FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: American Family Voices Files Ethics Complaint Against Rep. Darrell Issa, Calls on Office of Congressional Ethics to Review the Congressman’s Repeated Use of Public Position to Promote Private Financial Interests
For Immediate Release
Date: Sept. 13, 2011
Click Here to View Full Complaint Filed by American Family Voices to OCE
Washington, D.C. – Citing numerous, reported instances of U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA-49) using his public position to advance his private financial interests, American Family Voices today filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) urging the “independent, non-partisan entity charged with reviewing allegations of misconduct against Members, officers, and staff of the United States House of Representatives” to do so for the Congressman, who ironically and disturbingly serves as Chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, a Committee charged with “proactively investigating and exposing” waste, fraud, and abuse.
Click Here to Download a PDF Version of the Complaint
Mike Lux, President of American Family Voices: “Alarms have been going off for some time about Darrell Issa’s apparent conflicts of interests, and the OCE should immediately review whether the Congressman has inappropriately exploited his position of power for personal gain. Was it appropriate, for example, for the Rep. Issa to put pressure on the SEC to back off investigating Goldman Sachs amid allegations that it defrauded investors in the run-up to the financial crisis, while at the same time he personally held millions of dollars in Goldman Sachs assets? Was it appropriate for the Congressman to secure millions of dollars in congressional earmarks for roadwork that promised to improve traffic to the numerous commercial properties he owns north of San Diego? As someone who often wags his finger about the “lack of transparency” in Washington, Rep. Issa should welcome with open arms such a review by the Office of Congressional Ethics into these apparent conflicts of interest.”
# # #
House Interior Spending Bill Blocks Clean Air Protections, Sentences Thousands to Premature Deaths, Asthma Attacks and Heart Attacks.
For Immediate Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. – July 25, 2011: American Family Voices, a non-profit advocate for middle and low-income families on economic, health care, and consumer issues, today launched a new television and online advertising campaign hitting Congress for taking up a spending bill that eliminates public health protections against air pollution and guts the Environmental Protection Agency.
The ad, “Somewhere Else,” began running Sunday and will continue to air this week in the Washington, D.C. market and on national cable television outlets. AFV plans to expand the ad to congressional districts of members who support the House’s Interior and EPA spending bill for 2012 (H.R. 2584). The ad shows the benefits of EPA public health protections by highlighting that 160,000 early deaths related to air pollution — including 230 infant deaths — were prevented in 2010. To view the ad, click here: http://tinyurl.com/4y23oz5
“This lethal legislation puts polluters ahead of people, and the American people deserve to know that Congress is undermining the health of their children and families,” AFV President Mike Lux said. “Clean air saves lives, yet some in Congress are bowing to the big polluters by stuffing through a mandatory spending bill with riders and amendments aimed at gutting public health protections afforded all Americans by the Clean Air Act. Blocking clean air protections will sentence thousands of Americans to premature deaths and force thousands more to suffer asthma attacks and heart attacks triggered by air pollution.”
A recent bipartisan survey conducted for the American Lung Association indicates the overwhelming support for clean air among voters: 69 percent of respondents said the EPA should update Clean Air Act standards with stricter limits on air pollution; 64 percent said that Congress should not stop the EPA from updating carbon dioxide emission standards; 69 percent believe that EPA scientists, rather than Congress, should set pollution standards.
# # #
Effort to Delay Bipartisan Swipe-Fee Reform is an Affront to Small Businesses and Consumers and a Boon for Wall Street.
For Immediate Release
May 1, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. – American Family Voices, a non-profit advocate for middle and low-income families on economic, health care, and consumer issues, today launched an ad campaign aimed at educating the public on an effort by big banks and credit card companies to undo the commonsense, bipartisan debit card swipe-fee reforms signed into law in 2010.
A TV ad, “Swiped,” began airing Sunday on Washington, D.C. broadcast and cable channels. The ad highlights the excessive fees small businesses, and ultimately consumers, pay every time a debit card is swiped to make a purchase. Additionally, a Web campaign aimed directly at the sponsors and cosponsors of legislation to undo reforms also was launched. The Web campaign, titled Big Bank Bailout II, targets every Member of the Senate and House of Representatives who put the interests of Wall Street ahead of Main Street.
For small businesses, the fees, which have exploded over the last 10 years, represent the second highest cost of doing business. Current interchange fees are so high that on many small purchases, such as on a cup of coffee, retailers actually lose money.
The reforms were included in an amendment offered by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), added to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Bill. The Durbin Amendment passed the Senate 64 – 33, with 17 Republicans supporting the amendment. The reforms direct the Federal Reserve to ensure that the fees charged to merchants on debit card transactions are “reasonable and proportional” to the cost of the transaction. Earlier this year, the Federal Reserve found the average fee charged to merchants on each transaction is 44 cents, while the actual cost of processing the transaction is only 4 cents. The Federal Reserve proposed capping swipe fees at 12 cents.
Since then, the big banks and the credit card companies have launched a full-scale assault on these commonsense reforms and have found allies in Congress willing to do their bidding. Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Bob Corker (R-TN) introduced legislation in the Senate to delay these reforms by two years, a veiled effort to repeal the reforms altogether. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) introduced similar legislation in the House of Representatives.
“Congress stood up for Main Street last year when they passed these reforms,” said Mike Lux, President of American Family Voices. “Today, businesses and consumers, particularly those struggling to make ends meet, are just months away from getting long overdue relief from these excessive big bank fees. It would be a terrible mistake for Congress to turn its back on consumers and small businesses now in favor of the Wall Street giants that have caused so much pain for so many. Congress should leave swipe-fee reform alone.”
Swipe Fee Facts:
- • According to the Federal Reserve, despite claims by banks that debit fees have not changed, “Debit Card Swipe Fees Have Been Increasing… More recently, both PIN and signature debit fees have increased, although PIN debit fees have increased at a faster pace.”
- • According to the Government Accountability Office, Visa and MasterCard’s share of the debit market distorts costs in the debit market.
“Although issuers incur costs for offering cards, concerns remain about the extent to which interchange fee levels closely relate to the level of card program expenses or whether they are set high so as to increase issuer profits. In a competitive market, the price of the product and the cost of producing it would be closely aligned. However, producers with market power—such as monopolists or those offering goods not generally offered by others—have the ability to charge high, noncompetitive prices.” – GAO Report 10-45, Credit Cards, 11/19/09
- • According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, swipe fees cause cash-using households to pay $149 to card-using households each year. These costs translate into a boon for card-using households, which receive $1,133 each year from cash-using households in the form of rewards credits.
- • According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, “It turns out that in seven of the eight countries with the highest debit card usage per capita there is no interchange fee, casting empirical doubt on the proposition that interchange fees are necessary to stimulate usage through promotional activity and cross subsidy from the merchant side of the market to the consumer side.”
# # #