Maxine Waters RSS Articles

Ranking Member Waters' Floor Statement on H.R. 1062 “SEC Regulatory Accountability Act”

Fri, 17 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today made the following statement on the House Floor:

I rise to strongly oppose HR 1062. This bill places significant additional requirements for economic analysis by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), effectively bringing any efforts at rulemaking to a standstill.

Let’s be clear: the purpose of this legislative effort is to stop implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protect Act dead in its tracks. After losing in Congress, the fight against the Dodd-Frank Act moved to the courts, beginning with overturning the proxy access rules they adopted under authority provided by that Act. Although I agreed fully with the SEC’s position, a court found that the SEC did not meet its already significant requirements to conduct an economic analysis.

After the proxy access case was overturned, the SEC adopted improved standards for conducting cost-benefit analyses. These procedures were cited by the GAO last December as having all the elements of good regulatory analysis. Basically what the GAO is saying, we took a look we studied it and they do a good job.

Nonetheless, the bill before us today adds even more requirements, tying up SEC resources and putting it at even greater risk of litigation for every rule. Despite the assurances of my Republican colleagues that they are only applying the terms of an executive order to the SEC, that executive order explicitly protects agencies from lawsuits based on their economic analysis. HR 1062 has no such protection for the SEC.

The Commission is undertaking a valiant effort to finish the Dodd-Frank and JOBS Act rules, even in the face of attempts by the majority to restrict their funding. As the SEC attempts to balance capital formation with the need to protect investors, this bill weights the scales heavily in favor of industry over investors. In fact, the words “investor protection” do not appear anywhere in this bill. Even without this bill, we can count on industry lobbyists to sue the SEC any time it sees a weakness in the justification supporting a rule, as they have in several other cases currently before the courts.

And this bill does not apply only to new rules. This is extraordinary, and I want to say this so everybody understands. This bill would require the Commission to review every rulemaking ever issued – even those that have protected our securities markets since the Great Depression – one year after the adoption of this bill, and every 5 years thereafter. As a result, the Commission will be forced to divert resources away from other key areas, such as enforcement. This comes at a time when House Republicans want to hold SEC funding flat, despite the SEC’s new responsibilities, the increase in the number of participants it oversees, and the growth of complexity and size of US securities markets.

It is ironic that, as House Republicans push this bill forward, they also are calling for the SEC to speed up its efforts on JOBS Act rules. This bill makes it impossible for the SEC to meet the very deadline we adopted just two days ago when we passed HR 701. I urge my colleagues to oppose HR 1062.

Congresswoman Waters' Statement on 37th House Vote to Repeal the Affordable Care Act

Thu, 16 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43) released the following statement after the House voted to repeal the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") for the 37th time. The bill, the Patients’ Rights Repeal Act, passed by a vote of 229-195:

"Today, the House of Representatives voted for the 37th time to repeal or defund the Affordable Care Act. Although full implementation has yet to take place, millions of Americans are already seeing lower health care costs, better coverage and more control over their health care because of this law. Yet again, I voted against House Republican Leadership efforts to undo these critical improvements to health care in America.

"This repeal vote was an absurd waste of time. Like the 36 previous attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Senate will decline to take up the measure. At a time when the American people are awaiting action on bills that create jobs and expand the economy, this pointless vote is not only a waste of time, but also a waste of hard-earned taxpayer money. So far, this anti-health care crusade has cost American taxpayers a total of 52.4 million.

"Because of the Affordable Care Act, seniors in California have access to more affordable prescription drug coverage, children in California can stay on their family health plan until the age of 26, and women no longer have to worry about being dropped by their insurance companies once they become sick or pregnant. Families in California and across the country also no longer face lifetime limits on health care, and beginning in 2014 will no longer face discrimination because of a pre-existing condition.

"Despite the GOP’s best efforts to put insurance corporations back in charge of health care, I will continue to fight against their crusade and work to ensure complete and successful implementation of this landmark law. I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to end their grandstanding, get their priorities straight, and move on to more important issues facing our country."

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Waters vows action to avert 'unaffordable' premium hikes blamed on flood insurance bill

Sat, 11 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

The co-author of legislation that Louisiana officials say is leading to significant hikes in federal flood insurance premiums promised Saturday to work with congressional colleagues and the Obama administration officials to resolve the problem.

