Members of the Bipartisan Policy Center's National Transportation Policy Project Call for New Approach to Transportation Funding

/PRNewswire/ -- A new report released today, authored by two members of the Bipartisan Policy Center's (BPC) National Transportation Policy Project, called on the Administration and Congress to change their approach to transportation policy saying that "the nation can no longer afford to support poorly targeted investments when the needs are so great and public resources are so constrained." The report authors, Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Martin Wachs, spoke at a press conference to release the report in Washington, D.C.

"The future of transportation policy is central to economic policy. Despite what has long been argued, investments in transportation infrastructure are not guaranteed to create jobs and simultaneously grow the economy. We must ruthlessly focus on economic growth, immediately and in the future," said Dr. Holtz-Eakin. "The need for investment is clear: our roads are deteriorating and our transportation systems are not equipped to handle increasing capacity. Still, we cannot devote additional dollars, much less borrowed dollars, to transportation programs that provide an uncertain number of jobs and no lasting economic benefit."

The report, Strengthening Connections Between Transportation Investments and Economic Growth, outlines three specific policy changes the Administration and Congress can make to ensure that scarce public dollars are spent wisely and, at the same time, create employment opportunities in the short-term and contribute to the nation's economic recovery in the long-term.

First, the report recommends that no new funds be allocated to existing transportation programs if they provide questionable job-creation, unclear long-term benefits or if the programs are solely an effort to increase short-term employment. Second, investments should be directed to programs that are both "shovel-ready" and provide long-term benefits. These investments can help ease unemployment while also building the nation's economic future. Finally, federal transportation investments should not be constrained by the silos and restrictions that dominate the federal government's existing surface transportation program. "Instead of focusing on how the money is spent – that is, on whether funds go to operations versus capital or to highway versus transit – the focus must shift to the outcomes being achieved with a particular expenditure," said the report. "If the most pressing outcomes at this point in time relate to job creation and long-term economic recovery, both of those outcomes should drive decisions about how to allocate federal resources and measure progress."

"In addition to addressing long-term transportation-related objectives including safety, energy independence, and environmental sustainability, Congress should consider investments that result in higher productivity," said Dr. Wachs. "These investments will improve economic well-being by increasing connectivity and accessibility to jobs while reducing congestion. Ideally, there is an approach to transportation investment that advances both goals - enduring productivity gains and immediate job creation. To do this, there must be flexibility within the system to pursue the highest returns on spending."

The BPC's National Transportation Policy Project is a group dedicated to reforming federal surface transportation policy in a way that ensures federal investments are held accountable for demonstrating results toward the achievement of national goals. Its members include former Republican and Democratic members of Congress, local-elected officials, business and civic leaders, and transportation stakeholders and experts. The project released its blueprint for surface transportation reform, Performance Driven: A New Vision for U.S. Transportation Policy, in June 2009.

"We have repeatedly argued that not all transportation investments are equally effective, and that future transportation spending must be driven by considerations of economic merit and guided by clearly articulated federal goals, including economic growth, metropolitan accessibility, environmental protection and energy security, and safety," said JayEtta Hecker, Director of Transportation Advocacy at the BPC. "The report released today emphasizes the need for long-term returns rather than just short-term gains."

Read the full report at http://bipartisanpolicy.org/library/research/transportation-investments.

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Libertarians pleased by new federal marijuana policy

The Libertarian Party (LP) today expressed its approval of the Obama administration's new, more laissez-faire policy toward medical marijuana. The policy appears to end the practice of federal prosecution of medical marijuana patients and providers in states where medical marijuana is legal.

Wes Benedict, LP executive director, commented, "This is a small step in the right direction. The federal government currently wastes tremendous resources in the War on Drugs, creating a huge, vicious, violent black market. This new policy will reduce the damage and destruction, and it will hopefully end some of the unjust prosecution of peaceful medical marijuana providers and patients."

The LP has long called for the repeal of laws that criminalize the medicinal or recreational use of drugs.

Benedict added, "We urge the Obama administration not to stop with this small step, but to take further steps to end the destructive, unjust, unconstitutional War on Drugs."

