BLUEPRINT: A Michigan That Works for Everyone

Mark Schauer for Governor

BLUEPRINT: A Michigan That Works for Everyone

Download the Jobs Plan [PDF]

HERE IN MICHIGAN, we had our own unique version of the American Dream. This Michigan Dream was built on a set of shared values: the belief that a quality education and economic opportunity were available to anyone willing to work for it, pride in making our communities a great place to raise our families, and the opportunity for each of us to escape to and enjoy our beautiful lakes, rivers, forests and parks. We put the world on wheels. We built the finest public education system and public college and university system in the world. We invented the 40- hour work week and built the middle class. We lived in a Michigan that worked for everyone.

In Michigan, our own history has shown that the best way to create jobs and grow the economy is from the bottom up and the middle out, not from the top down. A strong economy is built on a strong middle class that has the economic security to afford a safe home, reliable car, a kids’ college fund and an occasional family vacation.

Unfortunately, after nearly four years on the job, Republican Governor Rick Snyder has shown that he puts big corporations and the wealthy ahead of regular people. At the same time, he has put the Michigan Dream at risk, dismantling our public education system, making college unaffordable for many, cutting money for vital services like police and fire departments that keep our communities safe, and removing key protections for our Great Lakes and our other natural assets.

Snyder cut over $1 billion from education, raising class sizes, hurting school quality and making it harder for our children to compete for the jobs of the future. And Snyder’s unfair tax on retirement income and property tax hike on seniors are hurting retirees who have worked hard and played by the rules.

A nerd should know that’s no way to build a strong economy.

Snyder’s policies work for the wealthy, but they’re not working for the rest of Michigan. We’re 49th in projected job growth and ranked among the five worst state economies in the nation. Job growth and personal income growth are well below the national averages. We are better than that here in Michigan.

I grew up in a middle class family in Livingston County. My dad was a high school science teacher and my mom was a nurse. I saw the difference they made. They showed me that the key to a good job is a good education, and that if you worked hard and played by the rules, you could live the Michigan Dream.

To move Michigan forward, we need to build an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy. That’s what this plan is all about – creating good jobs, helping our kids compete for high-wage, high- skill jobs, helping Michigan businesses compete and building ladders to the middle class.

It’s time to get our priorities straight. We need to reverse Rick Snyder’s $1 billion cuts to education and make education our top economic priority. We should give companies tax incentives to come to Michigan, but hold them accountable for creating jobs here. If they send jobs overseas or don’t create jobs in Michigan, they should lose their tax breaks. We must fix our roads and our communities. And we should invest in high-tech research to attract new jobs to Michigan. It is time for us to rebuild the Michigan Dream, to create a new era of economic opportunity for all of our citizens.

This is the blueprint I’ll use to lead as Michigan’s next Governor, and I want to hear your ideas and feedback so we can improve this plan along the way. I want to hear from moms, dads, students, workers, small business owners, community leaders and seniors so we can hit the ground running on Day One.

Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work.

-Mark Schauer

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW:

Invest in Education to Compete for Good Jobs — Education is the best investment we can make for Michigan’s future. To prepare Michiganders for 21st century jobs, we must reverse Governor Snyder’s cuts to our K-12 classrooms and universities. We must also ensure all children have access to quality teachers and smaller class sizes. Additionally, we should make college more affordable by increasing need-based financial aid, and we should invest in community colleges and technical and skilled trades training programs to help students get the skills they need to compete for good jobs. READ MORE

Grow the Economy from the Middle Out — To promote economic fairness and create ladders to the middle class, we must work to grow the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, not from the top down. We should cut taxes for the middle class by restoring the Child Tax Credit, increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit, restoring the Homestead Property Tax Credit for seniors and eliminating the Snyder Retirement Tax. To ensure big corporations start paying their fair share, we must end tax breaks for companies that outsource Michigan jobs. READ MORE

Help Small Businesses & Manufacturers Create High-Tech Jobs — Michigan needs to build on its strengths by investing in automotive research and advanced manufacturing. Our automotive industry has provided a legacy of outstanding R&D laboratories, superb engineering prowess and leadership in materials science. These areas of expertise translate well to the design, manufacturing and production of advanced technologies and the creation of high-tech jobs. We need to leverage our strengths to spur growth and capture new opportunities for Michigan businesses and a promising future for the next generation of Michigan workers. To promote a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation, the state should eliminate arcane barriers to entry for entrepreneurs and provide small businesses with tax credits to create good middle class jobs. Additionally, we should expand access to start- up capital and small business lending to spark the next generation of workers, innovators and job creators right here in Michigan. READ MORE

