A Weekly e-Newsletter from
Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)

May 12, 2006

Dear Friends,

This week, the Senate passed legislation that will continue to encourage the nation’s job creation and unprecedented economic expansion by extending tax relief.  The House-Senate conference report on the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 will extend for two years the capital gains and dividend tax rate reductions as well as increasing the exemption threshold for the Alternative Minimum Tax. The bill will also increase expensing for small businesses from $25,000 to $100,000.  This legislation is a step in the right direction, but I feel very strongly that we should continue our nation's unprecedented economic prosperity by making the tax cuts permanent. We absolutely cannot afford to abandon the very strategy that has created over 5 million jobs in the last three years.  The House of Representatives approved the conference report on May 10. The bill now goes to President Bush for his signature.

This weekend I urge all Senior citizens and those eligible to receive disability benefits to sign up for Medicare’s new Prescription Drug Plan, or a Medicare Advantage Plan, which I believe will help lower healthcare costs by helping to prevent serious illness or disease. In the past, Medicare would have paid for a major surgery but would not have helped pay for the medicine that would have prevented the surgery in the first place. Medicare is joining the 21 st century and now allows doctors and patients to practice more affordable preventive measures. 

The deadline to enroll to receive coverage for 2006 is this Monday, May 15, 2006. I encourage Georgia’s Medicare beneficiaries who haven’t yet signed up for a plan, to choose one that fits their needs. Additional information can be found on the Internet at www.medicare.gov or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). 

On Monday, the Senate took up with Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act, S.1955, which would help small businesses provide affordable health insurance to employees.  I spoke on the Senate floor on Wednesday in support of this legislation, which gives people who do not have any insurance at all the chance to get good, solid, basic health care. Today, more than 45 million Americans lack health insurance, and 62 percent of those uninsured are either employed by a small business or dependent on someone who is.  This bill ensures that the customer always has the choice of buying the product and the coverage they want and can afford.

This week the Senate subcommittee on Employee and Workforce Safety, which I chair, heard testimony regarding the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. The act was enacted in 1927 and provides medical benefits, compensation for lost wages and rehabilitation services to employees who are injured during the course of employment or contract an occupational disease related to employment.  These workers perform vital work that plays a key role in our national security, and their work is often difficult and dangerous – the act was last amended in 1984 and is in need of an upgrade.  Witnesses at the hearing discussed how the Longshore program falls short of the most recent innovation in workers’ compensation practices and suggestions on how Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety can improve the system.

Also this week, Senator Chambliss and I had Georgia’s own Sweet Vidalia Onions delivered to all 100 Senate offices in Washington, D.C. As you know, Georgia’s Vidalia onions are the best-tasting and sweetest in the world, and Senator Chambliss and I were delighted to share them with our friends on Capitol Hill. The onions came from Bland Farms in Reidsville, Ga., where Raymond and Delbert Bland have been in the business of growing Vidalia onions for three decades. The Bland family is one of the largest growers, packers and shippers of Vidalia onions in the nation.  

Last weekend, my office, along with the Georgia Congressional Delegation hosted 850 families and students interested in attending one of our nation’s military academies at Academy Day at Naval Air Station Atlanta.  The event was a great success, with representatives from each academy giving short presentations on their institutions.  Many of my former academy nominees have used our Academy Day to decide which installation is the right choice for them.

What’s on Tap for Next Week?

Next week, the Senate will resume debate on immigration. I will again seek to amend the immigration reform legislation being debated by the Senate to prohibit implementation of any guest worker program until the Department of Homeland Security certifies in writing that U.S. borders are sealed and secured.                                 

Sincerely,
Johnny Isakson