Senate Dems Urge Republicans To Side With Main Street, Confirm Consumer Bureau Chief

By Andrea Salazar

Senate Banking Committee Democrats called on Republicans Wednesday to vote to confirm Richard Cordray —  the president’s nomination for director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

President Obama nominated Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general, to head the bureau in July. However, Senate Republicans have promised to block his confirmation until the agency’s powers are limited.

But at the Wednesday news conference in support of Cordray’s nomination, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) argued that Cordray’s confirmation is necessary to keep community banks and credit unions competitive.

“You put them at a competitive disadvantage by not having a director, because payday lenders, check cashing places, pawn brokers, the types of loans going to military families, that all goes largely unregulated without a director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” Menendez said.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a federal agency that came out of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Its mission, as stated on the bureau’s website is to “make markets for consumer financial products and services work for Americans — whether they are applying for a mortgage, choosing among credit cards, or using any number of other consumer financial products.”

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said that not confirming a director is “sort of like saying, ‘sorry, you can’t have a commissioner of the FDA until you repeal all the food, drug and safety laws in the country.’ Doesn’t make sense.”

The Senate is expected to vote on Cordray’s nomination Thursday.

“Voting for Richard Cordray means you’re on the side of people on Main Street. Voting against him, means you’re on the side of Wall Street,” Menendez said.

Jobs Bill Will Help Reverse Deficit, Say Senate Democrats

The Senate continued to look for ways on Wednesday to muster the votes needed to pass a jobs bill filled with tax breaks, unemployment benefits and aid packages to states.

With the House having passed a jobs bill before the Memorial Day recess, Senate Democrats this week have proposed making changes to their bill, such as restoring $24 billion in Medicaid funds, money that was dropped from the House’s package. Additionally, in a move designed to court moderate support, the Senate bill now features a softer approach on taxing investments than does its counterpart legislation.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) called on both parties to put aside their differences and bring relief to folks struggling to make ends meet.

“Families are going through an emotional roller-coaster...and everyone knows around here that nothing is done in the Senate anymore without a filibuster, or two or three...It’s pretty outrageous.”

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said the bill would extend provisions within other bills -- most notably the Recovery Act -- that have “already changed the direction from a huge hemorrhaging of jobs...to several months of job growth.”

"We’ve gotta keep the pedal to the metal, we can’t now pull back,” Reed added.

At stake are several programs that need funding legislation to stay alive. In addition to the Medicaid dollars for states, there are matching $23 billion initiatives to prevent education layoffs and to reimburse physicians that accept Medicare. Stabenow said she supports the so-called “Doc-Fix,” and added that she plans on putting forth an amendment to extend COBRA benefits for the unemployed. She also downplayed concerns that the bill, totaling over $100 billion in cost, would add to the nation’s already-massive deficit.

“The reality is that this legislation is part of turning things around and I would argue lowering the deficit,” she said. “When people are working, they are paying taxes...and that’s part of how you lower the deficit.”

Republicans, however, say Americans should be skeptical of Democratic attempts to spark economic recovery and take on the ballooning budget. In an email to Talk Radio News Service on Wednesday, Parish Braden, a spokesman for the RNC, took aim at Reed, calling him an irresponsible steward of his struggling state.

“Senator Reed isn’t up for reelection and has the luxury of not having to match facts to his rhetoric," Braden said. "It’s odd that the Senator would hold a news conference on the Democrats’ efforts to cut taxes and create jobs seeing as Rhode Island has lost over 18,000 jobs since the ‘stimulus’ became law and unemployment has jumped from 9.9% to 12.6% in the same period.

According to statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Labor, Rhode Island and Michigan possess two of the nation's four highest state unemployment rates.

Senate Democrats Fed Up With GOP Gamesmanship On Defense Bill

Travis Martinez - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Senators Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska) said Friday that they are pleased to see three Senate Republican break from their party to invoke cloture on the Defense Appropriations bill.

“All I know is that 60 Democrats along with three Republicans decided that the welfare of our military forces was more important than legislative gamesmanship, with respect to health care and other issues,” said Reed.

