Weekly Updates
This past week the Virginia Employment Commission released its June unemployment numbers showing that the percentage of those out of work had reached 7.3% statewide and 7.4% in Hampton Roads. Additionally just this past Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that 247,000 more Americans lost their jobs in July.
Well folks, as we wind up the month of July and look into the August work period back in the district, we have the issues of financial services reform, food safety and Department of Defense spending left to take up in Washington. There is also the possibility of the health care reform bill coming before us. All of us here in Congress agree that we must fix the current system to reduce costs to make health care affordable. We cannot continue on our current path where, we as a nation spend 17% of what we produce on health care and with this increasing at 1% per year.
Congress returned to Washington this past week and hit the ground running on several important issues. A hearing on my Chesapeake Bay legislation took place, we passed a bill to aid small businesses, and we announced a grant to help transport wounded warriors in Virginia to job training programs.
It has been great spending this past week back in the First Congressional District and visiting with folks from Fredericksburg to Yorktown. I've met with many constituents and seen first hand the impact of lost jobs and a continually slowing economy on their daily lives.
First, I was pleased to support the National Defense Authorization Act which authorizes $550.4 billion for standard operations at the Department of Defense, as well as $130 billion for funding ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The House approved the bill by a vote of 389 to 22.
I am deeply disappointed that Congressional leaders chose to include unrelated spending in the War Supplemental. The final version of the bill cut $4.6 billion from original troop funding levels in order to bailout foreign governments and help buy up old gas guzzling cars.