Collins Encourages Corps of Engineers to Expedite Review of Hart State Park Proposal
State & National November 20, 2017
Collins Urges Corps of Engineers to Expedite Review of Hart State Park Proposal
WASHINGTON—Today Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers urging it to expedite its review of the proposal regarding Hart State Park. The complete letter is available below:
ICYMI: House Tax Reform Plan Focuses on US Workers
State & National November 7, 2017
ICYMI: House tax reform plan focuses on US workers
WASHINGTON—This op ed by Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) first appeared in the Gainesville Times on November 5, 2017.
Last Thursday introduced Northeast Georgians to what the House, Senate and president have been collaborating on since January: A conservative tax reform bill that makes the first meaningful improvements to the tax code since 1986, when I was a student at what was then North Georgia College and an intern on Capitol Hill.
Since then, time has passed and tax policy has changed, but not for the better. As pundits tackle the details of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, I want my neighbors to be confident knowing what conservatives are doing through tax reform and, perhaps more importantly, why we’re taking these steps.
The legislation the House has introduced focuses on replacing America’s labyrinth of a tax code with a plan driven by fairness, simplicity and opportunity. The IRS has reached its tentacles deep into the pockets of American workers and families to feed a bloated federal government.
I’d like to cut off those tentacles and allow everyday Americans to keep more of the money they earned by the sweat of their brows. I believe that comprehensive tax reform, specifically the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, is the answer to our country’s economic malaise. Our friends across the aisle disagree. Why?
There are two possibilities that explain why someone would oppose President Donald Trump’s call for middle-class tax reform. The person either doesn’t believe that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will actually bring relief to families and job creators or doesn’t think empowering working Americans represents a worthy goal.
Those who claim that our tax plan pads the wallets of the wealthy at the expense of middle America already have been refuted by The Washington Post, which investigated claims that this legislation would raise taxes across the middle class. Senate Democrats tattooed their false claims all over Twitter, and even the mainstream media awarded those claims with “four Pinocchios.” In fact, a family of four earning the median annual income of $59,000 would see their tax burden drop by $1,182, from $1,582 to $400.
To use another example with our community in mind, a firefighter with a $48,000 income would move from the 25 percent income tax bracket to the 12 percent bracket and see his standard deduction double from $6,350 to $12,000. Under this plan, his tax bill would fall to $3,872 from $5,173, and he could invest the $1,301 difference in building his own American dream.
Meanwhile, we’ve raised the Child Tax Credit from $1,000 to $1,600 per child and included $300 credits for adult dependents. We’re getting rid of loopholes in the tax code and killing the death tax, which targets family farms and businesses with double-taxation. We’re reducing the corporate rate from an unsustainable 35 percent to 20 percent so that businesses will bring jobs back home.
And I’m inviting you to fact check us. Anyone can read the text of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and other resources at fairandsimple.gop.
If the Republican tax plan actually does deliver tax relief to middle class filers—and it does—and if it does level the global playing field to allow businesses to close up their shops across the ocean and drop deep roots into American soil, then why would anyone oppose it? Because their objection isn’t practical. It’s ideological.
America’s economy remains the most productive in the world, and the American worker is the foundation of that economy. Conservatives who embrace tax reform want to ensure that hardworking Americans enjoy and invest more of what they earn because we trust them. We recognize that the American worker is industrious and innovative, and that’s what fuels our economy.
Liberals, on the other hand, don’t trust their fellow Americans to make good choices. They believe we have no hope outside of bureaucrats. So their logic demands that they fight to keep control of Americans and their money. Tax reform upsets Democrats because they want to make the government bigger, and they want to use their neighbors’ paychecks to do that.
President Trump and I believe that America’s greatness comes from free people making free choices in a free market. Democrats think its greatness comes from big government. They think Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer hold the keys to Gainesville’s success.
In reality, though, Democrats have no hope to offer northeast Georgians because they have no confidence in northeast Georgians (or in most Americans, for that matter). And while the president and Republicans in the House are working to make America stronger, to preserve our position as world leader, liberals want to apologize for what American workers have built and to undermine what their neighbors value.
