Economy & Budget

The practice of loading up emergency appropriations bills with pork and other non-emergency items has become all too common in Congress.  That's why I have introduced the Responsible Emergency Appropriation Limits (REAL) Supplemental Act.  My bill mandates that a supplemental can only provide for a single emergency, contain only emergency spending, and must be free of earmarks.

This past spring, Congress took up two emergency appropriations bill.  The first was to fund the War on Terror.  The second was to help Gulf Coast Recovery efforts.  Not only were these two bills lumped together, but additional, unrelated spending was added.  While member and senator projects in states like Hawaii, California and Illinois may be worthwhile, they had nothing to do with winning the War on Terror or helping the people along the Gulf Coast get back on their feet.

There are times when emergencies or other unforeseen events take place. And often Congress has a responsibility to respond quickly.  But when it does, Congress should do so while spending taxpayer dollars responsibly. Considering each emergency bill on its own merits and keeping earmarks far away from the bill will help us reach these goals.

This week a powerful voice joined the call for increased oversight of our nation’s energy markets.

On Monday, the Industrial Energy Consumers of America (IECA) voiced its support of increased government oversight of the energy market as provided in the Oil and Gas Traders Oversight Act of 2006.

This legislation, which I introduced in April with Senators Snowe, Levin, Cantwell, Mikulski, and Boxer, seeks to increase transparency and accountability so the federal government can determine if speculation or manipulation is occurring in the oil, gas, and electricity markets.

Without increased federal oversight, consumers across the country continue to be left vulnerable to fraud.  And consumers risk being unknowingly forced to pay more, while the energy companies reap larger profits. Read more...

As elected officials, we are accountable to the people we serve.  This law increases the level of that accountability on a critical issue – the spending of taxpayer money.  With this law, anyone with access to a computer can know how the federal government is spending their hard-earned tax dollars.

Combined with House passage of the line item veto and earmark reform, we are making progress on fiscal responsibility.  The projected deficit has been reduced by $127 billion, but there is more to do if we are to bring the budget into balance.  We begin by holding the line on spending.

Public transparency is an important tool in cutting wasteful spending.  People don’t go to a department store or restaurant and drop money without knowing what it’s going for…it makes sense to apply the same rule to government.

With the end of the fiscal year just days away, the Bush administration and its Republican allies are trumpeting what they call “lower deficits.

The U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement will benefit U.S. farmers, workers, and businesses by creating new market opportunities throughout the United States.  The United States has already implemented free trade agreements with four other countries in the Middle East-Bahrain, Israel, Jordan, and Morocco-and I am confident that the Oman Free Trade Agreement will ultimately lead to new market access opportunities for American products in yet more Middle Eastern countries.

When finally faced with growing public awareness and anger over just how corrupt our House had become, Republicans promised a great deal. In January, they asked us to believe they were going to reform their ways and work to eliminate the corruption they made endemic in Washington. But since then, very little has come from the Republican Party, even though it controls the House, the Senate, and the White House. If Republicans were interested in true ethics reform, they could have passed it swiftly. Instead, they seem determined to merely run out the clock on the issue, passing a few deceptive bills here and there while secretly hoping the whole subject will just go away.

We saw their strategy with the first ethics "reform" act passed by the House in February, a minor rules change that did little more than prevent former Members of Congress from using the House gym - as if that is the only place dishonest business transpires in Washington. Then in May, a broader Republican bill theoretically focused on preventing future lobbyist abuses was lambasted by commentators of all stripes for being what it was: a sham.

It has been a history of deliberate inaction, and this week's loophole-ridden earmark legislation was no different. It was nothing more than the latest Republican attempt to look busy while actually protecting business as usual. This bill - set to expire at the end of the year - will do nothing to stem the tide of corruption that has shaken the House to its foundation. It serves one purpose only: to help Republicans look like reformers when they go home to campaign for the November elections.

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I've always been very outspoken about transparency in the earmark process on the Appropriations Committee. I think members should be prepared to stand by their proposals, and that should be comprehensive for all committees.

I still believe in transparency on all committees. I pushed for that and advocated for that. When it comes time to vote, though, after fighting the good fight, you vote on what's before you. It's not perfect and it's not for all committees, but it is transparency -- and that should be the goal for all members.

Government contracts worth over $762 billion for initiatives like homeland security, Iraq reconstruction, and Hurricane Katrina recovery have been plagued by significant fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement under the Bush Administration. And it’s not hard to see why.

Under the Bush Administration and Republican Congress, no-bid contracts have been the rule, not the exception, and well-connected contractors with poor performance have received large award fees. Abuse prone cost-plus contracts have given contractors little or no incentive to control costs. And “layer cake

We spotted an item in the local Nevada news yesterday, Sen. Reid calling for an increase in the minimum wage on Labor Day, almost a rite of passage for anyone who seeks union support. It is after all a year divisible by 2, thereby guaranteeing that a minimum wage debate will be upon us. Best estimates are that about 1.5 percent of the total workforce of 150 million workers in the United States earn the minimum wage. We have a better idea, one that would put more money in the pockets of all workers.

When Congress comes back today, they will find some unfinished business. Among the issues left to be resolved is the bill that passed both the House and Senate prior to the Labor Day break allowing us to tap our own resources in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). As our annual Labor Day Report showed, both health care and energy costs are taking a bigger bite out of workers' paychecks, making them feel like they are falling behind. Members from both parties well appreciate the fact that there are no silver bullets to fix the health care issue.

However, when it comes to energy, anyone who has taken Economics 101 ought to be able to see their way clear. We are the only nation in the world that restricts access to its own natural resources, a fairly astonishing fact. We call all those other countries, "competitors." They are busy pulling all the energy they can from all sources in order to compete more effectively with us. In France alone, they get 80% of their energy from nuclear power. Cuba is drilling for oil some 45 miles off our coast and is getting ready to work with China to allow them to do the same. Yet we sit on massive -- and untouchable -- oil, coal and natural gas reserves. And American workers are quite literally paying the price.

The power to put more money in workers' pockets is in Congress' hands. Finishing work on the OCS bill will open up domestic supplies of energy and will begin to bring down the cost of energy for all workers. It really is that easy. Of course, we need alternative sources, efficiency and conservation. Manufacturers are on the leading edge of all three. But this is not an either/or proposition. We need to be about the business of boosting domestic supply.

Then Members can go back to the District and say they've truly done something to enhance the well-being of all American workers.

This Labor Day, it appears that a "perfect storm" is gathering that may well sweep away Republican control of the Congress this fall. It is a storm fueled by three developments:


First, profound economic trends have strained working families to the breaking point – workers are not sharing in the wealth they helped create and our nation’s economic recovery has not been a recovery for workers at all.


Second, as you might expect, new polling shows that most voters are painfully aware of these problems and pocketbook issues will be top voting issues this fall.


And finally, the AFL-CIO is making the largest effort in our history in an off-year election, driving home these pocketbook issues. We will play the largest role we've ever played in electing the candidates we've endorsed in many of the pivotal competitive races for the House and Senate.


Why do unions engage in political action at this level?


For workers, a “perfect storm Read more...