Thursday, July 15, 2010

Shuster speaks out against stimulus waste notes importance of House GOP YouCut program

Shuster Condemns Federally Funded Abortions in Pennsylvania


NRLC Report Shows Pennsylvania will Receive $160 Million in Health Care Funding for Abortion


On Tuesday, the National Right to Life Committee revealed a troubling discovery; a new $160 million federally funded high risk pool health insurance plan established in Pennsylvania will cover abortion. This makes Pennsylvania the first state to receive federal funds for abortion under the health care reform law.


Congressman Shuster joined members of the pro-life community today to condemn this revelation and further express his opposition to federally funded abortions.


“It is morally wrong to support the destruction of unborn life and it is ethically wrong for the federal government to coerce Americans who oppose abortion to fund the practice through their own tax dollars,” Shuster said. “During the healthcare debate, President Obama said he would not support taxpayer funded abortion, but this week’s announcement proves his words were only lip service to move his liberal agenda forward.”


“It has long been the objective of the left to establish abortion as a federally funded right,” Shuster added. “Yesterday’s discovery by the National Right to Life Committee proves that this White House, with the support of Governor Rendell and pro-abortion pressure groups are committed to subverting the will of the American people and the spirit of the promises made when health care reform became law.”


“It gives the pro-life community reason to pause when the President of the United States lies to his constituents by saying, ‘no federal funds will be used to pay for abortions.’ It shows the worthlessness of his executive order prohibiting tax-payer funding of abortion through his health care program. It is our hope that a new Congress will repeal Obamacare and re-institute the Hyde Amendment,” said Scott Manganella of the pro-life organization Precious Life.


Linda Barr with Pregnancy Ministries of Franklin County added: "As a pro-life pregnancy resource center, we do not consider abortion to be health care. There are supportive services and adoption options available that preserve life rather than destroy it."


Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Shuster Introduces Bill to Improve Government Reaction & Response Times to Future Oil Spills

Congressman Bill Shuster, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Natural Resources Committee, has introduced legislation to strengthen the federal government’s ability to quickly respond in the event of future oil spills:

“The American people are rightly angry at their government’s inability to react to the devastation of the Gulf oil spill,” Shuster said. “The fact that the federal government did not have the equipment on hand to immediately combat the spill is inexcusable, as is the lack of a system in place before the spill to solicit clean-up proposals from experts and fast-track the deployment of cutting edge technologies to the Gulf.”

“The federal government should have access to the latest oil fighting technology at all times. The prospect of another massive environmental disaster like the Gulf oil spill requires preparation on behalf of the government and my legislation will help accomplish this.”

Shuster’s “Oil Spill Cleanup Technologies Act of 2010” would require the President, acting through the Secretary of Homeland Security, to quickly solicit and deploy oil and hazardous substance cleanup technologies in preparation of a massive oil spill in United States territorial waters.

In addition, Shuster’s legislation would require the federal government to coordinate with academia, small businesses and others to ensure the best oil spill fighting technologies are available to be implemented quickly and efficiently to react to a spill. Finally, the legislation would require the maintenance of a database so that the government knows what cleanup technologies are available and can deploy them quickly in the case of another spill.

“America is a world leader when it comes to technology and innovation,” Shuster added. “There is no reason we shouldn’t have a concrete plan in place to put those resources to use in the immediate aftermath of a spill like the one off the Gulf Coast.”

“I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass my legislation so America will never have to play catch-up again.”