Some more news

Please consider donating to Peter Sullivan for Congress. Now for the latest on his campaign, here's a press release that was issued.

Calling it a betrayal of fundamental American values, State Rep. Peter Sullivan today criticized the proposed federal budget being advanced by the Republican congressional leadership.

On Thursday afternoon, House Majority Leader Roy Blunt pulled the budget reconcilliation bill from the House floor when several moderate Republicans refused to support the bill.

New Hampshire Congressman Jeb Bradley has indicated that he would support the budget, siding with the House's hard-liners.

"The Republican budget proposal amounts to a betrayal of the fundamental American values of community and compassion" said Sullivan. "This proposal increases the budget deficit while cutting child health resources, food stamps and school lunch programs. It's anti-kids, anti-family and anti-taxpayer. Jeb Bradley should be embarrassed to be supporting this kind of nonsense.

"It seems that the House leadership has confused the Corporal Works of Mercy with "Looking Out for Number One". This budget doesn't reflect New Hampshire values, and Jeb's support for it shows that he can not be trusted to stand with his former neighbors."

The budget the GOP wants to pass is a moral disaster.

The elimination of the patriot penalty has passed the Senate and will make it's way to the house. This is thanks to Senator Bayh and his support of the troops.

It's meant to make sure military heroes' families don't face hardship on the home front.

Now, more than ever, the military's counting on National Guardsmen to fight the war on terror. But recruiting has become tough.

"The commanding general of the reserve described his force as quote 'a broken force.' So if we're gonna keep the guard and reserve in place, we have to allow these people to serve our country without abandoning their families,” said Bayh.

All too often though, patriots are penalized.

A pentagon study shows more than 40% of reservists suffer substantial pay cuts when they're called to active duty. It's forced many to choose between love of family and love of country.

Bayh wants that to change. He's pushed through an amendment to the Defense Department Authorization Bill that eliminates the patriot penalty.

“For those who are called to active duty, serve more than six months, we're going to make up, up to $3,000 per month of that lost income so they can pay the mortgage, keep food on the table, while they're fighting on our behalf overseas. It's the decent and the right thing to do," said Bayh.

It supports reservists and their families now and helps to encourage more to fight in the future.

"We're spending $5 billion every month in Iraq. This would cost a tiny fraction of that and it's the least we can do for our Guardsmen and reservists who've been activated and sent into harm's way," added Bayh.

NewsCenter 16 also asked Bayh about his plans for Election 2008.

He's been spending time in New Hampshire lately. But Bayh says that's not on his mind right now, that he's simply doing his duty in the senate. And if he does that job well, the politics will work themselves out.

This may be it for the night for now. Stay tuned.