The Senators also expressed their great displeasure when Senator Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) motioned for unanimous consent to proceed to the bill where consent was denied.

“In the past when we’ve had votes on cloture with respect to military appropriations, generally after cloture was invoked we have moved very quickly to get the resources into the field,” said Reed.

“One of the reasons I decided to run, was because I think the system here has to change and the parlor games and gamesmanship that was going on [are] another example why Americans are outraged,” said Begich.

The Department of Defense appropriations bill would provide $508 billion for the department’s regular activities for the next fiscal year. Quick passage will enable the Senate to take up debate on its healthcare bill.

Congress Urged To Pass Health Care Reform On Behalf Of Consumers

By Leah Valencia, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

The Consumers Union urged congress Wednesday to pass comprehensive health care reform this year in response to findings from a recent survey the Union conducted that revealed a high level of consumer dissatisfaction with the current health care model.

In a press conference on Capitol Hill, Senators Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) welcomed Consumers Union president Jim Guest to speak on what he described as an urgent need for health care reform.

Guest said the magazine Consumer Report’s, published by CU, recently did a consumer survey and found sobering inadequacies in the current health care system.

“Early this week consumer reports released a poll... nearly 73 percent of respondents said they worry that an illness or accident would be financial devastating to them, an equal number said they worry if they got sick they will be denied care or their care would be rationed by health insurance companies... those are devastating numbers,” Guest said. “51 percent in the last year said they didn’t go to the doctor, didn’t get a follow up treatment or procedure, didn’t fill a prescription they couldn’t take care of their own health because they couldn’t pay for it.”

Guest said CU is serious about health care reform because it is in the best interest of the American public.

CU, a historically nonpartisan organization, announced last week that it would run a TV ad in Washington, D.C. for two weeks that urged consumers to put pressure on Congress to pass health care reform this year. According to CU, this is something the organization has never done for any other cause since its founding in 1936.

McCain Wary Of New Missile Defense Plan

by Julianne LaJeunesse- University of New Mexico

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) expressed concern Thursday that the recent decision by the Obama administration to scrap a long-range missile defense system in Eastern Europe could signal that the U.S. is willing to concede to Russian interests.

"There is very little doubt, that in most of the world, that this is viewed as an attempt to gain Russian concessions on the Iranian nuclear issue," McCain said during a Senate Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. "That's the interpretation. It was Machiavelli that said 'It's not what you do, it's what you appear to do.'"

During the hearing, McCain questioned the Defense Department's motives for changing the 2007 long-range missile plan in Poland and the Czech Republic. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates originally created the Bush administration's plan, and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy said that she personally saw the deliberation Gates put into the Obama administration's new short-range missile plan.

At the hearing, McCain said some of the newspaper accounts he's read lead him to believe the international community doesn't buy the Department of Defense's arguments about the technological benefits of short-range missiles in Europe, noting that the time it will take to implement new technologies will be time the United States and European allies will be left with weakened military defenses.

McCain added that he's curious about how new U.S. missile policies will affect Polish and Czech policies.

"I think it's worth noting the Czech Republic currently have NATO forces deployed, as well as 100 personal deployed in Kandahar," he said. "The Polish currently have 2, 000 troops in Afghanistan. I would be very interested in the future to see how firmly the Poles and the Czechs stand behind those commitments."

McCain went on to argue that he agrees building and using defenses against short-range missiles are needed, but not because of the "belligerent threats the Iranian regime continues to pose to the United States and the rest of the world."

Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said he believed the new short-range missile approach is positive because it "addresses more directly and effectively Iran's missile threat, it maintains and expands our security commitment to Europe, including Poland and the Czech Republic, [and] it opens the door to working cooperatively with Russia on a missile defense system that could not only provide greater protection to Europe, but also make a strong statement to Iran, that Europe, including Russia will take unified action against Iran's threat."

Senators Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) shared many of Sen. McCain's views, with Lieberman asking why the U.S. cannot adopt a dual system with short and long-range missiles.