TITLE II – Putting Workers Back on the Job While Rebuilding and
Modernizing America
Subtitle A - Veterans Hiring Preferences
Sec. 201. Returning Heroes and Wounded Warriors Work Opportunity
Tax Credits
Wasn't there recently another attempt at carrying this out by
President Obama? Yeah, he did, it was about credentialing. But, the Congress is
playing around with a Veteran's Spending Bill now?
Posted: 6/1/2012 8:23:22 AM
Updated: 6/1/2012 8:24:40 AM
Updated: 6/1/2012 8:24:40 AM
WASHINGTON (WLS) - President Obama (click here) will unveil a new
initiative on Friday that will, for the first time, allow some U.S. service
members to receive civilian credentials and licenses for skills they learn in
the military.
The effort, announced by the White House late Thursday, is aimed
at boosting employment among post-9/11 veterans, some of whom have had
difficulty obtaining jobs in high-skill industries because their training is not
immediately transferrable to the private sector.
The current unemployment rate among post-9/11 veterans is 9
percent, based on a three-month weighted average, officials said. Veteran
unemployment is 8.4 percent overall.
Obama will announce that a Defense Department task force he
created has penned a deal with several major U.S. credentialing agencies for
engineering, logistics, machining, maintenance and welding skills to provide
the “opportunity” for 126,000 service members to get “industry-recognized, nationally-portable
certifications” starting this summer....
The Veteran's Spending Bill cuts other domestic programs. $148
billion on this bill alone. The GOP will do anything to increase military
spending whenever they can regardless of the EXISTING law that passed last year
when the debt ceiling was raising and the SuperCommittee didn't come to an
agreement other than equal cuts to domestic and military budgets. The GOP House
is already breaking the law they passed just last year, imagine what next year
will bring if they can't keep their promises already. The Bush years are
deficit spending and the GOP just can't help themselves.
Published: May 30, 2012
...The
Veto Promise comes because House GOP leaders are breaking faith with last
summer's budget deal by cutting overall funding for agency operating budgets by
$19 billion, almost 2 percent.
The
House takes up the $148 billion measure Thursday.
The
veto promise doesn't find fault with the funding levels in the veterans'
measure itself. Instead, it says that the GOP moves on spending will force
deep cuts to domestic programs like education, research and health care in
subsequent legislation.
There
is no sense for the House to take a vote on a bill the President won't sign
because they won't be able to override the veto. The veterans need this
spending bill and it needs to be realistic within the guidelines already
passed last year. There is a law. The House needs to live within it unless they
want to be in violation of it.
This
section of the American Jobs Act changed definitions and levels of income for
veterans to make the unemployment laws more useful to them giving them
preference for their service. This section also provided a credit to employers
to hire a veteran. This section applied to all states and possessions of the
USA.
Subtitle
B - Teacher Stabilization
Section
202: Purpose
The
purpose was to stop layoffs and assist in hiring from Early Childhood through
Secondary Education all the way to the end of the School Year 2013.
Ah, no
one needed teachers. The classrooms are over crowded and the students under
achieving in a global economy, but, teachers thrive best under adverse
conditions, don't they? Right? The harder the challenge the more they
love it, after this is the USA where a person can hold down three jobs to makes
end meet, why not a classroom of thirty children or more for the same reason.
Sec. 203. Grants for the Outlying Areas and the Secretary of the
Interior; Availability of Funds.
This is the handling of the funds, including monies for the
Secretary of Education to administer the fundings.
Sec. 204. State Allocation
Sec. 205. State Application
This is all about the process to qualify and to the extent a
state would receive the funding.
Sec. 206. State Reservation and Responsibilities
This talks about how the state divides up the grants to insure
there is only 2% spending on administering the funds to school districts, 10%
for Early Childhood, etc. and so forth. I went though all this before. it is a
matter of responsibility the sate has to show to make sure the
children/students receive the benefit for teachers in the classroom and not
just people in administration talking about the teachers in the classroom.
Sec. 207. Local Educational Agencies
Local Educational Agencies can receive a subgrant and it briefly
describes the use of the funds.
Sec. 208. Early Learning
Sec. 209. Maintenance of Effort
More definitions to be used and insure for teachers. The monies
are not to be used for capital investments. That comes under a different
section. Just governance verbiage to insure Early Learning already exists in
school districts obtaining the monies and that it will continue after the
monies are exhausted by September 30, 2013.
Sec. 210 Reporting
How much funds received and how many jobs created or maintained. Fairly straight forward reporting. No gimmicks to trip anyone up for the sake of politics.
Self explanatory.
Sec. 212. Authorization of Appropriations
There are authorized to be appropriated, and there are appropriated, $30,000,000,000 to carry out this subtitle for fiscal year 2012.
