Press Releases
November 18, 2009
"Back when America had a positive trade balance, people could find jobs,” Kaptur said. “When we started experiencing massive trade deficits, America’s economy started to deteriorate. Good jobs were lost, our economy began to sputter, and our middle class started to shrink as real wages declined despite rising worker productivity.”
November 13, 2009
The new legislation, which President Obama has signed into law, extends and expands the provisions of the popular homebuyer tax credit program that was implemented earlier this year as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the economic stimulus bill).
The new provisions will extend the homebuyer credit to thousands of taxpayers beyond the estimated 1.4 million families who have claimed it already, chiefly by making the credit available for the first time to long-term homeowners buying a replacement principal residence. A previous version of the law limited its provisions to first-time homebuyers.
The new provisions will extend the homebuyer credit to thousands of taxpayers beyond the estimated 1.4 million families who have claimed it already, chiefly by making the credit available for the first time to long-term homeowners buying a replacement principal residence. A previous version of the law limited its provisions to first-time homebuyers.
November 9, 2009
“I promised myself when I was elected to Congress that passing legislation to cover small business would be one of my top priorities,” said Congresswoman Kaptur, who is serving her fourteenth term. “Finally, it became possible to vote on a bill that will do this for millions of our fellow citizens. This legislation finally provides small businesses the ability to secure affordable health care coverage for their employees and their families.”
November 3, 2009
The bill is known as the Financial Crisis of 2008 Criminal Investigation and Prosecution Act.
“Due to crippling personnel limitations, the FBI has been unable to assign sufficient agents to investigate the current global financial crisis, despite having identified the ‘epidemic’ of fraud in the mortgage markets as early as September 2004,” Kaptur said.
The bureau had substantially more personnel and resources to investigate the savings and loan crisis in the 1980s, Kaptur said, even though the 2008 crisis is significantly larger and more widespread.
October 22, 2009
Congresswoman Kaptur authored the bill to create the National World War II Memorial in 1987.
October 22, 2009
“This legislation plays to one of our economic strengths as a region,” said Congresswoman Kaptur, who backed the bill after her amendment to the underlying bill was accepted on the House floor. "We are one of three leading solar centers in the hemisphere. Solar power is so much a part of our economic future.
“As solar energy continues to emerge as an engine for jobs and economic growth locally, this legislation will make the federal government a stronger, more reliable partner.”
October 21, 2009
Kaptur, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, saidbankers, instead of awarding performances, "should try to make up to thecountry for some of the damage they have caused. It's getting worse all acrossthe country: more unemployment, more foreclosures, more bank closures."
Kaptur, a consistent critic of Wall Street, cited "a cultureof greed and excess that operates at the highest levels in our culture. We needa country that changes from greed and excess to financial responsibility andprudence, certainly in the banking sector. They should be leaders, but they are part of the problem, not part ofthe solution."
October 14, 2009
Congresswoman Kaptur also urged Congress to increase by tenfold the number of FBI agents assigned to mortgage and securities fraud cases. “It’s very easy to look at the budget of the FBI in mortgage fraud and securities fraud and say, 'How serious is the government?' And until those numbers increase, we will not begin to get justice,” she said.
Kaptur was joined on the highly-acclaimed public affairs program by Simon Johnson, former chief economist for the International Monetary Fund.
October 7, 2009
The Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act authorizes Congress to approve veterans’ medical care funding a year in advance in order to better anticipate and meet the demand for veterans health care services.
The advanced funding will give the VA up to one full year to plan for the most effective and efficient way of delivering medical care. If the Senate approves the bill, it will go to President Obama’s desk to be signed into law.
September 26, 2009
“It is not fair, during these tough economic times, to put additional burdens on our seniors and people with disabilities,” said Congresswoman Kaptur.
The House voted 406-18 to pass the Medicare Premium Fairness Act. Under current law, for almost three quarters of all Medicare enrollees, the Medicare Part B premium cannot increase more than the cost of living adjustment for Social Security, which is likely to be zero next year. (Part B covers physician and outpatient care and is deducted from Social Security checks.)