[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16960-16962]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-138. A joint resolution adopted by the General Assembly 
     of the State of Colorado concerning the 2007 Farm Bill, and, 
     in connection therewith, continuing support for the Federal 
     food stamp program; to the Committee on Agriculture, 
     Nutrition, and Forestry.

                      Senate Joint Memorial 07-003

       Whereas, the provisions of the federal ``Farm Security and 
     Rural Investment Act of 2002'' (Farm Bill) that govern 
     national food assistance programs are set to expire this 
     year; and
       Whereas, the Food Stamp Program (Program), our nation's 
     first defense against hunger and a major component of the 
     Farm Bill, bolsters the efforts of the national emergency 
     food assistance system; and
       Whereas, the Program is efficiently targeted to reach the 
     urgent needs of people

[[Page 16961]]

     who have the most difficulty purchasing adequate food; and
       Whereas, over 95% of benefits from the Program go to 
     households with incomes below the poverty level, 80% of which 
     benefits go to families with children, and nearly all of the 
     remaining beneficiaries are elderly or disabled; and
       Whereas, the error rates for overpayment and underpayment 
     to beneficiaries under the Program have steadily declined for 
     the last six years and are now at an all-time low; and
       Whereas, the federal government fed some 26 million low-
     income people at a cost of $31 billion, nearly double the 
     federal expenditure for welfare cash assistance programs; and
       Whereas, $323 million in federal food stamp funds are 
     currently received by Colorado, yet, if an additional 185,000 
     eligible individuals participated in the Program, as much as 
     an additional $158 million from federal funds would flow into 
     the state; and
       Whereas, the United States Department of Agriculture 
     estimates that, for every $5.00 in food stamp benefits, an 
     additional $9.20 is generated in local economic activity; and
       Whereas, the Program pays dividends for low-income 
     consumers, food producers and manufacturers, grocery 
     retailers, and communities; and
       Whereas, as food stamp purchases made with Program benefits 
     flow through grocery checkout lines, farmers' markets, and 
     other outlets, those benefits generate almost double their 
     value in economic activity, especially for many hard-pressed 
     rural and urban communities desperately in need of business 
     and job stimulus; and
       Whereas, hunger has adverse consequences for all 
     Coloradans, particularly for children and mothers; and
       Whereas, too many people in our communities lack the 
     resources to consistently put food on their tables for 
     themselves and their families; and
       Whereas, while the Program has substantially decreased 
     malnutrition in our country and helps prevent the problem of 
     hunger from becoming worse in our communities, the Program 
     currently reaches only about one-half of eligible low-income 
     working families; and
       Whereas, food stamps outreach and nutrition education 
     programs are useful tools in the fight against hunger, but 
     these efforts need more resources in order to fully reach 
     their potential; Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate of the Sixty-sixth General Assembly 
     of the State of Colorado, the House of Representatives 
     concurring herein,
       (1) That we, the Colorado General Assembly, support the 
     passage of the 2007 Farm Bill;
       (2) That we strongly urge Congress to place top priority on 
     implementing a section of the Farm Bill on nutrition that 
     would renew the provisions of, and improve upon, the Program; 
     and
       (3) That we further urge Congress: To improve the adequacy 
     of benefits to help reduce hunger and ensure that everyone in 
     the Program has the resources to assist them in purchasing 
     and preparing a nutritionally adequate diet; to simplify the 
     Program for clients and their caseworkers; and to continue to 
     simplify and streamline the administrative aspects of the 
     Program; and, be it further
       Resolved, That copies of this Joint Memorial be transmitted 
     to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of 
     the United States House of Representatives, United States 
     Senator Tom Harkin, United States Representative Collin 
     Peterson, the Colorado Anti-Hunger Network, and to each 
     member of Colorado's Congressional delegation.
                                  ____

       POM-139. A resolution .adopted by the Legislature of the 
     State of Arizona urging Congress to take action regarding 
     space exploration; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
     Transportation.

