Economy & Budget

Most of the people in my district aren't making minimum wage - from that standpoint, the market is taking care of itself.  While we look at the unemployment rate being the lowest in four years and the economy having sustained growth, it's also important that everyone benefits from the good economy, not just the privileged few.

What I'd hope is what we've been demanding for years: a clearly-found vote without too much baggage.

By AFL-CIO President John Sweeney

America’s workers need a real raise, not a vote on sham legislation that will not provide our nation’s workers with the relief they so desperately need.  As the House of Representatives considers legislation that would raise the federal minimum wage for the first time in 10 years, it’s absolutely critical that members vote to increase the minimum wage by $2.10 – from $5.15 to $7.25 – without “poison pills Read more...

I believe it is wrong for this Congress to allow citizens in the wealthiest nation in the world to work a full-time job and still live in poverty. Millions of working men and women, and their families, can ill-afford to wait for Washington partisan politics. It is far past time that Congress raise the minimum wage $2.10, from $5.15 to $7.25.

For me, this is not just a fiscal issue it is a moral issue. Since 1997 -- the last time Congress passed an increase in the minimum wage -- the price of gas has gone up, the price of food has gone up, rent has gone up, mortgage costs have gone up, the cost of college has gone up, the only thing that has not gone up is the minimum wage.

The reality is the minimum wage today is at lowest point in over 50 years.

The Commerce Department reported today that the economy rose at an annual rate of just 2.5 percent in the second quarter, less than half the robust pace of the first quarter. Does this foreshadow a softening economy going forward? Well, sort of.
Recent data on housing and consumer spending show that these components of the economy are sluggish, from high energy prices as well as rising interest rates. However, recent data on trade and new orders for capital goods suggest that business investment and exports are still humming along.

Look for economic growth to accelerate to above 3 percent growth in the third quarter, with more growth coming from investment and trade and less from consumption and housing.

I have always said that the ban on U.S. beef was unfounded and inconsistent and that we needed to pressure Japan to reopen its market to American beef. Last month Senator Pat Roberts joined me in introducing bipartisan legislation designed to pressure Japan to lift its ban.  Our bill would have required the Treasury Secretary to impose tariffs on Japanese products unless Japan re-opened its market to U.S.-produced beef by August 31.

We vowed to keep up the pressure until American ranchers had access to Japan's market again. The pressure we applied has paid off. America’s beef is among the safest in the world, a fact that has again been reinforced today by Japan’s announcement.  This is a victory for our beef producers, and it shows that the United States can win trade disputes if we’re willing to fight.

As the bill stands, it is a missed opportunity to provide for long-term retirement security for American workers and families. The bill was put together looking through a rear view mirror, as opposed to what the future role of the private sector would be for providing pensions. It doesn't sufficiently deal with the underfunding of pension plans by corporations. It doesn't deal with the taxpayer risk in the pension program.

I am eagerly awaiting a Senate vote on their version of the House’s DOER Act, the outer-continental shelf drilling bill. After years of supporting the oil and gas industry in Louisiana, the state has suffered the effects on both the environment and its infrastructure. Although the Federal Treasury receives $6 billion to $8 billion each year in royalties from drilling in federal waters, Louisiana receives next to nothing. It is time Louisiana gets its fair share.

The Louisiana Legislature passed a constitutional amendment that will require revenues go toward repairing our battered coastline, which continues to erode each second, and to building a comprehensive hurricane protection program. The majority of coastal Louisiana has no federal levee system protecting its citizens from powerful hurricanes such as Katrina and Rita.

Offshore revenue-sharing would provide the funding Louisiana needs for these projects, as well as lower energy costs, increase domestic energy production and reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil. This is not about Louisiana wanting money. It is about Louisiana getting its fair share of what it needs so we can protect ourselves.

By: Peter Ogden, National Security Analyst

One year ago yesterday Congress finalized the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Yet it is hard to find anyone who would say that our country’s energy security has increased over that time. To the contrary: In a recent bi-partisan survey of leading foreign policy experts, nearly two-thirds of respondents said that our existing energy policy has had a negative effect on U.S. national security. 82 percent of respondents said that reducing our dependence on foreign oil should be our government’s highest priority.

The Bush administration must finally recognize that Dick Cheney’s 2001 effort to drill our way to energy security has failed. Unfortunately, while the administration is more than happy to lament America’s addiction to oil and the way energy politics “warp

I met with Japanese Ambassador Ryozo Kato this morning to receive a direct briefing on the resumption of U.S. beef imports. Japan’s ban on U.S. beef adversely impacted Nebraska producers, who have suffered $850 million in lost beef sales since the ban began in 2003. Ambassador Kato assured me today that following the recent inspections of U.S. production plants, U.S. beef shipments are good to go, which is great news for beef producers in my state and across the country. He told me that it is Japan’s wish to see beef trade between our countries remain on stable ground in the future. He also mentioned that he’s been serving and enjoying US beef throughout this ordeal.

I’ve been in communications with Ambassador Kato for some time now, working together to reopen this important agricultural trade. I’m pleased with this latest progress and look forward to quickly resuming a strong beef trade between our two countries. U.S. beef is the best and safest in the world. There is no reason we shouldn’t be allowed to get back to where we were before the trade ban was originally instituted in 2003.