Statement on sentencing of Chinese dissident

Meridian, ID - Earlier today, Chinese dissident and activist Liu Xiaobo was sentenced by a Chinese court for his work to spread democratic ideals in that country.

Idaho Congressman Walt Minnick released the following statement:
“I join the American people in condeming the sentencing of Mr. Liu Xiaobo,” MInnick said. “His so-called crime was simple: declaring that all qualified Chinese citizens, regardless of their membership in the Communist Party, should have the right to select their leaders by free, fair and open elections. His punishment is deplorable.”
Minnick first took up Liu Xiaobo’s cause in May, during a commencement speech at the University of Idaho. Minnick later passed through the U.S. House of Representatives a bipartisan resolution calling on the Chinese government to release the dissident and acitivist. Minnick has also met with officials from the U.S. State Department to highlight Mr. Liu’s case.

Walt works to help National Guard, youth

Originally published December 21,2009

Meridian, ID – Idaho Congressman Walt Minnick met today with members of the Idaho National Guard to discuss details of new legislation designed to benefit a program for high-school dropouts.

During a visit this morning to Gowen Field, Minnick discussed the “National Guard Youth Challenge Enhancement Act” with local Guard officials before touring the facility to learn more about local Guard issues.

“My bill will help get this program off the ground in Idaho,” Minnick said. “I’m happy to do what I can to give Idaho National Guard members the resources they need carry out their mission, and to help them get at-risk kids back on track.”

Founded by Congress in 1993, the National Guard Youth Challenge Program is a multi-phased intervention program targeting high school dropouts between the ages of 16 and 18.  The Program combines military-based discipline and training with educational instruction, experiential learning and mentoring.

Students spend five months in a residential program, where they learn practical life skills and are educated within a rigorous structure. That is followed by 12 months of post-residential work, where skilled mentors are matched to program graduates.

“This program is successful at 36 sites in 28 states,” said Col. Tim Kelly, with the Idaho National Guard. “It is the right thing to do for kids who may need some help, but funding is the real challenge.”

Minnick’s bill, which will be introduced in January, would help fund such a program in Idaho by authorizing the Secretary of Defense to cover three years of start-up costs for local units interested in founding programs of their own.

Walt votes to protect Idaho farm families

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to prevent a massive increase on taxes paid when parents pass along a business or longtime savings to their children.

Idaho Congressman Walt Minnick co-sponsored a separate measure that would have further reduced the existing tax and increased the exemption taken by Idaho families. Minnick also voted for a procedural measure on the floor that would have repealed the estate tax altogether for two years.

However, neither of those measures passed. Minnick ultimately voted for the final bill, which keeps in place the existing law and structure, without the increase that would have happened otherwise.

“Idaho farm families need a guarantee that they can plan for the future without an onerous increase to the estate tax,” Minnick said. “Had we not passed this bill, the law would have required that the tax be increased and the exemption decreased. In these tough times, that is just not acceptable.”

More information:
The bill is HR 4154, and permanently extended existing law to ensure that 99 percent of families never pay estate taxes.
The bill maintains the estate tax exemption at $7 million per couple (or for a family-owned business, such as a farm), instead of letting it drop to $2 million in 2011, and maintains the current tax rate of 45 percent.
This bill was supported by the National Farmers Union.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, only 100 small business and farm estates would owe any estate tax in 2010 with the extension of the 2009 rules were extended.

We need stringent reforms, tough accountability for financial system

I have grown increasingly angry and frustrated by the sense of entitlement from Wall Street and big financial institutions.

Like most Idahoans, I believe that no business is too big to fail, and that everyone should play by the same rules. However, over the last year we taxpayers were forced to shell out billions in bailouts for people who knew their companies wouldn’t fail, and who knew that they could get away with paying themselves huge bonuses, regardless of earnings.

Main Street suffered, while those on Wall Street who caused the problem made out like bandits. The game was rigged and the taxpayers lost – lost jobs, tax dollars and faith in our financial system – in a way that only amplifies the anger we all feel.

Thankfully, things are about to change.

