Peter Welch

Dem Rep. Peter Welch To Obama: Libya Should Pay U.S. Back

David Taintor | October 24, 2011, 1:00PM

Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) wants Libya to pay the U.S. back.

In a letter to President Obama released Saturday, Welch wrote, "We believe it is essential that Libya reimburse the American taxpayer for the cost of our participation in the NATO mission."

Welch told TPM that repaying the U.S. would be a great way for Libya to build self-confdience and really "own their success," adding that the oil-rich country has the financial resources to do so.

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Occupy Wall Street

Dems Press Eric Holder To Investigate Banks For Colluding Over ATM Fees

Brian Beutler | October 14, 2011, 5:50AM

Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT)

If you're a member of Congress trying to rein in Wall Street, now's your moment, and Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) is seizing it.

Welch helped lead the effort in 2010 to limit the "swipe fees" banks can charge retailers for each debit card transaction -- fees retailers passed on to consumers. Those rules went into effect earlier this year and, as if to serve as recruiters for the anti-Wall Street protests spreading across the country, Bank of America and other financial firms decided to recoup the lost profits by imposing an ATM fee on their customers -- a penalty of sorts for having automated access to your own money.

In a functioning market this practice might have ended before it began, as disgruntled customers took their business to firms that didn't attempt to bilk their customers.

That's not happening. So Welch wants Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate these banks for collusive behavior.

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Government Shutdown

House Dems Whip Against GOP Government Funding Bill Over Disaster Relief

Brian Beutler | September 21, 2011, 2:21PM

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

House Dem leadership is urging all caucus members to oppose the Republican legislation to continue funding the government past September 30 on the grounds that it cuts a popular manufacturing program to pay for federal disaster aid.

"Democratic Members are urged to vote NO on the previous question and the bill -- as disasters are an emergency and we should not have to cut good-paying American jobs to provide essential disaster relief for families, small businesses, and communities," reads a memo from Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's office.

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Debt Ceiling

Steny Hoyer Slams GOP's 'Political Charade,' Urges Dems To Vote Down 'Clean' Debt Limit Increase

Benjy Sarlin | May 31, 2011, 2:40PM

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) is urging his colleagues to vote down today's "clean" debt limit extension to deprive the GOP of a political win, even though he and the majority of his caucus publicly favor the legislation.

His advice underscores the topsy-turvy politics of Tuesday's upcoming vote on a Republican-sponsored bill that would raise the ceiling on government borrowing without tacking on any spending cuts or additional riders. While the legislation is exactly what most Democrats want to see pass, Republicans are bringing it to the floor with the expectation that it will fail -- likely with unanimous GOP opposition. The point of the vote is to divide progressive and conservative Democrats and bolster Republican arguments that major cuts are needed to successfully pass a debt ceiling hike.

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Debt Ceiling

Pete Welch: Business Is On Democratic Side In The Debt Ceiling Fight

Evan McMorris-Santoro | May 12, 2011, 10:16AM

Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT)

The debt ceiling fight in Congress is partly about which side is better attuned to the voice of American business. Republicans say business isn't too worried about the debt fight, and would rather see spending get cut than see the issue of the debt ceiling cleared off the table with a simple up or down vote. Democrats say that's wrong and insist that business is in fact freaking out as the deadline to raise the borrowing limit approaches.

Earlier this week, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) told reporters that Wall Street wasn't too worried about the debt ceiling fight. The business leaders he talks to, Cantor said, could care less about the looming specter of national default, despite the doom and gloom coming from the White House and economists.

On Wednesday, Democrats pushed back on that idea, hard. Deputy Minority Whip Pete Welch (D-VT) told reporters that businesses couldn't be more worried about the rhetoric coming from the GOP.