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Members of U.S. Congress Warn Hondurans New Elections Won't Be Recognized Unless Conflict is Resolved

/PRNewswire/ -- The Center for Democracy in the Americas (CDA) praised six senior Members of the U.S. Congress for their open letter to the Honduran Congress reminding Honduran authorities that without political progress in ending the crisis caused by the coup against President Zelaya the U.S. will not recognize the winner of that country's upcoming presidential elections.

"This timely letter speaks in clear and compelling language to the coup government and its supporters in the Honduran Congress," Sarah Stephens, executive director of the CDA said. "Unless the coup is ended, President Zelaya is restored, and violations of democracy and human rights are halted, no presidential election conducted in that environment will be recognized as free or fair or legitimate by the United States government and its senior leaders.

The letter signed by Representatives James McGovern, Bill Delahunt, Sam Farr, Gregory Meeks, Janice Schakowsky, and Xavier Becerra was sent to Honduras as four Republican Members of the Congress visited interim President Micheletti and communicated their support for the coup.

"Honduras's interim government should pay attention not to rump groups seeking publicity, but to senior Members of the Congress who stand with the Obama administration on behalf of democracy, diplomacy, and dialogue. We believe Honduras should act quickly and decisively to end this crisis and avoid entering a new presidency with this odious cloud hanging over its government."

The Center for Democracy in the Americas (CDA) is devoted to changing U.S. policy toward the countries of the Americas by basing our relations on mutual respect, recognizing positive models of governance in the region, and fostering dialogue particularly with those governments and movements with which U.S. policy is at odds.

Ms. Stephens testified before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs about the coup in Honduras on July 10, 2009.

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White House Sets Record Straight on Gay Ban

/PRNewswire/ -- The following was released today by the Michael D. Palm Center:

Asked today if the White House would consider halting gay discharges by presidential authority, press secretary Robert Gibbs said it would not stop the firing of gay troops. That said, Gibbs insisted that the President believes that the "don't ask, don't tell" policy "isn't working for our national interests" and that he "will work with the Joints Chiefs of Staff, the administration and with Congress" to change the policy.

In recent weeks, the President's national security team has sent mixed messages. Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke of what action would occur "if" the policy were repealed, suggesting it may not be; and national security advisor James Jones said this weekend he was not sure if the ban would be lifted.

Scholars said that Gibbs' comments today indicate new leadership from the White House in reassuring the public that "don't ask, don't tell" will be repealed. Nathaniel Frank, senior research fellow at the Palm Center, said that "today's remarks appear to send a signal to any member of the administration who questions the President's resolve."

At the same time, Gibbs' statement raised questions by gay rights experts about why President Obama, who continues to say he wants the ban terminated, would preside over ongoing discharges when he has authority to end them by executive order. The Palm Center yesterday released a report by a team of scholars and legal experts showing that the president has statutory authority to halt discharges immediately.

Richard Socarides, who worked in the Clinton administration as special assistant to the president on LGBT issues, said that the current president should exercise the short-term options he has to end the ban. "I have long supported and advocated a moratorium on further discharges," he said today, "and I think it's well within the president's discretionary authority to do that immediately." Socarides said an executive order halting discharges would be consistent with Obama's stated belief that the policy should end.

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Nationwide Tea Party Leaders Call on Obama to Live up to Meeting Promise

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Eighteen national leaders of the Tea Party protest movement, which has drawn the participation of hundreds of thousands of Americans over the past few weeks, today responded to President Barack Obama’s invitation to meet with members of the Tea Party movement to discuss solutions to the nation’s fiscal challenges.

Speaking at a townhall meeting in Arnold, Missouri this past Wednesday, Obama said: “So, you know, when you see — those of you who are watching certain news channels on which I'm not very popular and you see folks waving tea bags around, let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term, how we're going to stabilize Social Security.”

The national leadership team of the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, one of several organizations that form the grassroots ecosystem of the Tea Party movement, this afternoon faxed a letter to the White House accepting the President’s invitation for such a discussion. “The Tea Party movement has grown because millions of Americans believe the government is heading in the wrong direction and their government is not only not listening to them, but ignoring them. We need to have a serious, public discussion of these issues. We are ready to have that discussion with you and look forward to your response,” the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition leaders wrote in their letter to Obama.

“We have noticed there often appears to be a great divide between President Obama’s political rhetoric and the political reality of his policies and actions,” said Michael Johns, one of the eighteen signators of the letter. “When the President says he is ‘happy to have a serious conversation’ with us about the fiscal state of this nation, we think the next question is when and where, and we hope to have an answer to that promptly so we can present concrete, workable policy ideas,” he said.

