Economic Recovery

We are living at a time of unprecedented economic pain and anxiety—widespread job losses, families losing their homes or struggling to make mortgage payments, and companies that have been American mainstays downsizing significantly or closing altogether.  There is plenty of bad news to go around.  That’s why now, above all other times, is the time for a new approach.

 

For too long we have shaped policy based on outdated facts.  Maintaining a 19th Century education system that is failing to provide workers the tools they need to compete in today’s economy.  Manufacturing products based on old molds and old ideas.  Failing to find long-term cures to our economy’s Achilles heels of dependence on foreign oil and high health care costs.  Elevating deregulation and short-term gain for the few above stable economic growth, saving and long-term wealth creation.

Now is the time to focus on how we move forward, how we can emerge from this economic crisis stronger and more secure, and how we can ensure that our children do not bear the weight of our reluctance to make tough choices, or to fix our deep economic and fiscal problems.

I have no doubt that we can and that we will emerge stronger, but only if we adapt to meet a changing reality.  Our economic recovery depends on our ability to stop looking backwards to the old ways of doing business and start looking at what it will take to make American business competitive in the 21st Century.

I believe we should strive to build an economy based on the production of American products that are the best in the world, and an American workforce that beats the global competition.  Our tax and spending policy should be geared towards meeting those two goals—encouraging private investment and innovation on the one hand, and supporting the development of individual opportunity with the other.  We should have a financial system that is transparent, regulated, and held accountable.  And, we should implement a plan that gets us back to a fiscally sound federal government that is not borrowing trillions of dollars from foreign governments that our children will be forced to pay back.  
 
Economic recovery starts with education.  Our economic future depends on a transformation of our education system.  21st Century industries put a premium on innovation—from the new energy economy, to digital media, to new discoveries in bioscience.  Our economy—our society —depends on our ability to create global competitors for these new jobs.  We must reinvigorate standards-based education, reward progress and get down to the business of creating more opportunity for the rising generation.

Transformation of our public education system is especially important to Colorado’s economy. Colorado has the second largest aerospace economy in the country and ranks third in the number of high-tech workers.  We are leading the expansion of the new energy economy and continue to depend on our agricultural communities.  The success of all of these industries will depend on our state’s ability to build the human capital ready to innovate and compete.   

American industry must assert its rightful role as world leader in creativity and ingenuity that has made us the envy of the world.  We need to return to producing cutting-edge products that are in demand throughout the global economy.  American industries that are failing, both because they have not innovated and because of larger economic turmoil that they cannot control, must find new products to make, or new ways to make old products that are in demand on a global scale.  The American automobile industry has lagged for too long behind foreign companies, and must build the next generation of fuel-efficient vehicles.  The United States, and Colorado in particular, must find a way to develop, sell and use our vast resources of wind, sun, geothermal, and natural gas for energy. 



The government must lead the way through a sustainable investment in our economy’s building blocks.  I voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and believe passage of the legislation was important for two reasons.  First, it provides short-term relief to Coloradans who are struggling to pay bills under the weight of the recession, to teachers and schools facing imminent lay-offs, and to unemployed workers needing short-term help and long term job retraining.  Second, it invests in those programs—education, renewable energy, infrastructure, and scientific research—that will provide the foundation for sustainable economic growth and that will save or create almost 60,000 21st century jobs in Colorado.

The Recovery Act is already making a difference.  I have heard from school officials in small northern Colorado communities who have told me that the funds from the Recovery Act enabled educators in the area to keep their jobs; from Clinica Family Health in Adams county that used the funds to hire a family physician, a nurse practitioner, and a behavioral health professional; and from Sun Power in Denver who will use their portion of the funding to expand their operations and create jobs.

The ARRA provided the following tax cuts and other support for Coloradans struggling under the weight of the recession:

• A tax credit of up to $400 for working individuals and $800 for married couples who qualify;
  
• An increase in unemployment benefits and the elimination of income taxes on the first $2,400 of benefits paid out;
• Help for families relying on COBRA, including payments of as much as 65% of the premiums for up to nine months;
• The extension and increase of the first-time homebuyer credit up to $8,000;
• $141 million to assist Colorado with Medicaid costs.

