HGosnell

=Welcome to Heather Gosnell's Personal Page! :) =

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**Congressperson That I Agree With Most: **
Mark Souder is from Indiana's third district. He and I agree on many of the same issues:

You can visit Mark Souder's page at []
 * Congress must insure that money from taxes should be spent efficiently and effectively.
 * Education is important. Souder is a senior member of House Committee on Education and Labor and a senior member of Education and the Workforce Committee.
 * Faith-based organizations should be able to receive federal grants.

**Interesting Facts on Indiana : **

 * 1) Almost 1/2 of the farmland is planted with corn.
 * 2) Santa Claus, Indiana receives more than 500,000 requests and letters at Christmastime.
 * 3) The first successful goldfish farm in the U.S. was opened in Martinsville in 1899.
 * 4) Five elected presidents were from Indiana.
 * 5) The first professional baseball game was played in Fort Wayne on May 4, 1871.

**Facts on Indiana That Relate to Issues That Are Important to Me: **

 * 1) Indiana likes high quality education. Some of the great colleges are located there including Purdue, Notre Dame, Butler, Ball State and many more.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">It is an important destination for foreign postsecondary students.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">46% of teens admitted to texting while driving.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">70% of Americans send at least one text a day.
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The U.S. used 3,892,000,000,000 kWh in 2007.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__Affordable Education__
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> With the bad economy, I think that some of our tax money should go towards affordable colleges. Many students can't afford college, so they revert to community colleges or choose not to go at all. If education was cheaper but still had high quality, more students would feel obliged to go to college. I think our government should look to tax credits. I think that we can start a new program "Cash for College" where it would be similar to the "Cash for Clunkers" deal. Instead of giving more money to the government through taxes, that money will instead go towards a more affordable education AND it would lower your tax rate. With this idea, you can kill two birds with one stone.

__Cell Phone Use in Cars__

For the safety of all drivers, I think that there should be consequences for texting and driving in all states. Statistics show tat 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries ocurred in just 2005. Five years later, cell phone usage among teens and adults has become more common. I think a group from the federal government should writ a bill on cell phone usage that would be allowed while driving. For example, the consequences would be:

1st offense: Warning 2nd: Ticket 3rd: Temporary license suspension and fines 4th: License suspension and fines 5th: Court Trial/Jail/Fine


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-weight: normal;">__Energy Conservation__

So much electricity is used every minute, of every day, of every year. Even though it is a renewable resource, we still want and need to conserve it. We can do so by only selling "eco-friendly" light bulbs. I think that all light bulb producing companies should start making "eco-friendly" lights. According to Energy Star, "If every American home replaced just one light with an Energy Star light, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes a year, about $700 million in annual energy costs, and prevent 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year, equivalent to the emissions of about 800,000 cars." I know that propaganda is in effect here, but the facts are true. If we would save so much energy by just switching //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">one // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-weight: normal;"> light, think of how much we could save in a month? A year? **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__About__ AHydash__'s__ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__and My Bill__ __:__
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Our proposed bill, "Cash for College", is trying to education more affordable. Many people don't or aren't able to get the education they need to get a sufficient career and make a good living. One of the main reasons this happens is because of the fees that cannot be paid. Tax credits will be issued in this plan; it is very similar to the "Cash for Clunkers" deal. Instead of giving more money to the government, that money will go towards your education AND lower your tax rate! If it passes, the date it goes into effect and the time span it will last will be decided based on best interests for the country. There are certain requirements to be eligible for this plan, so please see our attached bill for further details.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Citation Sources:

 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"Monthly Treasury Statement." //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Financial Management Service // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 115%;">. FMS, April 2010. Web. 13 May 2010. <http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts0410.pdf>.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 12px;">Yerak, Becky. "Economy Forcing Students to Change College Plans." //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Chicago Breaking Buisiness //  <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 12px;"> 15 Apr. 2010: n. pag. Web. 13 May 2010. <http://www.chicagobreakingbusiness.com/2010/04/economy-forcing-students-to-change-college-plans.html>.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 115%;">“student Aid Eligibility." //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Federal Student Aid // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> (2010): n. pag. Web. 13 May 2010. <http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/aideligibility.jsp?tab=funding>.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Allebrand, Cheryl. "Half of Families Can't Afford College." //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Bank Rate // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> (2007): n. pag. Web. 13 May 2010. <http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/Financial_Literacy/Sept07_college_poll_results_a1.asp>.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Coon, Jean. "Committee For Public Education v. Nyquist." //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">OYEZ // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> (1972): n. pag. Web. 13 May 2010. <http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1972/1972_72_694>.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">McDougald, Alexandra. "Cash for Clunkers- Eligibility Criteria." //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">WalletBlog // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> (2009): n. pag. Web. 13 May 2010. <http://www.walletblog.com/2009/07/cash-for-clunkers-eligibility-criteria/>.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt;">Paige, Mandy. "Indiana Facts and Trivia." //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">50States // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt;">(2010): n. pag. Web. 13 May 2010. <http://www.50states.com/facts/indiana.htm>.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 12px;">"Indiana State Information and Higher Education Facts." //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Education-Portal // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 12px;"> (2009): n. pag. Web. 13 May 2010. <http://education-portal.com/articles/Indiana_State_Information_and_Higher_Education_Facts.html>.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 12px;">"Light Bulbs." //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Energy Star // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 12px;"> n. pag. Web. 13 May 2010. <http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=find_a_product.showProductGroup&pgw_code=LB>.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 115%;">Smithfield, Benjamin. "Statistics on Texting." //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Articlesbase // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> (2009): n. pag. Web. 13 May 2010. <http://www.articlesbase.com/business-ideas-articles/statistics-on-texting-784182.html>.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"Policy Basics: Where Do Our Federal Tax Dollars Go?." //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Center on Budget and Policy Priorities // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> (2010): n. pag. Web. 13 May 2010. <http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1258>.