| | The REAL Inconvenient Truth
As most Ohioans know, Sen. Voinovich has long championed fiscal responsibility, and has become known as the Senate's top "debt hawk." However, helping people understand just how dire our fiscal situation is can be difficult. The senator wants Ohioans to know the truth about where we are as a nation – a truly inconvenient truth that starts with the national debt. Each month – at the beginning of this electronic newsletter – we will be sharing with you a "debt calculator" that gives an estimate of the current U.S. debt as well as your share of that debt. Why is this important? Because the government is wasting your tax dollars paying off the interest on the debt to creditors – including the Chinese government – instead of focusing on our priorities. How much are we paying? Last year, nearly 13 percent of our budget went to paying off the interest on our debt, and we're not even touching the principle. That's nearly $350 billion of your tax money. If paying the debt was a government program, it would be the fourth largest, right behind Social Security, Medicare and national defense. [source: OMB] The time to act is now, before it's too late. Currently, the national debt is estimated at: $9,411,108,874,962.61 Your share of that debt: $30,983.14 | | | |
| | | | Fighting for First Responders
 Recently, Sen. Voinovich met with the Ohio Fraternal Order (FOP) of Police in his Washington, D.C. office to discuss issues that are important to them. The FOP members were particularly interested in discussing the cut to the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program. The cuts to JAG funding, which occurred when Congress passed an omnibus appropriations bill – the bill passed last year that wrapped the 13 spending bills into one large one because Congress failed to pass them individually – are of concern because of the manner in which they occurred. Repeatedly relying on one large spending bill that is drafted in haste and without proper oversight is inherently irresponsible and inefficient. That is why Sen. Voinovich introduced legislation aimed at converting the annual budget cycle into a biennial – or two year – cycle. This would save Congress valuable time eaten up every year debating appropriations matters and allow it to focus on oversight of the programs being funded. Additionally, Sen. Voinovich has long supported the efforts of Ohio's emergency first responders. As a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, he helped write the legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2002. Each year, Sen. Voinovich diligently advocates the funding for DHS grants through the appropriations process, and last year he secured an additional $300 million for the Emergency Management Performance Grant program, which was created to assist in developing an effective emergency response system at the state and local level, and to handle disasters and emergencies of all types and sizes. | | | |
| | | | Addressing So-called "Emergency Spending"
Sen. Voinovich recently released a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report he requested titled "Supplemental Appropriations: Opportunities Exist to Increase Transparency and Provide Additional Controls." As part of his effort to reign in wasteful spending and conduct meaningful oversight of government programs, Sen. Voinovich asked the GAO to review trends in so-called "emergency spending" over the decade stretching from 1997 through 2006. He also asked GAO to propose reforms to ensure that emergency funding truly is for real emergencies and not simply a way to camouflage spending that is driving up the national debt. If spending is designated as "emergency," it is exempted from budget controls and spending limits. An example of the sort of emergency spending that concerns Sen. Voinovich is the designation of funding for the 2000 Census as emergency, even though the U.S. Constitution has required a census every 10 years since 1790. Sen. Voinovich understands that on occasion our country faces natural disasters or unanticipated crises that require emergency resources. For this reason, an estimate of all emergency spending in the budget cannot be determined with full accuracy. But Sen. Voinovich remains extremely concerned that the emergency designation has been abused in recent years to allow Congress to spend large sums of money outside of budget constraints. He believes that it is time to be honest about the true state of our nation's fiscal house and stop relying on smoke and mirrors to hide the true state of our debt. | | | |
| | | | Protecting Intellectual Property Rights
Sen. Voinovich also recently released a second GAO report he requested showing the federal government is failing to properly protect America's intellectual property (IP) rights. As a member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Sen. Voinovich understands the serious threat IP theft poses to our nation's economic and homeland security. Each year, U.S. companies lose an estimated $250 billion in revenue to pirated goods. These losses have led to an estimated loss of 750,000 American jobs. More importantly, these fake goods can be dangerous or even deadly to consumers. As part of his commitment to protecting U.S. IP rights, Sen. Voinovich asked GAO to undertake this investigation to determine how effectively federal government law enforcement resources were being used to combat counterfeit and pirated goods. With the United States as the acknowledged leader in IP creation, Sen. Voinovich knows that protecting our IP rights is critical to the nation's continued prosperity as well as the safety of consumers. Despite a general increase in activity, IP enforcement still suffers from operational deficiencies. The findings of the report are consistent with what Sen. Voinovich found during a number of oversight hearings and why he teamed with Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) to introduce the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Act. Their legislation would help to ensure that IP receives attention at the most senior levels of each department responsible for enforcement and that the agencies charged with IP enforcement receive the resources they need to stop these international criminals. In the fierce competition of the 21st Century global marketplace, intellectual property is one of the few areas where America has a clear advantage over foreign competitors. Sen. Voinovich is committed to protecting that advantage and leveling the playing field to ensure continued economic growth for America and more jobs for Ohio. | | | |
| | | | Bringing New Jobs to Dayton
 Sen. Voinovich recently attended a roundtable discussion with the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce and business leaders to discuss the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process and its impact on jobs, the community and the private sector. The 2005 BRAC decisions will bring thousands of new jobs to Wright Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) and the surrounding areas. The Dayton Development Coalition recently launched the Wright-Patt 2020 initiative, a coalition of businessmen and local leaders focused on building on WPAFB's new mission and bringing 10,000 new jobs to the region by 2020. Wright-Patt 2020 will help to coordinate investment in startup companies and recruit other companies to the Dayton region. At the roundtable, Sen. Voinovich expressed his commitment to the vision of Wright-Patt 2020 and to finding ways to help turn the BRAC process into an even bigger win for Ohio . During the 2005 round of BRAC, Sen. Voinovich was instrumental in fighting for Ohio's bases and defense installations and he is very proud of the work that the Ohio delegation and the Ohio community did together. Ultimately, many of Ohio's facilities were preserved, and the BRAC Commission decided that several new missions would be moved to Ohio to grow Wright-Patt and Ohio 's defense communities. Last year, Sen. Voinovich visited Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and met with Colonel Colleen Ryan and other base leaders to discuss BRAC, and he stays in regular touch with the base and the community to help support their goals. | | | |
| | | | Meeting With Ohio's Farmers
 Recently, Sen. Voinovich spoke to the Ohio Farm Bureau as part of their 62nd annual county president trip to Washington, D.C. He addressed a number of issues of interest to the agricultural community, such as the farm bill, National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits, interstate meat shipment, energy prices and free trade. Specifically, Ohio's application to transfer certain NPDES permitting authority from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the Ohio Department of Agriculture is of particular concern to the Ag community, and many farmers have expressed their frustration about this unresolved issue. The delay has caused much confusion in Ohio, and Sen. Voinovich continues to pressure EPA administrators – including Steve Johnson – to resolve it sooner rather than later. Sen. Voinovich will continue to monitor the situation and has asked EPA for a status report. To the county presidents, Sen. Voinovich also expressed his appreciation for the invaluable communication that he has had through the years with the Farm Bureau and the Ag community. He vowed to continue to work with farmers to strengthen Ohio's number one industry, which contributes $90 billion a year to Ohio's economy. This is something Sen. Voinovich has always understood, and his long-time support of the agriculture industry earned him the title of "Ag Governor."
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