“This is one of the most productive Congresses in history.”
Norman Ornstein, Congressional Scholar at American Enterprise Institute, Financial Times 3/19/10
“… Congress and the White House have completed 16 months of activity that rival any other since the New
Deal in scope or ambition…” David Leonhardt, New York Times 5/22/10
Congress is working to move America forward. We are beginning to restore Main Street
values, creating jobs here at home, and fighting for Americans who work for a living.
HIGHLIGHTS
INCLUDE:
ECONOMIC
RECOVERY AND CREATING JOBS
- AMERICAN
RECOVERY & REINVESTMENT ACT,
enacted in the first month of President Obama’s term, to jumpstart
our economy, create and save 3.5 million jobs, give a tax cut to small
business and 95% of American workers, begin to rebuild America’s road,
rail, and water infrastructure, and make a historic commitment to education,
clean energy, and science and technology, with unprecedented accountability.
(Signed into Law)
- TEACHER
JOBS/STATE AID/CLOSING TAX LOOPHOLES,
creating and saving nearly 320,000 jobs; providing $10 billion to save
161,000 teacher jobs and $16 billion in Medicaid aid, with the effect
of creating/saving 158,000 jobs, including police officers, firefighters,
nurses & private sector workers; paid for by closing loopholes that
encourage companies to ship American jobs overseas; cutting deficit
by $1.4 billion. (Signed into Law)
- STUDENT
AID & FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT,
making the largest investment in college aid in history – increasing
Pell Grants, making college loans more affordable, and strengthening
community colleges – while reducing the federal deficit by ending
wasteful student loan subsidies to banks. (Signed into Law)
- HIRE
ACT, providing tax
incentives for businesses that have already hired 4.5 million unemployed
Americans, unleashing billions of dollars to rebuild highways and infrastructure,
strengthening small businesses with tax credits and accelerated write-offs,
and cracking down on offshore accounts for the wealthy. (Signed into
Law)
- CASH
FOR CLUNKERS, jump-starting
the U.S. auto industry, providing consumers with up to $4,500 to trade
in an old vehicle for one with higher fuel efficiency—spurring the
sale of 700,000 vehicles. (Signed into Law)
- WORKER,
HOMEOWNERSHIP & BUSINESS ASSISTANCE ACT,
boosting the economy and creating jobs with more unemployment benefits
for Americans hit by the recession, an expanded 1st-time homebuyer tax
credit, and enhanced small business tax relief—expanded to all struggling
U.S. businesses. (Signed into Law)
- U.S.
MANUFACTURING ENHANCEMENT ACT,
to help U.S. manufacturers compete at home and abroad by temporarily
suspending or reducing duties on intermediate products or materials
these companies use that are not made domestically. (Signed into Law)
- UNEMPLOYMENT
BENEFITS EXTENSION,
extending unemployment benefits to millions of American families through
November 30, 2010; every dollar of unemployment benefits creates at
least $1.61 in economic activity. (Signed into Law)
- AMERICAN
JOBS & CLOSING TAX LOOPHOLES ACT,
to promote American jobs by restoring credit to small businesses, extending
tax incentives for American R&D and tax relief for middle class
American families, rebuilding American infrastructure, and expanding
jobs for young people; and to close tax loopholes to make Wall Street
billionaires pay their fair share of taxes. (Passed by House)
- SMALL
BUSINESS JOBS & CREDIT ACT,
to leverage billions in loans for small businesses through a lending
fund for community banks and provide tax incentives to spur investment
in small businesses and the formation of new small businesses; fully
paid for. (Passed by House)
- HOME
STAR JOBS, to provide
incentives for consumers to make their homes energy-efficient -- creating
168,000 jobs, cutting energy bills for 3 million families, and reducing
our dangerous dependence on foreign oil and dirty fuels. (Passed by
House)
- PROTECTING
AMERICAN PATENTS, providing
$129 million in urgent funding, fully offset, to allow the Patent and
Trademark Office to prevent additional backlogs in patent applications,
as patents are critical to American innovation and economic growth.
(Signed into Law)
- AMERICA
COMPETES REAUTHORIZATION,
to invest in modernizing manufacturing; basic R&D; high risk/high
reward clean energy research; and teaching science, technology, engineering
and math. (Passed by House)
- JOBS
FOR MAIN STREET ACT,
to boost small business, rebuild highways, and hire and retain teachers,
police, and firefighters; paid for by redirecting TARP funds from Wall
Street to Main Street. (Passed by House)
- SMALL
BUSINESS & INFRASTRUCTURE JOBS ACT,
to extend Build America Bonds to help finance the rebuilding of schools,
hospitals, roads and bridges; and target tax incentives to spur investment
in small businesses and help entrepreneurs looking to start a new business.
