Press Release

 The American public is rightfully very distressed with the Congress of the United States. They’re distressed that a time of great challenge and great risk, we fiddle while the debt threatens to burn us, to place our country in the position of being judged un-creditworthy. That is not worthy of this Congress, or any one of us who serves in this Congress. We have 14 days, according to the Secretary of the Treasury, until such time as America will be unable to pay its obligations. That is not a situation that will be looked at positively by the financial sector, or by any one of our constituents whose ability to save, to have a 401-k that is stable, to purchase an automobile or a refrigerator, or to send their kid to college will be put at risk because of increased interest rates. Not one of us will be held harmless if this Congress fails to do its duty.

I welcome President Obama’s nomination of Richard Cordray as the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. As Attorney General of Ohio and the head of the Bureau’s enforcement arm, Richard Cordray has built a strong record of standing up for the middle class. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created to bring fairness to the financial services on which millions of Americans rely, and to prevent a recurrence of a financial crisis caused by Wall Street recklessness and lax regulation.

I am saddened at the news that Congressman Kildee is going to retire, but I certainly understand his decision. Dale Kildee is a man of great integrity and faith. He has a deep concern for the people he represents, for those who are less fortunate, and for the principles and priorities that have made our country strong. He is a legislator who is both conscientious and faithful to his conscience. His work on education issues will have a positive and lasting effect in expanding opportunities for our nation’s children. America, the state of Michigan, and the people of the 5th district have been greatly advantaged by his service. I wish him the very best in the future, and he will be sorely missed in the 113th Congress.

I opposed the Republicans’ Energy and Water Appropriations bill, as it undermines our nation’s ability to keep our lakes, rivers and streams clean. The bill restricts the Corps of Engineers' ability to work with the EPA to protect our waterways under the Clean Water Act. This bill also makes shortsighted cuts to our energy efficiency and renewable energy programs – programs that will pay for themselves in the long run by supporting the development of groundbreaking clean energy technologies that will save consumers money on their energy bills and create the jobs that will help more families Make It In America.

I want to make it very clear. We are not for asking people who are trying to make it in America, we are not for asking those who are struggling in America, we are not asking for those who rely on Social Security, we are not asking for those who rely on their Medicare benefits to pay the burden of the spending that we have been involved in over the last decade, which took us from $5.6 trillion of debt to over $10 trillion of debt. We are not asking for those struggling Americans which the gentleman raises as the specter of those we think ought to pay their fair share. Oh, no. We are asking for those who have done extraordinarily well over the last decade, who have made millions per year over the last decade, some billions of dollars over the last decade, oil companies who are now making the biggest profits they ever made and others to pay a little more so that we can stabilize the finances of America. So, don't represent that it's Democrats who are asking those struggling small business people. We are not doing that. Or those struggling working people in America who, by the way, have been stuck in the mud under the economic policies that were pursued consistent with the 2001 and 2003 economic programs, which has seen a growing disparate between working people and the wealthiest people in America.

 Tonight's meeting at the White House was productive. The President made clear his preference remains reaching a big compromise that reduces the deficit in a balanced way and ensures we pay our bills, and I agree. I believe we should take action quickly to send a clear signal to businesses and world markets that we are going to both pay our bills and address our deficit crisis in a meaningful way, while protecting seniors and the middle class.

 Today’s White House meeting was constructive and progress was made. The announcement from Moody’s earlier today makes the case that these debt negotiations need to produce a meaningful outcome that will bring down the deficit in a balanced way and ensure we pay our bills, rather than producing just a simple political solution. That is the President’s clear priority in these meetings and I share that view.

I strongly oppose Republicans’ proposed balanced budget amendment, and I will be whipping against it. By enshrining Republican policy priorities in the Constitution—and by making it historically difficult to raise revenue or raise the debt ceiling in order to pay our bills—the Republican amendment would impose severe hardship on millions of Americans. More than even the radical, Medicare-ending budget passed earlier this year, it would require drastic and harmful cuts to programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, programs that form the heart of America’s social compact. Unlike previous balanced budget amendments, this amendment would mean great pain for ordinary Americans, even as it shielded the most privileged from any comparable sacrifice. It is not a solution to our nation’s pressing fiscal challenges.