we can confirm that there was a letter, but obviously not the first. And the issue of a ceasefire is, as the President made clear when he announced his decision a number of weeks ago, is that it’s not a question of the conditions to -- the conditions the President laid out were clear, which is action, not words -- cessation of violence, withdrawal from the cities and the menacing sort of positions that the Qaddafi forces had taken. And I would just leave it at that, that words are different from actions.

Q Did he talk to President Karzai this morning about the Koran burning?

MR. CARNEY: He did have a SVTC with President Karzai, but I don’t have a readout on the meeting.

Q Will there be a readout later, do you think?

MR. CARNEY: I’ll have to check. I don’t know.

Q Just real quickly back to the budget, would Democrats and the White House accept a $40 billion tax cut package if it did include the riders?

MR. CARNEY: I’m not going to negotiate the elements of an agreement. What I would say is $40 billion is $80 billion; 33 is 73 -- $73 billion, which the President and the Democrats have shown that they are willing to accept, is a great deal more than halfway towards the Republicans. It is also the very amount of spending cuts that the Speaker of the House, the leader of the Republican Party in the House, and the chairman of the House Republican Appropriations Committee identified initially as their target, their goal -- $73 billion, largest cuts in history.

So that’s our position and we believe that what separates us here is not a question about who is for spending cuts and who is not, but an issue over choices made that are -- need to be made in terms of what the composition of those cuts are and choices that we think are -- need to be made based on priorities like funding for education, funding for medical research, funding for Head Start, and not, as I’ve said before, funding for highway earmarks or military spending that the Pentagon has already said it does not want and does not need.

So those are the choices we believe are on the table.

Q Thank you.

MR. CARNEY: Thanks, guys.

END
1:13 P.M. EDT