Tag: dave camp
Michigan’s Rep. Camp Won’t Run For Re-Election

Michigan’s Rep. Camp Won’t Run For Re-Election

By Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, a Michigan Republican who has in recent years chaired the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, will not seek re-election this year, adding to the growing number of Michigan members of Congress heading toward the exits.

Camp, 60, made the announcement official Monday, saying the decision was “reached after much consideration and discussion with my family.” He did not give a reason for the decision.

In recent years, Camp has been a fervent proponent of changing and simplifying the U.S. tax code, but there seemed to be little enthusiasm for making such a change in advance of the midterm elections. Because of House Republican rules, Camp will be forced to step down as Ways and Means chairman at the end of this year. He became chairman in 2011.

He has been in Congress since 1991 and joins a list that includes U.S. Sen Carl Levin and U.S. Rep. John Dingell of Dearborn, both Democrats, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Howell, who have announced they won’t run for re-election this year.

Like Rogers, Camp is a key ally of House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), who noted Monday that he was elected to Congress the same year as Camp. Boehner said from the start, he had been “impressed by (Camp’s) wisdom and thoughtfulness and grateful for his friendship.”

Camp, in a statement announcing he would step down at the end of his term, said: “Serving in Congress is the great honor of my professional life. I am deeply grateful to the people of the 4th Congressional District for placing their trust in me. Over the years, their unwavering support has been a source of strength, purpose and inspiration.”

In 2012, Camp battled non-Hodgkins lymphoma and was later pronounced cancer-free.

“During the next nine months, I will redouble my efforts to grow our economy and expand opportunity for every American by fixing our broken tax code, permanently solving physician payments for seniors, strengthening the social safety net and finding new markets for U.S. goods and services,” he said.

Prior to running for Congress himself, Camp was campaign manager for his boyhood friend, Bill Schuette, who ran successfully to represent the district in 1984. Camp stayed in his office for two years before serving a term in the state House himself.

When Schuette — now state attorney general — ran unsuccessfully to replace Levin in 1990, Camp replaced him in Congress. Talking of Camp Monday, Schuette — who said Camp told him his decision earlier in the day — said “the House will miss him.”

“I just think he said, ‘OK, it’s new career time,’” Schuette said.

Gov. Rick Snyder said the state would miss Camp’s “steady leadership.”

Camp, who has an easygoing, friendly demeanor, has long been known as a bridge-builder in the Michigan delegation, and even though he has been chairman of one of the House’s most powerful committees during a time of extreme partisanship, he was more of a policy wonk than a fire-breathing conservative.

Known for his expertise on tax and trade issues — both of which fall under the committee’s purview — Camp joined former Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, on a barnstorming tour last year to push tax reform.

But when Camp unveiled his sweeping, 979-page discussion draft in February and suggested it was time to lead to slaughter some sacred cows — like the deduction of interest on education loans or the deduction on mortgage interest for homes costing up to $1 million — to spark job growth, the proposal met with a Republican caucus unwilling to commit to such a change this year.

It called for flattening individual rates, collapsing seven current brackets to just two and cutting the corporate rate from a top rate of 35 percent to 25 percent, among many other provisions.

Tax and trade policy weren’t Camp’s only passions, however. He has long been a proponent of making adoptions more streamlined and accessible to help move children from foster homes to adoptive ones. He wrote laws that helped facilitate international adoptions and created financial incentives for states that encourage the adoption of older children.

As happened last Friday when Rogers — who had been in Congress since 2001 — announced he was leaving at the end of this term, Camp’s departure may put his party in a bit of a bind: Candidates wishing to appear on the August primary ballot must file candidacy paperwork and 1,000 petition signatures by 4 p.m. April 22.

The district — which is composed larger of the central lower peninsula — is reliably Republican, however, and Camp, if he chose to, could be a financial asset if he chose to be, with $3.4 million in his campaign fund as of the end of 2013.

State Republican Party Chairman Bobby Schostak wasn’t worried about holding onto the district.

“We have a deep bench of leaders in our party who will continue Congressman Camp’s legacy of tirelessly working on behalf of Michigan families,” he said. “I’m certain we will retain Congressman Camp’s seat this fall.”

Bill Ballenger, of the newsletter Inside Michigan Politics, said while he was surprised at the timing, it’s not hard to understand why Camp would leave.

“If you’re going to look at making real money in the private sector his window is almost closed,” Ballenger said.

Among the names being prominently mentioned as a possible candidate is state Sen. John Moolenaar (R-Midland), who chairs the Veterans, Military Affairs and Homeland Security Committee and serves as vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Other potential names being mentioned among Republicans include state Sens. Roger Kahn of Saginaw Township, state Rep. Kevin Cotter of Mt. Pleasant; state Rep. Jim Stamas of Midland and former state Rep. Tony Stamas of Midland.