Nationwide Tea Party Coalition leader and letter signator Dana Loesch, who led a protest of hundreds during Obama’s Missouri visit this past Wednesday, said: “We didn't stand out in the street by the hundreds at the townhall meeting simply to create sound bites and stock footage for the news circuit any more than the Sons of Liberty dumped tea into Boston Harbor to become an entry in history books." “We stood because we want to propose an alternative, and dare I say better, suggestion as to how fiscal matters should be handled. We welcome an open discussion,” she said.

The national leadership team of the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition includes 26 of the more than 900 organizers of the April 15, 2009 Tax Day Tea Parties held nationally and attended by an estimated one million Americans. The Coalition’s web site, where today’s letter to the president can be seen, is: www.nationwideteapartycoalition.com.

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Reaching Out to the Cuban People

Yesterday, the Obama administration announced a series of changes in U.S. policy to reach out to the Cuban people in support of their desire to freely determine their country’s future. In taking these steps to help bridge the gap among divided Cuban families and promote the freer flow of information and humanitarian items to the Cuban people, President Obama is working to fulfill the goals he identified both during his presidential campaign and since taking office.

All who embrace core democratic values long for a Cuba that respects basic human, political and economic rights of all its citizens. President Obama believes these measures will help make that goal a reality.

Cuban American connections to family in Cuba are not only a basic right in humanitarian terms, but also our best tool for helping to foster the beginnings of grassroots democracy on the island. There are no better ambassadors for freedom than Cuban Americans. Accordingly, President Obama will direct the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Commerce to support the Cuban people’s desire for freedom and self-determination by lifting all restrictions on family visits and remittances as well as taking steps that will facilitate greater contact between separated family members in the United States and Cuba and increase the flow of information and humanitarian resources directly to the Cuban people. The President is also calling on the Cuban government to reduce the charges it levies on cash remittances sent to the island so family members can be assured they are receiving the support sent to them.

Specifically, the President has directed the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Commerce to take the needed steps to:

Lift all restrictions on transactions related to the travel of family members to Cuba.
Remove restrictions on remittances to family members in Cuba.
Authorize U.S. telecommunications network providers to enter into agreements to establish fiber-optic cable and satellite telecommunications facilities linking the United States and Cuba.
License U.S. telecommunications service providers to enter into roaming service agreements with Cuba’s telecommunications service providers.
License U.S. satellite radio and satellite television service providers to engage in transactions necessary to provide services to customers in Cuba.
License persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction to activate and pay U.S. and third-country service providers for telecommunications, satellite radio and satellite television services provided to individuals in Cuba.
Authorize the donation of certain consumer telecommunication devices without a license.
Add certain humanitarian items to the list of items eligible for export through licensing exceptions.

REACHING OUT TO THE CUBAN PEOPLE

Supporting the Cuban people’s desire to freely determine their future and that of their country is in the national interest of the United States. The Obama administration is taking steps to promote greater contact between separated family members in the United States and Cuba and increase the flow of remittances and information to the Cuban people.

Lift All Restrictions on Family Visits to Cuba

We will lift all restrictions on family visits to Cuba by authorizing such transactions by a general license, which will strengthen contacts and promote American good will. We will ensure the positive reach of this effort by:

Defining family members who may be visited to be persons within three degrees of family relationship (e.g., second cousins) and to allow individuals who share a common dwelling as a family with an authorized traveler to accompany them;
Removing limitations on the frequency of visits;
Removing limitations on the duration of a visit;
Authorizing expenditure amounts that are the same as non-family travel; and
Removing the 44-pound limitation on accompanied baggage.
Remove Restrictions on Remittances

We will remove restrictions on remittances to a person’s family member in Cuba to increase Cubans’ access to resources to help create opportunities for them by:

Authorizing remittances to individuals within three degrees of family relationship (e.g., second cousins) provided that no remittances shall be authorized to currently prohibited members of the Government of Cuba or currently prohibited members of the Cuban Communist Party;
Removing limits on frequency of remittances;
Removing limits on the amount of remittances;
Authorizing travelers to carry up to $3,000 in remittances; and
Establishing general license for banks and other depository institutions to forward remittances.
Authorize Greater Telecommunications Links with Cuba

We will authorize greater telecommunications links with Cuba to advance people-to-people interaction at no cost to the U.S. government. This will increase the means through which Cubans on the island can communicate with each other and with persons outside of Cuba.

