Tagged

1.  Mobile Office Visit to Box Elder County
When: Wednesday 6 June 2012 @ 10 AM – 12 PM
Where: Snowville, Utah @ Snowville Town Hall, 20 West Main Street, Snowville, Utah 84336 (Conference Room)

2.  Mobile Office Visit to Box Elder County
When:  Wednesday 6 June 2012 @ 1 PM - 3 PM
Where: Garland, Utah @ Garland City Hall, 72 North Main Street, Garland, Utah 84312 (Council Room)

3.  Mobile Office Visit to Tooele County
When:  Thursday 7 June 2012 @ 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Where: Wendover, Utah @ Wendover City Offices, P.O. Box 430, 920 East Wendover Blvd, Wendover, Utah 84083 (Break Room)

When: Thursday 7 June 2012 @ 10:30 AM – 12:00  PM
Where: Wendover, Utah @ Historic Wendover Airfield Museum, 845 Airport Apron, Wendover, Utah 84083 (Conference Room)

4.   Mobile Office Visit to Tooele/Juab Counties
When: Thursday 7 June 2012 @ 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Where: Ibapah, Utah @ Goshute Tribal Headquarters, P.O. Box 6104, 195 Tribal Center Road, Ibapah, Utah 84034 (Conference Room)

When: Thursday 7 June 2012 @ 2:15 – 3:15 PM
Where: Ibapah (Goshute), Utah @ Goshute Housing Authority Office, P.O. Box HC-635, 713 Tempi Poi Road, Ibapah (Goshute), Utah 84034 (Conference Room)

5.  Mobile Office Visit to Summit County
When: Wednesday 27 June 2012 @ 10 AM – 12 PM
Where: Kamas, Utah @ Kamas City Hall, 170 North Main Street, Kamas, Utah 84036 (Council Room)

When:  Wednesday 27 June 2012 @ 1 PM - 3 PM
Where: Oakley, Utah @ Oakley City Hall, P.O. Box 129, 960 West Center Street, Oakley, Utah 84055 (Council Room)

6.  Mobile Office Visit to Emery County
When:  Thursday 28 June 2012 @10 AM – 12 PM
Where: Castle Dale, Utah @ Castle Dale City Hall, P.O. Box 728, 65 East 100 North, Castle Dale, Utah 84513 (Conference Room)

When: Thursday 28 June 2012 @ 1 PM – 3 PM
Where: Huntington, Utah @ Huntington City Hall, P.O. Box 126, 20 South Main Street, Huntington, Utah 84528 (Conference Room)

This week, reports that the Department of Health and Human Services had signed a $20 million contract to promote ObamaCare surfaced. Many members of Congress, and many Americans along with them, were justifiably outraged that President Obama would have the gall to use taxpayer money to fund a PR campaign for his extremely unpopular policy.

Here are just a few of the countless criticisms of the deal:

Senator Roy Blunt: “It’s clear the burdensome and costly ObamaCare law is bad for families, seniors, and job creators, which is why the Obama Administration is spending $20 million to sell this unpopular legislation to the American people between now and Election Day.”

Senator Rob Portman: “There is no justification for wasting $20 million in taxpayer dollars on an advertising blitz for the President’s health care spending law. With Washington nearly $16 trillion dollars in debt, the American taxpayers should not be asked to fund ad campaigns defending a law that only deepens the spending hole we’re in.”

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: “We don’t have the money to begin with, and he’s spending it to market his policies? Americans don’t want him spending their hard-earned money trying to spin policies they don’t like."

And here are some of the week’s best tweets about the subject:

Hope Obama Admin has an escape clause in the contract for an #ObamaCare PR campaign, since SCOTUS could throw out the whole law in a month.

— Senator Roy Blunt (@RoyBlunt) May 23, 2012

The Obamacare PR Blitz -- 20 million tax dollars wasted to sell unpopular federal power grab. My columnbit.ly/KGhNmB

— Emily Miller (@EmilyMiller) May 24, 2012

Administration just awarded $20 million to a pr firm to promote Obamacare?A month before SCOTUS rules? Did GSA come up w this idea?

— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) May 22, 2012

HHS PR needs better PR: Tho mandated by Congress, neither Left nor Right approves of $ spent to explain "Obamacare." wapo.st/KQtOcP

— Melinda Henneberger (@MelindaDC) May 25, 2012

Unbelievable!HHS & Sebelius want to spend $20 million - $20 Million! - to promote Obamacare. Taxpayer paid political propaganda.

— Dusty Rhodes (@AuditorRhodes) May 25, 2012

Today’s Agenda

Today, Senator Lee will meet with Ambassador Gauto of Paraguay and representatives of Mountainville Academy. He will also attend the National Religious Freedom gala reception and award dinner.

From the Senator’s Desk

From the Whip

The Senate will convene at 9:30am and will resume consideration of S. 3187, the FDA User Fee bill and continue debating the pending amendments listed below.

