A New Agenda for Congress, Geithner Confirmed and New Rules for Car Makers
Democrats debate how far to go in compromising with Republicans in order to pass major legislation.
The Senate confirms Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary by a vote of 60-34.
President Obama orders the Department of Transportation to increase restrictions on fuel economy and to allow states to issue their own tailpipe emissions rules.
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1. CONGRESS
Democrats debate how far to go in compromising with Republicans in order to pass major legislation
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on CEI’s agenda for the new Congress:
“A truly effective economic stimulus program would reduce the ‘tariffs’ on wealth creation. It would free the world’s largest economy from excessive regulation and spending – by freezing both, for starters – and from the undisciplined political money and credit creation at the core of the financial crisis.”
2. POLITICS
The Senate confirms Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary by a vote of 60-34.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs Director John Berlau on the troubling implications of the vote:
“A Rasmussen poll finds that 41 percent of Americans oppose [Geithner’s] nomination and two-thirds think that his confirmation would show that different standards and rules apply to powerful people. This impression was confirmed by statements such as that of Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., that ‘in normal times, that would be enough to cause me to oppose his nomination, but these are not normal times.’ The perception that both corporations and individuals can be ‘too big to fail’ because of their supposed importance undermines the very credibility needed to restore confidence in our financial system.”
3. ENVIRONMENT
President Obama orders the Department of Transportation to increase restrictions on fuel economy and to allow states to issue their own tailpipe emissions rules.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: General Counsel Sam Kazman on the effect this change will have on the U.S. auto industry:
“Federal fuel economy standards are already a huge hidden burden on the industry, and the President is now proposing that make that burden even heavier. Congress is spending billions to bail out the auto industry, and here’s the President coming up with new ways to sink it.”
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