Authorize U.S. telecommunications network providers to enter into agreements to establish fiber-optic cable and satellite telecommunications facilities linking the United States and Cuba.
License U.S. telecommunications service providers to enter into and operate under roaming service agreements with Cuba's telecommunications service providers.
License U.S. satellite radio and satellite television service providers to engage in transactions necessary to provide services to customers in Cuba.
License persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction to activate and pay U.S. and third-country service providers for telecommunications, satellite radio and satellite television services provided to individuals in Cuba, except certain senior Communist Party and Cuban government officials.
Authorize, consistent with national security concerns, the export or re-export to Cuba of donated personal communications devices such as mobile phone systems, computers and software, and satellite receivers through a license exception.
Revise Gift Parcel Regulations

We will expand the scope of humanitarian donations eligible for export through license exceptions by:

Restoring clothing, personal hygiene items, seeds, veterinary medicines and supplies, fishing equipment and supplies, and soap-making equipment to the list of items eligible to be included in gift parcel donations;
Restoring items normally exchanged as gifts by individuals in "usual and reasonable" quantities to the list of items eligible to be included in gift parcel donations;
Expanding the scope of eligible gift parcel donors to include any individual;
Expanding the scope of eligible gift parcel donees to include individuals other than Cuban Communist Party officials or Cuban government officials already prohibited from receiving gift parcels, or charitable, educational or religious organizations not administered or controlled by the Cuban government; and
Increasing the value limit on non-food items to $800.

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Statement of Robert Greenstein, Executive Director, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, on the New Report From the Congressional Budget Office

/PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement by Robert Greenstein, Executive Director, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on the new report from the Congressional Budget Office:

Today's disturbing report from the Congressional Budget Office projects larger budget deficits over the next ten years than the President's budget estimates, mainly because the economy is weaker than the Obama Administration and many private forecasters projected just a few months ago.

These findings should send two messages to policymakers: First, they should not make the recession, which CBO now projects will be the worst since World War II, even deeper by reducing federal expenditures in 2010 well below the levels that President Obama has proposed. Doing so would result in less demand for goods and services at a time when the CBO report makes clear the economy will continue to need a large boost. Second, policymakers should adopt measures now -- to take effect when the economy recovers -- to begin addressing the vast projected deficits of future years and decades and moving us off a fiscally unsustainable path.

While deficits will decline after this year's record level, they will not shrink to economically sustainable levels without significant changes in policy. That ought to encourage policymakers to step up to the plate and adopt the President's proposals to rein in costly and unproductive subsidies in both the spending and tax sides of the budget -- such as by eliminating Medicare Advantage overpayments and achieving other Medicare savings, and by curbing a plethora of special-interest tax loopholes -- or to come up with alternative proposals that save as much, are as sound economically, and are as fair.

The new CBO figures also underscore the need for policymakers not to go beyond the President's proposals for extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and for making the estate tax permanent at its 2009 parameters. Extending costly tax cuts for people above $250,000 or further eviscerating the estate tax would swell deficits even more, while benefiting only a tiny fraction of Americans at the top of the income scale.

Finally, based on today's report, policymakers should view the Obama proposals as just the first step on the path of deficit reduction. In the not-too-distant future, policymakers will need to move well beyond their current positions on both taxes and spending and put everything on the table, in order to achieve deficit reduction that will be necessary -- and unavoidable -- if we are to avert serious long-term economic damage.

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Department of Justice Withdraws 'Enemy Combatant' Definition for Guantanamo Detainees

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a filing today with the federal District Court for the District of Columbia, the Department of Justice submitted a new standard for the government's authority to hold detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility. The definition does not rely on the President's authority as Commander-in-Chief independent of Congress's specific authorization. It draws on the international laws of war to inform the statutory authority conferred by Congress. It provides that individuals who supported al Qaeda or the Taliban are detainable only if the support was substantial. And it does not employ the phrase "enemy combatant."

