Green Jobs, Visiting with USPS Workers, Stop Loss Payments and Celebrating Rosh Hashanah -- September 30, 2011
Dear Friend,
Thank you for reading the Carson Courier! For additional information, please visit my website at https://www.carson.house.gov.
In this week's Carson Courier:
- Green Jobs
- Visiting with United States Postal Workers
- Encouraging Soldiers to Submit Claims for Stop Loss Payments
- Happy Rosh Hashanah
Green Jobs
On Wednesday, I joined Green For All, a national green jobs organization, at Indianapolis' RecycleForce to launch Green For All's new report, Best Practices in Green Re-entry Strategies. According to the report, one-in-four adult Americans have a criminal record of some kind. In this difficult economy, many former inmates struggle to secure a steady income. All too often, the inability to find employment forces individuals to resume criminal activity in order to secure basic necessities.
RecycleForce is an 80,000 square-foot facility, where nearly 300 workers have received paid on-the-job training to deconstruct electronics while gaining the skills and work experience to help transform their lives. I applaud the efforts of RecycleForce to put ex-offenders back to work, while helping to build a green economy locally that will lead to even more jobs in the 7th District. That's building a future for everyone, regardless of their pasts.
To read the Best Practices in Green Re-Entry Strategies report, please click here. To see photos from my visit to RecycleForce, click here.
Visiting with United States Postal Workers
This week, it was a pleasure to have postal workers visit with me and my staff at the Julia Carson Center in Indianapolis. Over the last few years, I have been fighting to protect the United States Postal Service (USPS) and hundreds of thousands of postal workers across the country.
In recent years, the USPS has lost billions in revenue due to a dramatic decline in mail volume. Despite being entirely self funded, it is the only federal entity that is obligated to prefund its retiree health benefits and its pension fund. To make matters worse, the formula used to determine its prefunding requirements has resulted in overpayments of approximately $50 to $75 billion dollars.
That is why I strongly support the United State Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act, and will be cosponsoring the USPS Retiree Health Benefits Prepayment Extension Act. Both of these legislative initiatives enable the USPS to address its mounting deficit without negatively impacting the fiscal security of its pension and health care programs. Rest assured as your Representative, I will continue to support legislative initiatives that restore this longstanding institution.
Encouraging Soldiers to Submit Claims for Stop Loss Payments
Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who had their service involuntarily extended under the stop loss program are eligible to apply for the retroactive pay owed to them before the upcoming October 21 deadline. Eligible military personnel whose service was extended under stop loss orders in Iraq will receive $500 a month for each month their service was extended. The Defense Department estimates that while 145,400 troops are eligible, only 58,000 claims have been paid so far. Much has been asked of our men and women in uniform and we have a responsibility to support them whenever possible. That is why it is so important that these service members and veterans apply for their reimbursement. They have more than earned these payments through their service and we want to make sure they receive them.
Retroactive stop loss special pay was passed in 2009. This allows troops whose service was involuntarily extended between September 11, 2001 and September 30, 2009 to file claims in order to receive retroactive pay if eligible. The average benefit is $3,800.
For more information or to submit a claim please visit www.defense.gov/stoploss.
Happy Rosh Hashanah
Happy holidays to my Jewish friends here in Indiana and around the world who are celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. L'Shanah tovah.
Thank you for reading the Carson Courier. Please do not hesitate to contact me with your thoughts and concerns. For more information, visit my website at https://www.carson.house.gov, my Congressional Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CongressmanAndreCarson and follow me on Twitter @RepAndreCarson. I value your views and your input, which help me better represent the people of Indiana's 7th District.