Potential Democratic names being mentioned are former U.S. Rep. Jim Barcia of Bay City, Bay County Executive tom Hickner and former state Sen. Joel Sheltrown of West Branch.

“This is such a rare opportunity that a lot of people will be considering this,” said political consultant Stu Sandler.

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph), who is chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Michigan was losing an outstanding congressman, one who said had “a long record in support of jobs and improving the nation’s economy in everything he touched.”

“I will genuinely miss the strong partnership we had with the unprecedented privilege of Dave at the helm of the Ways and Means Committee and me with the Energy and Commerce Committee,” Upton said.

vpickering via Flickr

Closing The D.C. Reality Gap

Closing The D.C. Reality Gap

WASHINGTON — To understand the country’s frustration with politics, we shouldn’t focus primarily on “gridlock” and “polarization.” The larger problem is a disconnect between what the nation’s capital is talking about and what most citizens are worried about.

The issues discussed at kitchen tables and over back fences relate to getting and keeping good jobs, better educating our children, improving living standards (or, these days, keeping them from falling), and holding families together. The issues that fixate Washington are abstractions such as tax reform, deficit reduction, and whether small government is better than big government. Call the distance between the two sets of priorities the Reality Gap.

We got another reminder of this with all the attention showered on the tax reform proposal offered last week by Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), and the widespread mourning over the fact that Camp’s plan is going nowhere this year.

Because meanness is now so much a part of our discourse, it’s worth saying upfront that Camp, the outgoing chair of the Ways and Means Committee, is a serious, thoughtful and decent politician. He deserves kudos for detailing his choices, even if his plan uses gimmicks to disguise the way in which it would almost certainly increase the deficit in the long run.

Some of Camp’s ideas, such as ending the special-interest break for hedge fund operators, are sensible. Others would make things worse. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities showed, his changes to the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit would eventually have the effect of cutting $2,000 from the annual income of a mother with two children who works full time at the current minimum wage. That’s not what tax reform should be about. And by eliminating the tax deduction for state and local taxes, Camp’s plan punishes states that are spending their own money to solve their own problems.

But it’s Camp’s premise that’s wrong: At a time of rising inequality, we do not need fewer, lower tax brackets. The fastest income growth has been in the top 0.1 percent. This points to the need for new, somewhat higher tax rates at the very top. We need to use tax reform to increase revenue, not cut it. The purpose is not to penalize the rich, but to address the widening gaps in income and in opportunities for mobility. These demand a much more aggressive response from government.

When President Obama releases his budget on Tuesday, it should thus be measured by where it lies along the spectrum defined by the Reality Gap — whether it is investing enough to begin returning us to the days when economic growth was broadly shared.

Obama intends to signal the end of austerity politics. He’s giving up for now on a fruitless quest for a grand budget bargain, since Republicans clearly have no interest in pursuing one. He’s right about this. Also to the good will be the spending the president is seeking for training and apprenticeship programs, new manufacturing initiatives, infrastructure and pre-K education.

Still, we need a new benchmark. It should be set not by what a divided Congress might be willing to enact but by what we should be doing to help families trying to improve their circumstances against strong headwinds. Obama’s budget will likely fall short by this standard. My hunch is that the president, at least privately, would probably agree.

To begin this conversation, here’s one idea that uses the typical family’s struggles as its starting point. (And thanks to my Brookings Institution colleague Elisabeth Jacobs for thinking this through with me.)

Those who lose their jobs need not only unemployment insurance — and yes, we should be extending the program — but also a chance to train for new work, in some cases by going back to school. Conservatives such as the American Enterprise Institute’s Michael Strain have suggested relocation subsidies so people could move to more promising labor markets. Many parents need paid leave time for a newborn or for family emergencies.

Isn’t it time to consider a comprehensive Life Cycle Insurance program that wraps these benefits, and perhaps others like them, together? It might be funded through a modest addition to the payroll tax. We need to remember the American tradition of using government to empower people and reduce their level of economic insecurity.

Alienation from politics will keep growing as long as Washington’s conversations have so little to do with the challenges families face every day. It’s time to start closing the Reality Gap.

E.J. Dionne’s email address is ejdionne@washpost.com. Twitter: @EJDionne.

AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski

Republican Congressman Introduces Tax Plan, Lawmakers From Both Parties Hate It

Republican Congressman Introduces Tax Plan, Lawmakers From Both Parties Hate It

In a bold legislative move, Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, introduced legislation on Wednesday that would significantly reform the federal tax code in the United States.

