FREEDOMWORKS 07/07/2015

1. Zombie Bank: Ex-Im Threatens to Rise from the Dead! - by Logan Albright
We’ve barely finished sweeping up the confetti from our celebration of the U.S. Export-Import Bank’s long-overdue demise, and already, Congress is scheming to bring the thing back.
Leadership does not have the votes for a clean reauthorization of the Bank. The public now understands that the Bank is merely a fund for corporate welfare, not a necessary or useful part of the national economy, and the political consequences of Members bucking the will of their constituents makes a simple up or down vote a non-starter. Read More here...

2. How the United States could become Greece unless Congress takes mounting debt seriously - by Jason Pye
Greek voters, on Sunday, rejected austerity measures crafted by European countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The results of the referendum, against which 61 percent voted, could mean the Mediterranean country exits the euro and see a run on banks similar to what it saw last week, or worse.
The problems Greece is experiencing stem from overly generous public welfare and pension programs. Greece has been in a financial crisis since 2009, when leaders admitted that they had been underreporting public debt. With country's public debt at nearly 150 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and the government on the verge of bankruptcy, European countries and the IMF, in May 2010, bailed out Greece to the tune of $145 billion. This was followed by a second bailout worth $170 billion in March 2012. Read more here... 
3. Capitol Hill Update, 6 July, 2015 - by Josh Withrow
House & Senate/Schedule: Both House and Senate are back in session on Tuesday, 7 July, and will remain in session through the long August recess, which begins on 31 July.
House & Senate/Education: Both the House and Senate will be acting this week on bills to reform and reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which was most recently known as No Child Left Behind. The House bill is the Student Success Act (H.R. 5), and the Senate bill is the Every Child Achieves Act (S. 1177). The bills contain substantial differences, so that even if they both pass a conference will be required to reconcile the two versions. Read more here...

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4. Empower Baltimore: Mini Documentary 


5. How Much Are ObamaCare Premiums Going Up in Oregon? - by Tom Borelli
The short answer is a lot.
Oregon just released the 2016 premium rates that impacts over 220,000 residents that obtain their healthcare coverage through the state exchange.
The cost for insurance for more than half of the health plans offered will be 20 percent and higher with the biggest increase coming in at almost 38 percent.
The Oregonian reports: Read more here...
6. Ohio Cuts Funding For Common Core Testing - by Remso Martinez
According to the state of Ohio's two-year budget plan approved by Gov. John Kasich, there will be no more state spending on tests developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), a program which has drawn the ire of parents and educators around the country. According to a recent Washington Post article:

The PARCC test was created by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, one of two federally funded multistate consortia tasked with creating new Common Core tests with some $360 million in federal funds. (The other is the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.) In 2010, PARCC had 26 member states, but it has suffered major defections since then, with fewer than a dozen states now committed to using the PARCC exam this year. Read more here... 

7. Savings from prison reforms in Texas top $3 billion, crimes rates hit lowest point since 1968 - by Jason Pye

"By being more intelligent about who you send to prison, being more selective in that, and putting resources into drug treatment, mental health treatment, and things that keep people out of prison, you can lower your costs and make the streets safer," Pat Nolan, Director of the American Conservative Union Foundation’s Center for Criminal Justice Reform, told FreedomWorks of the groundbreaking justice reforms implemented in Texas in a recent video. The reforms, dubbed the "Texas model," have become a blueprint for other, mostly Republican, states to cut prison costs and reprioritize spending or reduce the burden of taxpayers.
Facing $523 million in construction costs to build new prisons that would house the growing number of convicts entering the prison system, in 2006 and 2007, Texas implemented sentencing reforms -- such as probation, drug treatment, pre-trial diversion programs, and intermediate sanction facilities -- to keep nonviolent offenders out of prison. Read more here...
Iris Somberg
Press Secretary, FreedomWorks