(Passed by House)
- EDWARD
M. KENNEDY SERVE AMERICA ACT,
tripling volunteerism opportunities to 250,000 for national service
for students to retirees; increased college financial awards. (Signed
into Law)
- PERMANENT
ESTATE TAX RELIEF,
at the 2009 level to ensure that 99.8 percent of estates never pay a
dime of taxes and offer certainty and stability for farmers and small
businesses. (Passed by House)
- INNOVATION
AGENDA, investing $31
billion in science, technology, innovation, math education, cutting-edge
research, advanced manufacturing technologies, and workforce training.
(Signed into Law)
- FY
2010 LABOR-HHS-EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS,
providing targeted increases for health, education and worker training,
including NIH research, Pell Grants, Head Start and clean energy jobs.
(Signed into Law)
- FY
2011 TRANSPORTATION-HUD APPROPRIATIONS,
creating more than 160,000 new jobs with significant new investments
in highway construction and in public transit projects, paid for with
savings in lower-priority programs. (Passed by House)
PROTECTING
CONSUMERS
- WALL
STREET REFORM, historic
reforms to end taxpayer-funded bailouts and the idea of ‘too big to
fail’, and protect and empower consumers to make the best decisions
on mortgages, credit cards, and their own financial future. Lack of
accountability for Wall Street and big banks cost 8 million jobs. (Signed
into Law)
- CREDIT
CARDHOLDERS’ BILL OF RIGHTS,
providing tough new protections already saving consumers money—like
banning unfair rate hikes, abusive fees, and penalties—and strengthening
enforcement. (Signed into Law)
- FRAUD
ENFORCEMENT & RECOVERY ACT,
providing tools to prosecute mortgage scams and corporate fraud that
contributed to financial crisis; creating an outside commission to examine
its causes. (Signed into Law)
- LILLY
LEDBETTER FAIR PAY ACT,
restoring the rights of women and other workers to challenge unfair
pay—to help close the wage gap where women earn 78 cents for every
$1 a man earns in America. (Signed into Law)
- AIRLINE
PASSENGER SAFETY, to
improve airline passenger safety, by several steps including strengthening
commercial pilot training requirements, requiring a minimum of 1,500
flight hours required for an airline pilot certificate. (Signed into
Law)
HELPING
HOMEOWNERS
- HELPING
FAMILIES SAVE THEIR HOMES ACT,
building on the President’s initiative to stem the foreclosure crisis,
with significant incentives to lenders, servicers, and homeowners to
modify loans. (Signed into Law)
- FHA
REFORM, to shore up
federal mortgage insurance in order to expand homeownership opportunities
by making essential reforms to strengthen the financial footing of the
Federal Housing Administration, saving taxpayers $2.5 billion over 5
years. (Passed by House)
- FLOOD
INSURANCE REAUTHORIZATION & REFORM,
reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program, upon which millions
of American families and businesses rely, for five years and making
key reforms to put the program on a stronger financial footing. (Passed
by House)
AFFORDABLE
QUALITY HEALTH CARE
- AFFORDABLE
CARE ACT, landmark
legislation putting American families and small business owners—not
the insurance companies—in control of their own health care; lowering
costs for middle class and small business; holding insurance companies
accountable to prevent denials of care and coverage, including for pre-existing
conditions; strengthening Medicare and lowering prescription drug costs;
creating up to 4 million jobs; and reducing deficit by largest amount
in almost two decades. (Signed into law)
- HEALTH
CARE FOR 11 MILLION CHILDREN,
to finally provide cost-effective health coverage for 4 million more
children and preserve coverage for 7 million children already enrolled.
(Signed into Law)
- FDA
REGULATION OF TOBACCO,
granting the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate advertising,
marketing, and manufacturing of tobacco products, the #1 cause of preventable
U.S. deaths, and to stop tobacco companies from targeting our children.
