releases: http://rokita.house.gov/editorial/rokita-report-2013-year-review
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| http://rokita.house.gov/editorial/rokita-report-2013-year-review | Rokita Report 2013 Year-in-Review | 2013-12-31 | 2013 | 2013-12 | Republican | House | IN | Todd Rokita | R000592 | rokita.house.gov | legacy | Dear Friend, Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to update you on my work in the 113th Congress. I trust this finds you and your family well. As we are at the end of 2013, I wanted to use this Rokita Report as a quick "Year-in-Review" of some of the bigger accomplishments this year. In September, I, along with several Republican Study Committee colleagues, introduced the American Health Care Reform Act - a consumer-driven, commonsense health care reform bill designed to increase access and reduce costs for all Americans. We introduced this legislation because we believe it is important to improve health care, not just repeal ObamaCare. This bill now has nearly 120 cosponsors and I look forward to more of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle joining us in 2014. You can view my remarks from the press conference where we rolled out the legislation here. A brief summary of the bills reforms Encouraging a more competitive health care market - Allows Americans to purchase health care across state lines, increasing transparency in Medicare by making claims data public, and allowing small businesses to pool together to lower costs. Increasing access to portable, affordable health insurance - Implements an across-the-board standard deduction for all health insurance plans, and expanding access and options for Health Savings Accounts. Improving access to insurance for vulnerable Americans - Ensures affordable coverage for those with pre-existing conditions by funding state high-risk pools, and removing barriers that prevent continual insurance coverage. Reforming medical liability law - Caps non-economic damages, and placing a statute of limitations on liability cases. Respecting human life - Prohibits taxpayer funding for abortion. Repealing Obamacare We continue to seek input from anyone that wishes to constructively contribute to meaningful and responsible health care reform. You can read the full bill text, summaries of the bills, and learn more about the American Health Care Reform Act here. In August, the House considered and passed the Student Success Act. The Student Success Act, introduced in June, is a bill I authored in my role as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education that reforms No Child Left Behind and reasserts Indiana's explicit right to direct the education of Indiana's children. The Student Success Act reforms our nation's K-12 education system by restoring local and state control to our schools. In particular, the Student Success Act gives states, not Washington, D.C., the authority and responsibility to set academic standards, to measure if students are meeting those standards, and to make changes if they are not meeting their own standards. Rep. Rokita Responds to Student Success Act Criticism 7-19-13 No Washington bureaucrat cares more about a child than a parent does. And no one in Washington knows what is better for Indiana students than Indiana families, teachers, and school boards. That is why the Student Success Act (SSA) puts an end to the administration’s National School Board by returning control to state and local school districts. Many Hoosiers will also be pleased to know that the Student Success Act prohibits the Secretary of Education from coercing states into adopting Common Core. I would like to thank my fellow Education and Workforce Hoosier colleagues - Reps. Larry Bucshon, Susan Brooks, and Luke Messer for their help with this legislation. It is my hope that the Senate considers their reauthorization legislation in 2014. I look forward to working with my Senate counterparts pass this plan next year. For more information on the bill, please click here. Protecting your 4th Amendment Rights - Stopping the NSA from Spying on Americans Like many Hoosiers, I was greatly concerned when I learned about the various National Security Agency spying scandals that were reported this year. As more and more revelations emerged about the NSA spying on Americans’ phone calls and electronic communications, it was clear that the Obama Administration has been slow in taking responsibility for abuses and invasions of Americans’ privacy. Since that news broke, I have continually been working on a bipartisan basis to rein in the NSA’s domestic surveillance operations and protect Americans’ privacy through legislation and congressional oversight. Most recently, I co-authored bipartisan legislation called the USA Freedom Act to address NSA abuses. The USA Freedom Act makes reforms to end the dragnet collection of Americans’ phone records under Section 215 of the PATRIOT. This bill also provides more safeguards for warrantless surveillance. In September, I introduced legislation to establish a Select Committee to investigate and report on the surveillance operations of the National Security Administration. Also this year, I introduced another bipartisan bill to curb unconstitutional surveillance, the Ending Secret Law Act, to require declassification of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) decisions. Read my op-ed regarding this bill from the UK's Guardian, which first broke the news of this surveillance, here. I am committed to continue and win this fight to uphold our constitutional Fourth Amendment rights. In the spring of 2011, my office in conjunction with the Indiana Chamber of Commerce embarked on a critical initiative called “Red Tape Rollback,” to identify and roll back unnecessary and overly burdensome federal regulations that kill jobs and hurt our economy. The purpose of Red Tape Rollback is to give businesses, individuals, and institutions across the Hoosier State one location to report information on these job-destroying rules and regulations. I’m pleased to report that at the end of 2013—just over two years into this effort—we’ve achieved 33 significant victories in our fight against excessive regulations, and we’ve made major progress on dozens of other issues. From victories that will reshape the framework of regulation in America to more specific regulations that burden Hoosiers, we’ve achieved victories across the federal government. We’ve pushed back against regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, and more. I will be releasing an annual report in early 2014 that contains stories about some of our successes and some of our ongoing work. However, our work is far from done. As economic leaders across the Hoosier State, the Red Tape Rollback program only works with your participation. The Constitution vests Congress with the duty to legislate, but equally important is our duty to provide oversight of the executive branch. As we in Congress investigate and debate the appropriateness of federal regulations, I invite you to join us in our efforts. If you know of any regulation that is destroying jobs, inhibiting growth, or slowing our economy, I want to know about it. It is important that we act now to remove unnecessary and burdensome regulations that destroy jobs. It is time to put Hoosiers back to work and unleash our economy by tearing down the barriers that keep businesses from growing. To learn more about this program and to share your stories of regulatory overreach visit rokita.house.gov/redtape. I appreciate your continued interest in Congress and for supporting my efforts in Washington. Take care and have a great 2014. Sincerely, Todd Rokita | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |