The American economy is slowly beginning to come back from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, and Hoosiers have been hit hard. It is going to take time for our economy to fully recover, and there will be more difficult days to come. But I am confident that if handled appropriately, we will emerge from this crisis even stronger.

-    Congressman Donnelly

Click the bullet points to learn more about Congressman Donnelly's work to improve the economy:

• Reforming Our Financial Regulatory System
  
• Supporting the American Automotive Industry

Also see these economy-related pages:

• Getting Hoosiers Back To Work
• Promoting Fiscal Responsibility
• Supporting Hoosier Manufacturing

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Reforming Our Financial Regulatory System

As a member of the House Committee on Financial Services, Congressman Donnelly has worked to respond to the economic crisis and prevent a complete collapse of our financial system that would have taken with it the ability of Hoosier businesses to operate and consumers to get lending to finance home and car purchases.

Congressman Donnelly worked with the House Financial Services Committee to put in place a plan to reform our financial regulatory system. In July 2010, the president signed The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act into law. This bill is designed to hold Wall Street accountable, protect American consumers and investments, increase transparency in the mortgage process, and prevent future threats of economic collapse due to Wall Street's greedy behavior. The law puts Hoosier families first by implementing consumer-friendly improvements to the credit card and mortgage industries and through increased regulation of Wall Street so its irresponsible behavior will no longer threaten hard-working families' savings and investments. To learn more about The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, including the three amendments Congressman Donnelly offered to the legislation, click here.

Supporting the American Automotive Industry

At the height of the recent economic crisis, our nation's auto industry faced serious financial problems, putting the jobs of more than 3 million hard-working Americans in jeopardy. The failure of the domestic automobile industry would have had a devastating impact on the economy and the American workforce. The potential failure of Chrysler and General Motors threatened the jobs of nearly 150,000 Hoosiers -- from transmission assembly workers in Kokomo to parts suppliers and dealers from the Ohio River to Lake Michigan.

At that time, some wanted to give up on Chrysler and our auto industry.  They would have let this important sector of the economy collapse and put the survival of cities like Kokomo, Indiana, which produces valuable American products, in jeopardy.

Congressman Donnelly saw a clear choice: either to bet on the American automobile workers, or to bet against them. He bet on the America workers, and will do so every single time he is presented with that choice.

Today, we know the right decision was to stand behind American workers and families because the American automotive industry has bounced back from near collapse.