Build Vibrant, Healthy Communities — Michigan needs vibrant, healthy, dynamic and livable communities to attract and retain young people and the talented workers needed to contribute to a new, stronger economic future. The state should prioritize public safety in our communities and leverage all available resources to remove blighted properties, and build quality infrastructure and modern transportation systems. We must create job opportunities through a “Learn and Earn” program to train young workers so they can get the skills they need to compete for good paying jobs. READ MORE

Fix Michigan’s Infrastructure — Michigan’s crumbling roads are an embarrassment and cost motorists $2.5 billion a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs. To fix our roads, we should: fight to get more of our tax dollars back from Washington and end our status as a donor state; audit state government and cut wasteful spending on poor oversight of contractors; develop a bipartisan solution that requires corporations that received a $1.8 billion tax break to pay their fair share without unfairly burdening the middle class and those struggling to reach the middle class. READ MORE

Protect Our Environment – The Essence of Pure Michigan — As the Great Lakes State, Michigan’s economic strength, our tourism industry and our citizens’ health rely on clean water. The state must get tough on polluters like Enbridge and require it to replace its aging pipelines like Line 5 under the Straits of Mackinac, to ensure pipeline safety and prevent future oil spills. Moreover, we must work to protect our Great Lakes shoreline and dunes, and prevent invasive species such as Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes, which would have a devastating impact on our economy. READ MORE

Securing Michigan’s Energy Future — Instead of spending $24 billion each year to import our energy from other states and countries, we must keep more of our energy dollars in Michigan. It’s time to set an aggressive, achievable goal for clean energy by raising Michigan’s Renewable Energy Standard to require 30 percent of the state’s electricity to come from clean, renewable sources like wind and solar by 2035. This will create thousands of good manufacturing and construction jobs, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We must also improve Michigan’s Energy Efficiency Standard from one percent to two percent a year to reduce energy costs for homeowners and businesses. READ MORE

Focus on the Right Budget Priorities — A budget is a reflection of our priorities as a state. To fuel economic growth, our top budget priorities should be jobs, K-12 education, preschool, higher education and job training. We must make government more efficient and more effective by banning special deals for elected officials’ family and friends, capping pay raises for administration officials, and ending contracts with incompetent firms that deliver substandard services in Michigan prisons and the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans. The state should cut taxpayer spending on office furniture and cut gubernatorial political appointees. Additionally, the state should adopt tougher “Buy Michigan First” policies to ensure our tax dollars support Michigan businesses and Michigan jobs. READ MORE

Improve Government Transparency and Accountability — To restore faith in state government, we should require political funds to publicly disclose all contributors on a quarterly basis; require personal financial disclosure for elected officials and top appointees; ban lobbyist gifts to public officials; and close the revolving door between the legislature and the lobby corps. To ensure voters’ voices are heard in Lansing, we must ban partisan gerrymandering by establishing a nonpartisan redistricting commission to draw fair and truly representative legislative districts. Additionally, we must strengthen voting rights by allowing no-reason absentee voting, and expanding early voting. READ MORE

Make Michigan’s Economy Work for Women & Families — It’s time to make Michigan’s economy work for women and families. We should cut taxes for parents raising kids by restoring the Child Tax Credit. Michigan must ensure women earn equal pay for equal work by strengthening equal pay laws and creating stiffer penalties for wage discrimination based on gender. The state should expand paid sick leave, establish job protections for pregnancy-related disability, and protect women’s access to health care by repealing the so- called “rape insurance” law. READ MORE

ADDITIONAL ISSUES:

Protect Michigan’s Wildlife: As Governor, Mark will support common-sense policies to protect animals from cruelty and abuse, such as allowing the inclusion of pets in protective orders to better protect victims of domestic violence; prohibiting bans on specific dog breeds; and restricting the continuous outdoor chaining of dogs. Mark also supports legislation to end the use of gas chambers to euthanize shelter pets; to provide standards of animal care at large-scale commercial puppy mills; and to increase penalties for cruelty to companion animals. Snyder also signed legislation to end-run Michigan voters and undermine a citizen referendum on whether wolves should be classified as a game species. Regardless of where people stand on wolf hunting, Mark believes that all voters have a right to have a say on the issue, and lawmakers should not undermine a fair election by the people. As Governor, Mark will appoint members of the Natural Resources Commission who are experts on wildlife management and represent the diverse interests and values of all Michiganders.

One Lying Nerd: Proof That Snyder Cut School Funding

Up North Progressive

One Lying Nerd: Proof That Snyder Cut School Funding

Thursday , 12, June 2014 upnorthprogressive@gmail.com Nerd Problems, Section 16 Leave a comment

The Senate Fiscal Agency released their report on school funding in Michigan. The proof that the Governor is lying about cutting money for schools is in black and white. Nearly every public school in Michigan had significant cuts in their per-pupil tuition in 2011, and the current spending levels per student this year are still lower than they were in 2006.

