Congressman Gingrey smiles with a great group of summer interns from across Georgia’s 11^th District before a staff outing to a Rome Braves game. If you have called one of Phil’s district offices over the summer, the friendly voice who answered the phone was likely one of this year’s summer interns, who have been a great help to the Gingrey team. Interning is a wonderful way for 11th District students to learn about our government and gain valuable professional experience.  If you or a student you know is interested, please click HERE for more information. Pictured above are (from left to right) Meg Livermore, Hope Johnson, Zac George, David Oster, Ross Durrence, Wes Watt, and Casey Sims.

Click on the gas nozzle above to watch a video of Rep. Gingrey outlining a plan to lower gas prices.

I was honored to have the opportunity this morning to present WWII Veteran, Sergeant John Scuiletti of Dallas, Georgia with the service medals that he earned while serving on the Pacific Front during WWII. Sgt. Scuiletti served in the Bismark Archipelago, the Eastern Mandates, New Guinea, the Northern Solomons and South Philippines with the 72nd Bomb Squad-5th Bomber Group. Although Sgt. Scuiletti was a very decorated war hero, but had never officially been presented with his medals. While overseas, Sgt. Scuiletti was awarded the Asiatic Pacific Theater Ribbon with five bronze stars, Air Medal with one bronze and one silver oak leaf cluster, Good Conduct Medal and two Overseas Service Bars. I was honored to have the opportunity to meet Sgt. Scuiletti, and thank him for his great service to our Country. If you or a member of your family has lost or possibly never even received your combat medals, and you would like to, please contact my office at (770) 429-1776.

Flip the channel over to C-SPAN at around 8:30 tonight to see Rep. Gingrey host a special hour long discussion on the Iraq War in advance of the hearings with General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, which will take place tomorrow in the House.

As most of you are probably aware, this has been a difficult weekend for many residents of Polk, Floyd and Bartow Counties, as a tornado ripped through sections of each of the counties — damaging property and killing two, while injuring several others. I spent several hours yesterday with former State Senator Nathan Dean, touring the hardest-hit areas and offering assistance to area families. My thoughts and prayers go out to each and every family who has been touched by this tragedy, and especially the Albers and Turner families, whom I met with yesterday. I also want to encourage you to contact my office if you or a friend or family member needs any assistance in wake of this storm. The phone number for my Rome office is (706) 290-1776, and I hope that you will contact me if I can help in any way. I will be back in Rockmart this morning, before heading to Cave Spring to meet with students at Cave Spring Elementary School.

Flip the channel over to C-SPAN right now to watch Rep. Gingrey discuss the need to immedaitely re-authorize the Protect America Act (PAA). It has now been nine days since the Democratic Majority skipped town and allowed the Protect America Act, which provided our intelligence community with the tools it needs to target the electronic communications of suspected terrorists, to expire. The House Democratic Leadership must get serious about our nation’s security and immediately take up the Senate passed extension of the Protect America Act, and give our intelligence community all of the tools they need to effectively defend our homeland.

U.S. Congressman Phil Gingrey will have a representative in Gordon County on February 8th to assist constituents with case work, legislative questions and other concerns and inquiries. Stephen Smith, Constituent Services Representative for the Congressman, will be at the Calhoun Depot at 109 S King St. in Calhoun on Friday, February 8th from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon.  All members of the community are invited to stop by for assistance with federal agencies, answers to questions about Congressional legislation, and an opportunity to voice comments or concerns they would like brought to Congressman Gingrey’s attention. This service is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Stephen Smith at (706) 290-1776. Look out for future announcements of outreach days as Rep. Gingrey’s 2008 District Outreach Program gets into full swing.

Be sure to check out Congressman Gingrey’s op-ed piece on the F-22A Raptor in today’s Marietta Daily Journal.

Congressman Gingrey today became only the second person in the Smyrna Rotary Club’s 45 year history to be sworn in as an honorary member of the club. Phil was introduced by past Smyrna Rotary President, Roy Strickland.

Every year, Rep. Gingrey is fortunate to have the help of bright, driven students who intern in his Washington, D.C. and district offices.  If you’ve called our Marietta District office this month, the friendly voice who answered the phone was likely Jillian Pilch or Natalie Findling, two interns who have been a great help to the Gingrey team.

