Gingrich Calls on Obama to End Bailouts

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich today called on the Obama administration to abandon the strategy of bailing out failing companies, and instead insist that companies choose bankruptcy or receivership as the only way to restore a sense of order and fairness to the economic system.

This includes AIG, who recent reports suggest is going to need another bailout even while rewarding its executives $165 million in bonuses.

In his weekly newsletter for HumanEvents.com, The Newt Gingrich Letter, Gingrich writes about the outrage over the bonuses being paid to AIG executives:

"The cure for our outrage is not merely, as President Obama is demanding, that AIG be prevented from paying its executives... Nor is it acceptable to ask Americans to keep throwing their tax dollars at failed companies and their leaders.

The answer is an old fashioned one: AIG should choose between receivership or bankruptcy. It should not be allowed to choose more bailouts from the taxpayer."

Gingrich continues:

"Thanks to the Bush-Obama-Geithner policy of bailing out failing companies, we now have the worst of all possible scenarios: A taxpayer subsidized, government supervised private company; an unsustainable public/private hybrid that is too public to make its own decisions and too private to be responsible to the taxpayers that are keeping it alive.

"Outrages like the fat cat bonuses currently dominating the headlines will only continue as long as the rule of politicians supplants the rule of law on Wall Street.

"Bankruptcy would replace the rule of politicians over U.S. financial institutions with the rule of law."

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Subcommittee Examines Efficiency of Nation's Transportation Infrastructure

Today, the Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation held a hearing to review ongoing Federal, State, academic, and industry research and development (R&D) activities intended to reduce lifecycle energy consumption and fuel use, and also to promote sustainability for surface transportation infrastructure.

“There are approximately 4 million miles of roads in this country and Americans drive approximately 4 trillion miles per year,” noted Subcommittee Ranking Member Phil Gingrey (R-GA). “To support all this traffic, government expenditures on our highways are approximately $140 billion annually. Unfortunately, even with this constant influx in spending, our infrastructure cannot support our growing traffic needs.”

Gingrey continued, “The priority of research and development in the transportation sector has lagged behind construction and rehabilitation, but the challenges that now face our transportation infrastructure will require innovative designs and technologies.”

The surface transportation sector is a major contributor to energy use and pollution, accounting for approximately 33 percent of carbon emissions in the U.S. annually. While materials and technologies currently exist to combat pollution and energy waste from transportation infrastructure, there are cost and other logistical decisions that have limited their widespread implementation.

Advocating for a larger research budget at the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) spoke highly of efforts to promote a more efficient, sustainable transportation infrastructure, noting that further research would pay for itself in the long term. Within the U.S. Department of Transportation, RITA has sought to effectively prioritize transportation research programs, identify innovation gaps, and coordinate research and technology efforts within the Department, and throughout the transportation community.

Further highlighting the benefits of increased investments in R&D, one of today’s witnesses, Dr. Christopher Poe, Assistant Agency Director at the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), cited a study conducted by TTI in order to estimate the benefits of improving mobility in congested Texas cities. The 2003 study concluded that an increase in spending of $66 billion, in order to reduce traffic congestion, would generate $540 billion in savings from lower travel delay, reduced fuel consumption and business efficiency. This total return on investment represents an 8 to 1 return ration.

Witnesses at today’s hearing also urged additional technology transfer and education efforts in order to engage policymakers and the public to pursue greater use of these new technologies. They noted that a strong partnership between the research and user communities is vital to ensure that R&D efforts are tied to user needs and that demonstration projects prove the effectiveness of various technologies and materials.

Governor Announces Healthcare Reform to Insure More Georgians

1/30/08 Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue announced in a press conference today his support of health insurance reform legislation that will be filed by Senator Judson Hill and Representative Mickey Channell . The legislation will insure more Georgia citizens by expanding the availability and affordability of High Deductible Health Plans and Health Care Savings Accounts in Georgia.

