Care for our nation's homeless veterans and consider these House and Senate bills

Bill S.1060
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-s1060/show


Official: A bill to improve education, employment, independent living services, and health care for veterans, to improve assistance for homeless veterans, and to improve the administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. as introduced.




May 25th    Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S3341-3343)
May 25th    Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.



Bill H.R.1133
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h1133/show


Short: Helping Our Homeless Veterans Act of 2011 as introduced.




Official: To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to enter into agreements with States and nonprofit organizations to collaborate in the provision of case management services associated with certain supported housing programs for veterans, and for other purposes. as introduced.




Mar 16th    Referred to House Financial Services
Mar 16th    Referred to House Veterans' Affairs
Mar 16th    Referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.




Bill S.411
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-s411/show


Short: Helping Our Homeless Veterans Act of 2011 as introduced.




Official: A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to enter into agreements with States and nonprofit organizations to collaborate in the provision of case management services associated with certain supported housing programs for veterans, and for other purposes. as introduced.




Feb 17th    Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Feb 17th    Introduced in Senate



Bill H.R.806
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h806/show


Short: End Veteran Homelessness Act of 2011 as introduced.




Official: To amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain improvements in the services provided for homeless veterans under the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. as introduced.




Feb 18th    Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Mar 15th    Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.



Bill H.R.136
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h136/show


Official: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow taxpayers to designate a portion of their income tax payment to provide assistance to homeless veterans, and for other purposes. as introduced.




Jan 5th    Referred to House Veterans' Affairs
Jan 5th    Referred to House Ways and Means
Jan 5th    Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Jan 5th    Introduced in House
Feb 18th    Referred to the Subcommittee on Health

• How to communicate with your US Representative and US Senators

Survey on the risk of gridlock in the current USA 112th Congress

gridlock1 a traffic jam affecting a whole network of intersecting streets, which in the early 1990s developed the figurative use of a situation in which no progress can be made. In US politics it was used particularly to denote the situation in which legislation makes no progress, either because of conflicts within Congress, or because of disagreements between Congress and the Administration [e.g. divided government].

• Confidential JPMorgan Chase Memo Predicts Congressional 'Gridlock', By Megan R. Wilson

JPMorgan Chase, the $2 trillion bank and financial services firm, predicts that the newly Republican-controlled U.S. House will clash with the still-Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate to the point where progress on large legislation is completely halted, according to a confidential memorandum dated Nov. 3 and obtained by OpenSecrets Blog.

"Many expect the next two years may be heavy on rhetoric but light on legislative achievements,” states the 11-page memo, which is authored by the bank’s “government relations” department, another term for the lobbying arm of the company. “The 112th Congress could be remembered as a gridlocked one without any landmark legislation.”

• Divided Government Usually Means Gridlock: There’s likely one area of agreement for both the main political parties in Washington, D.C.: We expect to get little done in the next two years. By Emily Badger

“If you look back to the ’60s and ’70s, how could a divided government be so productive? Well, 30-40 percent of the chamber were ideological moderates,” Binder said. “If you need large bipartisan majorities to get much done, and you don’t have 60 votes by yourself, then moderates in the middle make a big difference. And we don’t have any of that today.” ...

Some Republicans have been blunt about their intentions not to bend, and the Tea Party is sending candidates to town explicitly with a no-compromise mandate. The best hope may be that the parties begrudgingly work together, each in search of the credit for reviving the economy.

But an energy bill, immigration reform, a deficit solution — history says they’re not likely.

• Why a Hyper-Polarized Party System Weakens America’s Democracy. By William Galston

The current Congress—the 111th—is the most ideologically polarized in modern history. In both the House and the Senate, the most conservative Democrat is more liberal than is the most liberal Republican. If one defines the congressional “center” as the overlap between the two parties, the center has disappeared. ...

Morris Fiorina and colleagues have suggested that this increased polarization is mostly confined to party elites and elected representatives and that the ideological center of gravity of the people has not changed much in the past generation.  But an analysis of National Election Study data challenges this view. Alan Abramowitz finds that in 1984, 41 percent of voters were located at or near the ideological center, versus only 10 percent at or near the left and right extremes. By 2004, only 28 percent remained at or near the center, while the left and right extremes had more than doubled to 23 percent. Indeed, Abramowitz suggests, polarization actually rose faster in the electorate than among elites between 1972 and 2004. ...
Over the past decade, the costs of increased political polarization have been mounting. We are unable to deal with large questions—such as our fiscal crisis—that cannot be solved without bipartisan cooperation and mutual compromise. Staffing our governing institutions has become more difficult: many judicial nominations have gotten caught in the partisan cross-fire, and even executive branch appointments have bogged down, making it hard for incoming presidents to deal with pressing problems. When one party dominates both the executive and legislative branches, polarization often moves policy in directions that moderate and independent voters find troubling, which tends to produce abrupt lurches from one off-center majority to another. When power is divided, polarized parties find it hard to agree on much of significance. Polarization means that our debates no longer stop at the water’s edge, which makes it harder for the United States to maintain a steady stance on defense and foreign policy. And perhaps worst of all, polarization undermines public trust in government, now languishing near record lows.

• Happy Together?: Americans love to complain about gridlock in Washington and partisan warfare between presidents and Congress. Yet the record suggests that unified party government is no panacea. By Donald R. Wolfensberger
  

One should not assume that Obama will get everything he wants from congressional Democrats any more than they will succeed in getting him to sign off on all their pent-up demands. Not only does the spike in deficits from the financial bailout and economic recession impose severe constraints, but the history of unified party government suggests that it is no more a guarantor of success than divided government is of failure. Indeed, American chief executives from Harry S. Truman to Ronald Reagan enjoyed some of their greatest successes in periods of divided government. In the end, what the people want and are willing to speak up for usually matters more than all the frantic maneuvering in Washington.

• Collaborative Learning: Amid predictions of partisan gridlock in Washington, education reform just might happen. By Ben Adler

Washington can seem like a Venn diagram where the two circles—Republicans and Democrats—will never touch. But on the issue of education reform, the two parties may be able to come together. The Republican agenda of reform—imposing standardized test-based accountability for schools and teachers and fostering competition among schools—has been embraced and aggressively promoted by the Obama administration. President George W. Bush’s signature achievement on this front, No Child Left Behind, has been due for renewal since 2007. Democrats are gearing up to pass a revised version of the law, possibly as soon as next year [2011], and they think this is one issue where Republicans will work with them.

• S.9 - Political Reform and Gridlock Elimination Act: A bill to reform America's political system and eliminate gridlock that blocks progress.

1/25/2011--Introduced.Political Reform and Gridlock Elimination Act - Expresses the sense of the Senate that Congress should:
(1) pass the DISCLOSE Act to prevent a corporate takeover of our elections and ensure that our democracy is open, transparent, and controlled by the people; and
(2) reform Senate rules and procedures to reduce excessive obstruction and delay, while protecting the legitimate rights of individual Senators and the minority.

1"gridlock" A Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Edited by Elizabeth Knowles. Oxford University Press, 2006. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. David Weller. 27 April 2011