The Department also submitted a declaration by Attorney General Eric Holder stating that, under executive orders issued by President Obama, the government is undertaking an interagency review of detention policy for individuals captured in armed conflicts or counterterrorism operations as well as a review of the status of each detainee held at Guantanamo. The outcome of those reviews may lead to further refinements of the government's position as it develops a comprehensive policy.

"As we work towards developing a new policy to govern detainees, it is essential that we operate in a manner that strengthens our national security, is consistent with our values, and is governed by law," said Attorney General Holder. "The change we've made today meets each of those standards and will make our nation stronger."

In its filing today, the government bases its authority to hold detainees at Guantanamo on the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, which Congress passed in September 2001, and which authorized the use of force against nations, organizations, or persons the president determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the September 11 attacks, or harbored such organizations or persons. The government's new standard relies on the international laws of war to inform the scope of the President's authority under this statute, and makes clear that the government does not claim authority to hold persons based on insignificant or insubstantial support of al Qaeda or the Taliban.

The brief was filed in habeas litigation brought by numerous detainees at Guantanamo who are challenging their detention under the Supreme Court's decision last summer in Boumediene v. Bush.

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Bauer Calls Taxpayer-Funded Embryonic Stem Cell Research 'A Tragedy'

/PRNewswire/ -- Former Presidential candidate Gary Bauer on Monday called Barack Obama's decision to waste federal tax dollars on failed embryonic stem cell research "evidence that ideology is the goal here, not saving lives. We are witnessing the beginnings of a tragedy, as lives will be lost and not saved as a result of this change."

The president of American Values made the following statement: "It's tragic that Barack Obama is willing to take tax money from struggling Americans and give it to scientists working on repeatedly failed embryonic stem cell projects...especially as adult stem cell research is yielding real, life-saving results. Most people do not understand that there is no restriction against fetal stem cell research, just a restriction against spending tax dollars to destroy human embryos for a body of work that has resulted in cancers and abnormal cells time and time again. Adult stem cell research, on the other hand, has provided real hope to many patients. In 2008, the National Institutes of Health spent nearly one billion dollars on stem cell research, most of it going to adult stem cell research because of the real hope it offered.

"This policy shift is part of an anti-life agenda that now will allow human embryos to be destroyed to create cell lines. My concern is that the long-term result of this work will lead to a lifting of the ban against human cloning, a development that would allow testing in laboratories on human embryos, human life. But today, Obama's decision to allow federal tax dollars to be used to destroy human embryos is tragic on many levels. He raises false hope for those who are ill; he strains the American taxpayer at a time of economic crisis, and he ignores the humanity of the lives ended in cold laboratories to satisfy a liberal ideology."

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Statement by Robert Greenstein, Executive Director, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, on the President's 2010 Budget Proposal

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a statement by Robert Greenstein, Executive Director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

The President's budget represents a bold and courageous proposal to make progress in restoring fiscal discipline while addressing two central problems of our time -- a broken health care system and the threat of catastrophic global warming -- and other national needs.

Particularly courageous are several proposals that take on vested interests to fully pay for the costs of health care reform and tackling global warming, including:

-- Instituting major cost-saving reforms in Medicare that also hold
promise for slowing private-sector health care costs and are
consistent with recommendations of Congress' expert advisory body, the
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. Faced with intense opposition
from insurance companies and other interests, Congress has shied away
from such proposals, but the new Administration has embraced them.
The budget also includes a sound, longstanding Republican proposal --
to increase the premiums that affluent Medicare beneficiaries pay for
the prescription drug benefit that Medicare provides them.
-- Limiting various tax subsidies to the most affluent Americans to 28
cents on the dollar. Currently, middle-income Americans receive a tax
subsidy equal to 10 cents or 15 cents for each dollar of their
deductible expenses (if they itemize deductions at all), while
affluent Americans get a subsidy of 35 cents for each dollar of the
same expenses. The budget would cap the subsidy at 28 cents on the
dollar for those with incomes over $250,000, the same rate at which
those expenses could be deducted in the final Reagan years, when the
top tax rates were lower. As a result, incentives to incur those
expenses would be the same as under President Reagan.
-- Auctioning all emissions permits under the Administration's proposed
cap-and-trade system to address global warming, rather than conferring
windfall profits on energy companies and others that pollute by giving
them tens of billions of dollars' worth of permits for free. The
proposal would then use auction proceeds to offset the impact on
working families of the resulting increases in energy prices, by
extending the Making Work Pay tax cut. (This tax cut is similar to
tax-reduction proposals of recent years by a number of analysts,
including those here at CBPP, to efficiently provide middle-income
consumers with relief from the increased energy costs that an
emissions cap would trigger.) Additional measures will be required to
provide adequate relief to low-income consumers; the budget envisions
using some of the remaining auction proceeds for that.


