Will Trabue- environmental protection

H.RES.235

Title: Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1262) to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize appropriations for State water pollution control revolving funds, and for other purposes.

Background (What circumstances necessitate Congressional action? /what happened to the Bill in Congress? Did it pass, or die in committee?):

To be in control of the water pollution acts funding, so that this act is effective, and useful to protecting our environment.

Goal of Action:

To ensure that the act has the ability to shine with all it’s potential.

Specifics/Means of Goal:

To make sure funding for the act is appropriate, so that its effective for protecting out natural waters.

Type of Power (Is Congress acting according to an expressed or implied power? If it is implied, what expressed power grants it? - Check the Constitution to figure this out!):

It’s an implied power because the constitution does not go into detail about protecting the environment, but does state to ensure the well being of the people. Which is what this would fall under.

Analysis (Do you think Congress should do this according to its Constitutional powers?)

Yes because water is the universal solvent. It’s necessary for anything pure to survive, and flourish. Without healthy fresh water to drink, and use, we will, be an unhealthy, unsanitary, dying nation, that will slowly wither away.

How can a local community have an impact on a national issue such as NF?

Background (What circumstances necessitate Congressional action?/What happened to the Bill in Congress? Did it pass, or die in committee?):
The Senate bill 1299 is a bill to reform the care for first response workers that can contract resistant strains and infectious diseases such as MRSA, or like NF. It's currently being lost in Senate committees.

Goal of Action:
To reduce the amount of first response workers such as EMT's, nurses, police, and fireman, and workers exposed to diseases such as MRSA and NF.

Specifics/Means of Goal:

180 days after passed, an infectious disease control organization for offices should be set up, and personal prevention equipment is to be administered to workers. Also, education on ways to prevent, recognize, and recover from these diseases, as well as provide medical attention to at risk workers.


Type of Power (Is Congress acting according to an expressed or implied power? If it is implied, what expressed power grants it? - Check the Constitution to figure this out!):
This is a bill acting on an implied power of the expressed interstate commerce clause. The Senate wants to protect workers which has to be regulated between states.


Analysis (Do you think Congress should do this according to its Constitutional powers?)
I think that this bill is certainly in the best interest of the people involved, and shouldn't be stopped, although I don't really know why congress sees that they should do it.

Glass blowing

H.R.2300

Title: To provide the United States with a comprehensive energy package to place Americans on a path to a secure economic future through increased energy innovation, conservation, and production.

Background (What circumstances necessitate Congressional action?/What happened to the Bill in Congress? Did it pass, or die in committee?):

High cost of energy make this bill necessary. Right now it is referred to the House subcommittee.

Goal of Action:

The goal is to provide energy solutions that are economic.


Specifics/Means of Goal:
Provides an energy package to the United States


Type of Power (Is Congress acting according to an expressed or implied power? If it is implied, what expressed power grants it? - Check the Constitution to figure this out!):

An implied power to help the general welfare of the people.


Analysis (Do you think Congress should do this according to its Constitutional powers?)

Yes because of it's importance that we have an efficient way to provide energy.

Kristyn Fulcher - Elderly Care

H.R. 468

Background (What circumstances necessitate Congressional action?/ What happened to the Bill in Congress? Did it pass, or die in committee?):
The growing population of elderly Americans has caused Congress to try and pass a Bill to increase and train all sectors of the health care workforce in elderly care. The Aging America Act of 2009 amends the Public Health Service Act to require an expansion of training for health professionals in the field of geriatrics. This Bill also requires the development of core training programs for personal and home health care aides. This Bill is still in the process as it has been referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Education and Labor.

Goal of Action:
To better educate the current workforce in the care of elderly U.S. citizens.

Specifics/ Means of the goal:
An increase in spending by the National Institutes of Health on conditions and illnesses affecting the health of older Americans would help to educate workers. The Bill is also hoping to establish a panel of long-term care health experts to help family caregivers and personal home health aides.

Type of Power (Is Congress acting according to an expressed or implied power? If it is implied, what expressed power grants it?):
This is an implied power which is not stated directly in the Constitution, but is under the Elastic Clause. This allows Congress to do whatever is "necessary and proper" and they believe in bettering the care for our elderly population.

Analysis (Do you think Congress should do this according to its Constitutional Powers):
Yes, I believe that an increase in the workforce caring for our elderly will in turn allow more people to trust in assisted living and nursing home facilities. Also, most people have loved ones who are elderly and they would want them to receive the best care possible. This Bill is well within the rights of Congress since it is dealing with the care of U.S. citizens.

Art Therapy

Background: H.CON.RES.58 Title: Expressing the sense of Congress that any effort to reengineer the health care system in the United States should incorporate sustainable wellness programs that address the underlying causal factors associated with chronic disease. Sponsor: Rep Langevin, James R. [RI-2] (introduced 2/24/2009) Cosponsors (6) Latest Major Action: 2/24/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Goal of Action:Calls for Congress to ensure that any reengineering of the U.S. health care system

Specifics/Means of Goal:
(1) incorporates sustainable wellness programs that address the underlying causal factors associated with chronic disease;
(2) ensures that the public has access to strategies for improving individual health and increasing individual capacity to engage in activities of daily living through lifestyle change, including strategies relating to diet, exercise, smoking cessation, and stress reduction;
(3) provides patient-centered care--
(A) that addresses personal health needs; and
(B) that uses a multidimensional approach to encourage patients to improve their own wellness through lifestyle changes and the use of scientifically based therapies and outcomes-based treatments that facilitate the inherent ability of the human body to maintain and restore optimal health; and
(4) utilizes clearly defined standards to determine when the implementation of wellness and health promotion activities will be useful for each patient based on the diet, exercise habits, individual health history, and family health history of the patient.