In his $400,000 Superbowl ad Rick Snyder claims he increased spending on education. If that’s true, then how did the Senate Fiscal Agency not show that in their report? Because Snyder’s lying, that’s why. Shuffling money around into different funds (For example, teacher pensions) to make it appear there was more money for education doesn’t mean there was an increase in public school funding. It means the governor tried to hide his tracks. Smart people didn’t fall for it then, and now there is evidence to back up what has been a fact since 2011 when Snyder took office. There’s less money for schools with no plans to try and bring funding to a level that would match the rate of inflation.

School districts all over Northern Michigan showed the same numbers for per-student funding. The high point came in 2010-2011, the last school year Jennifer Granholm was governor. The amount for that school year was $7,316. After 2011, the amount per student dropped to $6,846. By 2013, the amount spent per student was at 7,026. That may seem like an increase, but in fact it is still a serious cut from previous years’ levels. The report is broken down by county with amounts for every school district, including charter schools and the EAA. Kalkaska, Forest Park, Hale, Calumet, Traverse City, Cadillac, every school in Northern Michigan faced deep cuts which resulted in lost money to run districts. Schools have cut staff, closed school buildings, and in the case of Mecosta-Osceola County ISD, eliminated vital special education services due to lack of funds. All part of Snyder’s “shared sacrifice” to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.

Educating children is an investment with a very important payoff. After graduation new graduates will consider the option of joining the work force or going to college. We educate our children so they can find work, have a career and contribute to the economy and their community. Rick Snyder doesn’t understand that, he only sees Michigan’s children as a drain on state funds that could be given to his rich friends and corporations. In 2010 Snyder promised to make Michigan a leader in transparency and Ethics. He has done neither. He fudged numbers and lied about cutting school funding, and our school children are suffering for his lies.

One Lying Nerd, do you smell smoke?

MI-Sen: Terri Lynn Land (R), "Unlimited Dark Campaign Money Is The American Way"

Daily Kos  

MON JUN 09, 2014 AT 07:26 PM PDT

MI-Sen: Terri Lynn Land (R), "Unlimited Dark Campaign Money Is The American Way"

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Well, at least she said something honest:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

   While Peters is disappointed in the recent Supreme Court rulings lifting the spending for organizations and businesses, Land says they protect free speech.

    Land mentioned her time working on the re-election campaign for President Gerald R. Ford.

    "Back then there were all sorts of different ways they communicated messages, different groups did," Land said in an interview with MLive. "And I think that’s the American way, that’s what's great about our country, is everyone gets to have a voice and they can talk about the issues that are important to them. As candidates we need to talk about the issues that are important to the voters and that’s what we are doing."

Land is the beneficiary of at least $4.6 million from outside spending from groups that do not disclose their donors, according to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. And the vast majority of that money comes from Americans for Porsperity, which has spent $3.6 million on Land's behalf. - Huffington Post, 6/9/14

With Land getting a lot of money from the Kochs, it really shouldn't surprising that she would be all about unlimited campaign cash.  However, being that she's getting a lot of money from big time polluters like the Kochs who's Koch Carbon is polluting Detroit's air, it's hard for me to take her seriously on this issue:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Speaking out against the Environmental Protection Agency's new rules curbing carbon emissions from power plants, Land said she believes in "protecting [Michigan] from climate change," but not at the cost of jobs:

Her tweets come after a spokesperson for Land told the Washington Post's Greg Sargent in May that while "there should be a healthy and educated debate on the impact of human activity on our environment," Land herself "does not agree with radical liberals like Tom Steyer and Congressman [Gary] Peters on the extent of the effect of human behavior on our climate."

Steyer's super PAC NextGen Climate, is targeting Land and seven other GOP candidates in their election bids this year. - Huffington Post, 6/4/14

Peters has a more legit response on this issue:

http://www.detroitnews.com/...

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Gary Peters offered conditional support Wednesday for President Barack Obama’s new plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions, two days after his GOP opponent called the proposal a job-killer for Michigan.

Peters, a third-term member of Congress from Bloomfield Township, said he supports setting new standards to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants but is concerned the draft Environmental Protection Agency rule released Monday “imposes a more stringent standard on Michigan than surrounding Midwestern states.”

“We must take action to address climate change,” Peters said in statement, “but we must do so in a way that works for Michigan families, manufacturers, and our emerging clean energy sector.”

The Obama administration Monday released its proposal to reduce carbon emissions 30 percent nationwide from 2005 levels. To get there by 2030, the plan gives states targets to meet and flexibility on the mix of ways to reach the goal, such as reducing emissions from coal-fired power plants and increasing renewable fuel.