Republicans could not stomach spending that money on teachers regardless of whether it was paid for or not. Why do I get the feeling, outside Abstinence Education, the GOP simply give a hoot about a child's education. When would schools ever have a chance to maintain or improve their teacher numbers? When was it ever more important to do so. Like Scott Walker, cut the funding and improve it in the future when it can be done. That could have been completely averted and a child would not be in jeopardy of receiving a degraded learning experience. This is the GOP, they see the cuts to Education at the State level and they couldn't care less, instead they use it as a wedge to destroy democracy and principled government. The day where government actually operates on principles to insure its purpose is fulfilled is never on the GOP agenda. It is only about dollars and cents and how they can best cut spending to line their pockets. Never once did Walker ever say, "If we had the American Jobs Act Bill none of this would be necessary." Nor did he ever plan to. The American Jobs Act was paid for by federal government redistribution of funds so children receiving education would not be effected because of a bad economy. The GOP always operates on politics and never, ever on what is best for the country and this is a stark example.
SUBTITLE C—FIRST RESPONDER STABILIZATION
Sec. 213. Purpose
To prevent layoffs of, and support the creation of additional jobs for, law enforcement officers and other first responders.
This grant program falls to the jurisdiction of the Attorney General
$5 billion program of which $1 billion was to be used by Homeland Security for First Responders.
Part I - Elementary and Secondary Schools
Sec. 221 Purpose
To modernize, renovate and repair.
Sec. 222 Authorization of Appropriations
There are authorized to be appropriated, and there are appropriated, $25,000,000,000 to carry out this part, which shall be available for obligation by the Secretary until September 30, 2012.
Sec. 223 Allocation of Funds
Monies to Native American education and State funds to be targeted to students ages 5-17 living in poverty to improve their circumstances.
Nah, the GOP can't do that. Not allowed. Poor kids are poor kids and they need to get over it early in life. Absolutely, Secretary Boner, absolutely.
Sec 224. State Use of Funds
After allocations were to be made under the previous section, the remaining funds could be distributed to other educational agencies including Charter Schools. Imagine that, plenty to go around, too.
Sec. 225 State and Local Application
Just explains the application process, including the quality assurance in energy efficiency to obtain the funds. Nice. Modernization and all that as well as energy efficiency to lower the energy costs to schools, especially needy schools so their energy costs are contained now and in the future. No, we couldn't do that, it makes too much sense to actually HELP disadvantaged schools to improve their budgets by applying energy efficiency to lower maintenance costs to increase monies for better books and more teachers even after these monies are spent. I'll be darn. Heck of an idea.
Sec. 226 Use of Funds
To make sure the local educational agencies using the funds know what it is to be allocated for and it is to be used to SUPPLEMENT monies already received for projects to make the project better. These were not to be 'instead of' funds. ALL the monies for a project were to be used for the purpose of making a good school, the best school. These funds were to be used for renovations and improvement of existing school buildings, not stadiums, not maintenance or any other purpose.
Sec. 227 Private Schools
Private Schools were to receive allocations and were not to impinge the title of the property or be used to purchase property. The monies could be used for asbestos and polychlorinated biphenyls as private schools sometimes are older buildings and not under code as public buildings have been. Would have been nice. Especially nice during tough times when so much has to be put off due to lack of funding and income considering the impact the housing crisis had on property values, foreclosures and ultimately taxes.
Sec. 228 Additional Provisions
Lists all the extraneous laws that apply covering all necessary laws in all the states.
Part II - Community Colleges
Sec. 229 Federal Assistance for Community College Modernization
Not for professional degrees such as bachelors, etc. Each state to receive no less than $2.5 million with a potential to reallocate funds to states having a need when one state might now. Same prohibitions of the use of money for maintenance, etc. as noted in the Primary Secondary School provisions. Same application of energy efficiency. Same reporting.
Part III General Provisions
Sec. 230. Definitions
Sec. 231. Buy American
I would think this was self explanatory as well.
Section 1605 of division A of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-5) applies to funds made available under this title.
There were actually complaints that "Buy American" was causing problems in the Recovery Act Funds, in that the money could not be spent immediately. The receiving parties actually had to put in an effort to satisfy that provision. That is sad. To realize the recipients of those funds literally didn't have sources in use already to supply "Buy American" is such a poor management directive. How are people going to be employed if there aren't directive by local school boards to purchase 'Buy American' for building their schools? How are cities and towns insuring people can pay the property tax necessary to run the schools if they are not using "Buy American" goods to build schools and other municipal buildings. China is not going to pay property tax. The cities and states themselves are limiting their jobs by not finding incentives to build these manufacturing plants right here in the USA. Cities and States will pander to large corporations to build in their area and provide all kinds of tax incentives. Why can't they do the same thing for manufacturing plants to produce "Buy American" products? Does it make sense to do it any other way. STOP COMPLAINING and start taking control of the deficit of American manufacturing in this country. Don't complain for political purposes, MAKE MONEY and get out your own way to find the cheapest path.
That reality is just amazing to me. Billions of dollars waiting for infusion into the USA economy to get it rolling and there are no takers to make it happen. WOW. I don't think it is laziness, but, I do believe it is a learned helplessness in the USA that is now complacency. No different than Wisconsin. Why didn't the people tell Walker to bring pressure on DC to make it happen to prevent what happened rather than razing the public employees and negatively effecting the economy?
