Foreign language beginning in Kindergarten.  Highest availability of Advanced Placement classes in the state of Iowa.  100% graduate acceptance to four-year colleges and universities.  Extraordinary things happen at Rivermont Collegiate!  Explore our school during our open house this week!  On Thursday, April 29th from 6:00-8:00 p.m., families are invited to drop in for tours of campus, one-on-one discussion, and answers to their questions about Rivermont.  This casual event is designed to introduce local families to the Quad Cities' only private, nonsectarian, independent college prep school.  Rivermont Collegiate, located in Bettendorf, provides students with a comprehensive education in a safe, family-like learning environment.

From PreSchool through twelfth grade, Rivermont students develop a joy for learning, lead peers in community involvement, and take intellectual and artistic risks.  Drop in to learn more about our philosophy, values, and programs!  Cindy Murray, Director of Admissions, will be on hand to answer questions.  The Rivermont campus is located directly off 18th street in Bettendorf behind K&K Hardware.  Visit us online at www.rivermontcollegiate.org!  This event is free and open to the public.

For additional information on Rivermont Collegiate or Thursday's Open House, contact Cindy Murray at (563) 359-1366 ext. 302 or murray@rvmt.org.

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State, Federal Plan Seeks to Create More Than 15,000 Jobs

CHICAGO - April 26, 2010. Governor Pat Quinn today unveiled the Put Illinois to Work (PIW) program, an anti-poverty program aimed at building a healthy workforce by putting unemployed and underemployed Illinois residents back to work. The new program is expected to create more than 15,000 jobs.

"Put Illinois to Work will provide good-paying jobs that will help support families and strengthen communities," said Governor Pat Quinn. "The program will also assist in building a workforce that possesses the skills, abilities and experiences that Illinois employers need to remain competitive in the U.S. and global marketplace."

Put Illinois to Work is a collaborative effort of the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) and Heartland Human Care Services (HHCS). Funding is provided through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF), which was created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

Through Put Illinois to Work, eligible Illinois residents will be placed in subsidized employment positions with participating worksites for up to six months, learning valuable skills and supporting their families. The program will help stimulate Illinois' ailing economy and develop a healthy workforce by providing meaningful work experience for participants.

"Put Illinois to Work is an exciting opportunity to employ thousands of Illinoisans during a time of economic downturn and high unemployment," said IDHS Secretary Michelle R. B. Saddler. "The program will draw down federal funds that will stimulate the Illinois economy and even more importantly, will help the citizens we serve to gain critical skills in the workforce."

Private, public and non-profit businesses are encouraged to sign on with Put Illinois to Work. Eligible participants will be matched to subsidized employment opportunities with these worksites in hopes that they might transition into an unsubsidized position at the program's conclusion.

Eligible worksites and participants must meet program criteria and agree to adhere to specific programmatic requirements. Participants must be age 18-21, or 18 and over and the parent (custodial or non-custodial) of a minor child. All participants must have a household income below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level ($2,428 per month for a family of two) and be legally present and authorized to work.

For eligibility criteria and additional information on Put Illinois to Work, visit www.PutIllinoistoWork.Illinois.gov.

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Thursday, April 22, 2010

Grassley asks about GM repaying TARP loans with other TARP funds

WASHINGTON --- Senator Chuck Grassley is asking the Treasury Secretary to justify claims that General Motors has repaid its TARP loans when GM is using other TARP funds to repay the loans.

"It looks like the announcement is really just an elaborate TARP money shuffle," Grassley said.  "The repayment dollars haven't come from GM selling cars but, instead, from a TARP escrow account at the Treasury Department."

Grassley said his concern is based upon the most recently quarterly report from the Special Inspector General for TARP.  Mr. Neil Barofsky testified before the Finance Committee this week and stated that the funds GM is using to repay its TARP debt are not coming from GM earnings.

Grassley said it's a matter of the Treasury Department being straightforward with taxpayers about its management of the $700 billion taxpayer funded TARP program.  Click here to read Grassley's letter of inquiry to Secretary Timothy Geithner.

The Special Inspector General for TARP was created at the urging of Grassley and Senator Max Baucus of Montana, and when the Treasury Department changed the focus of the program less than a month after it began, Grassley worked with Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri to retool the Inspector General's authority and empower the office to adequately scrutinize TARP spending and management.

