Economy & Budget

The Democrats' budget is based on irresponsible spending in excess of $24 billion over the President's request for next year alone. Most disturbing is the package includes the largest tax increase in American history - something that should greatly concern every citizen in this country. We have proven results that the tax relief enacted by Republicans over the last six years has led to a booming economy, low unemployment, and substantial savings for the American people. This plan to raise taxes and increase government spending in unprecedented amounts will hurt American families and our thriving economy.

Sirius Satellite Radio honcho Mel Karmazin is sounding more and more like a used car salesman as he tries to build political support for his controversial deal to combine the country’s only two satellite radio service providers.

Yesterday Karmazin was on Capitol Hill for the third time in recent weeks to pitch the mega merger in which Sirius would take over rival XM. As in previous hearings, Karmazin earnestly argued the deal would benefit consumers, even though it would transform two aggressive competitors into a monopoly.

Karmazin, who started his career peddling local radio ads, has always been a master salesman. He also has a reputation of doing whatever is needed to close the big deal. One of the biggest was a $500 million pact to lure shock jock Howard Stern to Sirius in 2004.

That salesman side of Karmazin was in clear evidence at yesterday’s hearing. Read more...

My home state of Maine has seen its share of hard times.  We have seen too many plants close, jobs disappear, and young people leave home to find opportunity elsewhere.

That is why during my first term in Congress I introduced a new piece of legislation to promote economic development in Maine and throughout the struggling areas of the Northeast.  The bill would create a Northern Border Economic Development Commission charged with investing federal resources in economic development and job creation in the most economically distressed areas of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.

This idea has roots that can be traced as far back as 1965, when Congress created the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC).  This unique federal-state partnership was successful at promoting development in the depressed Appalachian region through regional planning, technical assistance, and funding of projects aimed at encouraging economic prosperity. Read more...

In 34 of the last 38 years, the federal government has spent more money than it has taken in.  Over the last 40 years, federal spending has increased by 60 percent, to more than $22,000 per household.  In 40 years, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are projected to consume the entire federal budget.  The current share of the national debt for each American is nearly $30,000.

I think everyone can agree that these figures are startling and that we cannot allow such a broken process to continue unabated. Yesterday, my colleagues and I at the Republican Study Committee heeded these warnings and rolled out an ambitious fiscal reform agenda. Known as the "American Taxpayer Bill of Rights" this proposal will lay the foundation for resolving the fiscal nightmare that is our current budgetary and spending process. Click here for the full proposal.

The kind of irresponsible behavior we have seen over the last 40 years can no longer be sustained by raising taxes or simply passing our debts on to future generations.  We must resolve the systemic shortfalls in the fiscal process.  Americans deserve a system that is based on responsible budgeting, smart decision making, and more transparency. Read more...

As Tax Day (which is April 17th this year) approaches, many of us are working on putting together our tax returns.  And we will likely encounter an outdated tax that should have been ended years ago.  The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) was put in nearly 40 years ago to target fewer than 200 wealthy Americans who managed to legally avoid paying ANY income taxes.  But, here we are in 2007 and that tax now affects taxpayers in income brackets that dip into the $20,000 annual income range.  The AMT is the tax paid when the government determines through a complicated formula that you haven’t paid enough federal tax in relation to your income.  While it may have worked in 1969, it’s now failing in its original intent.  Right now taxpayers who don’t qualify in any way as wealthy are subjected to it.  Read more...

Humorist Will Rogers once said, "The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf." That is exactly why I think shareholders deserve to know the income reported to the IRS by companies in which they are invested. There have been some press reports noting that the gap between the levels of income reported to the tax collectors and that which is reported to shareholders is growing. There is a natural tendency to minimize taxable income while reporting to the public that you are reaching record profits.

Today, I introduced the Honest Income Disclosure Act to require all public companies to disclose in their annual reports the level of income reported to the IRS. The information would then be prominently displayed by the SEC. It is possible that the level of income reported to the IRS can be a more predictable indicator of a company's health. With over 100 million Americans currently participating in our capital markets, it remains critical that shareholders are given accurate information about the companies they own.

The Honest Income Disclosure Act is my second bill of the 110th Congress aimed at increased disclosure by public companies for the benefit and protection of shareholders. It will be referred to the House Financial Services Committee where I serve as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit.

As a former teacher, I am committed to providing our nation's children with the best possible education.  While I believe in the original goals of the NCLB, I also believe that a 'one size fits all' approach to student achievement is not possible.  My bill will establish an improved framework for accountability that fairly and accurately assesses student, school, and district performance.  As a result, states and local school districts will be able to better use their resources to bring about meaningful and measurable results for our country's children.

President Bush made a quick tour of Gulf Coast yesterday to check on the status of the region's recovery, eighteen months after Hurricane Katrina struck shores. He probably needed the refresher: the president hadn't set foot in the still-hobbled region in six months, and didn't even mention the Gulf in his January State of the Union address.

But if anyone should be paying attention to the Gulf Coast, it’s the White House and Capitol Hill leadership. Gulf residents know that officials at all levels of government must share blame, but there's a strong sense that Washington is most responsible for the crisis facing the region today.

It was the collapse of ramshackle levees -- built and overseen by the US Army Corps of Engineers -- that flooded 80 percent of New Orleans, wiping out thousands of homes, hospitals and schools. It was the botched emergency response, "coordinated" by now-departed FEMA officials in DC, that contributed to the deaths of hundreds trying to flee the storm.

Now, a year and half after Katrina, a failed policy at the highest levels of government is the major reason for the "second tragedy" of Katrina: a stalled recovery that keeps thousands of Gulf residents in limbo, and has left neighborhoods from the Lower Ninth Ward to East Biloxi looking like the storm hit yesterday. Read more...

Today, I reintroduced the Corporate Charitable Disclosure Act to require public companies to disclose their charitable donations to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It has been only slightly more than 5 years since our nation witnessed the damage corporate misconduct can have on every American. With these memories still fresh, it seems obvious that corporations need to be more forthcoming about their expenditures, including charitable contributions.

Under current law, a corporation that makes significant contributions to charitable organizations is under no obligation to publicly disclose how shareholder monies are being spent. My legislation will ensure that if a corporation makes a contribution, the American public and the shareholders are aware of where the money is going.

Most gift-giving has a legitimate purpose, and some public companies already disclose their charitable contributions voluntarily. If charitable contributions are legitimate, corporations should have nothing to hide by disclosing those gifts.