Think about it, people. Wall Street or Main Street, where should building supply products come from?
Subtitle E - Immediate Transportation Infrastructure Investment
Sec. 241 Immediate Transportation Infrastructure Investment
DON'T COMPLAIN WHEN INFRASTRUCTURE DOESN'T MAKE THE GRADE OR MEET THE NEED. There were people in Washington that wanted to see it happen. When a complaint comes on the lips simply say FILIBUSTER. Then complain.
(a) GRANTS-IN-AID FOR AIRPORTS.--
(1) IN GENERAL.--There is made available to the Secretary of Transportation $2,000,000,000 to carry out airport improvement under subchapter I of chapter 471 and subchapter I of chapter 475 of title 49, United States Code.
(b) NEXT GENERATION AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL ADVANCEMENTS.--
(1) IN GENERAL.--There is made available to the Secretary of Transportation $1,000,000,000 for necessary Federal Aviation Administration capital, research and operating costs to carry out Next Generation air traffic control system advancements.
(c) HIGHWAY INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT.--
(1) IN GENERAL.—There is made available to the Secretary of Transportation $27,000,000,000 for restoration, repair, construction and other activities eligible under section 133(b) of title 23, United States Code, and for passenger and freight rail transportation and port infrastructure projects eligible for assistance under section 601(a)(8) of title 23
(9) PUERTO RICO AND TERRITORIAL HIGHWAY PROGRAMS.--Of the funds provided under this subsection, $105,000,000 shall be set aside for the Puerto Rico highway program authorized under section 165 of title 23, United States Code, and $45,000,000 shall be for the territorial highway program authorized under section 215 of title 23, United States Code.
(10) FEDERAL LANDS AND INDIAN RESERVATIONS.--Of the funds provided under this subsection, $550,000,000 shall be set aside for investments in transportation at Indian reservations and Federal lands in accordance with the following:.
(11) JOB TRAINING.--Of the funds provided under this subsection, $50,000,000 shall be set aside for the development and administration of transportation training programs under section 140(b) title 23, United States Code.
(12) DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS ENTERPRISES.--Of the funds provided under this subsection, $10,000,000 shall be set aside for training programs and assistance programs under section 140(c) of title 23, United States Code. Funds set aside under this paragraph should be allocated to businesses that have proven success in adding staff while effectively completing projects.
INTERCITY PASSENGER RAIL SERVICE.--
(1) IN GENERAL.--There is made available to the Secretary of Transportation $4,000,000,000 for grants for high-speed rail projects as authorized under sections 26104 and 26106 of title 49, United States Code, capital investment grants to support intercity passenger rail service
(e) CAPITAL GRANTS TO THE NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER CORPORATION.--
(1) IN GENERAL.-- There is made available $2,000,000,000 to enable the Secretary of Transportation to make capital grants to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), as authorized by section 101(c) of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-432).
(f) TRANSIT CAPITAL ASSISTANCE.--
(1) IN GENERAL.-- There is made available to the Secretary of Transportation $3,000,000,000 for grants for transit capital assistance grants as defined by section 5302(a)(1) of title 49, United States Code. Notwithstanding any provision of chapter 53 of title 49, however, a recipient of funding under this subsection may use up to 10 percent
SEC. 242. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title- This subtitle may be cited as the “Building and Upgrading Infrastructure for Long-Term Development Act”.
SEC. 243. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
This section validates the USA's need for improving infrastructure. It is a legal argument, with brevity, STIPULATING the need for this spending and why it is important.
(6) according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the current condition of the infrastructure in the United States earns a grade point average of D, and an estimated $2,200,000,000,000 investment is needed over the next 5 years to bring American infrastructure up to adequate condition;
(7) according to the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, $225,000,000,000 is needed annually from all sources for the next 50 years to upgrade the United States surface transportation system to a state of good repair and create a more advanced system
Hello? Anyone thinking out there about reality rather than Republican rhetoric? No? Don't be surprised at the next bridge collapse then. Take responsibility. Politics gets very interesting then.
SEC. 244. DEFINITIONS.
Self Explanatory
Part I American Infrastructure Authority
Sec. 245 - 252 explains the AIFA (American Infrastructure Authority) and how it would help with improving the nation's infrastructure. It is a tedious read and I did it all before.
Part II Terms and Limitations on Direct Loans and Loan Guarantees
Sec. 253 - 256 is more about the loans and their servicing from the AIFA
Part III Funding of the AIFA
Sec. 257 -259 explains all the funding for the agency.
Part IV is where I will pick up tomorrow.
Kindly remember these were monies the federal government already had. There were no new taxes. This was monies coming from other areas to pay for all this.
There is the expression among Americans that says, "We need nation building at home." Well, what happened to it? The President had a plan and it would not have cost anything to the National Debt or add to the budget deficit. What happened here?
