Democrats bring fiscal responsibility back to Washington, D.C.

HAMBURG TOWNSHIP – The times they are a’ changing in Washington, D.C., thanks to the take over of the U.S. House and Senate by the Democrats.
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin spoke to more than 150 people at a fundraiser Saturday at Whispering Pines Golf Course to benefit the Livingston County Democratic Party. He highlighted the work of the Democratic-controlled Congress in keeping their promises to the American people in its first 100 hours under Democratic control.
In just the first 100 hours, the Democrats managed to accomplish real legislation and reform to help the American people that the Republicans could not and would not address in more than 12 years in control.
That included finally implementing the recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission, increasing the minimum wage, approving federal funding for stem cell research, allowing negotiating and buying prescription drugs in bulk to get lower costs, cut the interest rate on federal student loans, end taxpayer-funded subsidies for Big Oil and create a Strategic Energy and Renewables Reserve and passed tougher new ethics rules.
“Folks, the Democrats, the Democratic Party is now the fiscally responsible party in Washington, D.C.,” Levin said.
Jobs are a major concern for Michigan residents with the problems facing the Big 3 automakers, and Levin said President Bush has completely ignored the manufacturing sector to the point that the alleged new jobs being created are not making up for the lost manufacturing jobs in both quantity and quality.
“This administration has ignored the manufacturing industry so much that we have lost 3 million jobs under this president’s watch,” he said.
Levin said he supports the diversification of the economy, but manufacturing, and especially car manufacturing, is Michigan’s largest employer.
“We know that manufacturing jobs are not the end all to end all, but, especially in this state, it has a spin-off effect,” he said.
Levin said the current tax policies, unfair trade polices and lack of enforcement of trade polices by the current administration is making it impossible for U.S. automakers to compete globally, and foreign governments are helping foreign auto companies compete by providing health care for employees, help with health care and even manipulating currency to make their cars cheaper and U.S. cars more expensive.
“U.S. car companies are not just competing against foreign car companies they are competing against foreign governments,” he said.
Levin pointed to Republican Gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos as a perfect example of the problems U.S. manufacturing companies are facing. As head of Amway, DeVos invested more than $200 million in Communist China for building plants to manufacture the company's products.
DeVos – correctly – said Chinese law says if you sell to the Chinese it must be built or manufactured in China. The U.S. government allows that, yet China has unfettered and unrestricted access to U.S. markets. That’s despite the fact they compete with slave labor wages and production, wages and benefits manipulated and controlled by a Communist Chinese regime.
The obvious question is why do we allow them unrestricted access to sell products made in China when they do not reciprocate?
“We’re crazy for allowing that,” Levin said. “We need an Administration that will fight to protect our jobs like other countries do.”