"As one of the primary authors of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act and a longtime advocate for the people of southern Louisiana, I can state that it was never the intent of Congress to impose the types of punitive and unaffordable flood insurance premiums that residents of southern Louisiana are currently facing," said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. "I am committed to working with my colleagues in Congress and with the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) to solve this problem."

At issue is the 2012 flood insurance reauthorization bill approved by Congress last year that phases out some subsidized flood insurance rates, allowing rate increases, depending on the property, of either 20 percent a year, or 25 percent, until properties reach actuarial status. The legislation was intended to make the debt-ridden flood insurance program fiscally sound.

The issue is complicated, the Louisiana officials said, by new Federal Emergency Management Agency maps that consider properties not protected by 100-year flood federal levees inadequately safeguarded against floods, making them significantly higher risks for purposes of calculating rates.

Those officials got good news Thursday during a meeting with David Miller, the associate administrator of the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration. He promised that FEMA would redo flood-risk maps to include locally built levees.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., has an amendment pending that would delay the premium increases authorized by the Biggert-Waters legislation for a year to give Congress a chance to fix a problem she said is leading to unaffordable premium increases. She wants to add the amendment to a pending water resources bill.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., a co-sponsor of the Landrieu amendment and one of the authors of the water resources bill, said he and other senators are looking for a way to resolve a congressional mandate to offset all legislation that can add to the federal deficit.

The Mellowing of Maxine Waters

Sat, 11 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

OVER her 22 years in Congress, Maxine Waters has likened bank executives to “gangsters,” snarkily addressed them as “captains of the universe” and threatened to tax their companies “out of business.”

The Democrat from Los Angeles, in other words, is not known for showing love to the financial industry.

So in March, when she visited a group of community bankers in a conservative corner of her district, she seemed ready for a chilly reception. “Let’s see what these guys have to say for themselves,” Ms. Waters said with a smirk as she emerged from her S.U.V.

Escorted to a private conference room at Malaga Bank, Ms. Waters grabbed a seat at the head of the table. A dozen or so bankers shuffled in, each armed with a tale of woe about the Dodd-Frank banking overhaul passed by Congress in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

The law is too tough, they groaned. Its capital requirements are too steep. One banker’s voice quivered as she described a regulatory examination of her bank. Another griped about regulators overstepping their bounds: “They can tell you how many pens and pencils we have in our drawers!”

In the past, such grumbling might have set off Ms. Waters’s famous hair-trigger temper. But with each complaint, she leaned in for more, nodding appreciatively. “We’ve heard they chase down silly stuff,” Ms. Waters said, referring to regulators and shaking her head in disapproval. “I’m willing to take a hit” to help lower the capital requirements, she said. She even suggested the bankers hire new lobbyists to better represent them. “Influence us,” Ms. Waters said softly, reminding them of her new role as the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. “Help us understand the intricacies of your business.”

This was not “kerosene Maxine,” the nickname Ms. Waters has earned for her tendency to hurl flammable remarks. (Exhibit A: She once screamed onstage in Los Angeles that “The Tea Party can go straight to hell, and I intend to help them get there.”) Rather, she was all empathy, vowing to use her new sway in Washington to protect the bankers’ interests. “You have a lot of good will right now,” she said. As for Dodd-Frank, Ms. Waters said she stood ready to defend the law, but also instructed the bankers to compile a “laundry list” of their concerns. “I don’t want you to look at this as being impossible to tweak,” she said.

After an hour of swiveling nervously in their chairs, the bankers broke into grins. One executive slapped Ms. Waters a high-five. Another embraced her.

“You’ve softened,” Paul C. Hudson, the chairman of Broadway Federal Bank, teased Ms. Waters. “I love the new Maxine.”

The New Maxine was born in part from Ms. Waters’s ascension, in January, on the House Financial Services Committee. Exonerated in September at the end of a three-year ethics investigation, she replaced Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, for whom the banking overhaul bill was named.

The influential Financial Services Committee oversees community banks and Wall Street alike. And Ms. Waters has softened somewhat, not just toward local bankers in her district who might expect her ear, but also toward the Wall Street C.E.O.’s she formerly reviled.

