After nearly a year and a half of turmoil, over 2 million homes foreclosed upon, and the worst financial crisis to hit the world since the Great Depression, I would like to applaud the Bush administration for finally realizing that there is truly something wrong with our nation’s financial services regulatory structure.  For far too long this administration has allowed Wall Street to pursue the politics of greed, the true cost of which we can now see in the form of devastated communities, homeless families, and shattered neighborhoods.

While the debate over new regulatory structures will last for the next few years, more immediate steps must be taken to address another issue at the heart of this financial crisis: how to help our families pay their mortgages and stay in their homes.  This is the problem that lies at the very heart of the crisis and MUST be addressed immediately.

We are not dealing with just a credit crisis; but a crisis in confidence.  Read the rest of this entry »

Throughout Secretary Jackson’s tenure, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has been asleep at the switch. Programs of vital importance to New Yorkers, including Section 8 and Community Development Block Grants, have been continuously slashed, placing thousands of New York families in jeopardy.

Given the housing crisis, HUD needs a strong leader who can live up to the pressing responsibilities of the agency and will put the issues ahead of political partisanship. New Yorkers deserve nothing less.

A local Sacramento TV station caught this video of former President Bill Clinton telling the California Democratic Convention to “chill out.”

“We’re going to win this election if we just chill out and let everyone have their say,” the former President said. The quote comes a minute into the video.

Once again the Akaka Bill, designed to secure self-governance rights for native Hawaiians, is being seriously entertained.  Indigenous Hawaiians contend that their ancestral rights were abrogated when the United States colonized the island archipelago in 1893.  Already having passed the House, now as S.310, it was placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar last month, and back on the agenda like a bad penny.

Should the bill become law, it would secure self-government rights for native Hawaiians even though they now represent one percent of the island’s population and a total dispersed population of 400,000 nationwide.  Presumably this small segment of the population could negotiate with state and federal authorities for control of natural resources and land. Read the rest of this entry »

I believe it’s imperative that the United States Congress closely examine the recent plan presented by Secretary Paulson. Increased federal regulations are not the answer to our nation’s current economic concerns. Like most Americans, I want market discipline—but the Congress cannot create that by needlessly empowering the Fed.

Despite the new ideas offered by the Department of Treasury I believe it’s critical that Congress focus first on the Fed’s recent actions to involve themselves in the Bear Stearns bailout. Without a thorough review of these measures, we will not be able to adequately review the Treasury plan.

I want to be assured that the Fed’s action will not leave our nation’s hardworking taxpayers on the hook. I look forward to the opportunity to question Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke about the actions leading up to Federal Reserve’s decision to intervene.

It is unacceptable that twenty percent of college students are uninsured and that some college health plans exclude coverage for preventive services and limit payments for benefits such as prescription drugs. Students must be healthy to learn, and guaranteeing that they have quality health coverage should be a priority for our nation.

The Campaign Legal Center, joined by three other organizations (Democracy 21, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, and Public Citizen) filed a friend of the court brief last week with the Supreme Court in a case challenging the so-called Millionaire’s Amendment to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). You can access the brief here. A provision of BCRA that temporarily raises contribution limits and suspends limits on spending coordinated with political parties, the Millionaire’s Amendment has made it possible for candidates to run against wealthy, self-financing opponents who spend personal funds in excess of a specified monetary threshold.

Jack Davis, who ran two self-financed campaigns for Congress, challenged the Millionaire’s Amendment on the ground that it unconstitutionally chills millionaires like himself from running self-financed campaigns. A three-judge district court in Washington , D.C. rejected the claim.

The Legal Center ’s friend-of-the-court brief argued, among other things, that the Millionaire’s Amendment actually “expands, and does not restrict, the opportunities for speech in the political process” by enabling non-wealthy candidates to raise the funds necessary to compete against wealthy opponents. The Legal Center’s brief also made the point that there have been no limits placed on Davis’ right to spend as much money as he wants, and thus his speech is not in any way chilled or infringed by the challenged provision. Instead, the provision actually relaxes, in some circumstances, otherwise applicable contribution and coordinated- expenditure rules with regard to opponents of self-financing candidates who spend more than $350,000 from personal funds. Read the rest of this entry »

The Hill’s Managing Editor Bob Cusack gives a preview of the week ahead in Congress.

Continuing funding for abstinence-only programs, despite evidence showing that these programs are ineffective, and denying our children access to information that could protect them, compromises the health and wellbeing of our youth.

With a recent CDC study indicating that 1 in 4 teen girls are living with a sexually transmitted infection (STI), and that 1 in 2 African American girls have an STI, we cannot afford to continue funding programs that do not work.

We need to get REAL about sex education. We should absolutely be teaching young people about abstinence, but we shouldn’t be holding back information that can save lives and prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Instead of abstinence-only, what we’re proposing is ‘abstinence-plus.’ My legislation, H.R. 1653, the Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act, will create a federal funding stream for comprehensive sex education and I urge all Members of Congress to support it.

Rep. Lee is co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Robert Bradner, Holland & Knight, talks with The Hill about differences in the House and Senate budget resolutions.