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Afghanistan

Bipartisan Group Urges Obama To Use OBL Raid As Example And End War In Afghanistan

Susan Crabtree | May 9, 2011, 12:51PM

A bipartisan group of eight members of Congress are calling on the Obama administration to abandon the nation-building effort in Afghanistan in favor of a scaled-down mission focused primarily on quashing al Qaeda in the wake of the targeted special forces raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Reps. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), who chairs the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations, want the Obama administration to view the successful mission against bin Laden as a model for U.S. counter-terrorism strategy as a whole. Welch, Chaffetz and a group of three Democrats and three Republicans sent Obama a letter calling for the end of the war in Afghanistan and a shift to more surgical, strategic operations to combat worldwide terrorism.

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Darrell Issa

Welch to Issa: Step Away -- Or At Least Step Back -- From FOIA Demands

Susan Crabtree | February 8, 2011, 11:25AM

Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT)

Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) is pushing back against Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-CA) investigation into whether the Obama administration is politicizing Freedom of Information Act requests.

It's not that Welch opposes the general thrust of Issa's probe. He's just worried about what could turn out to be some pretty serious unintended consequences -- squelching interest in filing FOIA requests by revealing the identities of the private citizens making them.

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Bush Tax Cuts

54 Liberal House Dems Release Letter Opposing Obama's Tax Cut Deal

Eric Kleefeld | December 9, 2010, 12:39PM

Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT)

In a new display of progressive opposition to the tax-cut deal, a group of 54 House Democrats have released a letter opposing the package -- and predicting that Republicans will double-cross the Dems later on when it comes to the resulting huge increase in the national debt.

The letter, headed up by Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT), declares:

Adding more than $900 billion to our national debt, as this proposal would do, handcuffs our ability to offer a balanced plan to achieve fiscal stability without a punishing effect on our current commitments, including Social Security and Medicare.

...

Without a doubt, the very same people who support this addition to our debt will oppose raising the debt ceiling to pay for it.

We support extending tax cuts in full to 98 percent of American taxpayers, as the President initially proposed. He should not back down. Nor should we.

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Steny Hoyer

As Whip Decision Nears, Members Clamor For Resolution To Leadership Fight

Brian Beutler | November 8, 2010, 3:59PM

James Clyburn and Steny Hoyer

House Democratic leaders are on the cusp of a deal to resolve the short-lived, but intense, leadership fight between Reps. Steny Hoyer (MD) and Jim Clyburn (SC).

The two camps have gone silent all day, as they negotiate a resolution that satisfies the full leadership team. An announcement could come at any moment, and it come as a great relief to supporters of both men, who really see no reason for either to be removed from the table.

Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) came out quickly for Hoyer on Friday, and the Hoyer camp cited him early on as one of the progressives who'd thrown his support to the majority leader. But in an interview with TPMDC this afternoon, he said that it's important that both men stay in leadership, and he's pressing the leadership to reach an agreement.

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House Democratic Whip Race

Progressives For Steny? Liberal Members Line Up For Moderate Minority Whip

Brian Beutler | November 6, 2010, 8:10PM

James Clyburn and Steny Hoyer

We have a race!

When Jim Clyburn threw his name into contention to be the Democrats' Minority Whip next Congress yesterday, it touched off a tough race between himself and the Dems' current Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. The results of the midterm elections didn't help Hoyer. Many of the members who lost were moderate and conservative Democrats who saw Hoyer as a sympathetic ally in an otherwise liberal leadership. Clyburn, has significant support among members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and is more ideologically aligned with the progressive-leaning minority.

Not so fast, though.

A number of House progressives -- members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, even -- are circling their wagons around Hoyer, hoping to balance the leadership ticket next year.

In a "Dear Colleague" letter to Democratic members, progressive Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) made the pitch for Hoyer.

"I believe that it is in the best interests of our Caucus to keep Majority Leader Hoyer as a member of our Democratic leadership team--a team that helped Democrats pass a range of landmark legislation," Polis wrote. "Keeping Steny Hoyer in leadership will help to unify our Caucus and ensure that House Democrats hit the ground running in the new Congress."

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