The Burton Blog

October 17th Town Hall Video

2009-10-19T14:07:48-04:00

TeamBurton

In the lead

2009-10-17T11:10:00-04:00

6 News reports fundraising amounts for each 5th district candidate. In the July through September reports, Congressman Burton came in the lead!

New campaign reports show that the four Republicans planning to challenge longtime Indiana Congressman Dan Burton in next year's GOP primary combined to raise more than double what he did in the past three months.

Burton, however, still outpaced all those in the race in central Indiana's 5th district by raising $151,686 during the July-September period

Congressman Burton Cosponsors Bill to Protect Hunting and Fishing

2009-10-13T11:10:53-04:00

In the article by Examiner.com, two bills are introduced by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R- AK) and U.S. Representative Dan Boren (D- OK). Each bill would protect recreational hunting, fishing and shooting on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service. Congressman Burton is one of many cosponsors for this bill. More details about the bill are provided here.

Specifically, both bills would ensure that:

Federal public land managers with the U.S. Forest Service and BLM provide for the use of and access to public lands for hunting, fishing and shooting,
An “open until closed” policy is established for the lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the BLM unless public and Congressional notification is given,
Land managers are urged to lease land for shooting ranges by having the lessee offer suitable assurances to remediate leased lands at the termination of the lease, thus remedying concerns expressed in the past by the BLM over damage to land used for shooting,
Skilled volunteers be used on federal public lands not open to hunting when wildlife management requires the culling of animal populations,
Congress receives an annual report detailing any closures of land to fishing, hunting, or shooting and the reasons for the closures.

Dan Burton: "Taxpayer Hero"

2009-10-08T10:12:54-04:00

This week, Congressman Burton was awarded by The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste as a "Taxpayer Hero" for cutting government wasteful spending. He scored an 87 percent, while the average for Congress was 35 percent. Business Wire tells more about the award here.

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today honored Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) as a Taxpayer Hero for scoring 87 percent on its 2008 Congressional Ratings. The average for the entire House was 35 percent, and the average for the Senate was 38 percent; this makes Rep. Burton’s achievement that much more impressive. Since 1989, CCAGW has tracked roll call votes to separate the taxpayer advocates in Congress from those who favor wasteful programs and pork-barrel spending.
“...Rep. Burton put the interests of taxpayers ahead of politics by consistently voting to cut wasteful spending, reduce the tax burden, and make government more accountable to taxpayers,” said CCAGW President Tom Schatz. “The 2008 Congressional Ratings show that many elected officials continue to demonstrate little regard for the harmful effect a large and cumbersome federal government has on taxpayers’ wallets. Out-of-control spending reigned over Capitol Hill, leading to a record $1.6 trillion deficit in fiscal year 2009, and an $11.8 trillion national debt. Rep. Burton’s votes give taxpayers hope for the future.” House Democrats scored an average of 6 percent; House Republicans scored an average of 70 percent. In the Senate, the average for Democrats was 4 percent, and Republicans averaged 72 percent.

Shell Oil Could be Banned from Conducting Business in the U.S.

2009-10-05T12:06:41-04:00

With a push for Iran to open up about its nuclear weapons, Shell Oil may find itself in trouble for showing interest in supplying oil to Iran. Congressmen Brad Sherman and Dan Burton sent a letter to Shell's CFO warning him that Congress could impose sanctions on the company for doing business with Iran. ZambiaNews.net posts the full article here.

"As you may know, a large bi-partisan group of U.S. legislators recently introduced a bill that would authorize the President of the United States to impose sanctions on any company providing Iran with refined petroleum resources," Sherman and Burton said in their letter to the Shell CFO.

"We have been told that Royal Dutch Shell, through its subsidiary, Shell International Trading Middle East, provides gasoline to Iran."

"This activity," said the congressmen, "places all of Royal Dutch Shell at risk of sanctions. These sanctions could include a complete freeze on company assets in the United States, the loss of access to U.S. capital markets, a prohibition on carrying out transactions in U.S. dollars, and a ban on receiving government contracts, including oil and gas leases."

"In general, Royal Dutch Shell could potentially be barred from carrying out any activity in the United States," said Sherman and Burton.

