Danny Davis Watch

In late November of last year, Congressman Davis indicated on his IVI-IPI survey that he supported repealing the Patriot Act.

Now, the date of the Patriot Act reauthorization vote is drawing near.

To his credit, Davis voted against the Act twice before (1, 2), but with Obama now in office, will he continue to hold the line?

You can give the congressman a bit of extra encouragement by sending him this pre-written message on the Patriot Act via the ACLU. The Campaign for Liberty has a similar petition directed at the Senate.

Update: the Senate voted on February 24 to extend the Patriot Act by one year. The ball now rolls into Congress and Danny Davis’ court.

Action Alerts, Freedom Issues Fourth Amendment, Patriot Act

Despite his continued cries that more money be spent on health care, Congressman Danny Davis announced yesterday that he will attempt to make less of that money available by supporting an extension of the first-time home buyer tax credit. The current credit has given up to $8,000 to qualified first-time buyers to purchase homes. “Qualified” buyers has included those who earn up to $150,000 a year individually or $300,000 a year jointly. Those who are too poor or whose credit is too weak to purchase a home get zero assistance under the program.

The problems with the credit are legion, but here’s a short summary of some of the major one’s that apparently didn’t faze Davis during his decision making.

Low- or no-down payment mortgages were one of the major contributing factors to the housing crisis, yet the tax credit allows this same practice to continue. Since the credit can be used toward down payments, it can be combined with products like the 3.5% down FHA loan to effectively purchase homes with zero money down, just like at the height of the risky lending frenzy. This means that the credit may just be fueling another real estate crash down the road – not mending the current crisis.

The credit does little if anything to solve the cause of the housing crisis. Home prices are falling because there is too much housing and too few people. By convincing people to stop renting and buy homes instead, the credit simply replaces an empty house for sale with an empty house for rent. As vacant rental units rise, rents will drop, as they already are, motivating fewer people to buy homes and therefore undermining the effect of the credit.

The program spends a lot of money to accomplish very little. According to the real estate lobbying group the National Association of Realtors (which supports the tax credit) the vast majority of those who take advantage of the credit would have purchased a home anyway. Taking these numbers into account, the estimated cost to create one extra home sale with the credit is $43,000. If the credit is extended, the price tag will rise to $258,000 per home.

The program helps many of those who need no help. As stated above, the tax credit can be claimed by individuals who earn up to $150,000 a year – hardly the kind of people who are suffering economic hardships. A cut of the money will also go to real estate agents and mortgage brokers, two of the very groups that helped create the crisis in the first place. The IRS is also currently examining 100,000 cases of possible fraud concerning the program, including $4 million in credits claimed by children under 18-years-old, another source of significant waste.

The credit encourages more people to go into debt. By definition, most first-time home buyers are renters who have no mortgage. By encouraging them to stop renting and take on home loans, the program is incentivizing debt. This could also have disastrous effects for the economy down the road if new buyers are unable to keep up with their loan payments.

The program may be bad for the environment. As Harvard economist Edward Glaeser recently wrote about the credit, “Federal tax policies toward housing have long encouraged Americans to emit more carbon. President Obama could do the country, and the planet, a service by either refusing to sign the extension of the $8,000 credit or by insisting that it be accompanied by offsetting reductions in the home mortgage interest deduction.”  The The New York Times has also written on how housing subsidies contribute to carbon emissions.

All told, the first-time home buyer credit, like the “cash for clunkers” program Davis supported, does very little and helps those who need very little helping in the first place. What’s particularly bizarre is that Davis supports tax credits for programs like this, yet despite his stated concern about health care, he hasn’t bothered to cosponsor the Child Health Care Affordability Act, which would provide tax credits for children’s health care. Surely that would be a better use of limited resources than new houses and new vehicles.

If you’d like to help Congressman Davis see the light on this issue, contact his office and politely ask to have Davis reverse his position on this program. If Davis does correct his stance, we’ll be the first to give him credit here.

Update: Davis, disappointingly but predictably, has voted “yea” on the tax credit extension as part of H.R. 3548. By the estimate on his own website, the extension will cost $10.8 billion over ten years, an amount of money that could have given private health insurance to 430,000 people for the same period of time. Unbelievable.

Action Alerts, Danny's Bad Calls, News, Prosperity Issues Bailouts, Fiscal Policy, Subsidies

I’ve suggested several times on this blog that readers call in to Congressman Davis’ office to voice their opinions on various policies.

What if you want to do more?

One thing you can do is sign up for one of the congressman’s advisory task forces. These task forces allow you to take part in discussions that will ideally help shape Davis’ future policy positions and proposals.

No special background or qualifications are required to take part. You just need to be a resident of the district.

The task force topics listed on Davis’ website are the ones to be expected of a representative for an urban area like ours (community redevelopment, public safety, health care, homelessness, etc.). Topics like foreign affairs and civil liberties are not to be seen, though there is a write-in section.

If serving on an advisory task force sounds like something you’re interested in, the sign-up form and instructions can be found here. If you have questions about participation, call Davis’ Chicago office at (773) 533-7520 and ask to speak with Tumia Romero.

Action Alerts

“Yesterday, Democrats in the House introduced a 1,000-page national health care plan. To make sure at least some people read it, they named it ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Pound Proposal.’”

- Conan O’Brien

The same government that all-but-created the HMO system and cannot pay for its current health care programs (including the $8,000,000,000,000 unfunded obligation of Bush’s Medicare-D) now thinks even more government intervention in health care is the answer.

Last week, the House Committee on Ways and Means, of which Congressman Davis is a member, voted to send the Obama health care plan out of committee. Three Democrats voted against the bill. Davis was not among them.

If this is any indication, Davis is likely to vote for the final bill when it comes to a vote before the House.