The budget also makes a significant commitment to restoring fiscal responsibility while meeting high priority national needs, by:

-- Reducing deficits to 3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product by 2013,
about the level needed to keep the federal debt from rising much
faster than the economy and thus leading to an explosion of debt that
swamps the budget and the economy.
-- Pledging to offset the costs over the next ten years of health care
reforms that initially will raise costs by providing universal
coverage but that will set the stage for reducing public- and
private-sector health care costs in subsequent decades by gradually
slowing the rate at which those costs grow. The high rate of growth
of health-care costs is at the root of the nation's long-term fiscal
problem.


By themselves, these budget proposals would prove insufficient to keep deficits at 3 percent of GDP indefinitely. Policymakers will need to take additional steps in subsequent years, as President Obama noted at his "fiscal summit" on Monday.

The budget also deserves high marks for transparency and honesty. Gone are the gimmicks that have been an annual feature of both Presidential and Congressional budgets, under which policymakers pretended to reduce deficits markedly over time by omitting costs in the "out years" for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, natural disasters, and continued relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax and the scheduled reductions in Medicare fees for doctors -- and by printing in the budget numbers for the costs of discretionary programs in the out years that everyone knew were unrealistically low.

Those gimmicks, sleights-of-hand, and convenient omissions are absent from this budget. Its greater realism and transparency makes the President's pledge to cut the deficit in half in four years a meaningful one; we will now know each year whether we are on course to meet that goal.

The budget also provides needed investments in key areas for long-term economic growth, such as energy efficiency and early childhood education. And it proposes savings from lower priority programs such as bloated agricultural subsidies and from unwarranted tax breaks, such as one that millionaire equity fund managers have exploited to pay taxes at lower rates than many middle-income families and others that benefit oil companies. The budget also follows in the tradition of the 1990 and 1993 deficit-reduction laws in both shrinking the deficit and reducing poverty, which is higher in the United States than in other Western nations.

Predictable but Unfounded Criticisms

The budget already is facing several lines of attack that rest on inaccurate or misleading charges. Chief among them is the claim that the tax increases for people who make over $250,000 will seriously injure small businesses.

In fact, small businesses would win under this budget. Tax Policy Center data show that fewer than one in every ten people with small business income have incomes over $250,000, the only group that faces higher taxes under this budget. Moreover, many people with small business income who are in this category are wealthy individuals who have invested in businesses, but who are not proprietors and have little or nothing to do with running those businesses. The vast majority of small business owners are middle-income individuals who would receive tax cuts under the budget; many of them would also benefit from its universal coverage and health care cost containment reforms.

To be sure, many will oppose various proposals to close tax loopholes, the Medicare and agricultural subsidy reforms, and the cap on the value of itemized deductions for the most affluent Americans -- while saying that they, too, favor universal health coverage, curbing global warming, improvements in education, and the like. This budget challenges them to propose their own ways to finance such measures.

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President Obama Promises 'New Era' of Energy, Environmental Policy Built on Foundation of Energy Efficiency

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Stating emphatically that "No single issue is as imperative to the economy as energy," President Obama today began to lay the foundation -- rapid and widespread deployment of energy efficiency -- for a new, clean energy era for the nation, the Alliance to Save Energy noted.

President Obama's quick action, taken after less than one full week in office, was hailed by Alliance President Kateri Callahan. She, along with Alliance Director of Policy Lowell Ungar and other environmental and efficiency leaders from across the country, were invited to the White House to witness what appears to be a paradigm shift in the federal government's approach to energy and environmental policy and a new commitment to achieving the full potential of energy efficiency in order to improve our nation's energy security.

"President Obama is fulfilling his campaign promise to create a clean energy economy with incredible speed and determination of purpose," said Callahan. She added, "He is moving full-steam-ahead on energy efficiency, not despite but because of the fragile state of the economy."