Grassley has gone to bat for the Inspector General throughout the year, when the White House and Treasury Department put up barriers to the Inspector General asking questions and collecting information about where the money has gone.  Grassley has been an outspoken critic about the lack of transparency with how TARP funds have been used.  Last fall, he cosponsored legislation to end the program.

Washington, DC - Members of the House Populist Caucus, the House Trade Working Group, and the Progressive Caucus introduced today the American Jobs First Platform, four pieces of legislation designed to put struggling Americans back to work and on a level playing field with workers in other countries.  Caucus Chairs Bruce Braley (IA-01), Mike Michaud (ME-02), Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07) and Lynn Woolsey (CA-06) announced the platform in a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

"As you know, the recession has been devastating to American workers," the letter states. "Despite some recent improvements, the unemployment rate remains high and hundreds of thousands of Americans lost their jobs last year.  We commend and thank you for your strong leadership during these tough economic times, but we believe that we can do more to put Americans back to work and to put them on a level playing field with workers in other countries.

"Unfortunately, free trade agreements (FTAs) like NAFTA and CAFTA have decimated the American manufacturing sector, caused the loss of millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs, and contributed to our current economic and unemployment problems.  However, despite the detrimental effects of our current trade policy, both the Bush Administration and the Obama Administration have attempted to push forward with more of the same, including Bush-negotiated FTAs with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea."

The following Members signed on as supporters of the American Jobs First Platform: Bruce Braley (IA-01), Mike Michaud (ME-02), Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07), Lynn Woolsey (CA-06), Peter DeFazio (OR-04), Keith Ellison (MN-05), Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Bob Filner (CA-51), Gene Green (TX-29), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL-02), Carolyn Kilpatrick (MI-13), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Tim Ryan (OH-17), Dan Lipinski (IL-03), Phil Hare (IL-17), Steve Kagen (WI-08), David Loebsack (IA-01), Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01), Betty Sutton (OH-13), Larry Kissell, (NC-08), Tom Perriello (VA-05), Chellie Pingree (ME-02).

The American Jobs First Platform consists of the following four bills introduced in the 111^th Congress that would require the United States to make an honest and comprehensive assessment of our current trade policies and set us on a path towards a new, improved model for trade agreements, reducing the trade deficit, and reinvigorating American manufacturing:

· H.R. 3012, the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development, and Employment (TRADE) Act, would require a comprehensive GAO review of existing major trade pacts and spell out what must be included in trade agreements, including core standards on labor, the environment, food and product safety, agriculture, human rights, currency anti-manipulation, national security, procurement, and investment, and also what must not be included in FTAs, including Buy American bans, anti-sweatshop rule bans, and new rights for foreign investors to promote offshoring.  The bill also ensures strong enforcement of these standards, and would require the President to submit renegotiation plans for current trade agreements so that they include these core provisions before Congressional consideration of additional agreements.  We believe this bill would help reverse the negative effects of job-killing trade deals like NAFTA and CAFTA and would ensure that both our current and future trade agreements are fair and put American workers on a level playing field.

· H.R. 1875, the End the Trade Deficit Act, would establish the Emergency Commission to End the Trade Deficit to document the causes and consequences of the trade deficit and to develop a plan to eliminate the trade deficit within the next 10 years.  This bill would also place a moratorium on new FTAs until the Commission has issued a final report and Congress has conducted hearings on the Commission recommendations to end the trade deficit.  The elimination of the trade deficit by 2019 would support millions of additional U.S. manufacturing jobs.

· H.R. 4692, the National Manufacturing Strategy Act would require the Administration to convene an interagency Manufacturing Strategy Task Force to examine the current domestic and international environment for U.S. manufacturing and to develop a National Manufacturing Strategy that includes recommendations to sustain and increase employment, increase global competitiveness, and increase resilience to global economic trends in the U.S. manufacturing sector.  This bill seeks to proactively create and sustain good American manufacturing jobs.

· H.R. 4678, the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act would require foreign manufacturers doing business in the U.S. to identify a registered agent authorized to accept service of process on behalf of the manufacturer.  Registering an agent would constitute an acceptance of jurisdiction of the state in which the agent is located.

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