U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL-13th) Weekly E-Newsletter
October 22, 2008
If you received this message in error or no longer wish to subscribe, please click here.
For more information, please visit http://judybiggert.house.gov/.
In this Week's E-Newsletter:
- This Week in Congress
- Week in Review
- Featured Story
- From the Press Desk
- In Her Own Words
- In the News
....................................
This Week in Congress:
Monday, October 20, 2008 through Friday, October 24, 2008
Congress is out of session this week for district work period. However, Congresswoman Biggert will be in Washington to participate in a special House Financial Services Committee hearing aimed at reforming the financial regulatory system and accelerating economic recovery. See below for her opening statement.
....................................
Week in Review:
Monday, October 13, 2008 through Friday, October 17, 2008
Congress was out of session this week for district work period.
....................................
Featured Story – Fighting for Homeless Kids:
In honor of her work on behalf of homeless youth, Judy is presented with a homeless child’s drawing by advocates Barbara Duffield and Jeremy Rosen
Washington, DC – A long-time advocate for homeless, runaway, and other vulnerable youth, Biggert secured passage of several pieces of legislation during the current Congress aimed at improving support services and enhancing homeless children’s access to education. Recently, Jeremy Rosen, the Executive Director of the National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness, and Barbara Duffield, Director of Policy for the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, stopped by to present Biggert with a picture drawn by one of the many homeless children that the three have worked for over the years.
“It’s a really touching drawing,” said Biggert, Co-Chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children. “And it’s a powerful reminder of who we’re fighting to protect. No child should be deprived of a chance at a healthy, productive future.”
During the 110th Congress, Biggert secured enactment of the FAFSA Fix for Homeless Kids Act, which allows unaccompanied and homeless youth to access federal student aid. She also is leading an effort in Congress to expand the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s definition of “homeless” so that children and families in involuntary and unstable living arrangements can access housing support services. And in the final days of the 2008 Congressional session, she sent to the President’s desk a bill to reauthorize and increase state grants for homeless youth shelters while providing greater flexibility to meet local needs.
....................................
From the Press Desk:
Tuesday, September 7, 2008
Biggert Offers Amendment to Strip Pork from Financial Package
Washington, DC – Last week, Congress sent to the President H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. After the House rejected an earlier version of the bill, the Senate passed a different compromise package containing several new sections, including provisions to increase FDIC insurance limits and to protect middle-class taxpayers from the AMT. Unfortunately, the Senate also added several unrelated tax breaks for targeted industries and specific geographic areas – a process akin to earmark or “pork-barrel” spending. When the House began consideration of the Senate-passed bill, U.S. Representative Judy Biggert (R-IL-13th) joined with Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH-14) and several other Republican colleagues to offer an amendment that would strip unrelated tax breaks from the bill.
“We fought hard for weeks to put more taxpayer protections in this bill – not less,” said Biggert, who declared a personal moratorium earmarks last year. “I find it very disturbing that the Senate felt they needed to attach these unrelated tax breaks. Some of them may be appropriate, but they should be given a full and fair debate and not forced through as part of unrelated, emergency legislation.”
To read more, click here.
....................................
In Her Own Words:
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Opening Statement
Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit
Ranking Member Judy Biggert (R-IL-13)
Committee on Financial Services Hearing on
Regulatory Restructuring and Reform of the Financial System
Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing to overhaul our financial services regulatory system and bring it into the 21st Century.
During previous Congresses, this Committee held around 100 hearings on GSE reform and led the House to pass a reform bill to reign in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I worked on and supported it in 2005 and 2007, because I saw the writing on the wall. These mortgage giants were too big, their accounting was irregular, and capital was too low.
We also produced legislation to reform credit rating agencies, which we worked on and that was signed into law in 2006. Not only has the SEC been unacceptably slow in implementing these reforms; now more work needs to be done to ensure that agencies adequately evaluate credit risk.
So our work to reform these regulations and many others is by no means done, nor will it ever be, for the financial services industry is ever evolving. Today’s witnesses will touch on a litany of concerns that merit further review and serious consideration by this committee.
First and foremost, I want to see a federal entity to supervise and ensure the safety and soundness of larger, hybrid financial institutions like AIG, components of which have fallen into a regulatory black hole. These institutions create a great vulnerability with respect to systemic risk.
Second, we need the SEC to regulate the credit-default swaps market; revise mark-to-market accounting regulations; enhance the credibility of credit rating agencies; reign-in hedge funds as well as market manipulations like naked short-selling or short-selling in general -- to name a few.
And, third, it is essential that we continue to work toward modernizing mortgage and credit product regulations. This includes RESPA, TILA and UDAP, and determining the fate of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Our ultimate goals should be to bolster integrity of and confidence in the U.S. financial system; invigorate U.S. competitiveness; enhance consumer protections and arm consumers with financial education and information; and never again have taxpayers pay for Wall Street’s mistakes.
With that, I thank today’s witnesses for joining us. I look forward to hearing your ideas.
....................................
In the News:
Thursday October 16, 2008
Hinsdale Suburban Life
Staff Reports
Congresswoman accepting page applications
Hinsdale, IL -
U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert, R-13th District, of Hinsdale is currently accepting applications for the spring 2009 Congressional page program.
The highly competitive program offers high school juniors an opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge of the legislative process by working for the U.S. House of Representatives while attending school in Washington, D.C. Typical duties involve delivering messages and other materials throughout the Capitol complex, answering phones in the House cloakrooms, recording messages and preparing the House floor for daily activity.
Students also attend special seminars, go on field trips and hear speakers. While enrolled in the program, students live in the page dormitories just blocks from the U.S. Capitol and attend the Page School in the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress.
To qualify, students must be high school juniors at least 16 years old by Jan. 26 and maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.0. They also must receive the nomination of a member of Congress. For more information about the program, visit pageprogram.house.gov.
To apply for a nomination, contact Biggert’s Willowbrook office at (630) 655-2052. The deadline for applications is Oct. 30.
...................................
If you received this message in error or no longer wish to subscribe, please click here.
For more information, please visit http://judybiggert.house.gov/. |