In recent months, she dined with John Stumpf, the C.E.O. of Wells Fargo, and met Wall Street chief executives like Michael L. Corbat of Citigroup and Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase. It’s what she called “an open-door policy.” Most notably, given her penchant for railing against Wall Street abuses, she recently pushed regulators to delay certain rule changes on high-stakes derivatives trading. The regulators ultimately agreed.

The move may seem at odds with her track record as a rabble-rouser and consumer activist. In her long committee tenure, Ms. Waters positioned herself to the left of fellow Democrats, making her name on issues like affordable housing and foreclosure prevention. Ms. Waters acknowledged that “some of my friends will not agree” with all of her recent decisions. But after two decades in Congress, she says she has learned to pick her battles.

One battle emerged in recent days. In the face of intense lobbying pressure, Ms. Waters voted on Tuesday to oppose several House bills that would water down Dodd-Frank, a move that one consumer advocate called “gutsy.”

“Sometimes the advocates won’t like what I’m doing, and sometimes the industry won’t,” Ms. Waters said during the tour of her district in March. Then, raising her voice and striking a feistier tone, she added: “I’m not owned by anyone.”

A softer touch with the nation’s biggest banks could allow her to score points — and campaign donations — from an industry unhappy with her previous approach. And being more willing to compromise could also afford her new credibility on Capitol Hill to press her central focus — the cause of consumers. But at a time when bank lobbyists are stepping up their attack on regulators, her soothing words to bankers raise a question: just how committed is the New Maxine to the banking changes she helped pass just three years ago?

IN the back seat of the Infiniti S.U.V. driving down Interstate 110, Ms. Waters glanced at her cellphone, anxious that she was running late for a tour of nearby homes that recently emerged from foreclosure. She barked directions at her driver, pointing to a detour that might shave five minutes off the trip.

Ms. Waters, who flies from Washington to her Los Angeles district almost every weekend, knows the territory well. She moved here from St. Louis a decade after high school, where the senior yearbook predicted she would become speaker of the House.

Arriving with her children, she enrolled in college at what is now California State University, Los Angeles. After a stint at Head Start, Ms. Waters joined the board of Essence magazine as she raised her profile in local politics. As a state lawmaker, she cemented her activist credentials during a bitter campaign to prevent California pension funds from investing in companies doing business with South Africa during apartheid.

Ms. Waters was elected to Congress in 1990, and has easily held her seat ever since, even as the district stretched farther away from inner-city south Los Angeles to the conservative community of Torrance. At 74, she shows few signs of the wear and tear of Washington. Ms. Waters swims 10 to 15 laps every weekend and adheres to a diet known as the 16-hour fast, routinely depriving herself of food until after sundown.

She has become famous — or infamous — for her public remarks as well, from her defense of the violence in the 1992 Los Angeles riots as “somewhat understandable” to a kindergarten-style verbal tussle with Peter King, a New York Republican, on the House floor that escalated to the moment when she told him to “shut up.” She also stubbornly supported Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that backstop the mortgage market, before their federal takeover.

Yet Democrats say the public perception of Ms. Waters as a firebrand is often out of context.

“That caricature is totally incomplete,” said Dwight Fettig, a former top official on the Senate Banking Committee who is now a Democratic lobbyist at Porterfield, Lowenthal & Fettig. “People underestimate her at their own peril.”

Her reputation does not seem to trouble her constituents, either; she is politically invincible in her district, in part because of her advocacy on behalf of ordinary homeowners. She memorably let “Nightline” tape her as she spent two frustrating hours on the phone being switched from one unhelpful bank employee to the next, trying in vain to secure loan modifications for her constituents. And one of her major efforts was writing legislation that created the Neighborhood Stabilization Program to revamp foreclosed homes.

During her trip to her district in March, she toured a once-blighted Los Angeles neighborhood that had received stabilization funds. In high heels and a hard hat, the congresswoman moved from house to house, greeted like a celebrity. Construction workers threw their arms around her. A police officer chased Ms. Waters down the street, trying to snap her picture.

Ms. Waters, already behind schedule, obliged the added distraction. “My wife would kill me if I didn’t do this,” the officer declared.

MS. WATERS’S safe seat and her longevity on the Financial Services Committee meant that when Mr. Frank retired, she was in line to succeed him.

