Letter from Shelley
Friends and Colleagues,
Congress was in high-gear last week, with heated discussion about taxes, the economy and terrorist surveillance.
Budget Should Not Hike Taxes
As we face higher gas prices and a sluggish economy, the last thing West Virginians need is an increase in taxes. Yet, that is precisely what House Leadership proposed in Congress this week.
I fervently opposed their budget proposal, which would raise taxes by more than $683 billion over the next 5 years – or an additional $2,500 per year for the average Mountain State family. Small businesses would also see a steep tax hike under their plan, with nearly 27 million small business owners throughout the country paying an average of $4,000 of additional taxes each year.
This is the wrong solution at a time when many families are already struggling. We passed an economic stimulus package to promote job-growth and put money back in the hands of the American people, and we must not reverse that progress with a flawed budget.
Bill Would Extend Loan Benefits to Veterans
When Congress passed economic stimulus earlier this year, the legislation included a proposal to help struggling homeowners refinance mortgages through federally-backed mortgage programs. Under the original bill, however, the Veteran’s Administration home loan program was not slated for similar expansion.
To address this oversight, I introduced legislation to amend the Economic Stimulus Act to ensure that loan limits for the VA home loan program would expand to mirror other federal programs. I’m hopeful that this proposal can pass swiftly through Congress.
Leadership Continues to Stonewall on Terrorist Surveillance Bill
Once again, the House has adjourned without passing legislation to modernize our terrorist surveillance laws.
As communications technology advances, our intelligence officials must have a legal framework that enables them to adapt in turn. While the vast majority in Congress supports legislation passed with broad bipartisan support in the Senate, Speaker Pelosi continues to stonewall and refuses to bring the Senate bill to a vote in the House.
Due to her stonewalling, the Protect America Act expired last month and left our intelligence community in legal limbo. I believe that we must pass the Senate’s bipartisan surveillance bill to restore clarity for our intelligence community and ensure that they have the tools to do their job.
Sincerely,
Member of Congress
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Capito Calls for Federal Budget Without Tax Hikes
WASHINGTON - March 11, 2008 – Rep. Capito meets with representatives of the West Virginia Coaliton of Conservation Districts.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
Op-Ed: Budget Proposal is Misguided
Charleston Daily Mail
By Rep. Shelley Moore Capito
WHEN it comes to the federal budget, there is a lot Washington can learn from American families.
We have a choice to make about who is a better steward of West Virginia tax dollars - the federal government or the people that work so hard for their money.
I believe the answer is clear, and it is definitely not the federal government.
Yet we have a Democratic majority in Congress seeking to enact the largest tax hike in history in an apparent monument to fiscal irresponsibility.
Their proposal would raise taxes by a whopping $683 billion over the next five years. Put in perspective, this amounts to a tax hike of nearly $2,500 for the average West Virginia family.
Incredibly, their plan would put 6 million low-income Americans - who currently pay no income tax at all - back on the tax rolls at a time when they can least afford it.
Overall the majority's budget would increase marginal tax rates, re-implement the 10-percent tax bracket, increase taxes on small business, raise taxes on families with children, and increase tax rates on investments.
As many West Virginians face record gas prices and a slowing economy, this is a kitchen table issue. The majority's proposal is disturbingly misguided....
As we face significant financial challenges, I'm not willing to pass the buck to the American taxpayer.
The American people have called on their government to do more with less, and this budget debate presents an opportunity for Congress to take their advice.
To read the full text of this column, click here.
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Capito joins group pushing for coal power plant construction
Daily Mail
March 10, 2008
U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., has joined representatives from five other states in urging President Bush to continue the next-generation, coal-fired power plant project known as FutureGen as it was originally planned.
Bush announced the FutureGen project in 2003. There was an open competition among states to host the project. West Virginia fell out of contention last July, when an alliance of businesses participating in the project narrowed the list of possible plant sites from 12 to four - two in Texas and two in Illinois. In late November Gov. Joe Manchin voiced his support for Illinois' bid.
In December the FutureGen Alliance picked Mattoon, Ill., as the site for the $1.8 billion plant. But in January U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman restructured the project. Illinois leaders were stunned.
"We write to express our support for FutureGen, as it represents a vital investment in our country's energy future," Capito and the others wrote Bush on Wednesday. "With its vast coal resources, Ill., is an ideal location for FutureGen and we believe this initiative should move forward as originally envisioned."
Capito and others told Bush they have concerns that Bodman's restructured approach won't achieve the large-scale carbon sequestration results that the Illinois site promises.
"Mr. President, the communities and states that competed for this project expended thousands of hours and untold sums of money in good faith that the Administration's commitment to this scientifically worthy project would be fulfilled," Capito and the others wrote. "Please do not allow their work, and this opportunity, to be wasted."
To read the full text of this story, click here.
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