The last administration tried to spend and stimulate its way to economic success, and we call those eight years the Great Recession. In contrast, conservatives in the House are spending this weekend telling their constituents we recognize that America’s future depends on her workers and families, rather than on Washington.
That’s why our tax reform plan insists that we make our neighbors the agents of their futures once again. We’re offering Americans tax relief today because that’s how we can build a stronger tomorrow.
Doug Collins represents Georgia’s 9th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Media Update: Collins Helps House Pass Bill to Protect Medicare Access
News, State & National November 3, 2017
Collins Helps House Pass Bill to Protect Medicare Access
WASHINGTON—Today Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) helped the House of Representatives pass H.R. 849, the Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare Act of 2017, legislation that would repeal an Obamacare provision that threatens seniors’ access to care.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), known as Obamacare, established the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), which can be empowered to cut Medicare spending and services without Congressional or administrative oversight. The ACA designed the board to be comprised of fifteen unelected officials, and the Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare Act would repeal the ACA provision that created the IPAB.
“The Obama Administration’s move toward socialized medicine gave the Independent Payment Advisory Board broad power to limit access to Medicare for senior Americans. Concentrating such power in the hands of a few bureaucrats risks our neighbors’ access to care, and the Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare Act would correct this flaw by repealing the IPAB. This bill would instead protect seniors’ access to health care and encourage meaningful reforms to make Medicare sustainable.
“I am thankful for Congressman Roe’s leadership on this issue and am proud to join my colleagues in voting to repeal this dangerous board,” said Collins.
Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) introduced H.R. 849, and Collins co-sponsored the bill.
FYN Interviews Rebbeca Yardley on Georgia’s 2018 Sine Die – Last Day of Legislative Session
Politics, State & National March 29, 2018
It’s Sine Die day, that means it’s the last day of the 2018 Legislative Session! Interviews First Vice Chairman of Georgia Congress 9th District GOP Rebecca Yardley on the experience and what to expect from the Georgia Capitol today!
The Music Modernization Act Will Provide a Needed Update to Copyright Laws
State & National January 12, 2018ICYMI: The Music Modernization Act Will Provide a Needed Update to Copyright Laws
WASHINGTON—This op ed by Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) first appeared in The Hill on January 11, 2018.
I spent my northeast Georgia youth replaying tracks from “Bat Out of Hell” and “Hotel California.” And, of course, staples from Steely Dan. I welcomed the evolution from the 8-track to cassette to CD, but the LP and 45 vinyl predate even me. So, I was stunned to learn, as a member of the House Judiciary Committee—which has jurisdiction over intellectual property rights—that some of the copyright law governing music licensing was actually designed to regulate the player piano and has endured more than a century without meaningful update.
An overview of the music licensing landscape reveals that the status quo isn’t serving industry stakeholders, so the question becomes one of sustainability. Can music lovers count on a robust pipeline of tunes to carry them into the future? Absent substantive changes to the system that has disenfranchised creators, songwriters, publishers and even digital providers have their doubts. But efforts to unify these creators, digital streaming services and other key players around a path forward have faltered until recently. Very recently.
This December, countless hours of collaboration and cooperation came to fruition in a compromise that would be the most substantial update to copyright law since 1998. Today, our jeans pockets are more likely to be lined with iPhones than lint balls, yet the laws that currently regulate how tech giants like Spotify pay songwriters were cemented before the concept of digital streaming was born. The Music Modernization Act (MMA) would literally usher copyright laws into the 21st century.
The bill tackles four dimensions of music licensing. First, the bill addresses the fact that digital music companies regularly fail to pay songwriters and copyright owners properly for interactive streaming services. The trouble often arises from inefficiencies and information gaps.
Tech companies like Amazon Music, Spotify, and Google Play frequently file bulk Notice of Intentions (NOIs) with the Copyright Office that allow them to obtain a license for music for which they can’t locate ownership information. Since this process became available in 2016, some estimated 45 million NOIs have been filed with the Copyright Office.
