Tim Walz on Budget & Economy Democrat

Served on Committees on Banking & Financial Institutions

Committee assignments: U.S. Senate 2023-2024: Vance was assigned to the following committees:
• Joint Economic Committee
• Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
• Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection
• Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
• Securities, Insurance, and Investment
• Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
• Communications, Media, and Broadband
• Oceans, Fisheries, Climate Change and Manufacturing
• Space and Science
• Committee on Aging (Special)

Bipartisan compromise $48B budget to address 2017 crises

Walz secured a two-year, $48 billion budget deal precisely how he said he would: by getting everyone to compromise. Walz gave up on the ten-cent-a-gallon gas tax hike he had campaigned on to pay for transportation improvements, which Republicans had bitterly opposed. Meanwhile, Republicans agreed to keep in place (albeit at a slightly lower rate) what they derided as the "sick tax"--a levy on health care providers that funded the state's Medicaid program and MinnesotaCare, its health insurance program for the working poor.

Invest budget surplus in things that make Minnesota strong

[GOP opponent] Jensen countered that the surplus is a result of overtaxing citizens. He proposes eliminating the tax on Social Security, cutting fraud and abuse and weighing a cut to the state income tax.

Walz countered that cutting the state's income tax could lead to cuts to funding for education, programs that assist needy families, public safety. "Minnesota's economy is stronger in the upper Midwest and we can continue to be there," Walz said.

Jensen said this is an "opportune moment" in the state's history to consider an income tax cut.

Our plan will repair and replace critical infrastructure

With a focus on projects like roads, bridges, fire stations, and veterans homes, our plan will repair and replace critical infrastructure and improve the lives of Minnesotans in every corner of the state.

$1 billion+ to maintain and renew existing state property

Reach communities excluded from past capital investment

Level playing field for working families, small businesses

Increase debt limit from $14.3 trillion to $16.7 trillion.

A bill to increase the debt limit from $14.3 trillion to $16.7 trillion.

[Explanatory note from Wikipedia.com `Debt Ceiling Crisis`]:

The US debt-ceiling crisis was a financial crisis in 2011 that started as a debate in the Congress about increasing the debt ceiling. The immediate crisis ended when a complex deal was reached that raised the debt ceiling and reduced future government spending. However, similar debates are anticipated for the 2012 and 2013 budget. President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner announced on July 31 that an agreement had been achieved. After the legislation was passed by both the House and Senate, President Obama signed the Budget Control Act. On August 5, the credit-rating agency Standard & Poor`s downgraded the credit rating of US government bond for the first time in the country`s history.

Under US law, an administration can spend only if it has sufficient funds to pay for it. These funds can come either from tax receipts or from borrowing. Congress has set a debt ceiling, beyond which Treasury cannot borrow. The Obama administration stated that, without this increase, the federal government would shut down and the US would enter sovereign default, thereby creating an international crisis in the financial markets. Alternatively, default could be averted if the government were to promptly reduce its other spending by about half.

An increase in the debt ceiling requires the approval of both houses of Congress. A large majority of Democratic legislators (who held a majority in the Senate) favored tax increases along with smaller spending cuts. Supporters of the Tea Party movement pushed their fellow Republicans to reject any agreement that failed to incorporate large and immediate spending cuts or a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.

More enforcement of mortgage fraud and TARP fraud.

An Act to improve enforcement of mortgage fraud, securities and commodities fraud, financial institution fraud, and other frauds related to Federal assistance and relief programs, and for the recovery of funds lost to these fraud.
• Amends the federal criminal code to include within the definition of `financial institution` a mortgage lending business or any entity that makes a federally related mortgage loan.
• Extends the prohibition against making false statements in a mortgage application to employees and agents of a mortgage lending business.
• Applies the prohibition against defrauding the federal government to fraudulent activities involving the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) or a federal economic stimulus, recovery, or rescue plan.
• Expands securities fraud provisions to cover fraud involving options and futures in commodities.
• Authorizes appropriations to the Attorney General, the Postal Service, and HUD, for investigations, prosecutions, and civil proceedings involving federal assistance programs and financial institutions.
• Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to define `covered criminal activity` as including a criminal conspiracy including economic crime, financial fraud, and mortgage fraud.

Ban abusive credit practices & enhance consumer disclosure.

Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 or the Credit CARD Act of 2009:
• Tile I: Amends the Truth in Lending Act to require advance notice of any increase in the annual percentage rate of interest (APR) pertaining to a credit card account under an open end consumer credit plan.
• Imposes a freeze on interest rate terms and fees on canceled cards.
• Sets limits on fees and interest charges, including a prohibition against penalties for on-time payments.
• Allows imposition of an over-the-limit fee only once during a billing cycle. Prohibits its imposition in a subsequent billing cycle.
• Requires fees for cardholder agreement violations and currency exchanges to be reasonable.
• Prohibits a creditor from furnishing information to a consumer reporting agency concerning a newly opened credit card account until the credit card has been used or activated by the consumer.
• Title II: Enhanced Consumer Disclosures: Requires the creditor to provide a toll-free telephone number at which the consumer may receive information about accessing credit counseling and debt management services.
• Revises requirements relating to late payment deadlines and penalties.
• Requires a periodic statement of account to disclose: (1) the date by which a payment must be postmarked, if paid by mail, in order to avoid the imposition of a late payment fee; and (2) any possible resulting increase in interest rates for late payments.
• Title III: Protection of Young Consumers: Prohibits issuance of a credit card on behalf of a consumer under age 21, unless the consumer has submitted a written application meeting specified requirements.