CLINTONCOUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY  NEWSLETTER RETURN to the home page

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March 25, 2005

Recently you received a mailing from  the Iowa State Sheriffs Deputies  Association Institute asking you to become an honorary member of the  Institute.This is an organization  that is strongly endorsed by Sheriff Rick Lincoln. They solicit memberships only by  mail.Any other organization that  conducts telephone solicitations does not have the approval of the Clinton  County Sheriff.

ENERGY  POLICY

Senator Roger Stewart in his March  24 report gives us this information about a bill he is working on as a member of  the Ways and Means  Committee

SF 371 establishes a renewable energy  purchase tax credit program to encourage more locally owned and smaller  alternative energy producers. The bill provides tax credits against personal and  corporate income taxes, franchise taxes, insurance company taxes, sales tax, and  replacement tax for natural gas and electricity for purchasers of renewable  energy from eligible renewable energy facilities. An eligible renewable energy  facility includes a wind energy conversion facility, a biogas recovery facility,  a biomass conversion facility, a methane gas recovery facility, and a solar  energy conversion facility that is located in this state. If you would like to encourage him in  his work, send him an email to:  Roger.Stewart@legis.state.ia.us

Our Congressman should hear from citizens who have a  Democratic set of values. I've  attended Town Meetings where the room was filled with adoring toady  Republicans. Our views should also  be heard.

First District Congressman Jim  Nussle, the Chair of the House Budget Committee is home in Iowa while Congress is in  recess.  He will be holding Town Hall meetings next week, Tuesday, March 29, at 11:00 A.M. at the  Clinton County Administration Building Cafeteria and in Anamosa on Wednesday,  March 30 at 9:00 A.M. in the Lawrence Community  Center.  I encourage you to attend one of these Town Hall meetings for two  reasons:

1)  To voice your concern about President  Bush's risky scheme to privatize Social Security, and

2)  To express your displeasure with  Congressman Nussle for refusing to take up, in his committee, the U.S. Senate's  bipartisan agreement to restore funding to Medicaid in the federal  budget.

In addition to attending these  forums you can help by writing letters-to-the-editor. Remember that personalized letters from  the heart are the best. Make sure to include your contact  information.  Use the attached talking points as a guide if you need  them.  If you would like further information about the Nussle-Bush budget  or Social Security, there is a great deal of good information posted online at  www.democrats.org.               Nussle-Budget Talking Points:

1. Jim Nussle, as Chair of the House  Budget Committee, is one of the chief backers of the Bush budget on Capitol  Hill. 

2. The Nussle-Bush Budget will push  America deeper into the red with  another record deficit.

3. If Mr. Nussle is not ready to  fight for the priorities of Iowans in a fiscally responsible budget, he is not  ready to be governor.

4.  Ordinary Iowans will face severe  cuts if the Bush-Nussle budget becomes law.  The budget includes devastating cuts to our priorities, yet it's still a fiscal  disaster.

5.  The Nussle-Bush budget will cut  $356 million from Medicaid in Iowa.

6.  Even the Republican controlled  U.S. Senate reached an agreement across party lines to restore Medicaid funding  to the federal budget, but Jim Nussle refuses to adopt their agreement in the  House version of the budget.

7.  How can Jim Nussle look the most  vulnerable children, seniors and families of Iowa in the eye and tell them  that  he is responsible for taking away their health care?

8.  Jim Nussle needs to do the right  thing: Lead the House Budget Committee into bipartisan agreement to  restore Medicaid funding to the federal budget.

Social Security Talking  Points:

In the words of our own Senator Tom  Harkin: "Today's report (of the Social Security Trustees) confirms that Social  Security is on solid financial ground for decades to come. We can strengthen  Social Security in a bipartisan way with reasonable, moderate steps, but we need  to do it right. There is no excuse to rush into a plan that will drive up the  debt and cut benefits for America's seniors. Risky  privatization plans will only weaken Social Security and make its financial  problems worse, not better. In fact, privatization would make Social Security  insolvent eleven years early."

1. President Bush's privatization  scheme will end Social Security's guaranteed benefits and tie our retirement  savings to the ups and downs of the stock market.

2. To pay for his plan, Bush wants to  borrow $4.5 trillion from countries like China and Japan.

3.  Even if you don't sign up for a  risky private account, the Bush plan will cut your Social Security benefits by  as much as 40%.

4.  The director of the nonpartisan  Government Accounting Office admits that the Republican privatization scheme  doesn't actually address the problems that face Social  Security.

5.  Democrats believe we can  strengthen Social Security " wthout cutting benefits or borrowing trillions of  dollars from foreign nations."  (Travis Brock, Political Director Iowa Democratic  Party)