**Carter Courier**

http://carter.house.gov

April 27, 2007, 2007 Volume 5, Issue 8

***[LETTER FROM THE CONGRESSMAN]{.underline}***

Dear Friends,

This week the House and Senate passed the conference report to the
Fiscal Year 2007 emergency war supplemental spending bill. Unfortunately
the Democrats in Congress continue to play politics with this vital
piece of legislation by loading it full of pork. The president has said
he will veto this bill and demand a clean funding bill for our men and
women in uniform.

In addition to passing an emergency war supplemental bill, it is vitally
important that Democrats in Congress make good on their promise to
provide ethics and lobbying reform. Too many loopholes and
inconsistencies remain in the broken House ethics rules, yet little
effort has been shown by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to correct
these problems.

I again look forward to announcing that a representative from my staff
will hold office hours in Coryell County next week for residents who
need assistance with casework issues. Details are included in this
newsletter.

I thank all of you in the 31st District for the opportunity to serve you
in Congress and look forward to the work that lies ahead in the coming
days.

> Until next week, 

***[FIXING MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY]{.underline}***

This week the Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees released
their annual report revealing deepening concern for maintaining the
health of these programs. It's been said too many times without being
heard -- Social Security and Medicare are dying.

House Republicans created an early warning system as part of the
Medicare drug benefit of 2003 that would tell us when Medicare and
Social Security were running out of money. We required that trustees
issue a "Medicare funding warning" when they project in consecutive
years that the Medicare trust fund was getting too low. This warning was
to address the substantiated concern about the programs' future growth
and its impact on defense, education and other budget priorities.

More than 43 million elderly and disabled people will rely on Medicare
this year for their health insurance coverage. The program will cost an
estimated \$436 billion. It is paid for with a mix of payroll taxes,
general revenue, premiums and state payments. Medicare costs are growing
at a rate of about 6.5 percent per year. The growth stems from
enrollment increases as well as health care inflation, which tends to
outpace overall inflation.

If these numbers are cause for concern, then add the 78 million
Americans who will enter retirement in the coming decades and it quickly
becomes a financial crisis. There has never been greater need for action
-- or reform.

These millions of Americans will rightfully be looking for the
healthcare and Social Security benefits they earned during their years
of hard work. But currently, without action or reform, there will be no
"pot of gold at the end of the rainbow." The system will go belly up in
the next few decades.

House Democrats have said they will not act on this impending crisis,
but rather pass the buck for the next five years. In their Fiscal Year
2008 budget, Democrats put off any reform of the Medicare and Social
Security systems until at least 2012. As they ignore these problems, the
runaway spending that continues to eat up more and more of the federal
coffers will continue to worsen as more Americans begin to rely on
Medicare and Social Security.

In an even more audacious move, Rep. Pete Stark, chairman of the health
subcommittee for the House Ways and Means Committee, said he will work
this year to pass legislation that does away with the warning system.
What does eliminating the early warning system achieve? If Democrats
don't want to face the realities of this crisis, than eliminating the
system we put in place to warn of the crises is not a responsible
option. The perpetual tendency of the Democratic leadership to hit the
snooze button on pressing issues is dangerous. Even more, it's laziness
-- not leadership.

American workers and their families have waited too long and worked too
hard to pay into these programs for their government to ignore this
coming storm. I will encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle
to address this issue -- not ignore it. We have a responsibility to
address this crisis today. We should not ignore it and leave a bigger
problem for our children and grandchildren. As always, God bless the
31st District of Texas.

***[FIRE PREVENTION GRANT FOR THE CITY OF KILLEEN]{.underline}***

This last week I had the pleasure of announcing that the City of Killeen
Fire Department has received a \$28,407 grant for fire prevention
initiatives. The funding was awarded through the Department of Homeland
Security's (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency's FY2006 Fire
Prevention & Safety program (FP&S).

This grant will prove extremely beneficial in helping the Killeen Fire
Department prevent unnecessary deaths and injuries caused by fire
hazards. The men and women of the Killeen Fire Department should be
commended for protecting their community; I am pleased their hard work
is being recognized and they were selected to receive this grant to
further enhance their efforts.

The FP&S program awards funds to high-risk target groups in order to
diminish the high rate of incidences of fire-related deaths and
injuries. FP&S is a part of DHS's Assistance to Firefighters grant
program, which enhances the safety of the public and firefighters with
respect to fire and fire-related hazards.

***[LISTEN TO MY WEEKLY RADIO ADDRESS]{.underline}***

Please click on the link below to listen to my most recent weekly radio
address that was sent to local radio and television stations. This
installment covers the continuing debate in Congress regarding the
effects of the pork-laden Emergency War Supplemental on the troops in
Iraq.

<http://carter.house.gov/multimedia/>

***[LEGISLATION CONVEYING MARLIN VA HOSPITAL]{.underline}***

***[TO THE STATE OF TEXAS]{.underline}***

Two weeks ago I was proud to introduce H.R. 1879 into the House of
Representatives. This bill would convey the vacant Thomas T. Connally
Department of Veterans Administration Medical Center in Marlin, which
has been closed since 2002, to the State of Texas.

By finding the appropriate use for this property, this deal could prove
to be an economic boon to Marlin and Falls County. Numerous jobs would
be created by re-opening this facility.

Members of the Texas legislature have previously attempted to acquire
this property. Initial propositions for the facility, now unoccupied for
several years, include a correctional facility and criminal justice
hospital.

Although the Senate version of the 2007 Supplemental Budget includes
provisions to convey the land to Texas, I introduced this bill at the
request of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs so that the deal may
still be approved if it is removed from the Supplemental.

***[DEMOCRATS SETTING DATE FOR]{.underline}***

***[AMERICAN SURRENDER IN IRAQ]{.underline}***

On Wednesday I spoke out against the revised emergency war supplemental
presented in the House of Representatives. While the most controversial
pork barrel spending contained in the original supplemental the House
passed on March 23 has been removed, \$29 billion of unrelated domestic
spending can still be found in the conference report. In addition, while
the original supplemental called for a redeployment of troops to begin
no later than next March, the conference report calls for troop
withdrawal to be mostly completed by that time.

Our commanders in Iraq deserve to have the resources and flexibility
they need to lead our troops in harm's way during this critical phase of
their mission. The unrelated domestic spending that still remains in
this supplemental, even after the President continues to promise to veto
it, are priorities that should be addressed during the normal budget
process.

Every day the Democrats play these games in Washington is another day we
leave our troops stranded in the Middle East without the reinforcements
they need. I believe our soldiers when they say the war is not lost, and
we must give our military the resources it needs to win.

By accelerating the timetable by which American troops would withdraw
from Iraq, we are admitting defeat and giving al-Qaeda the date we will
surrender. I shudder to think about the security of our nation once we
hand over victory this to our enemy.

***[STAFF TO HOST CONSTITUENT SERVICE]{.underline}***

***[HOURS IN CORYELL COUNTY]{.underline}***

A representative from my office will hold office hours in Coryell County
on Thursday, May 3. The representative will meet with residents to
listen to their concerns and provide assistance with federal agencies
and issues, including social security, veterans' affairs, citizenship
and immigration. Details follow:

Thursday, May 3, 2007

8:30 - 11:30am

Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce -- Conference Room

204 E. Robertson Ave.

Copperas Cove, TX, 76522