But until a few months earlier, the promotion had been in doubt, as Ms. Waters awaited the results of a long-running House ethics investigation.

In the fall of 2008, as Washington scrambled to rescue Wall Street banks at the height of the financial crisis, Ms. Waters contacted Henry M. Paulson Jr., then the Treasury secretary, to arrange a meeting on behalf of a trade group representing beleaguered minority-owned banks — including a firm in which her husband owned stock. Ms. Waters’s husband, Sidney Williams — the former N.F.L. linebacker and ambassador to the Bahamas — stood to lose about $350,000 if the bank, OneUnited, failed.

When the meeting was held, Treasury officials were surprised to see that OneUnited was the only minority-owned bank represented. In response to a question, OneUnited’s executives made an appeal for a $50 million bailout. The suggestion that a congresswoman intervened to serve the financial interest of her husband kicked off a long, convoluted investigation that involved the establishment of a special ethics committee.

Last fall the committee exonerated Ms. Waters, after an independent investigator ruled that she intended to act on behalf of all minority-owned banks, not just OneUnited. According to the independent investigator, Ms. Waters learned about OneUnited’s appeal only after the meeting in 2008.

The ethics committee, however, admonished Ms. Waters’s chief of staff, who is also her grandson, for twice trying to assist OneUnited. And the events prompted the committee to amend some of its ethics rules.

The exoneration paved the way for Ms. Waters to take over Mr. Frank’s post. That news troubled Wall Street. Ms. Waters, lobbyists noted, was long hostile to their interests. She was, for example, a rare voice in opposition to a 1999 law that struck down Depression-era banking laws. That law, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, has since been implicated as one cause of the 2008 financial crisis. “I voted no,” she later boasted. “I was right.”

Ms. Waters also played a crucial role in passing Mr. Frank’s financial overhaul, pushing a provision that would make it easier for shareholders to oust a company’s board members. And at Mr. Frank’s urging, Ms. Waters helped sell the bill to the Congressional Black Caucus, delivering critical votes. “She was one of the closest relationships I’ve had,” Mr. Frank said recently.

With that track record in mind, some on Wall Street assumed that Ms. Waters would make Mr. Frank, one of the more liberal members of Congress, look like a free-market conservative.

But as Ms. Waters settled into her new role, she sent different signals. Just months after condemning Mr. Dimon for his opposition to some measures on derivatives, Ms. Waters urged regulators to delay the very same rules.

According to officials briefed on the matter, lobbyists for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs requested meetings with Ms. Waters’s aides to raise concerns about the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s plans to impose new derivatives rules on banks operating overseas. The lobbyists argued that American authorities should stand down until foreign regulators acted. Those concerns were echoed in December when a liberal member of the trading commission, Bart Chilton, came out in favor of a slight delay to the rules. Days later, Ms. Waters sent a letter to Gary Gensler, the chairman of the commission, asking for a six-month delay.

“I am writing to you to relay some of the concerns I have heard from various stakeholders,” she wrote to Mr. Gensler. (Ms. Waters’s aides say that she did not send the letter until Mr. Chilton “tipped the scales.” )

Still, the move elicited concern among critics of Wall Street who feared banks were winning over Ms. Waters.

“She should be shoring up regulators’ spines, not clipping their wings,” said Jeff Connaughton, a former lobbyist and Congressional staff member who recently wrote a book entitled “The Payoff: Why Wall Street Always Wins.” Bartlett Naylor, a policy advocate at Public Citizen, a consumer rights group, called the derivatives letter “troubling,” adding that Ms. Waters “needn’t add her voice to the cacophony from antireform Wall Street apologists.”

Ms. Waters, however, noted that she voted against recent House bills that could curb the trading commission’s overseas authority. And unless she is “diametrically opposed,” Ms. Waters said, she is willing “to take a chance” on some pro-industry efforts.

The letter to Mr. Gensler was unlikely to upset broad swaths of her base, which is generally more interested in housing issues than derivatives. In fact, Mr. Naylor said that Ms. Waters continued to be “a stalwart defender of the American consumer.” He noted that the new role has not stopped Ms. Waters from meeting with consumer advocates, faulting banks for their foreclosure abuses and opposing legislative efforts to weaken the Dodd-Frank law. “When Wall Street interacts with me,” Ms. Waters said, “they will see I understand how things work.”