Peters, who has campaigned on addressing climate change and has the support of California billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, said he intends to work with stakeholders on improving the rule for Michigan. - The Detroit News, 6/4/14

One thing's for sure, climate change is becoming a big issue in this race:

http://grist.org/...

“Michigan is on the front lines of climate change with our Great Lakes and economic system,” Peters told Greg Sargent of the Washington Post. “The Great Lakes are incredibly important for Michigan. This is something elected officials should be talking about — we have to be concerned about it.”

What has brought this concern about? Trouble, mostly. The rupture of Enbridge Line No. 6 into the Kalamazoo River, also known as the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history, provided an involuntary civic education in contemporary crude extraction and transportation. So has the three-story high pile of petroleum coke that the Koch brothers left on the shores of the Detroit River (it’s since disappeared), and this year’s refinery spill on the other side of Lake Michigan.

Given how much pre-existing pipeline infrastructure runs along the Great Lakes, Michigan is at high risk of being a site for future oil spills, while the lakes themselves are beginning to show signs of being affected by climate change.

But this concern also looks like some good-old-fashioned political maneuvering. Peters, who has served three terms in the House of Representatives, was thought to be a shoo-in for this election. Then, back in January, attack ads against Peters began to air – about $1 million worth. The ads were funded by Americans for Prosperity, one of the political nonprofits controlled by the Koch brothers. Was Michigan now one of the battlegrounds chosen by Republican donors intent on gaining a majority in the Senate? Sure looked that way. Meanwhile, Washington pundits noted that Terri Lynn Land had already raised more money for her campaign than Peters and declared that she now had the edge in the race.

But if the Koch brothers are boosting Land’s campaign, they’re also the guys behind that three-story high pile of petroleum coke, and a whole lot of bad climate change policy, including pressuring senators and representatives to sign a pledge not to spend any money to fight climate change without an equivalent amount of tax cuts. - Grist, 6/6/14

And while there's a lot at stake in this race, at least the ads are starting to become more entertaining:

http://www.deadlinedetroit.com/...

And in the latest jab, the Democrats have released a 2 minute, 21 second Seinfeld parody video mocking Republican Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land.

The video begins with the theme music from the Seinfeld show and someone pretending to be Terri Lynn Land meeting two guys pretending to be the Koch brothers at a diner. The Koch brothers have been bankrolling anti-Gary Peterson commercials.

"What is the theme of  your campaign? What is it about?" asks one of the Koch brothers.

A bubbly Land bursts out: "It's about nothing! Forget the theme, it's about nothing."

She repeated uses the word nothing.

The video is a takeoff of an episode in which Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza pitch a show to NBC and  George keeps saying the show is about "nothing." - Deadline Detroit, 6/5/14

Funny.  But all joking aside, the Kochs want this seat and they will spend big to get it.  Please do click here to donate and get involved with Peters' campaign:

http://www.petersformichigan.com/...

ORIGINALLY POSTED TO PDC ON MON JUN 09, 2014 AT 07:26 PM PDT.

ALSO REPUBLISHED BY CLIMATE HAWKS, CLIMATE CHANGE SOS, THE DEMOCRATIC WING OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, MOTOR CITY KOSSACKS, AND MICHIGAN, MY MICHIGAN.

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The Five Worst Education Governors: Guess Who’s Number One?

Up North Progressive

News and Commentary for Northern Michigan

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@edvotes Rate The Five Worst Education Governors: Guess Who’s Number One?

Monday , 9, June 2014 upnorthprogressive@gmail.com Nerd Problems Leave a comment

When it comes to Republican governors only caring about corporate interests and the people who write the biggest checks to get what they want, there are plenty who are more than happy to sell themselves to the highest bidder. Many Republican Governors have gutted essential safety net programs in their states while giving corporations and the rich big tax cuts. Education Votes took a look at the Republicans holding the office of governor and their education record. Of the five most terrible Republican governors who have really made gutting public education in their states a priority, no one does it better than Michigan Governor Rick Snyder; which is why he was chosen as the number one worst in the nation.

What did Snyder do to win the award for worst of the worst? After all, he beat Rick Scott of Florida, Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback and even Scott Walker of Wisconsin. Or very own Nerd in Chief cut over one billion dollars from the state education budget and then tried to shuffle some numbers around between K-12 education and higher ed to make it look like he put more money in. He really didn’t. Robbing kids of funding for a good education wasn’t enough, so next he raised taxes on poor people and old people so they could share in the suffering with Michigan’s school children. All of this, which he called ‘shared sacrifice’, so he could write bigger corporate welfare checks to large corporations and the wealthy in Michigan. What did they do with that money? Anyone from Michigan can tell you they didn’t use it to create more jobs.

