What Community Leaders are Saying About Jim Talent:
The National Black Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, Harry Alford, said that for minority owned businesses, “Jim Talent was the Most Valuable Player for the 108th Congress.”
Nimrod Chapel, NAACP President of the Jefferson City Chapter, had this to say about Sen. Talent: “We are honoring Sen. Talent with this award for his hard work and tenacity in getting support for the Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act. It takes a lot of courage for someone to do something of substance when it comes to civil rights. Sen. Talent is in the category with President Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, who both were instrumental in championing integration issues. I want to thank Sen. Talent for his courage and leadership to unify America.”
In an October 25, 2005, editorial, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch commended Talent for his leadership. “To his great credit, Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., helped block a Senate attempt to strip $500 million worth of food stamps from the poor,” the editorial stated.
“Senator Jim Talent is the best kept secret of the Republican Party,” said Halbert Sullivan, CEO of the Fathers’ Support Center. “I’m supporting him not only for his leadership for the African-American community, but for his work in helping communities become self-sufficient. I’m supporting him for his honesty and for his effectiveness in passing important legislation such as the Sickle Cell Treatment bill and legislation to help strengthen families by supporting healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood. We need to send Jim Talent back to the United States Senate.”
“I’ve been a Democrat all of my life, but then I started to realize that I needed not to vote for a Party but vote for a person who was making a difference, who was doing the job, and that’s Jim Talent,” said Caroline Douglas, the mother of a child suffering from Sickle Cell Disease. “Senator Jim Talent created the Sickle Cell Treatment Act to create centers across the country to help adults and children who have Sickle Cell Disease. Jim Talent cares about what is happening with the people in this state and I think the people should send him back to the Senate.”
Sickle Cell Disease Treatment Act
Sen. Talent wrote the Sickle Cell Treatment Act, the most comprehensive legislation to help sickle cell patients to pass the Congress in a generation. This law increases funding for treatment and research efforts, expands awareness about the disease and provides additional services for Sickle Cell Disease patients.
Empowering Minority Small Businesses
Sen. Talent sponsored this new law that specifically applies to disadvantaged small businesses that qualify for the Small Business Administration's Section 8(a) program, a business development program to help small disadvantaged businesses compete in the American economy and access the federal procurement market. Small business people who qualify for 8(a) certification are mostly African-Americans, Hispanics, women and veterans. The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Women Impacting Public Policy also support this new law.
Investing in Missouri's Historically Black Colleges in Research & Technology
Sen. Talent sponsored the Minority Serving Institution Digital and Wireless Technology Act. This bill, which passed the Senate, will provide institutions like Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis and Lincoln University in Jefferson City with additional resources for technology by investing $1.25 billion over five years in critical upgrades.
Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act
The Senate passed legislation introduced by Senators Jim Talent and Chris Dodd (D-CT) to create a new office within the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute Civil Rights-era murders. The new Unsolved Crimes Section would be responsible for investigating and prosecuting pre-1970 Civil Rights era murder cases that resulted in death and remain unsolved. Sen. Talent is working closely on this bill with Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga), the chief sponsor in the House.
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
Sen. Talent introduced and passed legislation in the Senate to officially designate the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, as America’s National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) is the bill's sponsor in the House. The museum seeks to educate a diverse audience through its comprehensive collection of historical materials, important artifacts, and oral histories of the participants in the Negro Leagues and the impact that segregation played in the lives of these individuals and their fans.
Healthy Marriages
Sen. Talent was a leader in providing $500 million in federal funding for healthy marriage promotion over the next five years. These dollars will be used to fund community-based programs to counsel young women and men about the benefits of healthy marriages. The healthy marriage program will also provide ongoing support for at-risk couples to help reduce the likelihood of divorce.
Preventing Drastic Cuts to Food Stamps
As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Sen. Talent worked to prevent big cuts to the federal Food Stamp program. Without his strong stand, the food stamp program would have been in serious jeopardy.
Lowering the Cost of Health Care for Small Businesses
Sen. Talent has sponsored legislation to create Small Business Health Plans to allow small business people to join together through their trade associations to purchase quality, affordable health care for themselves, their employees and their families. Small Business Health Plans would allow national trade associations, such as the National Black Chamber, the National Federation of Independent Business, the National Restaurant Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to sponsor the same quality health insurance currently offered by Fortune 500 companies, labor unions and the federal government. Trade groups could then offer these health care plans to their small business members, who could purchase health insurance for themselves and their employees. Sen. Talent’s plan would provide quality health insurance to millions of people who don't have it and it would lower health care costs for everybody. Moreover, it wouldn't cost the taxpayer anything.
Providing Health Care Opportunities Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit
Sen. Talent helped pass the first-ever comprehensive prescription drug benefit in the history of the Medicare program. Now, for the first time, every Missouri senior has access to a prescription drug benefit under Medicare, and screening for diseases like diabetes, hypertension and asthma. The bill also includes chronic disease management programs to keep people healthy.
Healthy Start
Sen. Talent is a nationally recognized leader for his work in the Senate to provide funding for the Health Start program. Healthy Start, which operates local chapters in St. Louis (St. Louis Maternal Child and Family Health Coalition), Kansas City (Maternal and Child Health Coalition of Greater Kansas City) and in Sikeston, serving Southeast Missouri, promotes community-based maternal and child health, and the reduction of infant mortality, low birth weight and racial disparities in maternity care. In 2004, Sen. Talent received a Distinguished Service Award from the National Healthy Start Association for his work to provide funding in the appropriations process, including roughly $100 million per year since his election to the Senate. Sen. Talent will continue to fight for programs like Healthy Start that have a proven track record of success.