September
27, 2007
Eliminating Cumbersome Internet Usage Taxes
As technology evolves, Oklahomans are faced with a growing list of bills
for cable TV service, home phones, cellular phones and high speed Internet
access. When it comes to spending for telecommunications services, taxpayers
face sizeable fees, charges and taxes. In an effort to maintain the moratorium
on taxes for simply using the Internet, I cosponsored H.R. 743, the Permanent
Internet Tax Freedom Act of 2007. This bill will permanently eliminate
state and local government taxes on Internet access. Many Americans do
not know that a five-year ban on discriminatory Internet taxes was first
signed into law in 1998 as a means to foster the educational, economic
and informational potential of the Internet. The tax moratorium was extended
by Congress in 2003 with my full support and is currently scheduled to
expire in November 2007. I am committed to keeping the Internet tax free,
so that Oklahoma’s families can continue to stay connected to each
other or for educational, communications and recreational purposes.
Stopping the
Dangerous Expansion of Government Run Healthcare
The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is a program
to bring health insurance to needy, under privileged children who do
not have access to private insurance. This week the House voted on H.R.
976, legislation to reauthorize this program, which is due to expire
on September 30, 2007. I voted against this legislation because it contained
two dangerous provisions: an expansion of the program to an unsustainable
size and a loophole to allow illegal aliens to receive taxpayer funded
health care benefits by merely submitting a Social Security Number,
which can be fraudulent or stolen, as proof of identity. H.R. 976 dramatically
increases federal funding to enroll new children, many of whom already
have private insurance coverage. An expansion of SCHIP should not encourage
people to drop their private coverage in order to get free or subsidized
public coverage. Instead, the incentive should work the other way: we
should use public money to encourage private, consumer driven insurance.
I recently signed onto legislation, H.R. 3584 the SCHIP Extension Act
of 2007, to address the problem of the impending expiration of SCHIP
funding on September 30. This legislation reauthorizes and fully funds
the existing SCHIP program for an additional 18 months, which will give
Congress the time necessary to craft a bill that will provide benefits
to those low-income, uninsured children for whom the program was originally
created. I support reauthorizing SCHIP, but removing children from their
private coverage, where they have choices, through a government takeover
is not the answer.
Bringing Tools to State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies
I am fighting every day in Congress to bring federal immigration resources
to state and local law enforcement agencies. I recently signed onto
legislation which will help state and local law enforcement officers
protect Oklahomans from criminal illegal aliens. H.R. 3494, the CLEAR
Act of 2007, of which I am a proud cosponsor, will provide state and
local law enforcement agencies with the clear authority to enforce immigration
laws within the course of their regular duty. This legislation would
improve information sharing between law enforcement agencies and require
the federal government to remove and deport criminal illegal aliens.
Additionally, H.R. 3494 increases the resources for state and local
governments who choose to enforce immigration laws and reduces the federal
resources for sanctuary cities. It is important that we give our state
and local law enforcement agencies the tools they need to keep our communities
safe from criminal illegal aliens by enforcing our nation’s interior
immigration laws.
If you wish to contact
Congressman Sullivan regarding a specific issue, please visit his contact
web page at http://sullivan.house.gov/contact.html.
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