US Rep Frank Guinta - Frank's Footnotes: My Fight Against Rising Gas Prices

Getting The Gas We Need: My fight to keep fuel costs low
Whether you filled your car’s gas tank this week, or are a senior citizen trying to come up with the cash to heat your home, we’re all getting stung as gas and oil prices keep moving sharply upward. Be assured I’m paying close attention to these rising prices that are hitting you hard right in your wallet. I’ve actively supported legislation that embraces an “all of the above” approach to energy production since I came to Congress last year. On Thursday, I voted for H.R. 3408 – the Protecting Investment in Oil Shale the Next Generation of Environmental, Energy, and Resource Security (PIONEERS) Act. This legislation is a bipartisan plan to expand offshore energy production, safely open small parts of ANWR for oil and natural gas production, encourage the development of 1.5 trillion barrels of oil shale in the West, and approve the much-needed Keystone XL pipeline. It would create over 1.2 million jobs, raise over $4.3 billion in new federal revenues and lower gas prices. Although I was the only Representative from New England to support this bill, I was glad it passed with a bipartisan vote of 237-187. I’m also fighting to fully fund fuel assistance for thousands of seniors and low-income Granite Staters. A more limited government requires setting priorities, and fully funding LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) should be one of them. I recently joined my House colleagues in sending a letter to President Obama, asking him to at least maintain LIHEAP’s current funding level. Sadly though, that isn’t reflected in his new budget proposal I will discuss later. In fact, he’s trying to cut it by $452 million next year. That would cause hardship for thousands of Granite Staters who rely on LIHEAP to keep warm during our long New England winters. I will continue to keep you updated on my efforts to lower fuel costs and to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

	Shining The Job Spotlight On Portsmouth: Ready for my next Job Fair on Wednesday
	Click image above to watch a video announcement Final preparations are underway for the special job fair I’m hosting in Portsmouth next Wednesday, February 22. Representatives from nearly 40 employers will be on hand from 10:00 a.m. through 2:00 p.m. at Great Bay Community College, located at 320 Corporate Drive. A total of 650 attendees attended the three job fairs I held last year in Derry, Rochester and Manchester, and I’m expecting next week’s event to be just as successful as they were. Click here to learn more about next week's job fair. People often tell me one of the things they enjoy most about these Job Fairs is they return the human connection to job seeking. If you’ve looked for work recently, you know most employers require you to apply for jobs online. Your resume and application are tossed into a giant electronic pile… and then you wait. Things are different at these job fairs. Employers and would-be employees meet face to face, and job seekers get to pitch skills and talents that aren’t often easily apparent from reading a resume. Be sure to tell your relatives, neighbors and friends about this job fair and I look forward to seeing you in Portsmouth on Wednesday. The Portsmouth Job Fair is a part of my ongoing "Getting Granite Staters Back to Work" initiative.  Click here to learn more about it!

	President Obama's New Budget Proposal: Like A Bad Movie You’ve Seen Too Many Times Before
	As I mentioned earlier, President Obama released his budget proposal for fiscal year 2013 on Monday. Regrettably, it’s like a bad movie you’ve seen too many times before. It’s just more of the same: more spending, more deficits, more taxes. It projects $3.8 trillion in spending, including billions for yet another round of short-term, stimulus-style spending instead of a serious plan for long-term job creation, a deficit of nearly $1 trillion, and seeks to impose at least $1.5 trillion in new taxes on small businesses and families over the next decade. President Obama told us the deficit would be cut in half by the end of his first term. Instead, his policies produced multiple trillion dollar deficits and the largest debt we’ve ever had (as a percentage of our economy) since World War II. As a member of the House Budget Committee, I’m already helping write a budget for FY 2013 that will focus on cutting wasteful spending and creating an environment where job creation flourishes. I look forward to updating you on our budget process, and progress, in the coming weeks.

	Keeping In Touch: Nearly 7,500 Granite Staters participate in Tele-Town Hall call
	For one hour Thursday evening, I talked with almost 7,500 fellow Granite Staters during a Tele-Town Hall conference call. I answered a wide range of questions covering everything from medical care for military veterans to the outlook for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard’s future. They also wanted to know what steps Congress can take to help our economy recover and grow jobs. Tele-Town Hall calls let me stay in touch with the people I serve while I’m working in Washington. I get to tell callers about the latest developments in Congress, and have the opportunity to go into greater detail than the typical twenty second TV news sound bite covers. Best of all, it keeps Granite Staters informed without leaving the comfort of their home, and gives me the opportunity to connect with thousands of people at the same time. I hope you’ll join me for my next Tele-Town Hall call in the near future.