Congratulations to Michigan’s One Horrible Nerd, Rick Snyder.

You’re number one … for being the worst governor in the United States when it comes to education.

Dem Gary Peters Puts Terri Lynn Land On The Defensive Over Bailout Opposition

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Dem Gary Peters Puts Terri Lynn Land On The Defensive Over Bailout Opposition

March 3, 2014 4:40 PM

 

Terri Lynn Land

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DAVID EGGERT, Associated Press

LANSING (AP) — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Gary Peters sought to put his Republican opponent, Terri Land, on the defensive Monday by highlighting her 2012 opposition to the federal auto bailout, which is credited with saving the industry and is popular with Michigan voters.

The third-term congressman and other Democrats drew attention to statements Land made at a Republican National Convention event two years ago in which she backed GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s anti-bailout position. Asked about Romney and the bailout, she said “I’m with him on that” and noted that Ford survived without the rescue package that went to General Motors and Chrysler.

“Michiganders deserve to know the truth — that when the rest of the country and plenty of politicians wanted to turn their back on us and let our auto industry and our middle class fail, Ms. Terri Lynn Land sided with them instead of standing up for us,” Peters said in a news release. He also played up Land’s opposition to the bailout at a campaign event with the United Auto Workers in Sterling Heights on Monday.

After writing a 2008 newspaper column with the fateful “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” headline, Romney, who supported a “managed bankruptcy,” struggled to gain a footing in the industrial Midwest where auto manufacturing is crucial. In Michigan, which has more auto industry-related jobs than any other state, Democrats are hoping Land pays a similar price in the tight race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Carl Levin — a contest that will factor into which party controls the Senate.

The comments by Land, a former Michigan secretary of state, flew under the radar until now.

Land spokeswoman Heather Swift said Monday that she knows how important the auto industry is to Michigan.

“Terri has always believed that something needed to be done to address the auto crisis, but was not convinced on the specific plan that was proposed,” Swift said. “Thanks to the resiliency of the American worker and a stronger global economy, our autos are back.”

In her 2012 comments, Land said Ford’s executive chairman, Bill Ford, “got a loan … so people know that could have been done,” adding that GM was known as “Government Motors.” President Barack Obama and others have said Romney’s approach would never have worked because no private capital was available to keep GM and Chrysler afloat.

Michigan Rep. Sander Levin said Land’s comment should disqualify her as a candidate and added that Ford got a loan before the financial crisis.
“This was a matter, a moment, of supreme importance for this state,” he said. “She said this a few years after the survival of the state in terms of its economy.”
Five years have passed since the bailout was authorized under both the Bush and Obama administrations during the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009. But Levin said voters’ memories won’t fade about a “basic economic issue” that saved jobs.

Republicans and the conservative group Americans for Prosperity have relentlessly blamed Peters for his support of the federal health care law, which resulted in the cancellation of policies for people whose plans didn’t meet the law’s standards. Peters decided to more actively confront Land himself and hinted he’ll do it again on other issues soon.

According to a survey of 600 likely Michigan voters conducted Feb. 5-11 by EPIC-MRA, 41 percent of respondents supported Land, 38 percent backed Peters and 21 percent were undecided. The poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

In an exit poll conducted for The Associated Press and television networks in 2012, about three in five Michigan voters approved of the Obama administration’s aid to the U.S. auto industry, and they overwhelmingly backed the president.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

No Cuts to Snap: Food Stamp Program Restored

Thank you for sharing your concerns about provisions affecting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food stamps) in the 2014 Farm Bill. I hope this letter will clear up any questions you might have.

I care deeply about protecting nutrition assistance programs, and I am very proud that the final version of the Farm Bill ensures that  no one  will be removed from SNAP and that all families will get 100 percent of the assistance they are intended to receive under the current program. In fact, the 2014 Farm Bill saves the program from the devastating $133 billion in cuts in the budget passed by the House of Representatives and the $40 billion in cuts passed in the House Farm Bill.

During our negotiations on a final bill, every time House members offered amendments to gut food assistance or kick families off of SNAP, I led the charge and beat them back. I know that for struggling families, food assistance is a lifeline. Nearly half of those who receive these benefits are children!

And that ' s why it ' s so important to me that we defend the integrity of the system. In order to protect benefits for 46 million families, our Farm Bill tackles fraud and misuse to make sure every dollar goes to families who truly need it.

For example, you may have heard about lottery winners in Michigan who stayed on food assistance after collecting substantial cash prizes. Obviously the program was not intended to provide benefits to someone with a million dollars in the bank.

Sometimes states also misuse the program. SNAP benefits are based on a family ' s income and expenses. A handful of states have been providing $1 or less per year in home heating assistance to people who may not even have a heating bill, so that they can qualify for a standard utility deduction and additional food assistance above and beyond the benefits they are intended to receive.