This “bulk NOI” shortcut has taken millions of dollars in income out of the pockets of songwriters who rely on streaming services to find the proper owners of music and issue those owners prompt and appropriate payment. It’s also left tech companies legally exposed when they use music without knowing or paying its owners.
The MMA renovates the NOI process so that music creators get paid and digital companies reduce their liability and increase operational efficiencies. The legislation would establish a Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) that would accurately compensate songwriters for the mechanical royalties they earn through interactive streaming. In exchange, the collective would afford digital providers—which would fund the collective—with blanket usage licenses for songs.
The MLC would accomplish this by providing the digital services with efficient access to the information they need in order to know which songwriters to pay for which songs. Though songwriters have never had a seat at the music licensing table, both publishers and songwriters would sit on the board of the MLC to ensure it operates transparently.
The MMA also provides songwriters a chance to get fair-market mechanical royalty rates (the rate paid for the reproduction and distribution of a song) in the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) proceedings that set those rates every five years. As it stands, songwriters can’t set prices for their own work. Instead, CRB judges determine royalty rates based on an outdated test that has depressed rates for decades. The MMA changes the standard the board uses to a “willing buyer/willing seller” consideration. In other words, the CRB would set the rates to reflect the market value of the corresponding use of a song.
Finally, the bill improves the process through which performance royalty rates (the rate paid to song writers when their music is played for an audience) are set for BMI and ASCAP, the two largest performance rights organizations. Currently, ASCAP and BMI cases are each assigned to a respective judge. The MMA would implement a rotation of the judges who decide ASCAP and BMI cases and would enable the rate court judges to consider relevant market-based evidence when determining performance rates for songwriters. Again, this change moves the industry toward a fairer, freer market for music licensing, and that benefits music creators, music providers and music lovers alike.
The MMA is unprecedented not only for what it sets out to do, but for who has signed on. The Digital Media Association (DiMA)—representing Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Pandora, Rhapsody, Spotify and YouTube—and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA)—representing U.S. music publishers and songwriters—both support the bill.
Songwriters groups including ASCAP, BMI, the Nashville Songwriters Association International, Songwriters of North America and others have also welcomed this legislation as a compromise that benefits a cross-spectrum of stakeholders.
So, too, have labels and artists, as reflected in the support of the Recording Industry Association of America, American Association of Independent Music, American Federation of Musicians, Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, SoundExchange and the Grammys.
Knowing that today’s music ecosystem suffers under heavy-handed government intervention and defunct copyright policy, I’m grateful that my colleagues Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) look past partisanship toward solutions that will take music licensing from the dark ages into the digital age.
The agreement that creators and digital providers have struck also testifies to the leadership of Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who made copyright reform a priority for the House Judiciary Committee. As we look forward to a markup of the Music Modernization Act in the coming weeks, the question is not whether we have a viable resolution to an industry stalemate but whether we have the resolve to see that agreement through. I believe we do.
Rep. Doug Collins has represented Georgia’s 9th District since 2013. He is the Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference and a member of the Judiciary and Rules Committees.
Collins Discusses Abedin Email Revelation with Fox News
State & National January 4, 2018
ICYMI: Collins Discusses Abedin Email Revelation with Fox News
WASHINGTON—Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) joined Fox News today to unpack the latest developments surrounding the Russia investigation and the revelation that Secretary Clinton’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Huma Abedin, shared classified information over a private email account.
On whether any evidence shows collusion in the Russia investigation:
“I think what we’ve seen is none at this point. . . . Let the investigation go. If somebody did something wrong, we’ve always said those should be held accountable.”
“The frustration here is ‘What are we actually going for?’ The president has got an agenda to move American forward . . . we need to focus on what really matters, and, look, Democrats are just simply playing politics with this issue again.”
“Let’s see where the facts lead. This is something that’s been investigated. It’s being investigated—not only through the Mueller investigation, if there’s a Russian connection—but it’s also being investigated on Capitol Hill, both in the Senate and in the House.”
