George Allen On Banking And Mortgage Reform
Allen Voted Against Requiring Financial Companies To Provide Truth-In-Lending Information To Homeowners. Allen voted against the Torres amendment requiring financial institutions to provide homeowners with truth-in-lending information within three days of applying to refinance a mortgage. [Vote 364, H.AMDT 789 to H.R. 5334, 8/5/92, Failed 153-268, D: 147-109, R: 5-159, I: 1-0]
George Allen On Education
Allen Said He Would “Take Back” His Vote For No Child Left Behind. “Allen is invigorating his campaign with fresh issues and themes, a new course that includes the surprising admission that his vote for the No Child Left Behind program to enhance the federal role in public education is ‘the one I would take back.’” [Human Events, 3/8/11]
Jon Bruning On The Environment
Bruning Filed A Lawsuit Opposing EPA Air Pollution Rule Cutting Emissions Of Acid Rain Gases. "Attorney General Jon Bruning will file a federal lawsuit challenging a new air pollution rule that could cost Nebraska utilities millions of dollars. Bruning announced Thursday that he will file a challenge of the Environmental Protection Agency's so-called Cross-State Air Pollution Rule in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, announced in July and set to go into effect Jan. 1, cuts allowable emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, the gases that cause acid rain. The EPA says the new standards will improve air quality significantly by reducing power plant emissions in 27 states." [Lincoln Journal Star, 9/22/11]
George Allen On The Budget
PolitiFact: Allen’s Claim That He Reined In State Spending Is False. “Republican George Allen is promising his unrelenting effort to curb federal spending if he’s elected to the U.S. Senate next year. He says he’ll bring to Washington the same kind of ‘sweeping reform’ he brought to Virginia as governor from 1994 to 1998. His campaign web site says that when Allen was governor, ‘He challenged critics and sentiment that suggested it couldn’t be done, reining in government spending and substantially reducing the size of the state workforce’…Allen could accurately say he fought to curb spending. But Allen says he reined it in. That creates an impression the bottom line shrank or was stunted in growth. We rate the statement False.” [PolitiFact Virginia, 9/12/11]
Mitt Romney's Personal Finance Disclosures
MR 2001 Gubernatorial PFD Part A MR 2001 Gubernatorial PFD Part B MR 2001 Gubernatorial PFD Part C MR 2002 Gubernatorial PFD Part A MR 2002 Gubernatorial PFD Part B MR 2002 Gubernatorial PFD Part C MR 2003 Gubernatorial PFD MR 2004 Gubernatorial PFD MR 2005 Gubernatorial PFD MR 2006 Gubernatorial PFD MR 2006 Presidential PFD Part A MR 2006 Presidential PFD Part B MR 2006 Extension MR 2010 Presidential PFD MR 2010 Amendment
Dennis Rehberg On Social Security
Rehberg Said Private Accounts Should Be Considered. While he refused to outright endorse Bush’s idea of personal Social Security investment accounts, he suggested that he was open to considering the president’s plan. “I want to see all the proposals, he said. “But why not consider such personal accounts that would earn a higher return for young adults that they would own and could pass on to their kids?” [Great Falls Tribune, 2/4/05]
Dennis Rehberg On Mine Safety
Rehberg Criticized Mine Inspectors For Increased Enforcement, Accused Them Of Trying To Destroy Montana’s Mining Industry. In the wake of an April 2010 disaster that killed 29 miners in West Virginia, the Associated Press reported that Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg was criticizing increased enforcement efforts. “Rep. Denny Rehberg says federal officials appear bent on destroying Montana’s mining industry with their aggressive enforcement of mine safety violations in recent months. The Montana Republican said Tuesday that mine inspectors appear driven by environmental extremism rather than safety concerns. He said citations against the Troy silver mine near Libby included one for a ladder with improperly spaced rungs and another for a burned out light bulb.” [Associated Press, 11/11/2010]
Dennis Rehberg On Medicare
Rehberg Claimed House “Cut, Cap, and Balance” Bill Would “Explicitly Protect Spending for Social Security, Medicare and Veterans.” According to the Missoulian, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) criticized Rehberg’s vote for the House “cut, cap and balance” bill, saying the legislation would “lead to severe cuts in important programs, like infrastructure, education and Medicare.” Rehberg “dismissed the criticism as ‘scare tactics and divisiveness,’ and noted that the House plan explicitly protects spending for Social Security, Medicare and veterans.” [Missoulian, 7/20/11]
Dennis Rehberg On Wall Street Reform
Rehberg Voted to Limit the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s Power. On July 21, 2011 Rehberg voted for the bill that would replace the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s director with a five-member commission. It also would lower the vote threshold required for the Financial Stability Oversight Council to override Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rules from two-thirds to a simple majority and allow the council to override regulations that threaten the stability of individual institutions. According to the Washington Post, the bill would “make it easier to block the new Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s regulation of banking and other sectors of the financial-services industry. Under the bill, the Financial Stability Oversight Council in the Treasury Department could stay or veto the bureau’s proposed regulations by simple majority vote rather than the two-thirds majority now required.” [Roll Call 621, H 1315, 07/21/2011]
Scott Brown On Wall Street Reform
Brown Sought Provisions, Pushed By Banking Industry Lobbyists, to “Undercut a Central Pillar” of Wall Street Reform. While Wall Street Reform was in conference committee, Brown, other lawmakers, and banking industry lobbyists pushed for “provisions to undercut a central pillar of the legislation, known as the Volcker Rule, which would forbid banks from using their own money to make risky wagers on the market and would force them to sell off hedge funds and private equity units.” The changes would “benefit Boston-based money management giants like Fidelity Investments and State Street Corp. The biggest Wall Street firms would be helped as well.” [Boston Globe, 6/21/10]