President Obama signed memoranda at a White House ceremony today directing the Transportation Department to establish higher fuel economy standards for vehicles by model year 2011 and directing the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the bid by California and 13 other states to set tailpipe carbon dioxide emission standards that also would require greater fuel economy.

In his statement, Obama also confirmed his intent to weatherize 2 million homes over the next two years; make significant energy efficiency upgrades to 75 percent of federal buildings, saving taxpayers $2 billion in avoided energy costs; double the country's renewable energy resource base; and create nearly 500,000 new "green jobs."

President Obama stated clearly and forcefully that today's action is but the first salvo in what he described as a "steady, focused, and pragmatic approach" to a new energy future.

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Obama Must Withdraw Geithner Nomination

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Peter Flaherty, President of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), today made the following statement:

President-elect Obama should withdraw Timothy Geithner's nomination for Treasury Secretary. Obama says that middle-class families with incomes of $250,000 are wealthy and their taxes should be raised, but he wants a Wall Streeter who didn't pay his taxes to be his point man on the economy.

The amount of unpaid taxes -- $42,000 -- may sound like pocket change to Geithner and his Wall Street buddies, but it is a lot of money on Main Street.

Geithner's claim that he didn't know he was supposed to pay taxes doesn't pass the laugh test. It is true that American citizens who work for the IMF are responsible for the employer's share of the payroll tax, but IMF employment includes generous pay and a host of other perks. Anyone who has ever worked there is well versed on the details because it is such great deal.

Henry Paulson and Timothy Geithner are the architects of our bailout policies, where ordinary taxpayers are forced to subsidize the wealthy, who are not allowed to go broke, no matter how spectacular their failures. Geithner was a poor choice, and his failure to pay his taxes proves it.

Charles Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, did not report or disclose years of rental income on a Dominican Republic beach house and claims he did nothing wrong. His committee writes the tax laws. Now we have a Treasury nominee who for years failed to pay his payroll taxes and we are again told that he did nothing wrong. Will the same officials who plan to raise our taxes ever take responsibility for paying theirs?

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American Small Business League: Obama to Create Loopholes for Venture Capitalists

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released today by the American Small Business League:

President-elect Barack Obama is preparing to create significant changes in federal contracting law that will allow some of the nation's wealthiest investors to receive federal contracts earmarked for small businesses. Under the banner of "increasing access to capital" for small businesses, the policies will allow firms controlled by individual venture capitalist and even large venture capital firms to participate in federal small business contracting programs.

The Obama Administration's new pro-venture capital policy could virtually repeal the Small Business Act for legitimate American small businesses by modifying the longstanding federal definition of a small business as "independently owned."

Under the proposed Obama Administration policy, "independently owned" will be changed to include firms that are not independently owned, but are actually controlled by wealthy investors and possibly some of the nation's largest venture capital firms.

Opponents of the new policy say it appears to be designed more to increase wealthy venture capitalist access to billions of dollars in federal small business contracts as opposed to "increasing access to capital" for legitimate small businesses.

If the policy is successfully implemented it could force the average American small business to compete head-to-head with firms controlled by wealthy investors for even the smallest government orders for goods and services. Thousands of middle class jobs could be lost as billions of dollars in federal small business contracts are diverted to a small number of venture capitalist controlled firms.

The plan will likely include a provision that would exempt the venture capitalist owned firms from capital gains taxes. The Obama-Biden Transition Team website, www.change.gov mentions such a proposal.

The appointment of multi-millionaire venture capitalist Karen Mills to head the Small Business Administration (SBA) is the latest indication that President-elect Obama is moving forward with his plans to divert government small business contracts to venture capital controlled firms.

The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and its members have been lobbying for the new loophole in federal contracting law for more than two years. The NVCA and its members have contributed millions of dollars to Obama and key Democratic leaders in Congress such as Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Joe Lieberman and Hillary Clinton. (http://www.maplight.org/map/us/interest/F2500)

"The easiest and quickest way to stimulate our nation's failing economy is for the government to spend infrastructure funds with America's 27 million small businesses that create all the new jobs and employ most Americans," American Small Business League President Lloyd Chapman said. "This new Obama policy will do just the opposite and will push our economy closer to a depression by diverting billions of dollars in federal funds away from middle class America and into the hands of small number of wealthy investors that backed Obama."

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