MS. WATERS’S shift in tone is not without precedent. The influential place she now holds has been known to nudge the staunchest liberals to the center, including her predecessor, Mr. Frank. “You make a trade-off when you’re at the top of the committee,” he said. “You gain a lot more influence but you give up some freedom to speak out.”

The ranking member on the Financial Services Committee typically takes in millions in donations from the financial services industry. As of now, Ms. Waters has received few dollars from the banking industry. Other than a recent $2,500 donation from Goldman Sachs’s political action committee, her coffers are largely stocked with money from unions and other liberal causes.

For Wall Street, Ms. Waters’s more open approach to the industry was a welcome change. “The outreach has been very sincere,” said James C. Ballentine, a lobbyist for the American Bankers Association.

Still, just how far that outreach goes — and whether her softening tone becomes a willingness to weaken Dodd-Frank — is a question that concerns consumer advocates. Bank lobbyists continue to argue for watering down the law’s provisions, and Ms. Waters’s public statements suggest she is trying to please both sides.

During a speech last month at the United States Chamber of Commerce in Washington, Ms. Waters opened the door to “revisit, modify and clarify” some of Dodd-Frank, while also stating her continued opposition “to wholesale revisions.” And at a committee hearing on Tuesday, Ms. Waters led a fight against a set of House bills that could unwind Dodd-Frank’s derivatives provisions, saying she was “exceedingly nervous about reopening the bill.” She did so over the objections of Wall Street lobbyists and even several Democrats.

Still, of the five derivatives bills under consideration, she voted in favor of two.

“She clearly understands that her role has changed,” said Kenneth E. Bentsen Jr., a former Democratic congressman who served on the House committee with Ms. Waters and is now the acting president of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, a Wall Street lobbying group.

“But Maxine Waters is no shrinking violet,” he said, “and I don’t think any of that’s going to change.”

In the room with the California bankers, Ms. Waters suggested that at least when it comes to regulating community banks, things were going to be different.

“I think that you have made this effort of outreach is just extremely encouraging to us in the room,” said Randy C. Bowers, the head of Malaga Bank.

Ms. Waters welcomed the praise. “I do make myself available,” she said. “And now I have an opportunity as a ranking member,” she said, where “I can help you.”

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Officials: Obama naming NC's Watt for housing post

Fri, 10 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

President Barack Obama nominated veteran Rep. Melvin Watt to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the government regulator that oversees lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He also has chosen a former telecommunications lobbyist to head the Federal Communications Commission, the White House said.

Watt, a North Carolina Democrat who has been in Congress for 20 years, would replace Edward DeMarco, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, who has been a target of housing advocates, liberal groups and Democratic lawmakers.

Obama also has settled on Tom Wheeler, one of his top campaign fundraisers, to become the country's top telecommunications regulator. The president is expected to name FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn to serve as acting chairwoman.

Senate confirmation is required for both posts.

“I commend President Obama on his nomination of Congressman Melvin 'Mel' Watt as director of the FHFA,” said Attorney General Kamala D. Harris on May 1 after the nomination.

“As Californians work to recover from the mortgage crisis, they need a strong director at FHFA who will be an advocate for homeowners and champion their rights. My number one priority has always been the welfare of Californians, and I am confident that Congressman Watt will advance policies that serve the best interest of working families in California and across the country. I look forward to working with him.”

Watt's nomination comes at a crucial time for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-controlled mortgage-finance enterprises. The government rescued the companies at the height of the financial crisis in September 2008 as they teetered near collapse from losses on mortgage loans gone bad.

Taxpayers have spent about $170 billion to rescue the companies. So far, they have repaid $55.2 billion.

Fannie and Freddie together own or guarantee about half of all U.S. mortgages, or nearly 31 million home loans. Those loans are worth more than $5 trillion. Along with other federal agencies, they back roughly 90 percent of new mortgages.

The nomination comes as the housing industry is making a comeback. Home prices are up, foreclosures are down and housing construction is on the rise. Moreover, Fannie Mae had its biggest yearly profit last year, earning $17.2 billion.

Watt, a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee and former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, played an influential role in the passage of a financial regulatory overhaul in 2010. That legislation, however, did not address the fate of the major mortgage lenders, an issue likely to come up during Obama's second term.