While I understand the desire to provide additional food help, by misusing the SNAP connection to the heating assistance program these states are undermining the SNAP benefits as a whole and jeopardizing heating assistance for people who have the greatest need. This only gives ammunition to those who oppose the food assistance program entirely. In fact,  The Washington Post  wrote that this loophole "... looks like a political gift to SNAP's perennial opponents. "

The reality is we stopped tens of   billions in cuts and, instead, achieved $8 billion in savings by eliminating fraud and misuse without changing any standard benefits or eligibility for anyone on food assistance.   In this challenging economy, we should be increasing food help not cutting it!

I'm proud we were able to pass a bipartisan Farm Bill that substantially cuts big farm subsidies for the first time in decades, makes conservation programs more effective, strengthens access to healthy local foods, and confronts misuse in food assistance programs while protecting critical food assistance for families in need.

Thank you again for contacting me. Please don't hesitate to do so again if my office can be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Debbie Stabenow
United States Senator 

Bill Schuette Is From The Government. And He’s Not Here To Help

Bill Schuette Is From The Government. And He’s Not Here To Help

This post was written by AG for US

Who is Bill Schuette?

He’s the 53^rd attorney general of Michigan, elected during the Republican wave of 2010. With a warm smile and looks that would make him a natural for the role of “Politician #1” in any movie, Bill Schuette might be mistaken for being a harmless, mild-mannered bureaucrat.

Don’t be fooled.

The attorney general is supposed to be the lawyer for all 10 million citizens of Michigan. But Bill Schuette doesn’t see things that way. He’s a lifelong Republican born into the Dow Chemical fortune.

The AG makes $112,000 a year, but his 2012 income was padded by $518,000 from investments. And Schuette, who’s only 59, has $38,000 in pension income. Being a career politician pays off. The average Detroit city retiree has a $20,000 annual pension, and probably will lose it with Detroit’s bankruptcy.

Schuette was elected by cozying up to the far-right Tea Party, which has just shut down the federal government and delayed the Medicaid expansion in Michigan so 470,000 people can get health care coverage. Gov. Rick Snyder is a Republican, but his administration admits the delay is costing the state $630 million. But Schuette still opposes the Medicaid expansion, even though Michigan taxpayers are losing more than a half-billion dollars.

Bill Schuette has been the most partisan attorney general in the history of Michigan. Here’s how:

• Schuette wants to know what you’re doing in the bedroom. The AG has decided that the state has an interest in “regulating sexual relationships,” which sounds like something out of a bad sci-fi show. Schuette made that intrusive argument in a brief he filed in September defending Michigan’s ban on gay marriage.
• Schuette continued futile lawsuits against the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), wasting thousands of taxpayer dollars. In June 2012, the conservative U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law.
• Schuette has joined the War on Women. Even after Obamacare was upheld, he signed on to another lawsuit to fight part of the law that requires employers to cover certain preventative health care services for women. Even though 90% of Americans support contraception, Schuette wants to block women’s choices.
• Schuette has been a one-man wrecking crew against Michigan’s medical marijuana act, which passed in 2008 with the support of 63% of voters. Schuette led the campaign against the MMA to jump start his AG bid, even though he admitted to using marijuana himself. He’s since used the power of his office once to shut down dispensaries and go after patients and caregivers.
• Schuette has used taxpayer dollars to stop workers from organizing at the University of Michigan. Even though only 300 of 2,000 graduate research assistants didn’t want to be in a union, Schuette didn’t believe in majority rule – the basic principle of democracy. As AG, he successfully fought to keep the grad assistants from forming a union.

And that’s just for starters.
Bill Schuette is running for re-election next year, even though he doesn’t do his job very well. But don’t expect him to stop there. It’s no secret that he wants to be governor. Many Republicans expect him to run for president.
Those of us in Michigan know who Bill Schuette really is. It’s up to us to spread the word.

Beware of false prophets

Beware of false prophets

 

No corporate money. Defend working families and power progress in Michigan

 

 

After getting trounced at the polls in 2013, Republicans commissioned an autopsy report to figure out why and recommend strategies that could help lead them out of the political wilderness. As you’d expect, the report recommended expanding the Republican Party’s tent by “softening” their stance on immigration reform and supporting LGBT rights.

Almost a year later and the Republican Party’s tent isn’t any bigger – and it’s not for lack of opportunities. Last year, Dave Agema – one of Michigan’s two Republican National Committeemen – made headlines when he claimed LGBT individuals lead a “filthy” lifestyle and account for more than half the murders in large cities.