Jillian Pilch is a senior at Marietta High School. She is a life-long resident of Marietta, where she lives with her parents, Ted and Jeanette, and her sister, Jacqui.  As Photography Editor in Chief for Marietta High School’s yearbook, she attends and photographs almost every school event – from football games to school plays. “For me, photography is much more than a hobby, it is my passion,” said Jillian. After graduation, Jillian plans on attending Agnes Scott College to double-major in political science and international relations and minor in French. Jillian has political aspirations, as well. Her goal is to work in Congress and eventually run for political office, herself.

“It is important to me that I make a positive impact on the world during my lifetime.”

Make sure you watch Phil discuss SCHIP on Fox News Weekend, this Sunday at 10:15 AM

Watch Congressman Phil Gingrey take on earmark reform on C-SPAN — RIGHT NOW!!!

Be sure to check out these stories on Rep. Gingrey’s fact-finding mission to Iraq:

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpid=680&show=archivedetails&ArchiveID=1289707&om=1

http://www.hometownheadlines.com/New_Site/politics.html 

http://www.romenewswire.com/

I wanted to make sure that you were aware of a great opportunity to learn all of the secrets of writing a good grant request. With earmarks becoming harder and harder to come-by, grants have become one of the best ways to secure funding for your organization or small business. On August 8th, I will be inviting eight federal agencies - including the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Education - to the 11th District to answer specific questions on obtaining grants. Normally, you would have to travel to Washington to receive such one-on-one attention from these agencies. The Supermarket will be held at Georgia Highlands College’s Bartow Campus in Cartersville. The program will start at 10:00 AM on the 8th, so make sure to mark your calendar. I look forward to seeing you there.

If you need more information on the Grant Supermarket, just navigate back to my home page and click on the dollar sign at the bottom. You can also call my Rome District Office at (706) 290-1776.

I recently honored my Director of Constituent Services, Jeanette Hutchison, for her quarter century of dedicated service to the citizens of this country. Over the past 25 years, Jeanette has served five Members of Congress as she assisted constituents with problems ranging from Social Security and veteran’s benefits to passports and immigration issues. Jeanette, thank you for your selfless service to the people of our great nation.

Jeanette Hutchison (third from the left) is honored at a conference in Texas for her 25 years of public service.

Make sure you check out blog posts by Phil and other Congressmen at http://blog.thehill.com/. Today, Phil posted some thoughts on preventing illegal immigrants from drawing Social Security benefits in the U.S.

Make sure you take a look at the editorial section of today’s Marietta Daily Journal and read Phil’s thoughts on the best way to move forward in Iraq.

To view the online edition of the MDJ, click on the link below.

http://www.mdjonline.com/270/10266275.txt

U.S. forces announced Wednseday that they have captured Abu Shahid, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. I came across this story this morning and wanted to pass along some of the good news coming out of Iraq. Just click on the link below to read the full story from Fox News.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,289727,00.html

Last night, I spoke at length on the House floor about the need to suspend the Visa Waiver program until secure technology is in place to ensure we aren’t letting terrorists into America under the cloak of this program.  Currently, the Visa Waiver program allows citizens from 27 countries – from Japan to France – to enter the U.S. without a visa.  This widely opens the door for terrorist to enter our county, and in fact we know they are using this program.  Just take a look at some of the known terrorists that have entered the U.S. through the Visa Waiver program:

I have introduced legislation in the House to suspend the Visa Waiver program until high-tech security measures are in place to check the terrorist and criminal background of everyone using the program. To read more about my legislation, click HERE.  Below is one important security feature that hasn’t been universally adopted: tamper-proof passports. Many Visa Waiver countries do not yet have passports that are secure. 

If you want to understand the critical nature of this issue, just read these quotes from an Associated Press article last Friday:

“Al-Qaida is stepping up its efforts to sneak terror operatives into the United States and has acquired most of the capabilities it needs to strike here, according to a new U.S. intelligence assessment…”

“The group will bolster its efforts to position operatives inside U.S. borders… U.S. officials have expressed concern about the ease with which people can enter the United States through Europe because of a program that allows most Europeans to enter without visas.”

The time to act is now. I’ll post the video of my speech HERE shortly, so check back this afternoon.

 Make sure to tune in to C-SPAN tonight at 9:00 as Rep Gingrey discusses securing our borders as Rep. Gingrey discusses securing our borders by suspending the Visa Waiver program.

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