                          Senate Memorial 1005

       Whereas, the United States is a nation of explorers; and
       Whereas, when Christopher Columbus made his voyages across 
     the Atlantic in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries his 
     ships carried the inscription ``Following the light of the 
     sun, we left the Old World''; and
       Whereas, exploration and discovery have been especially 
     important to the American experience, providing vision, hope 
     and economic stimulus, from New World pioneers and American 
     frontiersmen to the Apollo program; and
       Whereas just as Lewis and Clark could not have predicted 
     the settlement of the American west within a hundred years of 
     the start of their famous nineteenth century expedition, the 
     total benefits of a single exploratory undertaking or 
     discovery cannot be predicted in advance; and
       Whereas, the desire to explore is part of our character and 
     history has shown that space exploration benefits all 
     humankind through new technologies for everyday application, 
     new jobs across the entire economic enterprise economic 
     contributions through new markets, commercial products, 
     education, inspiration, leadership, increased security and a 
     legacy for future generations; and
       Whereas, Arizona has been a leader in the exploration since 
     the dawn of the space age, accounting for hundreds of 
     millions of dollars in direct contracts in the entire state; 
     and
       Whereas, our nation's new vision for space exploration 
     charts a new, ``building block'' strategy to explore 
     destinations across our solar system with robots and humans, 
     allowing our nation to remain competitive in the new industry 
     of space commerce.
       Wherefore your memorialist, the Senate of the State of 
     Arizona, prays:
       1. That the Congress of the United States enact and fully 
     fund the proposed vision for space exploration, as submitted 
     to Congress in the fiscal year 2008 budget of the United 
     States government, to enable the United States to remain a 
     leader in the exploration and development of space.
       2. That the Secretary of State transmit copies of this 
     Memorial to the President of the United States, the President 
     of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States 
     House of Representatives and each Member of the Congress from 
     the State of Arizona.
                                  ____

       POM-140. A joint resolution adopted by the House of 
     Representatives of the State of Maine urging Congress to 
     raise the weight limit on Interstate 95; to the Committee on 
     Environment and Public Works.

                            Joint Resolution

       Whereas, Interstate 95 in the State of Maine, which is part 
     of the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense 
     Highways and is governed by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 
     1956, is central to Maine's commerce and industry; and
       Whereas, the weight limit on the Interstate Highway System 
     is set at 80,000 pounds by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 
     1956 and consequently by Maine statute, yet the State of 
     Maine has a 100,000-pound limit on its secondary roads, which 
     does not match the national limit; and
       Whereas, the Federal Government has given the State of 
     Maine an exemption from the 80,000-pound limit for the last 5 
     miles of the Maine Turnpike and Interstate 95, which allows 
     for a 100,000-pound limit, and this exemption matches the 
     limit for the rest of the State; Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That We, your Memorialists, on behalf of the 
     people we represent, take this opportunity to request that 
     the United States Congress allow the State of Maine a 
     100,000-pound limit on all of the Interstate Highway System 
     in Maine, not only the authorized 5 miles, and that the 
     United States Congress review this request when the Highway 
     Bill comes up for reauthorization; and be it further
       Resolved, That suitable copies of this resolution, duly 
     authenticated by the Secretary of State, be transmitted to 
     the President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of 
     the United States House of Representatives and to each Member 
     of the Maine Congressional Delegation.
                                  ____

       POM-141. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of 
     the State of Maine urging Congress to enact the Social 
     Security Fairness Act of 2007; to the Committee on Finance.

                            Joint Resolution

       Whereas, Social Security is a trust fund that is intended 
     as a compact between generations, yet it has not always been 
     treated in a manner similar to other trust funds; and
       Whereas, Maine's educators, transportation workers, police, 
     firefighters and other civil servants, as well as their 
     spouses, have collectively contributed tens of billions of 
     dollars to Social Security and should in good faith receive 
     such benefits as have been projected to them annually in 
     their personalized Social Security statements; and
       Whereas, the federal ``government pension offset 
     provision'' and the federal ``windfall elimination 
     provision,'' enacted, respectively, in 1977 and 1983, have 
     effectively treated state government pensions as if they were 
     a provenance of Social Security, which they are not, and have 
     in this treatment appropriated hundreds of billions of 
     dollars previously entrusted to Social Security by the civil 
     servants of 15 states and by their spouses; and
       Whereas, by unfairly taking these hundreds of billions of 
     dollars from just 15 states, including Maine, these twin 
     federal policies have adversely and disproportionately 
     affected Maine's ability to attract and retain effective and 
     qualified workers, as well as Maine's overall economy, its 
     schools, its tax base and its taxpayers and other residents; 
     and
       Whereas, the State of Maine has worked hard, over 
     generations, to attract, retain and provide for its state 
     workers in their retirement and has scrupulously guarded and 
     invested the funds entrusted to its retirement system, 
     bringing those reserves to 100 times the value they had just 
     4 decades ago; and
       Whereas, federal legislation has been introduced entitled 
     the Social Security Fairness Act of 2007, proposing to repeal 
     these unfair takings from Maine and from other states; and
       Whereas, all Members of the Maine Congressional Delegation 
     are cosponsors of this legislation, along with more than 200 
     other members of Congress as of mid-February; Now, therefore, 
     be it

[[Page 16962]]

       Resolved, That We, your Memorialists, respectfully urge and 
     request that the United States Congress enact the Social 
     Security Fairness Act of 2007; and be it further
       Resolved, That suitable copies of this resolution, duly 
     authenticated by the Secretary of State, be transmitted to 
     the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, 
     the President of the Senate of the United State, the Speaker 
     of the House of Representatives of the United States and each 
     Member of the Maine Congressional Delegation.

                          ____________________