Type of Power: This is an implied power, there is really no part that says congress can to this. The only one that is slightly close to a power they can use is the promoteing the progress of science part.

Analysis: I think this is a good idea but I do not think Congress has the power to do this based on the Constitution

Rachel Linard - Underage Drinking

H.R.1028 Title: To provide additional support for the efforts of community coalitions, health care providers, parents, and others to prevent and reduce underage drinking, and for other purposes.

Background (What circumstances necessitate Congressional action? What happened to the Bill in Congress? Did it pass, or die in committee?):

2/12/2009--Introduced.

Support 21 Act of 2009 - Requires the Secretary of Transportation, acting through the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, to establish a program under which at least two campaigns in support of enforcement of the minimum legal drinking age will be implemented per year for each of 2010 through 2014 to: (1) educate the public about the public health and safety benefits and basis for age-21 minimum legal drinking age laws; and (2) build public and parental support for, and cooperation with, enforcement of such laws.

Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary), acting through the Administrator, to make grants to professional pediatric medical organizations to increase effective practices to reduce the prevalence of alcohol use among individuals under the age of 21.

Requires the Secretary to establish within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) a focus on underage drinking prevention, including activities for: (1) expanding and disseminating research on strategies for reducing underage drinking; and (2) public health and state-level surveillance of underage drinking.

Requires the National Academy of Sciences to review and report to Congress on research regarding the influence of drinking alcohol on the development of the adolescent brain and the public policy implications.

Activity: Referral, In Committee

Goal of Action:

2/12/2009: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Specifics/Means of Goal:

Authorizes the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Administrator) to make supplemental grants to eligible entities to implement strategies to: (1) work with local pediatric health care providers to increase alcohol education, screening, and intervention provided to patients and persons under age 21; (2) give such providers access to the community sectors involved in collaborating on the implementation of comprehensive, community wide programs, strategies, and services to reduce underage alcohol use and abuse; (3) provide science-based alcohol information and education to caregivers of children and young adults through relevant community sectors; and (4) undertake activities to support the national campaigns.

Type of Power (Is Congress acting according to an expressed or implied power? If it is implied, what expressed power grants it? - Check the Constitution to figure this out!):

This is an implied power. It doesn’t specifically state in the Constitution the problems of underage drinking and the concerns because it wasn’t a big issue back then. It’s implied where they can make laws according to what problems need to be fixed or things that need to be stressed such as the change of the drinking age from 18 to 21 due to increased problems with the issue.

Analysis (Do you think Congress should do this according to its Constitutional powers?)

Yes, I think it is important for Congress to do. These laws are necessary to being past to help our learning and education for children of underage drinking as well as the safety for the people who choose to drink underage. It’s been a concern for a long time and is growing, so I feel that this bill is essential for helping the issue.

Eric Arnold - Civil Engineering

H.R.3183

Background :

This is the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. It consists of many different rules and laws that make appropriations for energy and water development. It was eventually signed and passed by the president 10/20/2009. It became law 111-85. It has also had 111 amendments.


Goal of Action:
Making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other purposes.

Makes appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for FY2010.


Specifics/Means of Goal:

Makes appropriations for FY2010 to the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers-Civil, for: (1) civil functions pertaining to rivers and harbors, flood and storm damage reduction, shore protection, and aquatic ecosystem restoration (including the Mississippi River alluvial valley below Cape Girardeau, Missouri); (2) the regulatory program pertaining to navigable waters and wetlands; (3) the formerly utilized sites remedial action program for cleanup of early atomic energy program contamination; and (4) the Office of Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works).

Makes appropriations for FY2010 to the Department of Energy (DOE) for energy and science programs, including: (1) energy efficiency and renewable energy; (2) electricity delivery and energy reliability; (3) nuclear energy and nuclear waste disposal; (4) fossil energy research and development; (5) naval petroleum and oil shale reserves; (6) the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve; (7) the Energy Information Administration; (8) non-defense environmental cleanup activities; (9) the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund; (10) science activities; (11) the Title 17 Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program; (12) the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program; (13) departmental administration; (14) Office of the Inspector General; (15) the National Nuclear Security Administration and atomic energy defense weapons activities; (16) defense nuclear nonproliferation activities; (17) naval reactors activities; (18) Office of the Administrator in the National Nuclear Security Administration; (19) defense environmental cleanup; (20) Defense Nuclear Waste Disposal; and (21) other defense activities.

Prohibits the use of funds under this Act to influence congressional action on legislation or appropriation matters pending before Congress.

Type of Power:

This is using an implied power. There is nothing in the expressed powers about all these specifics; however, these can be implied on the basis that it is necessary for regulations of our nations energy and water development.


Analysis (Do you think Congress should do this according to its Constitutional powers?)

Yes, I think all these things are necessary for the regulation and development of our energy system. These were brought upon by many professional engineers and other professionals and these situations should be left to those who are very educated on the subject.