What’s your New Year’s Resoltuion

WISHING YOU A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.  At the beginning of every year, millions of Americans make resolutions and wishes for the future.  But if you could make one resolution or wish for Congress or the entire federal government, what would it be?  
Coinciding with the start of 2013 is a new legislative session.  And there are still many challenges ahead, but over the course of the year, and throughout the duration of the new Congress, there will be few issues that match the importance of resolving the debt situation and reforming the major cost-drivers in the federal budget.

NOW POSTED: 2012 YEAR-IN-REVIEW NEWSLETTER…No different than any other year, 2012 had its share of successes, setbacks and milestones.  And with 2012 now in the rearview, be sure to check out Representative Hunter’s interactive Year-In-Review newsletter. 

FISCAL CLIFF DEAL MISSES THE MARK.  Emerging from negotiations between the White House and Senate was an eleventh-hour fiscal cliff agreement that reinstated the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for individuals making less than $400,000 and couples making less than $450,000.  The deal did make rates permanent, underscoring a small but important benefit with the agreement.   

A bigger point of concern was an estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, released on the evening of the House vote, stating the agreement adds $4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade.  In a sluggish economy, with debt and spending hamstringing sustainable growth and recovery, Representative Hunter opposed the fiscal cliff deal, calling instead for a solution that focuses on overdue program and tax code reforms. 

TRUE OR FALSE: The U.S. Senate had six minutes at most to the review the fiscal cliff agreement before a vote was called? 

The answer is TRUE, according to Senator Mike Lee, who also opposed the deal.

SGT. PERALTA MEDAL OF HONOR ON HOLD, FOR NOW.  Despite the availability of new video, photographic and scientific evidence confirming Marine Corps Sergeant Rafael Peralta deliberately smothered a grenade during combat in Iraq, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta declined to upgrade Peralta’s Navy Cross to the Medal of Honor.  

A subsequent request was immediately sent to Secretary Panetta, but along with a bipartisan House resolution in draft form, awaiting introduction, Representative Hunter intends torestate an appeal to the incoming Secretary of Defense and President Obama.    
  
FORMER MARINE, JON HAMMAR, HELD IN A MEXICAN PRISON FOR MONTHS, WAS FINALLY RELEASED, following appeals from Members of Congress and attention by some in the news media.  Representative Hunter and Representative Michael Grimm (NY), both former Marines themselves, called for a travel boycott of Mexico and conveyed intent to travel to Mexico to request Hammar’s immediate release.  Also, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL) was on the case from the start and her efforts, supported by both Florida Senators, were instrumental in returning Hammar to his family before the Christmas holiday.