ALG - Real unemployed rate rises to 11.01 percent, underemployed to 17.6 percent

Feb. 3, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the continued decline of the civilian labor force participation rate that dramatically alters the unemployment outlook by the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

"Once again, the civilian labor force participation rate has declined, from 64 percent to 63.7 percent in a single month.  Since January 2009, it has declined from 65.7 percent, resulting in approximately 4.7 million people no longer being counted towards the unemployment rate.  If they were included, the real rate of unemployed working age adults would be 11.01 percent, and the underemployed would be 17.6 percent.

"Overall, that includes the 12.7 million people that BLS says are actually unemployed, and then 4.7 million who have given up looking for work, plus another 10.5 million who can't find full-time work.  All together, there's 28 million working age adults who simply cannot find work in the Obama economy. 

"It is hard to separate the continued obfuscation of this harsh reality by the government from the fact that we are now in an election year."

Attachments:

"Obama's Lost Labor Force," By ALG President Bill Wilson, Jan. 6, 2012 at http://netrightdaily.com/2012/01/obamas-lost-labor-force/ .

NHDP - Statement on January Jobs Report

Concord, NH - New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley released the following statement on the January jobs report showing the economy added private sector jobs for the 23^rd straight month.

"Today's jobs report showing that the economy added 243,000 jobs in January is more confirmation that the swift action President Obama took to address the economic crisis is working.  While taking unprecedented steps to avoid another Great Depression, he began to lay a foundation for a stronger economy where such a collapse can never happen again. It's a blueprint based on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers and a renewal of the American values that made our nation's middle class the envy of the world - values like fairness and opportunity.   

"Mitt Romney and the Republicans in Washington don't share this vision.  They don't agree we should invest in our workers, our students or American industries like carmakers and clean energy. They don't agree that we should be rewarding companies only when they bring jobs back to America, not when they send them overseas. And just as baffling, Romney and the Republicans don't even admit that this reversal and recovery is happening."

ALG: Obama Claim of 3 Million Jobs Created in 22 Months a Lie

Jan. 26, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today in a statement dismissed Barack Obama's State of the Union claim that "[i]n the last 22 months, businesses have created more than 3 million jobs," citing data from the government's own Bureau of Labor Statistics:

"The Obama Administration is entitled to its own opinion, but not its own facts.  Since February 2010, when Obama starts measuring his claim that 3 million jobs were created, the amount of people employed has only increased from 138.66 million to 140.79 million, a net increase of only 2.13 million.  While that sounds nice, that is a pace of just 96,000 a month, which does not even keep up with the growth of the population, let alone replace the 8 million jobs that were lost in the recession.

"That means, when population growth and the loss of 4 million working age adults from the labor force who have simply stopped looking for work are fully taken into account, the unemployment situation has not improved at all. 

"We have an effective unemployment rate of 11 percent, and an underemployed rate of 17 percent. There are over 27 million working age adults who still cannot find full-time work, no thanks to Obama's 'stimulus' policies.  To lie about the horrific state of our economy and the plight of 27 million Americans who cannot find work is a crime against humanity. 

"It is time for new leadership who will honestly evaluate the situation, and prescribe the pro-growth policies to turn the Ship of State around from sinking into the Abyss."

Attachments:

Number of Persons Employed, Seasonally Adjusted, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Jan. 26, 2012 at www.getliberty.org/files/BLSEmployed2001-2011.xls .

"Obama's Lost Labor Force," Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson, Jan. 6, 2012 at http://netrightdaily.com/2012/01/obamas-lost-labor-force/ .

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

ALG - Real State of the Union is 'endangered'

Jan. 23, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement concerning tomorrow night's State of the Union Address:

"The State of the Union has become little more than a flashy political speech with hardly any substance to it whatsoever.  Obama will tout an 8.5 percent unemployment rate, when if the 4 million working-age adults who have been lost from the labor force were included, the real rate of joblessness would be closer to 11 percent, and the underemployed closer to 17 percent.  If Obama were not delivering a political speech, he might advise the American people that his 'stimulus' spending, borrowing, and printing policies have completely failed to turn the economy around and that a new direction is needed.

"If Obama were honest, he would be forced to tell the American people that the true State of the Union is endangered — by his own arbitrary executive actions in defiance of the separation of powers, the Constitution, and the rule of law.  He might tell the nation that public officials cannot simply do as they please; rather, they are guided and limited by the law.  He might remind us all that when they do act capriciously, the very fabric of civil society is ripped out from its roots.

"If Obama had any credibility, he would counsel the American people that instead of creating jobs and importing cheap energy from Canada via the Keystone pipeline, he chose instead to bow at the altar of environmental radicalism and is more interested in funneling money to bankrupt 'green' energy companies that neither create energy nor jobs.

"In short, if the American people were given a real assessment of the State of the Union, they might realize the immense damage that has been done to the country by the Obama Administration — in health care, the financial system, the national debt, energy, labor, the cost of doing business in America, and more — and advocate a change in leadership."

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.