“Insuring more Georgia citizens is our goal with this reform legislation,” said Governor Sonny Perdue. “More insured citizens means lower costs for all taxpayers, and preventative care means a healthier population. This legislation will incentivize small business owners to provide low cost health insurance to employees and their families.”

“This is a market-based solution focused on empowering individuals and rewarding them for making healthy choices. This plan will make affordable health insurance more accessible for the uninsured and working families,” said Senator Hill. “I have been working on this issue for years with various health care leaders, so I greatly appreciate the Governor's leadership that will make policy ideas a policy reality for our families.”

“This legislation makes a real difference for Georgia’s families and would make quality, affordable healthcare coverage affordable for nearly half a million Georgians,” said Representative Mickey Channell. “By harnessing the power of the free market, we’ll see more Georgians able to purchase and maintain their own healthcare coverage.”

A High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) is a health insurance plan that offers consumers lower premiums and higher deductibles than a traditional health plan. A Health Savings Account (HSA) allows consumers to set aside funds for future qualified medical health expenses on a tax-free basis.

The health insurance reform legislation announced today has several provisions to make HDHPs paired with HSAs more affordable and available in the Georgia insurance market. The legislation will incentivize small businesses to provide HDHPs with HSAs. According to the Center for Health Transformation, approximately 500,000 Georgians could become insured if the reform legislation is passed through the 2008 Georgia General Assembly.

Provisions of the health insurance reform legislation include:

Insurance Regulation Changes:

Rebates for Behavior Modifications: Allows for rebates for consumers who have HDHPs with HSAs when they make behavior modifications, such as smoking cessation, weight loss or controlling diabetes and blood pressure. The rebate could be deposited into the consumer’s HSA or be demonstrated through a lower deductible.

Reduced Restrictions on Reimbursements to Non-Preferred Providers: Gives flexibility to insurance companies to reimburse at lower rates when a patient chooses an out-of-network provider. This flexibility allows the insurance company to offer lower premiums to the consumer.

Remove Restrictions on Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRA): HRAs are arrangements that allow an employer to reimburse an employee for certain medical expenses. This legislation would allow companies that provide HRAs to reimburse employees using pre-tax dollars.

Premium Tax Exemption:

Currently HDHPs are subject to state and local premium taxes. This legislation would remove state and local premium taxes in Georgia, saving consumers $11.4 million in 2009 in state tax savings alone.

Income Tax Deduction:

Allows consumers to deduct HDHP premiums from state income taxes, if they are not already deducting premiums from federal income taxes. This would apply to consumers who purchase an HDHP insurance plan as an individual, or through an employer.

Small Business Tax Credit:

Allows employers with 50 employees or less to take a tax credit of $250 per employee that enrolls in a HDHP through a Section 125 plan.

In August 2007 Governor Perdue unveiled the Health Insurance Partnership (HIP), a program that incentivizes small businesses to provide health insurance to employees under 300 percent of the poverty level by sharing the costs between the employee, employer and the state and federal government. The regulatory and tax proposals announced today compliment the HIP program by stretching state and federal dollars further, resulting in more insured Georgia citizens.

Governor Perdue also recognized the efforts of Senator Hill and Representative Channell to bring together the Georgia Hospital Association, Medical Association of Georgia, Georgia Health Underwriters Association and the Center for Health Transformation to put together the ideas that he endorsed today.

Camped Out (Democrat) Senate Candidate Will Remain on Atlanta Tower

ATLANTA — A television reporter turned political candidate said he plans to remain on a small scaffold near the top of a tower to focus attention on his long-shot bid to unseat a U.S. senator.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319410,00.html

RNS Note: Currently there are two publicly declared candidates on the Democratic side vying to face Republican Saxby Chambliss: Dale Cardwell is running against DeKalb's Vernon Jones.

Rumors are rampant that Vernon will be backing out of the race to run for a different, more winnable, seat.