His colleague Congresswoman Maxine Waters described Watt as “thoughtful, well informed, principled and fair.”

“I have worked very closely with Representative Watt for almost 20 years,” Waters said in a statement, also released May 1 after the nomination.

“We have served together on the House Financial Services Committee since 1994, where Mel is highly respected by colleagues on both sides of the aisle as a consummate legislator with the vision to see what Congress can do to help make people’s lives better and the determination to move a good bill through the legislative process. Representative Watt is always respectful of opposing viewpoints and can often find common ground when others can find none. He is accepting, open-minded and collaborative – and he gets things done.”

Watt represents the Charlotte area, home base of behemoth Bank of America Corp. He becomes yet another high-profile African-American and the second North Carolinian nominated by Obama in three days to a top government post. On Monday, Obama nominated Anthony Foxx, mayor of Charlotte, to head the Transportation Department.

Watt, who has a consistently liberal voting record, is expected to face Republican opposition to his confirmation and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., was among the first to express disappointment.

The White House was already lining up supporters who might hold some sway with GOP senators.

"This gives new meaning to the adage that the fox is guarding the hen house," Corker, a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, said in a written statement. "The debate around his nomination will illuminate for all Americans why Fannie and Freddie failed so miserably."

Congresswoman Waters Addresses National Dental Association

Thu, 09 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Congresswoman Maxine Waters delivered the following remarks during the National Dental Association's 14th Annual "NDA Day on Capitol Hill" on Thursday, May 9, 2013:

"This year, I am especially proud to join you for the Centennial Anniversary of the National Dental Association. During the past 100 years, you have been in the forefront of the movement for health care reform.
Let me remind you, the Affordable Care Act was signed into law three years ago. It’s not perfect, but it’s already making a difference in the lives of American families. Millions of uninsured Americans will gain access to affordable coverage when the new health exchanges open in January. Insurance plans in these new marketplaces will be required to cover children’s dental care.

"The House Republicans have already voted 34 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and they are bringing another repeal bill to the floor next week. What they should be doing is stopping sequestration.

"Medicaid and Medicare are exempt from sequestration. Now, I know many of you serve patients who are on Medicaid. I am deeply grateful to you for your service to these patients, because I know there are many dentists who are not willing to serve them. And I will do everything I can to protect Medicaid, and the families who depend on it.

"Nevertheless, sequestration is having a devastating impact on health programs across this country. Cuts to Community Health Centers could leave 1 million low-income and uninsured patients without basic medical and dental services.

"Instead of ending sequestration, House Republicans are trying to make even deeper cuts in essential government services. The Ryan plan slashes $810 billion from Medicaid over the next 10 years, jeopardizing care for millions of seniors in nursing homes and undermining health care for low-income children, families, and persons with disabilities. Slashing Medicaid could leave millions of children without access to basic medical and dental services. And it could lead to more needless tragedies like the heartbreaking case of Deamonte Driver, the 12-year-old boy who died from complications of tooth decay because his mother could not afford to take him to a dentist.

"We have to protect Medicaid and other essential medical and dental programs and end sequestration, and we have to end it now! And this is why it is so important for the National Dental Association to be back on Capitol Hill! Thank you for celebrating your 100th anniversary by returning to Capitol Hill and speaking truth to power."

Congresswoman Waters Pledge Action on Private Student Loan Debt

Thu, 09 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Two senior Democratic lawmakers from the House – Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Ranking Member on the Financial Services Committee and Congressman George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the Education and the Workforce Committee– released the following joint statement today after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a report highlighting ways in which student loan debt can have a domino effect on other financial decisions for consumers. For example, the report found that student loan debt can limit graduates’ ability to access small business credit and start a business, affect their ability to qualify for a mortgage and purchase their first home, and may limit the choices they make about their careers and where they choose to live.

"We commend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for their continued research and analysis into the consequences of student loan debt in the economy. This report increases the mounting evidence that student loan debt is a drag on economic growth and potentially a shackle for many borrowers who struggle with unmanageable monthly payments. We are committed to closely examining the report’s findings and look forward to working with the CFPB, stakeholders and colleagues in Congress to ensure that students who are saddled by unmanageable private education loans have a clear path to financial stability.

