Across the Aisle: From Springfield to Washington D.C.

A compilation of news and views

“Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).”       – Ayn Rand

Facts According to Bustos

The following is from an email from Cheri Bustos, a candidate running for Congress in Illinois’ 17th Congressional District, who created a petition on SignOn.org:

In Freeport, IL, Sensata Technologies, a company owned by Bain Capital, is sending 170 workers’ jobs to China. To add insult to injury, Bain is even forcing the Freeport workers to train their Chinese replacements. A group of the workers have organized to garner support for the “Bring American Jobs Home Act,” a common sense bill that gives American workers an even playing field by replacing tax loopholes for companies that send jobs overseas with financial incentives to bring jobs back to America.

On Tuesday, the workers caught up with Schilling but the Congressman refused to answer their simple yes or no question and then walked out of his own town hall meeting to avoid further questions. The video is here: http://bit.ly/SchillingWalksOut

Bobby Schilling can run from meetings but he can’t hide from his record in Washington:

Schilling supports:

Free Trade deals that ship jobs overseas

Tax break incentives for companies to leave the U.S.

Hiding the number of jobs companies send overseas

Cutting job retraining programs for workers whose jobs were lost overseas

Join me in asking Bobby Schilling to take a stand on the Sensata Technologies workers plight:

Rep. Schilling, you said, “Americans Need Jobs Now” in the Argus Dispatch on September 23.1 Will you stand up for the jobs at Sensata Technologies in your district and tell Bain Capital that you do not support outsourcing those jobs to China? We demand an answer.

- Cheri Bustos

Schilling Unveils ‘Manufacturers for Bobby’ Coalition

Receives NAM award for ‘Manufacturing Legislative Excellence’

ROCKFORD, Ill.—Fresh off receiving an award from the National Association of Manufacturers in Peoria on Thursday, U.S. Rep. Bobby Schilling (R-Colona) is celebrating National Manufacturing Day today in Rockford along with members of the new, northern Illinois-based ‘Manufacturers for Bobby’ coalition.

On the heels of today’s jobs report, which noted that 16,000 manufacturing jobs had been lost in September and 22,000 had been lost in August, Schilling noted the importance of standing up for Illinois manufacturers.

“As we face more manufacturing job losses, it’s clear that it’s never been more important to stand up for manufacturing,” Schilling said. “We need to stop the over-taxation, stop the over-regulation, and get the boot off the throat of our job creators.”

On Thursday, Schilling received the National Association of Manufacturers Award for Manufacturing Legislative Excellence. Schilling voted in favor of manufacturers more than 97 percent of the time in the 112th Congress. Doug Oberhelman, the CEO of Caterpillar, presented Schilling with the award.

Today the “Manufacturers for Bobby” coalition announced its support for Schilling’s re-election in a press conference at Dial Machine in Rockford, Ill.

“Higher taxes and more excessive regulation on businesses—those are the tenets of Cheri Bustos, and that makes us as manufacturers less competitive in today’s global marketplace in comparison to our foreign competitors,” said Eric Anderberg, Vice President of Dial Machine. “These policies cause us as American manufacturers to lose business because of government-imposed burdens and costs—that means lost jobs in the Illinois 17th District. This is why Dial Machine, its employees, and its owners fully support Bobby Schilling because he ‘gets it.’ We need to send Bobby Schilling back to Congress to make sure the policies of true outsourcing by the Democrats are stopped, and that pro-business, pro-growth, pro-jobs policies are pushed forward and enacted in Washington.”

“As a family-owned manufacturing business, we felt the negative impact of over-regulation and increased taxes by our federal and state government,” stated John Ekberg, Controller, Circle Boring. “That’s why we believe we need Congressman Schilling. From his business experience, Schilling knows what it’s like to meet payroll, pay vendors, and work long hours. As a Congressman, he has faithfully carried those common-sense values as he votes and fights for our employers and employees. He knows how important manufacturing is to communities like Rockford, Freeport, Rock Falls/Sterling, the Quad Cities, and Peoria.”

“I’m confident in our plan to strengthen manufacturing and create jobs because it bets on the American worker, and that’s a bet I’m willing to make every time,” said Rep. Schilling. “I’ve been proud to support legislation like the American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act to grow manufacturing in this country. I truly believe we’re on the cusp of a manufacturing boom, and we need to do everything we can to take advantage of it. That’s been one of my top priorities in Congress and it will continue to be if elected to a second term.”

The “Manufacturers for Bobby” coalition includes:

Eric Anderberg, President of Dial Machine, Rockford

Tino Oldani, President of Ingersoll Machine Tool, Rockford

John Ekberg, Comptroller of Circle Boring, Rockford

Glen Ekberg, President of Circle Boring, Rockford

Dale Falconer, President of Seward Screw Products, Seward

Bob Trojan, President of Rockford Linear Actuation, Rockford

Teresa Beach-Shelow, President of Superior Joining Technologies, Machesney Park

Ron Gustafson, Clinkenbeard Manufacturing, Rockford

Jay Mandel, President of Tri Star Metals LLC, Freeport

Peter Alber, President of Proto-Cutter, Freeport

Pat Bye, President of Energy Dynamics, Rockford

Dan Brynolf, Brynolf Manufacturing, Rockford

Skip Trotter, President of Trotter Manufacturing, Loves Park

Keith Irons, President of Irons Group, Rockford

Peter Provenzano, CEO of SupplyCore, Rockford

Tom Carlton, IDT, Belvidere

Dai Bui, President of Alacran Contracting, Rockford

Jeff Kaney, Kaney Group, LLC, Rockford