Economy & Budget

Senator DeWine voted to give billions of dollars in tax cuts to millionaires while slashing funding for medical research. He limited seniors' access to their prescribed treatments by voting for a bill that prohibited Medicare from negotiating for lower prescription drug prices and left a gap in coverage costing seniors more than $2,000. Mike DeWine's misplaced priorities cut off a lifeline for Ohioans hoping for a cure.

DeWine has strongly opposed life-saving stem cell research. According to his website: "Senator DeWine will oppose any bill that would expand existing policy by allowing the government to pay for studies on embryos in frozen storage at fertility clinics, even if the couples who conceive them certify that they would otherwise discard them. Senator DeWine strongly opposes the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, which passed the House by a vote of 238-194."

Senator DeWine put politics before the life-or-death needs of Ohio families when he voted against funding life-saving stem cell research.

Republicans like Nancy Reagan and Senate Majority Leader Frist recognize that stem cell research has provided millions of Americans suffering from disease or disability with the hope of a better future. Read more...

Earlier this year I returned home after serving in the U.S. Navy for 31 years. I decided to run for Congress because the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress are taking our country in the wrong direction. I firmly believe that national security begins at home with the health, education, economic, and defense security of our citizens — securities which have been severely eroded by the policies of this Republican Congress and Administration. I am running to reverse that erosion, and to help establish a new direction for our government and country.

I was extremely honored to be selected to address our nation on national security and world wide security issues. This shows that our message of change in the direction of our national security is one that has resonated in our district and is one that is recognized as resonating throughout America. I believe Iraq was a tragic misadventure and was not a clear and present danger. It distracted us from finishing the work needed to fully secure peace in Afghanistan and undermined our ability to focus on security issues elsewhere in the world. Having served as the first Director of ‘Deep Blue,’ the Navy’s anti-terrorism group after 9/11 and having commanded an aircraft carrier battle group of 15,000 men and women that conducted combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, I know from firsthand experience that we must address the global aspects of terrorism rather than remaining entrenched in Iraq. In fact, for just two days on what we spend in Iraq, we could have 100 percent screening of all air cargo. For five days in Iraq, we can have radiation detectors at all US ports. It’s clear now more than ever we need a change in Washington so we can once again be looked up to for our leadership in the world.

There are two things that I want to leave as a lasting legacy. First, to highlight that so little is done for the poorest who have suffered from Katrina. They have suffered from hostile acts, such as prematurely closing public housing. I have a bill that I'll be leaving my colleagues as a legacy called the Community Action Homeland Security Mobilization Act. New Orleans will be the pilot project. Then it will be used in other cities to get the poor protected from disasters and acts of terror.
My final bill will be on school costs, repair and modernization for $10 billion.

The latest Congressional Research Service paper (July 27 memorandum cited in press reports) discussing the effect of extending the President’s tax cuts is one more piece of evidence that tax cuts do not pay for themselves.

One simply needs to look at what has happened to revenues since the President’s first tax cuts were passed at the beginning of the President’s first term.  Inflation-adjusted revenues have experienced virtually no growth since 2000 and are well below what Republicans predicted when they passed the tax cuts.  Much of the recent revenue increase results from corporate taxes and non-withheld individual income taxes, which impartial experts believe is temporary.

As the New York Times reported on July 9 of this year:  “One reason the run-up in taxes looks good is because the past five years looked so bad. Revenues are up, but they have lagged well behind economic growth....

We should keep tax rates low so that small businesses have incentives to create new jobs in the United States.  We also need to adopt federal lawsuit reform and we should reduce burdensome regulations in order to strengthen the American economy.

By AFL-CIO President John Sweeney

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the last time the minimum wage was increased. Since President Clinton signed the last wage increase in 1996, the real value of minimum wage has dropped to its lowest level in 51 years – leaving working families struggling to keep pace with skyrocketing gas prices, rising health care costs and inflation. Meanwhile, the Republicans in Congress have given themselves a total of nine pay raises since 1997 totaling more than $30,000 while rewarding their wealthy corporate sponsors with tax break after tax break.