On the revelation that Huma Abedin shared State Department information over a private e-mail account:
“Democrats can say it’s partisan, but I’m just simply saying, ‘What is the law?’ and you can’t be in a position that Hillary Clinton was in or Huma Abedin was in and actually be in a position to say, ‘Oops, I just didn’t know—Oops, it was careless.’ No, it was gross negligence.”
Second Special Counsel Would Boost DOJ’s Credibility
State & National December 6, 2017
ICYMI: A Second Special Counsel Would Boost the DOJ’s Credibility
WASHINGTON—This op ed by Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) first appeared in RealClearPolicy on December 5, 2017.
Recently, the House Judiciary Committee conducted an oversight hearing of the Department of Justice (DOJ) that allowed representatives from both parties to question Attorney General Jeff Sessions. In response, some have asserted that appointing a second special counsel to investigate decisions made by the DOJ in 2016 would be a partisan maneuver, damaging the independence of the Department.
I too am concerned about preserving the independence of the Justice Department — which is precisely why Judiciary Committee Republicans have called for a special counsel to investigate matters outside the scope of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
The Judiciary Committee’s letters have been belittled as “a laundry list of Republican grievances about Clinton and former FBI director James B. Comey.” But they document persistent and unanswered questions about the independence of the DOJ, and specifically whether it may have been compromised under the Obama administration. These letters are themselves tools of oversight to be used on behalf of the millions of Americans whose democratic government owes them answers.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s independent e-mail server warranted a DOJ investigation, even if former Attorney General Loretta Lynch provided one in name only. (Actually, she failed to deliver even that, instructing former FBI Director James Comey to call the investigation a “matter.”) Americans are well-stocked with outstanding questions about how the DOJ handled these issues, and the specter of favoritism still looms over the Obama DOJ. The possibility that the department made decisions to aid a political candidate is a potential threat to democracy — one that deserves a DOJ investigation today just as it did in 2016.
At the same time, I recognize that some of my friends across the aisle lack confidence that a Republican-appointed DOJ would conduct such an investigation impartially. Hearing those concerns, I submit that a second special counsel offers Americans the opportunity to pursue answers to these questions without even the appearance of partisan impropriety. After all, independent counsels are like dentists: They scare everyone who hasn’t flossed.
Concerns about DOJ investigations and appointing special counsels too often come to us frosted in hyper-partisan language. This obscures the crux of the liberal argument against the move: Neither the DOJ under Attorney General Jeff Sessions nor an independent special counsel is capable of investigating Clinton. According to this logic, there exists no credible path for investigating potential favoritism on the part of America’s chief law enforcement officials. It would follow that the world’s strongest democracy is impotent when it comes to pursuing objective, unfettered, non-partisan accountability of its own federal agencies.
As a member of the committee charged with exercising oversight of the entire Department of Justice and the representative of approximately 700,000 Georgian voices, I have a bit more faith in the checks and balances that undergird our justice system — including the utility of the special counsel position.
Party loyalty aside, the DOJ made many decisions last year that have led to a host of unresolved questions, and the American people deserve answers. For example, why did former Attorney General Lynch direct former FBI Director Comey to mislead the American people on the nature of the Clinton investigation? Why did Mr. Comey prepare a statement ending the investigation into former Secretary Clinton before interviewing 17 key witnesses, including the former secretary herself?
These and other questions about the independence of the DOJ continue to cast a shadow on our nation’s justice system. By addressing them directly, a second special counsel could strengthen the DOJ’s credibility, reestablishing its reputation as a non-partisan agent of justice.
Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) is Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference and a member of the House Judiciary Committee.
Collins Statement on House Passage of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
State & National November 17, 2017
WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives today passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference, issued the following statement in response:
“This afternoon, the People’s House reaffirmed its confidence in American workers and families by passing comprehensive tax reform. The last three decades empowered the IRS to dig its tentacles deeper into the wallets of our neighbors, and we acted to reverse that trend today.