"In the meantime, the CFPB’s research demonstrates the urgent need for Congress to address the looming interest rate hike on need-based student loans. In this economy, now is not the time to ask students with the greatest need to be burdened by higher loan costs. As Congress considers various solutions in the days ahead, we must not lose sight of the fact that our actions on the interest rate will directly impact the financial security of these borrowers; their ability to contribute to their local economies; and our nation's economic future as a whole."

Westchester: Council offers motion to fund second light rail stop

Thu, 09 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Once considered an afterthought on the Crenshaw/LAX Corridor Light Rail Line, the proposed Hindry Avenue station in Westchester has had some influential supporters come to its aid this year in an attempt to revive hope for a second Westchester stop on the mass transit line.

Los Angeles Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents Westchester, joined his council colleague, Bernard Parks, in seconding a motion May 1 that would direct bond funding towards constructing a station near the Inglewood border on Hindry Avenue, which has long been the hope of east Westchester residents.

“The March 15, 2013 report to the city administration office relative to Measure R Local Return Programming states that the Department of Transportation estimates that $259 million in bond proceeds could be available to combine with $54.5 million in cash for a total of $313.5 million between fiscal years 2014-18,” the motion states.

The city would have $227 million in bond proceeds generated if Metro issued debt for the city and assuming that at least $200 million in bond proceeds could be generated, the city would be able to access $55 million in new revenue, according to the Public Resources Advisory Group, one of Los Angeles’ financial advisors.

The motions asks the city transportation committee for an amendment that would include an instruction for the city’s administrative officer to present a proposal to bond against future Measure R revenues to obtain a $40 million contribution from the city to build an underground station at Leimert Park and use $15 million toward a Hindry station.

Currently, there is one station at the end of the light rail line in Westchester at Century and Aviation boulevards, but light rail advocates have lobbied for an additional station closer to the eastern portion of Westchester.

The 8.5-mile light rail project will run between the Metro Expo Line on Exposition Boulevard and the Metro Green Line. It will serve the Crenshaw Corridor, Inglewood, Westchester, and Los Angeles International Airport area with six stations, a maintenance facility, park and ride lots, traction power substations and the acquisition of rail vehicles and maintenance equipment.

Westchester resident Judy Citreon was elated to hear about the renewed interest in a station near her home in east Westchester.

“It would be wonderful for people here in our neighborhood and local businesses to be able to access the mass transit system that is going to go all over Los Angeles,” she said.

Rosendahl said having another station at Westchester will allow his constituents to travel throughout Los Angeles without using their vehicles, as Citreon said.

“This means that a lot of people don’t have to get into their cars any more to go to (LAX),” the councilman said.

Rosendahl is the second legislator with local ties to explore funding for the Hindry station.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Westchester) is also seeking to help her constituents with a second station through a federal grant, which she announced March 13.

The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Grants for Job Creation Act, which was announced March 13, would provide $1 billion over a two-year period for transportation infrastructure, including light rail.

“These funds can certainly help with (stations in Leimert Park and Westchester),” the congresswoman told The Argonaut. “With these grants, cities and counties can apply for more funding for the transportation projects that they have identified.”

In recent months, there have been discussions about an extension into LAX. Airport officials as well as Rosendahl support a direct extension to LAX from the Crenshaw Line.

Playa del Rey resident Jim Kennedy is also in favor of another Westchester stop.

“There are many very positive, common sense reasons for building the station,” said Kennedy, a former Rosendahl field deputy. “Westchester doesn’t have a station, as Century/Aviation will be very expensive parking for the airport. Many residences and businesses are within walking distance with quick access from the 405 (freeway) and bus lines, (there is) a 2.5-mile gap between La Brea and Florence avenues and Century and Aviation boulevards and (it is projected to) cost only $10-15 million.”

Kennedy echoed a familiar refrain regarding the Century and Aviation station, which is within the Westchester border. Some residents have stated that it does not qualify as a true light rail stop because it is at the end of the Crenshaw/LAX line.

He also feels that a second Westchester station will “encourage beautification and community revitalization, and many more community benefits.”

In 2011 Rosendahl’s office created an online petition to back a motion by county Fourth District Supervisor Don Knabe for transit authorities to include a stop at Hindry Avenue in the construction bids for the light rail line.