If ever an issue clearly showed the skewed priorities of this Congress’ leadership, it’s the minimum wage. Two weeks ago the Senate rightly rejected a cynical ploy by Republican leadership to poison the current minimum wage increase with yet more massive tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. Millionaire Republican leaders like Bill Frist effectively killed the minimum wage increase before Congress by insisting that low-wage workers get in line behind Paris Hilton and the Wal-Mart heirs to receive a long-overdue wage increase.

While Republican leadership plays games with the minimum wage, real working families are struggling mightily to make ends meet. Ten years ago a gallon of gas cost working people $1.11. Today low-wage workers are faced with gas prices north of $3 per gallon. The majority of these workers are adults who significantly contribute to their family’s overall income. Every day that goes by that they must continue waiting for their hard-earned raise, their families suffer as a result. Read more...

'No!' is not an energy plan for America. For too many years now, liberal Members of Congress have supported legislation that consistently said 'No!' to an American energy policy.  It is mind boggling that the greatest nation in the world doesn't have a comprehensive energy plan.

With the DOER Act's (Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act) House and Senate conference on the horizon, we can finally hear the word 'Yes!' that has eluded us for so many years. I want the upcoming House and Senate conference on the DOER Act to be a victory for the American people. A victory that means:  'Yes!' to a domestic energy policy, 'Yes!' to responsible energy exploration, 'Yes!' to the DOER Act, and 'Yes!' to an America free from the vices of foreign energy dependence.

Once again, FEMA's incompetence has reared its ugly head.  Many of you probably read Rep. Henry Waxman's and my letter to acting Director of FEMA David Paulison regarding high levels of formaldehyde in FEMA travel trailers.  In short, it appears that FEMA carelessly overlooked potential hazards in the trailers before they were issued to thousands of hurricane victims.  Preliminary reports indicate that the high levels of formaldehyde mixed with the hot summer air have lead to respiratory problems for trailer residents.

Unfortunately, formaldehyde is not the only problem that FEMA faces right now.  Last week, a report was issued which said that another $1.5 billion was awarded for temporary housing contracts on top of the already $3.4 billion that has been awarded since the hurricanes.  This week, reports have shown that keys issued to FEMA trailer park residents can open as many as 60 trailers in the same park.

Billions of dollars would seemingly be enough to provide safe and adequate housing for hurricane victims, but there remain thousands of people who are still waiting for temporary housing.  In St. Bernard Parish, one of
the hardest hit areas by Hurricane Katrina, 1,600 households are still waiting for trailers or have trailers that are still waiting to be connected to utility lines.  Meanwhile families are forced to live in trailers packed with 10 people when they were designed for three or four. It is simply inexcusable that people are forced to live like this in America. Read more...

Today's CBO projection of another drop in the Federal budget deficit is further proof that the tax relief policies passed by this Republican Congress are fueling a real economic rebound.  This latest prediction puts the deficit at $36 billion lower than the mid-year economic report from the Office of Management and Budget in July. When Congress approves policies that let businesses invest in more jobs and let families put more into their family budgets, the American economy thrives.

When I’m out on the campaign trail, I find that working Iowans are unhappy about the way their tax dollars are being spent. I’ve talked with people that have to make tough decisions with their family budget and can’t understand why the federal budget doesn’t work the same way. As our deficit has ballooned it is becoming clear that our irresponsible spending will become a burden on our children and grandchildren. Pork barrel projects are the root of the problem. This year Congress approved over 15,000 earmarks, nearly four times as many as were in the budget ten years ago.

I have proposed a three-point plan for bringing spending reform to Washington. First, we need to give line-item veto authority to the president. We also need to bring more sunshine into the earmarking process. By that I mean, no more shepherding bills through Congress in the middle of the night and putting an end to the practice of adding earmarks to bills just before they come to the floor. Lastly, I support an amendment to the United States Constitution that requires Congress to balance the federal budget.

The budget process is broken and it’s time we enact some responsible spending reforms.