While the public outcry was swift, Gov. Snyder and Michigan Republicans refused to call for Dave Agema’s resignation, insisting his views didn’t represent the Republican Party. A few weeks later, Dave Agema’s amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman was overwhelmingly approved by the Republican National Committee, thereby making it party policy. Just this week, Dave Agema praised Russia’s anti-LGBT propaganda law, calling it “common sense.”

And if defining marriage as between one man and one woman isn’t clear enough, former State Rep. Jack Hoogendyk lambasted the unfair persecution of Dave Agema, calling him “a prophet.”

A prophet? You’d think conservatives who justify their bigoted opposition to marriage equality by citing the Bible would be more well versed in the Good Book, but these are the same folks who think Jesus would support cutting food-stamps.

If Republicans want to emerge from the political wilderness anytime soon, then they’d better remove folks like Dave Agema from leadership positions. But don’t take our word for it, the Book of Matthew (King James Version) verse 7:15-20 says it best:

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Dave Camp's (R-Mich.) Rise to Power

Washington Post

Politics

Dave Camp (R-Mich.)

U.S. Representative (since January 1991)

Why He Matters

In nearly two decades in the House, Camp has quietly but steadily risen in the GOP ranks. In December 2008, he beat back a spirited campaign by Rep. Wally Herger (R-Calif.) to become the ranking Republican on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. In the GOP-led 112th Congress, Camp was appointed as chairman.

As the panel's senior GOP lawmaker, Camp played a prominent role in the 2010 health-care debate, sponsoring the lead Republican alternative. Though he built a conservative record in Congress, he occupied what Congressional Quarterly termed a "one-man Republican faction" as the only member of both the conservative Republican Steering Committee and the moderate Main Street Partnership.

Camp was first elected to his seat in central Michigan in 1990. He is known for keeping a close connection to his constituents and boasts of personally signing more than 30,000 pieces of constituent mail each year.

Camp ranked as a rising star in the Republican Party early in his tenure and was influential in drafting the welfare reform bill that President Bill Clinton eventually signed in 1996.

In Their Own Words

"A government plan would eliminate the current coverage for 120 million Americans who get it from their employers,” Camp said of a potential government-provided health-care plan. “I am sure most Americans get their health care this way, and taking that away from you is unacceptable."



 

• Career History: Michigan representative(1988-1990); Aide to Rep. Bill Schuette (R-Mich.) (1984-1987); Michigan Assistant state attorney general (1980-1984)
• Birthday: July 9, 1953
• Hometown: Midland, Mich.
• Alma Mater: Albion College, B.A. 1975; University of San Diego, J.D. 1978
• Spouse: Nancy Camp
• Religion: Catholic

• Committees: Chairman, House Ways and Means Committee (since January 2011)
• DC Office: 137 Cannon House Office BuildingWashington, DC 20515(202) 225-3561
• District Office: Midland, 989-631-2552; Traverse City, 231-929-4711
• Email
• Website

 

Born in 1953, Camp grew up in Midland, a central Michigan industrial town where he and his wife and three children still reside. He attended local schools before graduating from Michigan's Albion College in 1975.

After earning his law degree from the University of San Diego in 1978, Camp returned to Michigan to practice law and later served as a special assistant to the Michigan attorney general during the early 1980s. He became active in local Republican politics and managed the winning congressional campaign of his boyhood friend Bill Schuette in 1984. Camp then worked as an aide to Schuette for four years before beginning his own electoral career with a successful run for a seat in the Michigan House in 1988.

 

Though he has kept one foot in the moderate bloc through his participation in the Main Street Partnership, Camp has generally voted as a conservative and along party lines in the House. He sided with Republicans 93.7 percent of the time during the 111th Congress.

The American Conservative Union gives him a lifetime rating of 89 percent,though his score with the Club for Growth is considerably lower.

"I'm a conservative on fiscal policy, but I'm a moderate on some other issues," he told Congressional Quarterly in 2006, though he told National Review the following year that he feels "more at home" with the conservative Republican Steering Committee.

Camp opposes abortion rights and same-sex marriage. He voted twice for President George W. Bush's tax cuts, and he supports their full extension. He has pushed for private accounts for Social Security and supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

On foreign policy, Camp supported the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and he backed - with some reservations - President Bush's decision to send more troops to Iraq in earlier 2007.

The Economy

Camp supported the $700 billion Wall Street bailout in the fall of 2008, a position that drew criticism from Andy Concannon, his Democratic opponent for reelection. "This is not something that anyone really wanted to do, but it was something that had to be done because the risk of (doing) nothing was far too great," Camp said in defending his vote. "This is a stop-gap measure. It is not going to fix all our economic problems."