“Supervisor Knabe’s motion to include the Hindry/Westchester station in the upcoming Crenshaw/LAX Corridor project construction bids would provide for a future Westchester station if it can be designed and constructed within the project budget,” the petition stated. “The motion would also keep open the opportunity to pay for a station from sources outside the Metro budget, should funding become available.

“A Hindry station could spur the type of urban renewal that would bring vast economic and community benefits to this under-utilized corridor in Westchester,” the online petition continued. “Further, it would close an unusually long gap of 3.5 miles between stations in the currently approved project.”

Prior to countywide redistricting in 2010, Knabe represented all of Westchester.

Second District Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas represents both Leimert Park and Westchester east of Lincoln Boulevard, but has publicly lobbied only for the former.

In an amendment to Knabe’s motion, Ridley-Thomas asked that a second Westchester station be included as a “bid option” during the construction procurement phase and be conditional upon a Leimert Park underground station.

Rosendahl thanked Parks for bringing the motion forward.

“I appreciate that Bernard appreciated our desire for another station in Westchester,” he said. “I’m very optimistic about this.”

Leuzinger High student wins Congressional Art contest

Tue, 07 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Leuzinger High School senior Christopher Lizama has won first place for an art piece he submitted in the 2013 Congressional Art Competition.

South Bay Rep. Maxine Waters recognized the 17-year-old Hawthorne resident this week along with 23 other local high school students of the 43rd District who participated in the contest.

Lizama won a $600 cash prize and a trip to Washington, D.C., where his piece will be displayed for a year. District officials said this is his second first-place award in 2013; he also won a MacBook Pro as the grand prize winner in West Basin Municipal Water District's Annual "Water is Life" Student Art contest.

The second-place award in the Congressional Art Competition went to Adrian Sanchez, a senior at St. Bernard Catholic High School in Playa del Rey, and the third-place winner is Soohyun Park, a sophomore at North High School in Torrance, Waters' office said. Inglewood High School senior Adilah Trimble won fourth place.

"The Congressional Art Competition is a wonderful way to recognize the creative talents of young artists from our community, and I commend both the students and their teachers for their hard work," Waters said in a statement. "I look forward to displaying their remarkable talent for one year in my offices and the U.S. Capitol."

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Congresswoman Waters Congratulates 2013 Congressional Art Competition Winners

Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

On Wednesday, May 1, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43) recognized 24 high school students of the 43rd Congressional District who participated in the 2013 Congressional Art Competition. Students, teachers and parents were joined by Congresswoman Waters at the Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena, Calif. for a reception to honor the students. Since its inception in 1982, over 750,000 high school students have participated in the nation-wide Congressional Art Competition.

"The Congressional Art Competition is a wonderful way to recognize the creative talents of young artists from our community, and I commend both the students and their teachers for their hard work," said Congresswoman Waters. "I look forward to displaying their remarkable talent for one year in my offices and the U.S. Capitol."

This year’s participants included students representing eight high schools across the 43rd Congressional District. The first place prize winner is Christopher Lizama of Leuzinger High School (Lawndale), where he is taught by Mr. Kyle Jennings. Christopher will have his artwork displayed in the Nation’s Capitol for one year. He will also receive two complimentary, round-trip plane tickets to Washington D.C. for the official unveiling ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on June 26. The second place award was presented to Adrian Sanchez of St. Bernard Catholic High School (Westchester), where he is taught by Mr. Ron Baum. Adrian’s piece will be showcased in the Congresswoman’s Washington D.C. office during the coming year.

The third place winner is Soohyun Park, who studies at Torrance’s North High School and is taught by Mr. Justin Yeom and Ms. Alissa Park. The fourth place prize was awarded to Adilah Trimble, of Inglewood High School, where she is instructed by Mr. Clifford Johnson. Soohyun and Adilah's artwork will be on display for the next year in Congresswoman Waters’ Los Angeles office.

Below, pictured from left to right are:

2nd Place winner, Adrian Sanchez, a senior at St. Bernard Catholic High School in Westchester; 3rd Place winner, Soohyun Park, a sophomore at Torrance North High School; Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43); 4th Place winner, Adilah Trimble, a senior at Inglewood High School; and 1st Place winner, Christopher Lizama, a senior at Leuzinger High School in Lawndale.

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