110th Congress

Last week on “National Teach Children to Save Day,” North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson honored Humboldt County educator, Sarie Toste, by commemorating her achievements in the Congressional Record. Thompson recognized Toste for spearheading a program in elementary schools throughout Northern California that helps children learn the fundamentals of financial literacy.

Today, Rep. Mike Thompson joined Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Leadership outside the Capitol to raise awareness of the treatment barriers facing mental health patients. According to the Government Accountability Office, 90 percent of health insurance plans impose financial limitations and treatment restrictions on mental health and addiction benefits. In response, Thompson has co-authored the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addition Equity Act (H.R. 1424).

Last night, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation to help restore wetlands, protect communities from catastrophic floods and enhance natural resources across the country. The Water Resources Development Act of 2007 (WRDA) authorizes the Army Corps of Engineers to construct flood protection projects and improve our nation's rivers and harbors. The bill passed the House of Representatives tonight by a vote of 394-25.

Today, Rep. Mike Thompson will lead his first hearing as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Human Intelligence, Analysis, and Counterintelligence of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The hearing will focus on what our country's 16 intelligence agencies are doing to improve the quality of their intelligence analysis, the sharing of information across agencies, and training and career development for analysts.

Today, an amendment authored by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) to protect real estate sellers from identity theft was adopted by the Ways and Means Committee. Thompson's provision changes the tax code to better protect people's Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TIN) or Social Security Numbers (SSN) during real estate transactions. The National Association of Realtors has endorsed this critical change to the tax code.

Today, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) introduced a bill to help landowners conserve our country's precious agricultural land and open spaces. The bill would permanently extend an important tax incentive for farmers and ranchers who donate their land's development rights to local land trusts, creating a conservation easement. The currently available tax deduction for conservation easements, which expires at the end of the year, has been extremely successful at encouraging landowners to preserve their land's agricultural purpose rather than sell it to developers.

Today, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Rep. Don Young (R-AK) introduced the Endangered Species Recovery Act, which would provide landowners with tax incentives if they agree to implement species recovery plans. To qualify for the tax incentives, landowners must demonstrate that animals listed as endangered or threatened live or migrate through their property. In addition, the landowner must implement a government-approved recovery plan designed to reverse the decline of the listed species.

Rep. Mike Thompson's (D-CA) binding legislation to end U.S. involvement in Iraq is gaining fierce momentum in the House of Representatives. HR 787, which restricts the president's dangerous escalation of the Iraq War and sets firm deadlines for redeployment, gained 18 co-sponsors over the past week, bringing the total to 45. Thompson's bill is the only Iraq legislation in the House with bipartisan support and the only one with a Senate companion, which was authored by Senator Barack Obama (D-IL).