Camp's post as ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee earned him a spot on the House-Senate conference committee that reconciled the $787 billion economic stimulus bill in February 2009. But the invitation to the negotiating table didn't change his opposition to the package. Camp said the legislation contained "far too much spending, and the tax relief is the not right kind of tax relief to create jobs."

He also complained that Republicans were "frozen out" of the process by the Congressional Democratic leadership. He helped draft a GOP alternative stimulus package that focused heavily on tax cuts and aid to small businesses, homeowners, and the unemployed.

While Camp has praised President Obama for reaching out to Republicans, he broadly criticized his 2010 budget for excessive spending and taxation. Its spending and borrowing, he said, would make the current generation of Americans the first to fail to improve the nation's prosperity.

Health Care

Camp played a leading Republican role in the debate over a health-care overhaul at the center of President Obama's domestic agenda.

In November 2009, Camp introduced the chief Republican alternative to the Democrats' bill called the "Common Sense Health Care Reform and Accountability Act," which Republicans said would lower costs by allowing people to buy insurance across state lines, permit small businesses access to combine and form pools; and prevent insurance companies from denying insurance to those with preexisting conditions.

The chief obstacle to a consensus, Camp suggested, was the push by many Democrats for the creation of a public-health plan to compete with private insurers.

"A government plan would eliminate the current coverage for 120 million Americans who get it from their employers," the congressman said in a statement prior to a Ways and Means Committee hearing on health care in April. "I am sure most Americans get their health care this way, and taking that away from you is unacceptable."

The public plan option, he has said, is a "bright line" dividing Democrats and Republicans who are open to reform.

Camp strongly opposed the ultimate legislation, enacted in March 2010, arguing that it implemented a variety of new tax increases and didn't comply with "pay-as-you-go" budget rules.

Over the years Camp has spoken out on other areas of the health-care debate. In 2003, he championed a provision in the Medicare prescription-drug bill that would protect nurse training programs, warning that to scrap the initiative would exacerbate a nationwide nursing shortage. He also pushed legislation expanding coverage of cholesterol screenings and aid for patients with kidney disease.

At the same time, Camp steadfastly opposed legislation to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. He called the bill, which was enacted under President Obama after vetoes by President Bush, "woefully flawed" and said it inappropriately covers children of families with high incomes.

Trade

A longtime supporter of free trade, Camp voted for both the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
In February 2009, he hailed a bipartisan agreement to expand the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, praising the new inclusion of service workers in the initiative and calling it "a coherent, rational, accountable, and cost-effective system for training trade-affected workers and putting them back to work quickly and at better jobs."

Welfare Reform

Camp's first real brush with the Washington spotlight came in 1996 during the intense negotiations on a bill to overhaul the nation's welfare system. Camp partnered with then-Rep. John Ensign (R-Nev.) to lobby a reluctant GOP leadership to strip out provisions making significant changes to Medicaid, the inclusion of which was sure to draw a veto from President Clinton.

The move quickly garnered support from the Republican rank-and-file in the House, and it was later cited as the "decisive breakthrough" in the bill that Clinton eventually signed.

 

Camp was an early supporter of Mitt Romney 's campaign for president in 2008, serving as a congressional liaison for the former Massachusetts governor. He would be a natural ally for Romney as he stays in the national limelight in advance of a potential second run for the White House in 2012.

Camp was also a top supporter of former House speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), managing the Republican's campaign for that post in 1998.

Read more

 

1. Camp House web site
2. Wayne, Alex, "Health Care Factions Loom on Hill," Congressional Quarterly Today, March 13, 2009.
3. American Conservative Union
4. Barber, Barrie, "Camp: No to Stimulus Push," The Saginaw News, Jan. 28, 2009.
5. Camp House web site
6. Camp House web site
7. Church, George J., "Ripping Up Welfare," Time Magazine, Aug. 12, 1996.
8. Miller, John J., "Republican from Michigan - Dave Camp is a Quiet But Effective Congressman," National Review, Dec. 3, 2007.
9. Camp House web site
10. Barber, Barrie, "Candidates: Economy No. 1," The Saginaw News, Oct. 12, 2008.
11. Eversley, Melanie, "Camp Working to Make Hastert Speaker," Detroit Free Press, Dec. 21, 1998.
12. Ota, Alan K., "House Republican is Moderate Today, Conservative Tomorrow," Congressional Quarterly Today, March 10, 2006.
13. Camp press release, November 2009
14. Struglinski, Suzanne, "Romney Recruits 3 House Members as Eyes, Ears," Deseret Morning News, Jan. 21, 2007.
15. Washington Post Votes Database
16. Camp House web site
17. Almanac of American Politics, 2008 edition.
18. Camp House web site
19. Camp press release, March 24, 2010
20. David Camp's official biography
21. Club for Growth scorecard