“Middle-class Americans and job creators deserve relief from burdensome taxes and the opportunity to pursue more of their ambitions on their terms. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act can deliver on both fronts on behalf of our nation’s families and future.”
Northeast Georgia Worker to Attend State of the Union with Collins
Politics, Press Release January 29, 2018
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Media Update: House Passes Collins Bill to Honor Fallen Clermont Marine
State & National November 16, 2017
House Passes Collins Bill to Honor Fallen Clermont Marine
WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives today voted unanimously to pass H.R. 3821, to rename Georgia’s Clermont Post Office in honor of Zack T. Addington. Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) introduced the bill this September, and it will now proceed to the Senate for consideration.
“I’m pleased to see my colleagues in the House recognize the legacy of Lance Corporal Addington, who remains an example of selfless courage to our community in northeast Georgia,” said Collins.
Collins also honored Addington when he spoke about the bill on the House floor.
Background:
Known to his neighbors as Zack, Addington joined the United States Marine Corps in 1967. A native of Clermont, he became a rifleman in the 3rd Marine Division of the Fleet Marine Force and deployed to Vietnam that year. Addington was promoted to Lance Corporal and served his country honorably until he was killed in action in May 1968.
That June, Addington received the Purple Heart, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal and Republic of Vietnam Campaign Ribbon in recognition of his service there.
ICYMI: Thousands in North GA Don’t Have Reliable Internet
State & National November 14, 2017
ICYMI: It’s 2017, but thousands in north GA don’t have access to reliable internet
ATLANTA—WSB TV reports that thousands of northeast Georgians lack access to reliable broadband services while their internet provider has received millions in federal tax dollars. Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) hears regularly from neighbors who are frustrated with their lack of internet access, and he has been working to address the challenge.
WSB’s investigation led to a two-part story tackling the problem and considering solutions, including Collins’s GO Act, which would promote broadband development in underserved areas like north Georgia.
PROBLEM:
WSB: “You have federal tax dollars here going to provide a service. Do you believe that service is being provided?”
Collins: “Right now, in northeast Georgia, no, they’re not.”
SOLUTION:
Collins: “We’re trying to take a proactive solution while at the same time holding accountable the federal dollars that are supposed to be going for this.”
ICYMI: Liberals Shun Science, Defy Obama in Poultry Production
Politics, State & National September 29, 2017
Liberals shun science, defy Obama in poultry production
WASHINGTON—This op ed by Congressman Doug Collins (R-Ga.) first appeared in The Hill on September 27, 2017.
Not much has changed since 1906, when Upton Sinclair dropped his magnum opus on a world in the throes of industrialization.
At least, that’s the picture that liberals like Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) are propagating: Big business is forcing poultry workers to brave conditions straight out of “The Jungle,” and “any attempt to increase lines speeds” at poultry plants would erode food and worker safety.
If these claims were rooted in reality, allowing producers to increase the speeds of certain processing lines might be inappropriate, especially since my northeast Georgia home is the poultry capital of the world. My neighbors have made their careers in this industry. We see each other at church and at the grocery store, and I want only their safety and success.
If we’re being honest, though, we admit that a lot has changed since 1906, and scientific advances have transformed the industrial landscape and equipped us to evaluate accusations leveled by my friends across the aisle.
Unfortunately, opponents of increasing line speeds have scuttled a broad range of scientific disciplines in order to advance their anti-poultry position. They walk a road so extreme and so hostile to empirical evidence that it requires them to break with President Obama himself, whose administration introduced a rule that would have allowed processors to increase their line speeds safely (and, in so doing, to benefit American workers and consumers).
The first casualty of their argument is geography. These critics say that faster line speeds would force workers on those lines to dismember chickens at dangerous rates. The geography of the production process, however, makes their claim disingenuous.
Poultry plants exist in two distinct sections—one for first processing and one for second processing. Every petition to raise line speeds that I’m familiar with applies strictly to the first-processing zone, where birds enter the plant and undergo cleaning to make the food safer before ending this journey in chillers. The primary duty of workers on these lines is inspection. They wield cotton swabs, not paring knives.
