A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finds that, contrary to the intent of the 1996 welfare reform law, “certain sponsored noncitizens may receive means-tested public benefits based on their income and assets alone, even though they have sponsors who signed legally enforceable affidavits agreeing to support them when they became permanent residents in this country.” (page… Read more

(Remarks as Prepared) Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling this hearing.  One of the principal ways that State and local governments finance their activities is through the issuance of bonds to the public.  It is generally agreed that the liquidity crisis and accompanying economic… Read more

Washington, DC – Ways and Means Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) and Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Kevin Brady (R-TX) issued the following statement today as the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the U.S.-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement:  “I commend Chairman Baucus and Senator Grassley for holding today’s hearing.  It sends a much-needed signal to Panama that the U.S.… Read more

(Remarks as Prepared) The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act was signed into law on December 17, 1999, having received nearly unanimous support of the House by a vote of 418 to 2 and the Senate by a vote of 95 to 1.  The legislation was about work and it was intended to help individuals with… Read more

(Remarks as Prepared) Thank you, Chairman Levin, for calling this hearing on investment.  A hearing is exactly what we need on this topic.  There is so much mis-information out there about the investment protections in our BITs and our trade agreements.  The myths abound because the investor-state mechanism is… Read more

W&M Chairman Charlie Rangel: "Whether you call it a tax, everyone agrees that it's going to increase the cost to the consumer.  At the end of the day ... if there's nothing there to repay [consumers] for their financial expenditures, it might be difficult to fight Republicans who call this a tax." House Energy and Commerce Democratic leaders today unveiled more details of a… Read more

The barrage of tax increases proposed in President Barack Obama's budget could, if enacted by Congress, kill any chance of an early and sustained recovery. Historians and economists who've studied the 1930s conclude that the tax increases passed during that decade derailed the recovery and slowed the decline in unemployment. That was true of the 1935 tax on corporate earnings and… Read more

While the Medicare and Social Security Trustees Report contained much bad news, there was a silver lining: competition has created additional cost savings for both seniors and taxpayers within the Medicare prescription drug program (Part D).  Original estimates from the Medicare actuaries projected that from 2004 to 2013 the Part D benefit would cost $634 billion.  However, yesterday’s… Read more

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ways and Means Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) issued the following statement after President Obama met with Democrat committee chairmen and leadership to discuss health care: “Yesterday may have been Yogi Berra’s birthday, but after that press conference I wondered if it wasn’t déjà vu all over again?  Where is the bipartisanship on health care?  Where is the change… Read more

Fact: The latest documents on the President’s Budget, released yesterday, assume an average unemployment rate of 8.1% in 2009, well below current CBO and Blue Chip forecasts.   *click on the chart for a high resolution image   Fact: On Sunday, the President’s Economic Adviser,… Read more