Good News for Tipton County

2009-09-29T09:18:59-04:00

News Channel 8 reports that an unknown company is interested in the Getrag plant. Watch the video here on News Channel 8's website.

Health Care Mailers Cause Controversy

2009-09-28T10:32:02-04:00

In the Louisville, KY area, a private health insurance company sent a mail piece to local residents explaining the drawbacks of government reformed health care system. The controversy stems from an order from a federal agency to ban these mailers. 89.3 WFPL shares Dan's opinion in their recent article.

Republican Indiana Congressman Dan Burton took to the House floor Friday in opposition to what he called a government gag order.

”That is a violation of the First Amendment, and secondly, I don’t know of any rule that would allow Senator Baucus to do this,” Burton said.

3 Hot Topics: Student Loans, Health Care, and ACORN

2009-09-23T11:46:19-04:00

Chances are, that you have been or will be affected by one of these matters. Congressman Burton highlights his viewpoints on all three topics and discusses how the proposed changes will affect Americans. The Kokomo Perspective posts the full article here.

Student Loans
The student loan industry may need some reform, but the reform Congressman George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, has already been done in the 1990's and it failed, Burton said. It also would have a strong negative affect on Indiana with Sallie Mae offices in Fishers and Muncie...

Health Care
Burton has been actively against the Democrats' health care plan. He has proposed the Empowering Patients First Act (H.R. 3400), which would not increase taxes or increase government spending. Instead it would use the money the government receives more effectively. His plan would: protect the doctor-patient relationship, lower health-care costs, expand access to quality care and coverage and invest in prevention and wellness programs.

Burton said he does not know where the health care reform bill may be heading, but he has some ideas...

ACORN
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, commonly known as ACORN, has been under scrutiny by many since the months going into the 2008 general election for its voter registering practices. In the past couple weeks, this organization has come under more scrutiny because of an undercover video shot at an ACORN office in Baltimore, Md. where ACORN employees offered unethical advice to a prostitute and a pimp in order to evade tax evasion and traffic in children from El Salvador to work as prostitutes. Other similar undercover videos from offices elsewhere around the country were later released.

Burton is now trying to get Congress to investigate ACORN...

Government Dividing Patients and Their Doctors

2009-09-21T10:40:00-04:00

Congressman Burton held a health care forum last Friday in Kokomo, Indiana. Several people turned out to hear his stance and ask questions on the popular topic of health care reform. Here is an excerpt from the Kokomo Perspective article.

Burton and representatives of the Social Security Administration, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) informed the audience about healthcare concerns including warning signs of scams and the possible future of healthcare. They later answered the audience's questions.

Burton continued to talk to his constituents about his concerns with HR 3200, the healthcare bill that the Democrats have presented. He said that it would be cheaper for employers to drop their private insurance and go with the government plan.

"They will be encouraged to take their employees off of that private account and put them on the government account, which will be subsidized by the government," Burton said. "They would have to pay an 8 percent tax, which will be less than their current coverage. That's going to push people into the government plan and the plan will be controlled by a government regulator and that's something that we are concerned about."

He also said that the government could come between the patient and the doctor and that there could be rationing of care based upon life expectancy.

Sallie Mae Jobs in Danger

2009-09-18T10:10:00-04:00

With the proposed overhaul of the school loan industry, employees at Sallie Mae are facing the large possibility of losing their jobs. Congressman Burton is pushing for the final fight to keep jobs that will affect hundreds of employees at home in Indiana. The Indianapolis Star covers more here:

"If the U.S. House passes H.R. 3221 today, as it is expected to do, then it will be up to the U.S. Senate to stop the government takeover," Burton said in remarks shared with media prior to the vote.

According to a transcript of his remarks, he continued: "More than 30,000 private sector jobs are directly affected by what you're going to do today. In my district, or in the state of Indiana, 2,356 jobs, and right in the 5th District it is 1,500 jobs.

"Our unemployment rate in [Indiana] is 10.4 percent. I don't understand, at a time of economic difficulty, why you want to do something that's going to put more people out of work, especially when you're talking about a program that didn't work before. It was junked, and now you're going to resurrect it."