Workers who debone the birds operate only in second-processing areas, physically separate from the largely-automated first-processing lines. The chillers represent a full stop in the process and physical division between these sections of a plant, so raising line speeds in the first area doesn’t require work speeds in the second area to increase. The geography lesson here is simple: The layout of these plants means that increases in line speeds in the first-processing zones would, by design, not jeopardize worker safety.
Line-speed skeptics also ignore biology. Since 2007, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has overseen a pilot program for plants operating at speeds of up to 175 birds per minute (bpm). These plants had implemented new safety models that shifted focus from low-value activities—like checking birds for bruises or remaining feathers—to high-value food safety tasks like microbial testing.
A landmark study demonstrated that plants with higher line speeds met or exceeded FSIS food safety standards. Among other successes, FSIS (that is, the government inspectors) saw the percentages of unacceptable samples for E. coli fall from 3.9 percent to 0.7 percent while the plants were able to operate at increased speeds. The rates of Salmonella and Campylobacte
Why would anyone shun innovation that improves both efficiencies and product quality while guarding employee welfare?
I can’t answer that, but we do know this: Such objectors dismiss ergonomic data—even when it comes from federal regulators. They fly the banner of worker safety and efficiency in theory but seem to disregard insight from the Department of Labor, which reports that the poultry industry’s 2015 illness and injury rate was 4.3 cases per 100 full-time workers compared to a rate of 4.7 cases for the food manufacturing sector at large. According to these records, the men and women engaged in poultry processing have found a safer career than those working in the average tortilla manufacturer or bottled water operation.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reports that injury and illness rates among poultry employees have fallen 81 percent since 1994. So, as poultry plants have become more efficient, they have also become safer for the individuals operating them. Innovation is not a zero-sum game.
Yet, in the face of scientific data, industry detractors demonize even economics and its positive externalities. They bemoan the news that poultry “profits are soaring” and decry a company that reported its earnings for “bragging.”
Yet successful companies often find themselves in the best position to supply the market with more affordable goods, and that dynamic serves American consumers—especially the middle class, who spend a greater portion of their income on staples like food than higher-earners do.
The economic cost of locking our producers into slower line speeds became clear in 2010, when Brazil outpaced the U.S. as the world’s leading poultry broiler meat exporter. Like operations in Canada, Europe and Asia, Brazilian plants can run at line speeds of over 200 bpm. Handcuffing American consumers and producers to arbitrarily low line-speeds hurts our economy and may even undermine food and worker safety, both of which have improved as line speeds have increased and oversight techniques have advanced.
Liberals appropriate the stories of individual poultry employees without disclosing that they don’t actually work on the lines in question here. They jettison a host of scientific data because it is inconvenient to their narrative of doom, gloom and righteous indignation.
We serve our neighbors best when we allow evidence to mobilize our empathy. Scientific analysis demonstrates that innovation has simultaneously improved worker safety, product quality and operational efficiencies across the poultry industry, which means that they’re protecting and stewarding America’s most valuable resource—our workers.
Rep. Doug Collins has represented Georgia’s 9th District since 2013. He is the Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference and a member of the Judiciary and Rules Committees.
Collins Discusses Obamacare Skinny Repeal and Tax Reform on Fox Business
Politics July 28, 2017
WASHINGTON—Today, Congressman Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference, spoke with Fox Business Network’s Neil Cavuto about the mechanics of an effective repeal of the Affordable Care Act and the need for comprehensive tax reform.
“Conservative” Republican Congressman Tom Graves refuses to support English as the official language of the United States.
Opinion October 5, 2018
Submitted By: D.A. King
While the political world is focused on the lunacy in Washington DC, conservative, pro-English voters in Georgia’s 14th congressional district may have an interest in Republican Congressman Tom Graves’ very curious and un-conservative anti-English stance.