 The ARRA also includes funding for economic growth. 

• Investment in the New Energy Economy:  The ARRA builds on the success of Colorado’s New Energy Economy by providing billions of dollars to modernize the electrical grid, expand tax incentives for renewable energy facilities, and support renewable energy projects.
• Investment in K-12 Education:  The ARRA included an unprecedented investment in our schools.
• Increasing College Affordability: The ARRA makes it easier for families to afford college.  It provides a tax credit of $2,500 to help cover college tuition and other related expenses, and it increases the maximum Pell Grant to $5,350.
• Investment in Infrastructure:  The ARRA will create jobs through investment in some of Colorado’s most essential infrastructure.  Colorado will receive a total of more than $500 million for road, bridge and transit projects statewide.
• Investment in Science and Technology Laboratories: The ARRA provides billions of dollars for science facilities, research, and instrumentation, including funding for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Colorado.

 

Economists and policy experts are in universal agreement that our economic recovery is directly tied to stabilizing our financial and housing markets.  

We have taken real steps to stabilize the housing market, including:

• Passage of an $8,000 homebuyer tax credit to encourage home purchases.
• Passage of the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act which will provide more options for homeowners facing foreclosure.  The legislation will make it easier for homeowners to work with lenders to modify the terms of their loans, and will provide additional funding to educate and protect homeowners from fraudulent schemes.   
• Establishment of government programs to help Coloradans modify their loans and avoid foreclosure.
  

We have also taken steps to stabilize the financial markets.  The Obama Administration recently released the bank “stress tests” which provide an accurate picture of where action and capital are needed to stabilize the banking system.  Those “stress tests” also signify a deeper oversight and understanding of where and how taxpayer dollars are being spent.  

As we move forward, I believe it is critical that we make sure our efforts to break down the dam of bad assets blocking the free flow of credit are really helping the agricultural communities, small businesses and families who serve as the backbone of Colorado’s economy.  That is why I recently worked with Senator Mark Udall and Representative Betsy Markey to request emergency loan funding to approximately 2,500 Colorado farms struggling to obtain financing they need.    

I continue to be concerned that we step up our focus on community banks and main street business, and I will take every opportunity as a member of the Banking Committee to make sure help is directed to those people that really serve as the backbone to our economy.

 

The last thing people need when they are at risk of losing their job or home is for their credit card rates to go up unexpectedly through no fault of their own.  

I hear stories of unfair and undeserved treatment by credit card companies everywhere I go.  A credit card company doubled a Pueblo man’s interest rate from 7.9 percent to 13.65 percent for no reason.  Another man in Lake County kept up-to-date on his credit card payments and the credit card company still increased his interest rate to 20%.  Even worse, this company was one that was collecting government bailout funds.  A woman in Durango, CO, told me about how tough economic times forced her to use several credit cards for purchasing supplies and day-to-day expenses for her small business.  Though she consistently paid the minimum payment, the credit card company increased her interest rate to 32% and is refusing to negotiate.

Stories like this are too common, and they are the reason I fought for passage of the Credit Card Holders Bill of Rights which protects Americans from confusing, misleading, and predatory practiced by credit card companies.  The legislation:

• Required credit card companies to give 45 days notice before increasing rates,
• Requires credit card companies to mail statements 21 days before the customer’s bill is due, and
• Prohibits credit card companies from raising rates on existing balances because of a payment issued with a separate credit card.

 

This crisis has shown that the American people cannot expect Wall Street to police itself.  As a member of the Banking Committee, I am working to create a financial regulatory system that stops abuse while promoting sustainable economic growth.  Our goal is to create a systematic regulatory structure that requires: (1) transparency, (2) individual and corporate accountability, (3) government oversight that keeps pace with changing financial markets, and (4) rules for regulators designate that make it clear which agencies have responsibilities over which companies.