At 2:00pm, all debate time will expire and the Senate will begin voting on any remaining pending amendments to the FDA bill. 

Note - The Majority Leader has indicated that some votes could occur earlier in the day, possibly before 12:00pm.

-Bingaman #2111 (generic drugs) (60 votes required)

-McCain #2107 (prescription drug importation from Canada) (60 votes required)

-Sanders #2109 (drug exclusivity conditions) (60 votes required)

-Murkowski #2108 (genetically engineered fish) (60 votes required)

-Portman #2146, as modified (synthetic drugs)

-Portman #2145, as modified (interstate drug monitoring efficiency)

-Coburn #2132 (performance awards)

-Coburn #2131 (independent assessment of FDA drug application reviews)

-Durbin #2127 (dietary supplement registration)

-Paul #2143 (FDA employees carrying firearms -and making arrests without warrant)

-Burr #2130 (user fee agreement negotiation transparency)

-Final Passage of S. 3187, as amended

*Following disposition of S. 3187, the Senate will begin consideration of S. 2343, the Reid Student Loan bill and a Republican amendment (text of S. 2366) for up to 10 minutes of debate.  

Following the use or yielding back of debate time, the Senate will proceed to 2 Roll Call Votes on the Republican amendment and passage of S. 2343 (60 votes required for each). 

On Twitter

Best of luck to Anthony Cheng.He is a fellow Utahn who is competing in the National Geographic Bee today in DC: ow.ly/b7D53

— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) May 24, 2012

.@SenMikeLee will hold 2 town halls next week in Heber (Wed) and Nephi (Thurs) 7pm MT. Will be LIVE streaming both. TUNE IN #ustream #utpol

— Brian Phillips (@SenLeeComs) May 24, 2012

RELEASE: Lee: Verizon/Cable Deal Appears Procompetitive and Likely to Benefit Consumers bit.ly/JuA326 #antitrust #utpol

— Emily Bennion (@SenLeePressSec) May 24, 2012

Get ready for your electric bill to explode thanks to Obama's new #EPA regs: fxn.ws/JuPOeb #tcot #tlot #power #coal #makingitworse

— Joe Tauke (@SenLeeResearch) May 22, 2012

Featured Tweet

Thanks @SenMikeLee and @OrrinHatch for answering this month's What's DC Thinkin'? question! ulct.org/ulct/whatsdcth…

— ULCT (@ULCTcitycafe) May 24, 2012

Around the Water Cooler

Real federal deficit dwarfs official tally

The typical American household would have paid nearly all of its income in taxes last year to balance the budget if the government used standard accounting rules to compute the deficit, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Yemen: 35 al-Qaida militants killed in clashes

Yemen's military launched an attack Thursday on an al-Qaida hideout in the country's south as part of a wider offensive, killing 35 militants, the Defense Ministry said.

Looking Ahead

Tomorrow, Senator Lee will be back in Utah to meet with constituents.

Today’s Agenda

Today, Senator Lee will meet with representatives of Hungary and the American College of Emergency Physicians.

From the Senator’s Desk

From the Whip

The Senate will convene at 10:00am and the Majority Leader Reid will be recognized.  It is anticipated that the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 3187, the FDA User Fee Reauthorization bill. 

The Senate will recess from 12:30 - 2:15pm for the weekly policy lunches.

At 2:15pm, the motion to proceed to S. 3187 will be agreed to, the Harkin-Enzi substitute amendment will be agreed to, and the Majority Leader Reid will be recognized.

The two Leaders continue to work on a potential list of relevant amendments to the bill. It is expected that we will be on the FDA bill for the balance of the week.

Roll Call Votes are possible today.

Note – Flood Insurance expires on 5/31 (the House passed a one month extension last week).

On Twitter

@SenMikeLee

Statement of U.S. Senators Herb Kohl and Mike Lee on the EU’s Announcement Regarding Google: http://ow.ly/b38va

@SenLeeComs

Another sad story of how the #EPA torments businesses for no reason and little purpose http://on.wsj.com/LiHMT8 @WSJ

@SenLeePressSec

We received our first issue of The Payson Chronicle in the office today. Excited to add it to the Friday New http://instagr.am/p/K7l9aeS5Sr/

@SenLeeResearch

Get ready for your electric bill to explode thanks to Obama's new #EPA regs: http://fxn.ws/JuPOeb #tcot #tlot #power #coal #makingitworse

Around the Water Cooler

Commercial spacecraft speeds toward space station

Opening a new, entrepreneurial era in spaceflight, a ship built by a billionaire businessman sped toward the International Space Station with a load of groceries and other supplies Tuesday after a spectacular, middle-of-the-night blastoff.

Obama’s War on Coal hits your electric bill

Obama’s War on Coal has already taken a remarkable toll on coal-fired power plants in America.

Looking Ahead

Tomorrow, Senator Lee will meet with representatives of the University of Utah and the Appraisal Institute. He will also host a Jell-O bar for office visitors at 3:30 PM EDT (1:30 MDT).