HR 997 – the English Unity Act – was introduced last year in the U.S. House by conservative Steve King. The legislation establishes English as the official language of the United States. The bill is often falsely described as “English only” when in fact it is “English as official” – not “only.” Comprende?
Readers can learn more about the official English movement bt visiting the non-profit website, Pro-English.org
Also in the legislation:
*Naturalization ceremonies and official functions of the U.S. government, subject to exceptions, must be conducted in English.
*The bill declares that all citizens should be able to read and understand generally the English language text of U.S. laws.
*A person injured by a violation of this bill may obtain relief, including a declaratory judgment, in a civil action.
*English language requirements and workplace policies, whether in the public or private sector, shall be presumptively consistent with U.S. laws. Any ambiguity in U.S. laws shall be resolved in accordance with the rights retained by the people and the powers reserved to states under the Bill of Rights.
*The Department of Homeland Security shall issue a proposed rule for uniform testing of the English language ability of candidates for naturalization based upon the principles that: (1) all citizens should be able to read and understand generally the English language text of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the laws of the United States; and (2) any exceptions to this standard should be limited to extraordinary circumstances, such as asylum.
The little known fact is that the United States has no official language, despite huge public support for official English. It is worth noting that the U.S. and Georgia Chambers of Commerce are stridently opposed to this nationally unifying concept.
Maybe that is why Graves has repeatedly refused to help with passage of this commonsense and voter-popular bill by co-sponsoring and is on record as telling political pundit Phil Kent that “this is not one of my top priorities right now.”
It wasn’t a priority last year or the year before either.
As readers no doubt are aware, all congressmen enjoy feedback and contact from constituents. Maybe readers can move support for official English up Congressman Tom Graves priority list with a respectful but firm phone call to his Washington DC office. The phone number there is 202) 225-5211.
It could very well be that Mr. Graves doesn’t think you know anything about this issue.
D.A. King of Marietta is president of the pro-English Dustin Inman Society. www.TheDustinInmanSociety.org
Collins Praises House Passage of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Conference Report
State & National December 20, 2017
Collins Praises House Passage of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Conference Report
WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives passed the conference report to H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This move sends the bill to the Senate for a final vote that would land the bill on the president’s desk. Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference, issued the following statement in response:
“Today’s vote in the People’s House helps turn promise and potential into reality. Republicans have confidence in the potential of the American worker to make our country grow again—that’s why they are the foundation of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. We’re giving job creators more reasons to invest in America’s workforce, strengthening our economy and our communities. We’re making the IRS less ravenous and putting more money back in the hands of American families so that they can pursue more of their ambitions on their own terms. A decade of the status quo has guaranteed us only a stagnant economy. Republicans promised to reform a broken, bloated tax system so that Americans can chart a path out of economic anxiety and into economic empowerment. We’re keeping that promise today.”
ICYMI: Collins Discusses Rosenstein Briefing and Tax Reform
State & National December 15, 2017
Collins Discusses Rosenstein Briefing and Tax Reform
WASHINGTON—Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference and member of the House Judiciary Committee, joined Fox News today to discuss the House Judiciary Committee’s oversight hearing with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. He also spoke with Fox Business about the status of conservative tax reform and potential for infrastructure development in 2018.
On whether the Deputy Attorney General offered satisfactory answers at the oversight hearing:
“No, I’m not satisfied at all. In fact, Mr. Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General, shouldn’t be satisfied.”
“We’ve not even answered simple things like is [Strzok] still in communication with the Mueller team? Does he have a security clearance? Why was he put in human resources where he could influence other people?”
On the status of tax reform:
“We’re on the . . . very verge of getting exactly what we’ve told the American people we’re going to do and what the president said—by the end of this year, by Christmas actually, we’re going to pass a tax reform package that begins the process of doing what I’ve said before. We’ve got the best workers in the world, we’ve got the best ideas in the world, we’ve got an energy independence—we’ve got the worst tax system.
“Now we’re able to start saying we’ve got a tax system that puts us competitive not only with the world but [that] puts money into people’s pockets come the first of the year, and that’s something we’re excited about.”