After a year of work, Congress is about to consider a comprehensive overhaul of the regulations governing our nation’s financial systems. The bill will be debated on the floor in the coming week, and I very much hope it will pass with a broad bipartisan majority.
I will vote for it in part because I am privileged to have been given the chance to craft key pieces of this legislation. One of the reasons the people of Idaho gave me an opportunity to serve in Congress is because they thought my 35 years of business experience might prove useful in helping move our country in the right direction.
For example, when I was running an Idaho forest products company, we could purchase currency futures or other derivatives to protect the company from changes in interest rates or big price shifts in Canadian timber. But over the last 10 years I watched as Wall Street speculators, betting with other people’s money, mutated and abused derivatives without worry or fear of federal regulation.
The consequence of this and other Wall Street excess was to force taxpayer bailouts of one failing firm after another, and to plunge the economy into the worst recession in 25 years.  But passing the bill Congress will take up next week will keep that from ever happening again.
This bill will require those speculative big banks and businesses to keep proper reserves, disclose their trades and submit to federal government regulation. They will only be able to take risks they can afford.

This bill will also make sure that failure of one firm will not put Idaho businesses, families and local government at risk. And if a big financial firm does fail, this bill makes sure that taxpayers won’t suffer the loss – the company’s shareholders will.
Although I intend to vote for it, I don’t like everything in this bill. In fact, parts do not go far enough to protect consumers and small business, whether they deal with a payday lender or a giant bank on Wall Street.
One section in particular can be improved. This week I will offer an amendment that will strengthen the regulatory system by changing the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency to a powerful Council of Regulators charged with establishing tough, new consumer regulations for all financial firms.
This “Council” would standardize consumer regulations and ensure that all state and federal regulators give consumer protection the same priority as is given to maintaining the safety and soundness of the institutions themselves.

One strong regulator with responsibility for both the financial soundness of a bank or other financial institution and protecting its customers from fraud and abuse is far better than splitting these tasks between two weaker, feuding agencies, each with only half of the accountability. Consumers will be better-protected if we have fewer agencies with broader responsibilities and a strict mandate for reform.
I believe in the free market and in the opportunity all Americans have to succeed, but everyone should play by the same rules.  But the chance to succeed means that everyone – every big bank, every auto company, every hedge fund – must also be allowed to fail if they make mistakes.  No matter how big or powerful a business becomes, never again should the American taxpayer be forced to bail out Wall Street, Detroit or anyone else.
I have been privileged to spend countless hours helping craft key pieces of this bill, which will impose some of the most stringent reforms and toughest accountability our financial system has seen in the last 75 years.
But that’s what we need, because it’s time to level the playing field and end the rigged game.

Two credit measures for consumers

Washington, D.C. – In these tough times, Idahoans deserve the chance to buy a home or attend college without having to worry about unfair marks from credit agencies.

That’s why Idaho Congressman Walt Minnick is supportive of two key measures to make sure that people facing tough times don’t have to worry about permanent damage to their credit scores.

“Too many Idahoans have had to argue with an insurance company over who is responsible for paying a medical bill, or have had to deal with an inaccurate item on a credit report due to fraud or error,” Minnick said. “We need stringent measures to make sure that those disputes don’t cost someone a chance at a mortgage or a college education.”

Last month Minnick supported the bipartisan Credit Rating Agencies Reform bill when it passed the House Financial Services Committee. The bill clarified that individuals have the right to sue rating agencies, requires that the agencies be better supervised and that they have independent members on their boards of directors. The bill also requires greater public transparency by these agencies.
During the summer, Minnick signed on as an original co-sponsor of the Medical Debt Relief Act of 2009. The bill prohibits credit bureaus from using settled medical debt as a determining factor in approval for mortgages and other consumer purchases. A 2008 study by the Commonwealth Fund found that 79 million Americans had problems with medical debt.

Even after the debt has been paid off or settled, the can linger and damage someone’s credit score. However, under this bill the creditor or credit rating agency has 30 days from the date the debt is paid off or settled to expunge the collection from the consumer’s record.