Research Bills

1. The Trash Free Seas of 2011 Act 

The purpose is to reauthorize and improve marine debris research and debris prevention.

By: Peter N.

     2.   Postal Service Protection Act of 2011

This Bill helps to place restrictions on closing postal offices, and maintain the levels of the post offices.

By: Kathleen Quinn

      3.10 Million Dollar Solar Roofs Act of 2011

This bill which came from the secretary of energy states that the government will provide solar grants to local communities, that it will provide cheaper, more efficient energy,and by the end of 2020 no less than 10 million properties will have solar roofs providing energy.
By: Mike Kane

I will be using the 10 Million Dollar Solar Roofs Act of 2011 for my constituent letter.  

Should the Electoral College Be Abolished?

Facts:

1. The electoral college casts their vote on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December.
2. The electoral college never meets as a single entity.
3. The smallest number of electoral votes a state can have is three, the District of Columbia also has three electoral votes.
4. Most electors are bound by party and precedent, not by law, and a few "faithless" electors have ignored the popular vote.
5. The electoral college is said to undermine third parties.
6. The votes tend to exaggerate the popular strength if the majority party.
7. Supporters of it argue a popular election would encourage minor party candidates, possibly making the winner of the election win by only a small percentage.
8. The Electoral college triples the clout of the seven least populated states that have just one member in he house.
9. It was ruled in 1962 in the case of Baker v Carr by the supreme court that,"one person-one vote must prevail at the state and local level."
10. Even though Democrats ended up winning the popular vote in 2000 by one half of a million votes they ended up with Bush the republican who was against what many of the issues democrats valued in Gore such as environmental protection, better healthcare for the poor, and a woman's right to choose.      

Questions:

1. What happens if the electoral unexpectedly votes one way and the media already announced the other candidate to be the president after the popular vote?
2. Is there any circumstance where all of the electoral college will meet in the same place together?
3. Do you believe that the District of Columbia should have as many electoral votes as some of our smallest states?
4. Does the electoral college get lobbied a lot?
5. Why isn't there a law ensuring that the electoral college votes based on the wishes of the people? 

New York Times Budget Puzzle

Saved:
2015: $536 Billion
2020: $1,356 Billion
Percent from tax increases: 72%
Percent from spending cuts: 28%

       I first made the decision to cut smaller things and programs, but i could easily tell that the gap was not being bridged and it wouldn't be if it continued that way. So i had to cut a lot of bigger things that if i were an average citizen i would probably be upset to see cut. I think some things were easy, like putting a tax on carbon emissions, which i remember was actually a bill at some point in our government simulation. The difficult part of it was cutting things that i didn't completely understand or didn't want to see cut, for example i raised the age that citizens begin to receive social security, which i would be pretty upset with if i were near retirement age. I think it would be extremely difficult to try to compromise all of these things. Things that two people value, even two people in the same party can range drastically. I had a hard enough time trying to cut things myself without people demanding compromises or explanations for every decision. 

Issue of the Week: National Debt

1. If we continue to accumulate debt at the rate that we are, how much debt will America have by 2020? How will this affect future generations? 
Obama's fiscal 2011 budget will create $10 million in debt in the next ten years, this is $1.2 million more than the administration originally projected.The administration projected a deficit of 8.53 trillion in the next ten years. The amount of debt in each household is also expected to rise dramatically by 2020. When Obama was first elected into office the debt for every household was $56,000 a household, today it's $72,000 a household, and by 2020 it's projected to be more than $170,000 a household. This will create lots of problems for the future generations, it will be harder and harder to afford the life that we currently have now.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/26/cbos-2020-vision-debt-will-rise-to-90-of-gdp/?page=all
2. Who or what do we owe money to?
We owe money to many countries however the top 5 we owe money to are Japan ($585.9 billion), China ($541 billion), The United Kingdom ($307.4 billion), OPEC Nations ($179.8 billion), and Caribbean Banking ($147.7).


3. Will we be able to pay off all the debt?
Originally in 2000 it was projected that by 2012 the national debt would be paid off. 

Now the chances of paying off all the national debt looks grim. The debt has skyrocketed and it's worse than ever. The national debt has been paid off in the past but for now i believe we are just going to have to aim for slowly bringing down the debt.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/10/21/141510617/what-if-we-paid-off-the-debt-the-secret-government-report

Political Cartoon 5

What do you think the cartoonist thinks about Obama's current economic policies?

Where are some core places you think should be cut back to cover the deficit?

Do you believe that people should just get used to the changing times rather than whine over how things used to be better?

President James K. Polk

1. Polk has been referred to as "the dark horse" and was one of the last Jeffersonian's. He made promises in the beginning of his term and met everyone that he had promised. He reestablished the independent treasury system, lowered tariffs, settled the Oregon boundary dispute,and added California to the United States. Presidents can learn from this to set goals and promises they truly believe that they can accomplish.
2. Was dealing with turmoil between the North and South on the issue of slavery while also trying to deal with risking war with Great Britain. He had to learn to find a common ground between the north and the south who disagreed on many things. This relates to Democrats and Republicans today, they  must work to find common ground in order to move forward.
3. Managed to cool down the heat between the United States and Britain by redrawing the border between Canada and the US. He was really trying to be diplomatic with this rather than militaristic. 
4. Polk showed that you have to pick your battles when you are being threatened, rather than risking another war with Great Britain he managed to find another way. This was wise because soon after the US entered into the US and Mexican war. He tended to lose contact with his Generals during this time, it's important to learn from this that a President needs to find a way to keep himself in situations, and not just be in the background. 
5. He was the leader of the Jacksonian democracy, it wanted a stronger for the common man and followed ideas that many modern day democrats would agree with. 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/jamespolk

http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/polk/context.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_K._Polk

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h157.html

Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2011 Bill

Facts about the Bill

1. One positive aspect of it is that it conserves roadless areas that have been used for Native American rituals or spiritual retreats.
2. Will impact less than 0.5% of the nations timber supply.
3. The term "roadless area characteristics" means resources or features that are often present in or characterize inventoried areas including: high quality undisturbed soil,water, or air, sources of public drinking water, and a diversity of plant and animal communities and so on.
4. This bill would prohibit roads being constructed in an inventoried roadless are of the National Forest System, however there are exceptions.
5. This also states that timber may not be cut, sold, or removed in any inventoried roadless area in the National Forest System.

Questions

1. How do they intend to enforce the removal of timber?
2. Who would be in charge of enforcing these regulations?
3. What are some disadvantages of this this regulation?