North Carolina’s request to put tolls on the interstate amounts to double-taxation, with people being taxed twice for something they have already paid for once. It’s unfair and it’s wrong, something that has not escaped the notice of freshman Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers, who represents the Tarheel State’s Second Congressional District.

Ellmers has introduced legislation—H.R. 4174—to block her state from placing tolls on I-95. Her bill, the “No Tolls in North Carolina Act of 2012,” has the support of various groups like the American Bus Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores, the American Frozen Food Institute, the American Motorcyclist Association, and the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America.

Part of the reason the states are in a fix as far as highway money is concerned is that Congress has been diverting money from the highway trust fund into what are known as “general revenues,” meaning they can and are being spent on everything. According to studies undertaken by the John Locke Foundation, a think tank based in Ellmers’s state, “Since 1990, a total of nearly $4 billion in proceeds from North Carolina gas and car taxes have been spent on transit or General Fund programs,” Ellmers said in a letter to her congressional colleagues.

“It is clear that the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) did not demonstrate that these improvements could be implemented without a toll as required by law,” Ellmers said after she introduced her bill. “While our highways need to be updated to meet growing needs and usage, North Carolina taxpayers should not have to bear further burdens after paying one of the highest gas taxes in the country.”

Read the entire article here.

North Carolina’s request to put tolls on the interstate amounts to double-taxation, with people being taxed twice for something they have already paid for once. It’s unfair and it’s wrong, something that has not escaped the notice of freshman Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers, who represents the Tarheel State’s Second Congressional District.

Ellmers has introduced legislation—H.R. 4174—to block her state from placing tolls on I-95. Her bill, the “No Tolls in North Carolina Act of 2012,” has the support of various groups like the American Bus Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores, the American Frozen Food Institute, the American Motorcyclist Association, and the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America.

Part of the reason the states are in a fix as far as highway money is concerned is that Congress has been diverting money from the highway trust fund into what are known as “general revenues,” meaning they can and are being spent on everything. According to studies undertaken by the John Locke Foundation, a think tank based in Ellmers’s state, “Since 1990, a total of nearly $4 billion in proceeds from North Carolina gas and car taxes have been spent on transit or General Fund programs,” Ellmers said in a letter to her congressional colleagues.

“It is clear that the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) did not demonstrate that these improvements could be implemented without a toll as required by law,” Ellmers said after she introduced her bill. “While our highways need to be updated to meet growing needs and usage, North Carolina taxpayers should not have to bear further burdens after paying one of the highest gas taxes in the country.”

Read the entire article here.

As House Republicans made the case for their small business tax cut this week, a group of female lawmakers took center stage to sell the plan.

Facing a long-standing gender gap both on and off Capitol Hill, the male-dominated House GOP has made a concerted effort to include its female members – particularly those in the freshman class – in public events and press conferences.

Yet with the role of women now a key topic in the presidential campaign, female lawmakers like Reps. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) were deployed not simply to echo the leadership’s talking points but to highlight the benefits of the tax cut for women and the many businesses they own.

 The timing is not a coincidence, Ellmers said. With Democrats accusing Republicans of a “war on women,” she said it was “very important” for the party to speak directly to the impact its policies would have on women.

“I’m a woman. I’m a conservative Republican. We need to connect with the women of America,” she said in an interview.

“When we see this brought up as an issue, we know we need to come to the forefront and outline these issues,” Ellmers said. “We’re ready to fight for everyone in America, but when we see women under attack, then it’s up to us to come forward and start speaking out with an even stronger, louder voice.”

Read the entire article on The Hill.

In North Carolina, golf is more than just a pastime – it’s an economic job engine. Home to over 550 facilities, golf’s total economic impact exceeds $5 billion a year while supporting 68,000 jobs and $1.7 billion in income. Yet it seems that for some policymakers and opinion leaders, golf remains a mere stigma of the privileged and barrier to the middle class.

When you look beyond the dated stereotypes of the game, you will find a vibrant industry where millions of Americans spend their weekends honing in a skill and love of a game that can benefit them throughout their life. The United States is home to approximately 26 million golfers – and of those, the vast majority come from the middle class, according to figures from the National Golf Foundation. Today, nearly 11,000 of the country’s 16,000 courses are open to the public, and as PGA Performance Trak estimates, this accounts for more than 76 percent of the rounds of golf that are played each year.

As we celebrate National Golf Day today, it’s important to illustrate the families, jobs, and industries that have come to rely on this great pastime. Golf is a $76 billion industry – even larger than the motion picture and recording industries – and supports nearly 2 million American jobs. The game fuels business activity in sectors as varied as manufacturing, real estate, travel and publishing as more and more men and women of all ages discover the rewards of mastering their performance.

Read the entire article here.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — North Carolina Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers is speaking out on the recent revelations about a lavish conference held in Las Vegas by the General Services Administration.

“It’s so important that the people of North Carolina understand this is where a lot of the fraud, waste and abuse has taken place in Washington and these are exactly the things that we need to go in and we need to cut and we need to remove,” said Ellmers.

The General Services Administration’s internal watchdog said that employees are heeding his call to report wrongdoing, and messages on his hotline have triggered new investigations beyond an $823,000 Las Vegas conference and junkets to resorts.

Read the article here.

Some lawmakers want to put a stop to the tolls before they even start. Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers of North Carolina introduced a bill in the House of Representatives last month to block the state from tolling I-95, which passes through her district.

“North Carolina taxpayers should not have to bear further burdens after paying one of the highest gas taxes in the country,” Ellmers said in a statement introducing the bill.

Where do you go when you get sick? For millions of Americans, their trust is placed in the hands of their local health care providers — doctors, nurses and hospitals. We all rely on these dedicated professionals for our care, treatment and lifesaving medicines. But if the president’s health care law is allowed to stand, our future will be at the mercy of the federal government.

Today, the Supreme Court will begin reviewing President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul to determine whether any portion of the law violates the Constitution. Coincidentally, new cost projections for the law have nearly doubled to $1.76 trillion. The court is considering the individual mandate — a fundamental piece of the law that requires all Americans to either buy health insurance or suffer fines and penalties by the government.

I cannot overstate the seriousness of this case and what it means for our country’s future. At stake are the freedoms and liberties that have made our nation a beacon of hope and the model of human achievement. If this law is allowed to stand, it will create a dangerous precedent and rob future generations of their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

For several decades, the costs of providing these services have grown exponentially as people live longer lives and cutting-edge research continues to produce miraculous drug treatments. Without addressing these costs, the industry continued forward and in some cases exploited its own failures.

As a nurse, I have seen the wasteful practices and bureaucratic inefficiencies of our health care system firsthand and know the problems inherent in the industry. With the price tag for medical treatments and care continuing to grow, there remains a desperate need to streamline procedures and clamp down on the frivolous practices that are driving costs out of control. This is the sort of reform that should have been the focus of the health care debate. Instead, we were left with a government takeover and billions of dollars unaccounted for.

Read the entire op-ed at Roll Call.

After meeting with Johnston County business leaders and others earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers introduced legislation that would prevent tolls along I-95. Ellmers said the bill, “No Tolls in North Carolina Act of 2012,” would prevent the Federal Highway Administration from approving a pilot program that would add tolls on the interstate highway to pay for its expansion.

“While our highways need to be updated to meet growing needs and usage, North Carolina taxpayers should not have to bear further burdens after paying one of the highest gas taxes in the country,” she said.

Read the entire article at The Smithfield Herald.