On the Issues
Mailings on the Issues |
|
Jobs and Economic Development 1|2 |
Senator Rockefeller has a deep record of accomplishment in the United States Senate that benefits West Virginia working families, creates jobs, and sustains economic development in our State, honors and cares for our nation’s veterans, and protects America with strong national security policies.
Here are a few highlights of Senator Rockefeller on the Issues.
Jobs and Economic Development
Senator Rockefeller has spent his entire career in public service working to create more and better economic opportunities for West Virginians. He has used his energy, his knowledge, and his stature to bring businesses to West Virginia. One of Senator Rockefeller's crowning accomplishments was Toyota’s hard-won decision to locate an engine plant in Buffalo, WV. This award-winning Toyota plant has expanded 5 times in the last decade – now totaling more than $1 billion in investment and more than 1,400 jobs plus dozens of automotive suppliers and 19 other Japanese companies who have brought jobs across the state.
Just as important, Rockefeller's Toyota project has shown other major top-tier corporations that West Virginia workers are second to none. AT&T in Wheeling, Hino Motors in Parkersburg, Amazon.com in Huntington, NGK in Sissonville, Sino Swearingen in Martinsburg, and so many others have worked in partnership with Jay Rockefeller to add jobs and stimulate economic growth in West Virginia.
These new enterprises are in addition to the steadfast support Senator Rockefeller provides to traditional industries in West Virginia. Whether it is working the negotiating table to ensure steel mills in the Northern Panhandle are producing for our nation’s industrial needs or fighting to increase funding for clean coal and coal-to-liquid technologies to reduce dependence on foreign oil, Senator Rockefeller has been a leader in providing traditional industry the support it needs.
In addition to these success stories, Senator Rockefeller has taken a personal interest in economic development related to national security. Building on public education research and federal facilities in criminal justice and biometrics at West Virginia University and Marshall University and the Army’s biometrics lab in Clarksburg, Senator Rockefeller has worked hard to encourage the creation of private enterprise in those fields. Senator Rockefeller has been a leader in helping West Virginia entrepreneurs enter and thrive in the national security industry here in West Virginia. These are local, high-paying, sustainable jobs that provide real opportunities for West Virginia families.
Healthcare
Senator Rockefeller fights for affordable health insurance and access to healthcare for our children, our seniors, our veterans, and people living in rural areas.
Our seniors have been made a promise by Medicare, and Senator Rockefeller believes that we should honor that commitment by providing quality and affordable healthcare. In December of 2007, Senator Rockefeller once again led the fight to remove drastic cuts in payments made to doctors by Medicare. This critical victory will ensure that West Virginia doctors continue to provide care to West Virginia seniors.
Senator Rockefeller has also consistently worked to improve Medicare prescription drug coverage by allowing for re-importation from Canada and removing the prohibition on allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices with the pharmaceutical companies. Senator Rockefeller was disappointed that the final Medicare prescription drug bill failed to address major short-comings in the original legislation, including: the lack of a guaranteed Medicare benefit, a large gap in coverage, widely varying premiums, and an emphasis on private insurers over seniors.
Senator Rockefeller strongly believes that healthcare for people living in rural areas should be just as good as for those in urban areas. In 2007, he announced an $8.4 million grant to provide telemedicine services to West Virginia in a statewide partnership program for a broadband telehealth network. He will continue to support efforts such as this grant to connect all West Virginians to quality healthcare.
Senator Rockefeller also knows that healthcare is critical for working families and retirees. Workers in West Virginia whose jobs are lost to global trade can count on Senator Rockefeller to ensure that Trade Adjustment Assistance tax credits help cover the costs of health care. Because of his work to pass the Coal Act, miners, coal mine retirees, and their families can know they can count on Senator Rockefeller to keep fighting for retiree healthcare and benefits.
Children and Families
Senator Rockefeller believes that helping families helps America. That’s why he has supported policies that provide critical assistance to West Virginia working families. His efforts to advance the E-Rate and technology funding for schools, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for working families, health care for uninsured children, and increased support for adoption services are just a few examples of the success Senator Rockefeller has had for West Virginia families.
Families need their children to receive a quality education. Senator Rockefeller created and has been the leading champion for expanding, the E-Rate program. E-Rate provides grants to local schools and libraries in rural America for computer equipment and internet connections. $91 million has been granted in West Virginia, and over 90% of schools and libraries across the country are connected to the internet.
Working families need support to escape cycles of poverty. Because of that principle, Senator Rockefeller has been a strong proponent of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which has provided $255 million to over 148,000 families in West Virginia. The program is widely hailed as one of the most effective anti-poverty programs in the history of our country.
Senator Rockefeller believes it is unconscionable for children in America to live without health insurance and healthy families should be free from the fear of unexpected medical bills for their children. That’s why he co-authored the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in 1997, and why he is fighting today to expand it to cover 4 million more children across the country. Since the program was created, it has provided healthcare to over 38,000 West Virginia children. No matter how many times the Bush Administration threatens to veto or reduce children’s health insurance, Senator Rockefeller will continue to be a leader to protect and expand the program so no parent in West Virginia ever has to wonder if they can afford to take their child to the doctor for needed medical care or checkups.