(Signed into Law)
- ENSURING
SENIORS’ ACCESS TO THEIR DOCTORS,
by blocking scheduled 21% cut in Medicare physician payments through
November 30, 2010 and also updating payments by 2.2%. (Signed into Law)
- FOOD
SAFETY, to fundamentally
change the way we protect our food supply; close gaps exposed by recent
food-borne illness outbreaks; give the FDA new authorities. (Passed
by House)
- RYAN
WHITE HIV/AIDS TREATMENT EXTENSION ACT,
guaranteeing access to lifesaving medical services, primary care, and
medications for low-income patients with AIDS and HIV. (Signed into
Law)
CLEAN ENERGY
JOBS/HOLDING BP ACCOUNTABLE
- AMERICAN
CLEAN ENERGY AND SECURITY ACT,
historic legislation to create 1.7 million jobs (with the Recovery Act);
help free us from funding terrorism with our dependence on foreign oil;
reduce the carbon pollution causing climate change; keep costs low for
Americans; will not increase the deficit. (Passed by House)
- RESPONSE
TO BP OIL SPILL, a
bill providing a comprehensive response to BP oil spill – eliminating
the $75 million cap on the liability of oil companies, restoring the
Gulf Coast and protecting local residents, imposing new safety requirements
and strengthening oversight of offshore drilling, and protecting whistleblowers
in offshore drilling industry who report safety violations. (Passed
by House)
- SPILL
ACT, to reform maritime
liability laws to ensure that the families of those killed or injured
in the BP Oil Spill and other such tragedies are justly compensated
for their losses. (Passed by House)
- BP
OIL SPILL COMMISSION SUBPOENA POWER,
to give subpoena power to National Commission on BP Oil Spill to ensure
that it cannot be stonewalled by BP or others in its search for spill’s
causes. (Passed by House)
- OMNIBUS
PUBLIC LAND MANAGEMENT ACT,
the most significant conservation bill in 15 years, strengthening tourism
and rural economies with more than 2 million new acres of wilderness
and parks. (Signed into Law)
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
& GOVERNMENT REFORM
- BUDGET
BLUEPRINT, creating
jobs with investments in health care, clean energy and education; cutting
taxes for most Americans by $1.5 trillion; cutting Bush deficit by more
than half by 2013. (Action Completed)
- BUDGET
ENFORCEMENT RESOLUTION,
setting a limit on discretionary spending for FY 2011 that requires
spending cuts of $7 billion below the President’s budget and $3 billion
below Senate. (Action Completed)
- STATUTORY
PAY-AS-YOU-GO, to restore
1990s law that turned record deficits into surpluses, by forcing tough
choices; Congress must offset new policies that reduce revenues or expand
entitlements. (Signed into Law)
- IMPROPER
PAYMENTS ELIMINATION,
to help identify and eliminate improper federal payments, as well as
recover lost funds that federal agencies have spent improperly. (Signed
into Law)
- WEAPON
SYSTEMS ACQUISITION REFORM,
cracking down on Pentagon waste and cost overruns in the acquisition
of weapon systems, increasing oversight and competition. (Signed into
Law)
- REFORMING
OTHER DOD ACQUISITION,
cleaning up DOD acquisition spending for the 80 percent that is for
services and other non-weapons items, saving taxpayers an estimated
$27 billion a year. (Passed by House)
- DISCLOSE
ACT, to fight a corporate
takeover of our elections, requires them to disclose they are behind
political ads; bans foreign-controlled corporations from putting money
in U.S. elections. (Passed by House)
NATIONAL
SECURITY/TROOPS AND VETERANS
- FY
2010 DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION,
authorizing 3.4% troop pay raise, strengthening military readiness and
military families support, focusing our strategy in Afghanistan and
redeployment from Iraq. (Signed into Law)
- FY
2011 DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION,
increasing hostile fire and imminent danger pay; extending TRICARE dependent
coverage up to age 26; and strengthening counterterrorism. (Passed by
House)
- REPEAL
OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL,
to provide for the repeal of this outdated policy, contingent on the
certification that military review completed and that repeal would not
impact readiness. (Passed by House)
- IRAN
SANCTIONS, significantly
strengthening sanctions against Iran, including imposing sanctions on
foreign entities that sell refined petroleum to Iran or assist Iran
in its domestic refining capacity. (Signed into Law)
- VETERANS
HEALTH CARE BUDGET REFORM & TRANSPARENCY ACT,
a top priority of veterans’ groups, authorizing Congress to approve
VA medical care appropriations one year in advance to ensure reliable
and timely funding and prevent politics from ever delaying VA health
care funding. (Signed into Law)
- FY
2010 MILITARY CONSTRUCTION-VA APPROPRIATIONS,
strengthening quality health care for 5 million veterans by investing
11% more for medical care, benefits claims processors, and facility
improvements. (Signed into Law)
- CAREGIVERS
AND VETERANS OMNIBUS HEALTH SERVICES,
landmark legislation providing help to caregivers of disabled, ill or
injured veterans, and improving VA health services for women veterans.
(Signed into Law)
- AGENT
ORANGE BENEFITS, providing
long overdue disability benefits to more than 150,000 Vietnam veterans
and survivors for exposure to Agent Orange. (Signed into Law)
SECURITY
FOR AMERICA’S COMMUNITIES
- FY
2010 HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS,
strengthening security at our ports and borders and on commercial airlines,
giving first responders tools to respond to terrorism. (Signed into
Law)
- HATE
CRIMES PREVENTION ACT,
giving law enforcement resources to prevent and prosecute hate crimes
against Americans based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity,
or disability. (Signed into Law)
- BORDER
SECURITY EMERGENCY APPROPRIATIONS,
providing $600 million to enhance security at the Southwest Border,
including funding 1,200 additional Border Patrol agents, 500 additional
CBP officers, and additional FBI, DEA, and ATF agents for the border
region; paid for by visa fees. (Passed by House and Senate)
- COPS
ON THE BEAT, putting
an additional 50,000 cops on the street over the next 5 years. (Passed
by House)
- CHEMICAL
& WATER SECURITY ACT,
to increase security and safety of the nation’s chemical plants and
water facilities vulnerable to terrorist attacks and the millions of
Americans that live nearby. (Passed by House)
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