Lawmakers Split On Meaning Of New Job Numbers

By Rob Sanna - Talk Radio News Service

Two House members disagreed Friday over what the July job numbers really mean.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Chair of the Joint Economic Committee, and Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), the committee’s ranking Republican, each offered their own take on the report during a hearing this morning that featured testimony from a senior Labor Department official.

“Along with the failure of the massive, failed Democrat stimulus to put people back to work, except in federal government jobs, families and business fear the…job killing, anti-growth policies coming out of Washington,” said Brady.

“The signal of this Democratic Congress is clear: we”ll spend whatever taxpayer money it takes to save a government job, the rest of you American workers can take a hike,” he added.

Maloney, on the other hand, called the new figures encouraging, citing job increases in the private sector since President Obama took office. Maloney said the nation is experiencing economic recovery, even if the amount of growth was not as pronounced last month as it was earlier this year.

“The policies of this Democratic Congress quickly put into place this last year are working,” Maloney said.

“Without the actions taken by the administration, Congress, and the Federal Reserve, this recession would have been another great depression,” she added.

National Parks and Wildlife May Be Endangered Under Coburn

By Michael Combier-Talk Radio News Service

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), chairman of the National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands Subcommittee, complained this afternoon at a news conference about the “highjacking” of the Credit Cardholder’s Bill of Rights Act by a rider sponsored by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK). This rider would allow individuals to carry weapons such as shotguns, AK-47, and rifles into national parks in concordance with state laws.

The rider is an additional provision annexed to the Credit CardHolder’s Bill of Rights Act bu Senator Coburn. Controversial riders are often attached to a bill in order to prevent it from being passed.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) also took part in the news conference held this afternoon and claimed the rider would be “detrimental to a hundred years of policy for national lands” such as the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone or Gettysburg.

The three Representatives sought the support of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and President Barack Obama in order to defend the National Park Rangers who are at risk with this rider. They pointed out that the atmosphere into which families and wildlife intermingled will no longer be the same if individuals are allowed to carry weapons.

To back up the Representative’s complaints, two retired Park Rangers were present and stressed that “parks are for families, not guns.” They added that politicians “should not deter about the specialness and uniqueness” of National Parks and that if the Coburn riber should pass, they would not feel safe to send their own kids.

Grijalva said that the “National Rifle Association is taking over both House and Senate” which McCarthy and Maloney agreed. They added that the news conference was a way for American people to put pressure on their local politicians to oppose the bill. They said it will be a very difficult vote in Congress which is supposed to hit the floor either tomorrow or Thursday.

Pelosi and Maloney talk plastic

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

This morning at a press conference on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressed the public on the H1N1 flu and the 'Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights that is being voted on today.

Pelosi said the recent outbreaks of the swine flu are a high concern and advised people to use common sense.

“Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands,” said Pelosi.

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) also attended the conference and spoke about the 'Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act of 2009”
saying that it will provide consumers protection from consumer fraud and deception.

Maloney said that the bill will help level the playing field between credit card issuers and consumers and will ban some abuses like raising interest rates on existing balances and double cycle billing where they are charging interest rates or balances that have already been paid.

“This bill will provide 45 days notice if they’re going to raise an interest rate going forward so consumers can move on to another card, putting more competition into the system. It stops many of the tricks and traps of changing the terms and changing the due dates that trap consumers and very importantly, it stops the any time, any reason, the unrelated activity which they then say cause a rate increase and it will help many many consumers,” said Maloney.

Maloney called Molly Gordy, a working mom who lives in Manhattan and has two credit cards, a model consumer.

Gordy who has always paid her credit card bills on time recently received a notice from her card company that the interest rate on her card would increase from 13 percent to 19 percent on her existing balance along with new purchases.

“I called and yelled at the company and asked them ‘Why are they doing this? This is not what I signed up for!’ The customer service representative told me ‘Its because of the tough economy.’ That made me really mad because when I lost my job a few years back they didn’t
lower my rate.”

A week later Gordy says she received another letter from a different division from the same company offering her a new credit card with a zero percent interest on balanced transfers for the next 16 months.

“I had to laugh, well one part of the company is telling me there is no money to lend to me, as an existing customer, another party is offering me free lending as a new customer. In my world we call that bait and switch.... If I make a contract with someone they should not be able to change it just because they can.,” said Gordy.