Loving families are strong foundations for all children. Senator Rockefeller has consistently sponsored legislation to promote and support adoption and create incentives for families to open themselves to needy children. In 2003, Senator Rockefeller co-sponsored the Adoption Promotion Act, a bill designed to continue successful incentives for adoption and also increase the permanent adoption of older children in good homes. In 2007, Senator Rockefeller’s message at Thanksgiving was one of thanks to all the families who opened their homes to foster children. He reported on the success of his Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 in doubling the number of adoptions nationwide and offered his commitment to push additional legislation with the goal of reducing the number of children waiting for adoption to zero.
National Security
As Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator Rockefeller is a leading voice in the Congress’s oversight of our national security. Senator Rockefeller successfully returned the Committee to its role of oversight by focusing on critical reports and legislation to define the roles of the 15 intelligence gathering agencies and provide clearer guidance to the administration on what it must tell the Congress and the American people.
Senator Rockefeller is working to require all elements of the Intelligence Community to comply with the Army Field Manual standards for interrogating detainees, and to reform acquisition procedures for the intelligence gathering agencies. Rockefeller stated, “good intelligence is what drives our national security and we must always be looking for ways to improve it. Intelligence oversight is one of the most important tools we have in Congress to strengthen existing programs and better prepare for the future.”
National security also means homeland security. And for West Virginia, that means first responders and local law enforcement. Senator Rockefeller has been a leader in the integration of local law enforcement into our national homeland security efforts by convening two statewide summits on homeland security, where local officials discussed the homeland security needs of West Virginians. Senator Rockefeller has acted upon the recommendations of the state’s law enforcement and first responder community, and many of the comments and ideas from state and local officials have found their way into legislation he has sponsored.
Senator Rockefeller also held a series of statewide first responder discussions and introduced legislation to provide rural law enforcement agencies with computer equipment and Internet access. Rockefeller has pushed the Congress to authorize emergency security grants to hazardous materials shippers and introduced legislation to streamline and simplify the homeland security grant process. He has also fought hard for additional grant funding to improve communications for first responders.
As chairman of the Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on Aviation, Senator Rockefeller has been the leader in the Senate in improving aviation security after 9/11. Rockefeller is a key author of the bill that overhauled the nation’s aviation security system. Rockefeller’s legislation addressed the major issues facing airlines. It made airport security screeners a higher paid and better trained federal workforce under the Transportation Security Agency (TSA); enforced airline cockpit door security; and increased the number of armed air marshals providing security in the skies. The aviation security bill requires comprehensive screening of everything that goes onto an airplane and anti-hijack training for pilots and flight crew. These common-sense safeguards led to a more secure commercial air service in America.
Veterans and the Military
West Virginia veterans know they have a champion in Senator Rockefeller. From increasing VA healthcare budgets to expanding access to care and service across the state, Senator Rockefeller is unwavering in his determination to see that America repays its debt to our veterans. Since West Virginia last re-elected Senator Rockefeller he has become the most senior member on the Veterans Affairs Committee. He has won numerous awards for his efforts, including the WV Paralyzed Veterans Achievement of the Year Award, WV State Veterans Council Award, WV Disabled American Veterans Award, WV American Legion, AMVETS Silver Helmet Award, the American Ex-POW's Barbed Wire Award, and other awards from the national Veterans of Foreign Wars, Jewish War Veterans, Vietnam Veterans of America, and the Military Order of the Purple Heart.
Senator Rockefeller has increased the budget for the VA by over $2 billion, ending shortfalls that caused unnecessary delays in care. He has ensured that the VA treats PTSD as vigorously as it treats other injuries to returning veterans. He has increased funding to study and treat traumatic brain injuries and other injuries more common in today’s wars of IEDs. Senator Rockefeller has also sponsored legislation to make funding of the VA mandatory, so our veterans would never again have to wonder if their healthcare would be available from year to year.
In addition to our active duty veterans, Senator Rockefeller has brought attention and results to the needs of National Guard and Reserve soldiers. The Standing With Our Troops legislation would create a bill of rights for National Guard and Reserve units to limit the length of their deployment as well as ensure that they are fully equipped when they are called upon for duty. The Keeping Our Promise to America’s Veterans Act, would ensure that all veterans have access to the health care and services that they deserve, including mental health care at every VA hospital nationwide.
Senator Rockefeller has also worked closely with colleagues in the Senate to make sure that the Department of Defense treats returning soldiers in world-class facilities and that their transition from active duty medical care to VA medical care is seamless. When veterans return home to West Virginia, they can be treated in their home towns, thanks to Senator Rockefeller’s legislation creating Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs).
Senator Rockefeller also knows that healthcare is not the only debt we owe our service members and veterans. In December 2007 Rockefeller sponsored and won passage of the Defenders of Freedom Tax Relief Act which will give retired veterans more time to claim a tax refund on some disability benefit payments; the authority for the IRS to treat gifts of thanks from states to veterans as nontaxable gifts; and a permanent allowance for all veterans to use qualified mortgage bonds to purchase their homes.
______________
On these and so many other issues, Senator Jay Rockefeller has been a leader for West Virginia and the nation. Senator Rockefeller hopes that West Virginians are proud of his long record of achievement and his continued energy and attention to the needs of West Virginia. He is asking for your support in this election so he can continue to fight for improved healthcare for children and veterans, more and better jobs for a growing economy in West Virginia, real security that protects all Americans, and opportunities for all working families.
Stay Informed
