Republicans Need Not Apply

Health Care Reconciliation -- Passage - Vote Passed (240-189, 5 Not Voting)

The House passed a bill that repeals key elements of the 2010 health care overhaul law including the individual and employer mandates and the medical device and "Cadillac"  taxes, and it blocks for one year federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

 Rep. Collin Peterson voted YES

(From MegaVote at congress.org.)

Representative Collin Peterson (D MN-7) joined Republicans in voting to terminate health care for millions of Americans. He also voted to end health care subsidies for millions of women who depend on Planned Parenthood for basic medical care. (Note that federal funding for abortions ended years ago.) With Democrats like this, who needs Republicans?

Voters Deprived of Choice in Representation

Representative Collin Peterson (MN 7th district), a Democrat who voted to enable Republicans to shut down the Federal government in 2013, continues to vote against Democrat's principles and instead polish his radical conservative credentials.

April 16th (Tax Day), Peterson voted in favor of the "Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015", a bill which gives a tax break worth $269 billion over 10 years to the richest few thousand estates in the country. The bill adds that cost to the federal debt.

The measure benefits only the top .2 percent of the population because the other 99.8 percent of the country doesn't own enough wealth to ever pay the tax.

The bill effectively repeals capital gains taxes for people with large estates, allowing investments to be passed down without any taxes on their growth over the years. This federal tax of 0% on investment profits contrasts sharply with the 25% tax on the income of middle class Americans (or 10% income tax for poor people and 39.6% tax on "regular" income for the wealthy). Heirs would only have to pay taxes on gains made after the date they get the inheritance.

This vote by Representative Peterson is just the latest demonstration of his radical conservatism in the 2015 congressional session. On the first day of the new session, he voted with Republicans in their latest effort to dismantle Social Security. He has joined the GOP in their continuing efforts to undermine the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), which is the keystone of Dodd-Frank financial reform. Collin Peterson has also voted for the Keystone XL pipeline (Canadian tar sands to southern refineries, with the final product being exported off-shore). He voted with Republicans to change the ACA’s definition of full-time work from 30 to 40 hours per week (only full-time workers receive company paid health insurance). Peterson also voted to weaken Dodd-Frank in an act which combines 11 different bills into one big package and includes provisions to weaken the Volcker Rule, weaken derivatives provisions, and undermine investor protections.

It is abundantly clear that Representative Collin Peterson is not looking out for the 99%. He cares nothing for the "common welfare" or the interests of his constituents, most of whom are not wealthy. His votes promote and condone greed and selfishness, and widen the income inequality gap. He is obviously a Democrat in name only, and his continued presence on the Democratic ticket deprives voters of a choice of representation. It is long past time for the Minnesota DFL to recognize Peterson for what he is: a radical Republican.


References:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/16/estate-tax-house_n_7079744.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/16/1378170/-Which-7-Democrats-Just-Voted-to-Repeal-the-Estate-Tax

http://progressivespassion.blogspot.com/2015/02/collin-peterson-radical-republican.html

Collin Peterson, radical Republican

Representative Collin Peterson, who voted to enable Republicans to shut down the Federal government in 2013, continues to polish his radical conservative credentials.

On the first day of the new Congressional session, the House of Representatives adopted rules to govern the session. Included in those rules was a provision to prevent a clean reallocation of Social Security, thus endangering Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. The routine rebalancing between Disability Insurance and Retirement Insurance can no longer be done unless the House also passes a Social Security "reform" bill. A failure to rebalance will result in an unnecessary and completely avoidable cut in benefits paid to workers who have serious and permanent disabilities and to their families. This is an effort by the GOP to make people believe that reallocation helps the disabled at the expense of the old, and is part of GOP efforts to dismantle Social Security brick by brick. Collin Peterson was one of a few Democrats to join with Republicans to pass this rules bill.

On February 4th, The House GOP passed the Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act of 2015. This bill undermines consumer protections and places new financial burdens on independent regulatory agencies. The majority of additional costs of the bill to agencies and businesses, the Congressional Budget Office found, would be shouldered by the cash-strapped Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This bill, like most bills passed out of the Republican Congress, is designed to hobble federal regulators and increase industry power over the regulatory process. Regulators would have to follow stringent guidelines, submit additional reviews of proposed regulations, give industries a heads up and solicit feedback, and adopt a new definition of “direct costs”. The bill would also open up every aspect of cost analyses to judicial review, leading to an inevitable barrage of lawsuits from those affected by the pending rules. Collin Peterson joined the GOP in their continuing efforts to undermine the CFPB, which is the keystone of Dodd-Frank financial reform.

On Feb 5, the House voted on another bill to do the same thing, calling this bill the "Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2015". It expands the use of advocacy review panels, creates needless grounds for judicial review and judicial remedies, and imposes unrealistic analytic requirements on federal agencies. Collin Peterson again joined the GOP in this attempt at de facto deregulation. Peterson also voted against an amendment exempting the FDA's consumer safety regulations.

This session, Collin Peterson has also voted for the Keystone XL pipeline (Canadian tar sands to southern refineries, with the final product being exported off-shore). He voted with Republicans for the Save American Workers Act of 2015, which would change the ACA’s definition of full-time work from 30 to 40 hours per week. Peterson also voted for the Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act. This act, aimed at weakening Dodd-Frank, combines 11 different bills into one big package, including provisions to weaken the Volcker Rule, weaken derivatives provisions, and undermine investor protections.

In summary, Collin Peterson's votes are against the interests of the people of his district as well as 99 percent of the American public. The only reason he retains a Democratic seat is because of his position on the House Agricultural committee. It is long past time for the Minnesota DFL to recognize Peterson for what he is: a radical Republican.

References:

Brown: Republican Leaders Must Abandon Dangerous New Rule That Undermines Social Security

Brown Condemns Dangerous Move by the House That Would Undermine Social Security by Attacking Disability Insurance

Which 19 House Democrats Just Voted to Hobble Federal Regulators?

GOP Readies Poison Pill for Federal Regulators

This is why we can't have nice things

The New Republican Attack on Social Security Starts Now!