With public support for the bill falling, Congress is rushing to pass it as soon as possible, while the Obama administration has been consulting with industry insiders in private and recruiting the backing of big players like Wal-Mart.

If you want to help stop this dangerous expansion of government intrusion into health care, now is the time to act. Below is a sample message you can convey by phone or by email to Congressman Davis’ office:

“I’m a constituent and I’m calling/emailing to let Congressman Davis know that I’d like him to oppose H.R. 3200, the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009. Instead, I would like to see tax breaks and stimulus currently going to new home buyers and big corporations used to help Americans make their own health care decisions.”

Alternatively, the Chamber of Commerce has an online form letter you can send to both the House and Senate telling them to oppose the bill.

Watch this site or subscribe to our feed to follow this bill and Davis’ actions on it.

Action Alerts, Freedom Issues, Prosperity Issues Health Care

One of the hassles (alternate spelling: “responsibilities”) of being an American citizen is the need to be informed on a wide range of issues. Today, one of those issues includes the operation of America’s central bank, The Federal Reserve.

“The Fed,” which manages the country’s money supply, is currently allowed to operate with a high degree of independence and secrecy from the rest of the government. This is justified as being necessary to prevent politically motivated interventions in the economy (as if that doesn’t happen already), but this lack of regulation has allowed the Fed to do some serious damage on its own, such as fueling the borrowing spree that led to the current financial crisis. The excellent video below on the credit bubble touches briefly on this:

(Part 1 and Part 2)

There are many other problems with the Fed, but that goes beyond the scope of this post. The bottom line: if more “regulation” is really what this crisis calls for, it needs to start with the Fed. Incidentally, the recently introduced H.R. 1207 bill would scale back some of the secrecy that has allowed the Fed to operate without discretion.

Currently, the bill has 88 cosponsors. Congressman Davis’ name is not among them. You can help by calling or emailing Davis and telling his office to support transparency and accountability in government by cosponsoring and supporting H.R. 1207.

If you voice your opinion on just one sunlight provision on a quasi-public federal agency today, make sure it’s this one.

Action Alerts, Freedom Issues, Prosperity Issues Federal Reserve, Monetary Policy, Sunlight and Transparency

Just about every American claims to support freedom. When conservatives refer to “small government” and liberals talk about “not forcing one’s beliefs on another,” they are both driving at a common principle: letting individuals make the decisions that effect their lives.

Sadly, Obama’s new proposed budget will mean less freedom for both conservatives and liberals alike. It represents a massive spending increase  (the largest since WWII) and though it is accompanied by some tax cuts, the long-term effect is undeniably that Americans will spend less time working toward their own goals and more time working toward the government’s (whether Republican or Democrat).

This is justified as being necessary to help Americans through the recession, but truth be told, if that were the objective, stimulus checks could be issued and aid could be in the hands of the needy in weeks. Instead, the money will largely trickle down through the government and corporate bureaucracy before what’s left finally reaches those who need it.

Thankfully, it’s not too late to stop this slow-motion power grab. Call Congressman Davis’ office (or your representative, if you’re from another district), and tell him to reject all federal spending increases short of direct, immediate aid to Americans through checks or tax cuts. Alternatively, you can send a “Priority Gram” (whatever that is) on the subject through the Campaign for Liberty page here.

Stay tuned for updates on how Davis, the rest of the Congress, and the President act on this.

Action Alerts, Freedom Issues, Prosperity Issues Fiscal Policy

With the economy in recession, a significant number of Americans are facing unemployment, wage freezes, or pay reductions. Congress, on the other hand, is due to receive an automatic pay increase (for “cost of living”), despite the fact that wholesale prices are actually falling and the current federal budget is running a record deficit.

Currently, the annual salary for most members of Congress is $169,300. The last pay increase they received amounted to $4,700 per legislator for an additional cost of $2.5 million.

Thankfully, Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-AZ) introduced H.R. 156 some time back, a bill that would prevent Congress’ 2010 automatic pay raise from occurring. The bill is currently in committee, but as luck would have it, that committee is the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, of which Congressman Davis is a member. Strangely enough, though, Davis’ name is not among the bill’s 112 mostly-Democratic cosponsors.

If you or your family are  not expecting a pay raise any time soon, you might consider calling or emailing Davis (or your congressman, if you’re from another district) and making sure he intends to cosponsor and support this bill. You can let him know about the other legislation in our “Take Action” page while you’re at it.

Action Alerts, Freedom Issues, Prosperity Issues Fiscal Policy

H.R. 1800, the National Security Letters Reform Act of 2009, has been added to our new “Take Action” page.

Back when the original Patriot Act was introduced in the hysteria following the 9/11 attacks, Congressman Davis had the sense to vote against the bill, even while a majority of Democrats and Republicans voted in favor without even reading the proposed law.

Davis followed up this act by voting “nay” on the bill again when it was renewed in 2005. Whether it was the result of a simple opposition to Bush or a midnight séance with the ghost of Thomas Jefferson, Davis made the right call both times.

Now, with several parts of the Patriot Act already ruled illegal under the Constitution, Davis has a chance to help repair another unsavory element in this law — the National Security Letters provision that allows the government to “gag” individuals and businesses into silence about its warrantless surveillance.

Don’t let Davis’ past good judgment hinder you from calling in your support on this. Take a moment out of your day and phone his office at (202) 225-5006, and tell the intern, voicemail service, or night janitor who answers the phone to have Congressman Davis cosponsor H.R. 1800. Alternatively (but less effectively), you can send a pre-written email message on the topic to Davis here.

Either way, you’ll be doing your country a great service, and Thomas Jefferson (wherever he is) will thank you.

Action Alerts, Freedom Issues Fourth Amendment, Patriot Act