“I’m not satisfied with waiting,” Camp told reporters on Wednesday. “I’m not going to settle for two percent growth and median incomes declining and more kids living with their parents. I want to see growth, I want to see jobs, I want to see higher incomes — tax reform can raise that.”

The bill includes measures that are popular among Republicans, like lowering the top corporate and individual tax rates. The bill would also simplify the tax code by collapsing seven separate tax brackets into three.

But instead of throwing their support behind one of their most important committee chairs, GOP leaders are running from the plan — and throwing Camp under the bus.

“It’s one chairman’s bill,” Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) said dismissively.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) isn’t prepared to back the bill, either. Rather, he says it should be seen as a jumping off point for a larger conversation. “You’re getting a little bit ahead of yourself,” Boehner said when asked if Camp’s plan is the Republican Party’s plan. “We’ve talked about this and Chairman Camp’s worked on this for years. It’s time to have a public conversation about the issue of tax reform. And so I welcome the conversation.”

Why does the GOP have cold feet?

For starters, the bill includes divisive provisions that the GOP leadership is not prepared to introduce in an election year. While Republicans would love to tout a lower corporate tax rate to its base, explaining a new surtax on the wealthy may be more difficult. According to the Associated Press, the plan would include a 10 percent surtax on earned income above $450,000.

That isn’t the only provision that makes Republican lawmakers leery of the bill.

It also includes a stipulation that would end deductions for state and local taxes. As of now, taxpayers can itemize deductions from state and local taxes from their taxable federal income. Camp’s proposed bill would end this tax break for individuals.

The provision that ends state and local deductions has sparked heated debate between influential Democratic lawmakers and their Republican counterparts.

As Talking Points Memo’s Sahil Kapur points out, the states that benefit most from the state and local deductions are Democratic strongholds like California and New York. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had this to say about a bill that would end the deductions: “Any proposal that eliminates the deduction for state and local taxes, as the Republican plan would do, is dead on arrival.”

Even though eliminating deductions for state and local taxes does have some support within the GOP, it may not be the debate Republicans want to have in an election year.

Democrats seem eager to play offense against the bill. “Frankly, I don’t understand the politics of it,” Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) told Politico. “He knows it’s not going anywhere, but it will be used” against his colleagues. “The question will be: Do you support Dave Camp’s bill?”

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) piled on: “It doesn’t make sense. You don’t send up trial balloons on such significant issues — particularly in an off-year election.”

Some Democrats also argue the bill will further disadvantage working families and the working poor. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities points out, Camp’s proposal includes changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit (ETIC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC), which will push poor families further into poverty.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains: “A mother with two children who works full-time year-round at the minimum wage (earning $14,500 by working 2,000 hours at the $7.25 minimum wage) would lose about $2,000 in 2018 (when the plan’s changes in these credits would take full effect) compared to current policy — that is, compared to the CTC and EITC policies on the books today.”

Photo: Casey Konstantín via Flickr

Debt Panel Members Prompt Doubts

WASHINGTON (AP) — A conservative Texas Republican congressman has been chosen by House Speaker John Boehner to co-chair a powerful new committee tasked to find a bipartisan plan to slash the federal budget deficit by over $1 trillion.

Boehner, R-Ohio, announced Rep. Jeb Hensarling’s selection on Wednesday. At the same time, he named Reps. Dave Camp and Fred Upton, both of Michigan, to the committee. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., named Republican Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio to the panel.

Toomey, a former House member who was elected to the Senate last year with Tea Party backing, is the only member named so far who voted against the legislation that created the committee. At the time, Toomey said he was “concerned that the long-term cuts over the next decade will not materialize.”

“All Congress has to do to override this bill’s spending restraints in the future is pass another law that overrides them,” Toomey said. “If Congress is truly serious about cutting spending, it would mandate serious spending cuts in next year’s budget — the only year in which cuts are actually guaranteed.”

Hensarling will provide a conservative counterweight to the Democratic co-chair, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, in what is shaping up as another debate in which Democrats will fight to protect entitlement programs while Republicans will adamantly oppose tax increases.

Hensarling, a five-term congressman from the Dallas area, is chairman of the House Republican Conference. He gets high marks from conservative groups for opposing taxes and abortion, while supporting gun rights. Murray is chairwoman of the committee to elect Democratic senators and a longtime protector of Democratic priorities such as Medicare, Social Security and veterans’ benefits.

“Times are tough, and American families have had to make many sacrifices over the last few years,” Hensarling said in a statement. “While they didn’t cause this debt crisis, they’ve learned how to make do by tightening their belts and living within their means. It’s time Washington did the same.”

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid named Murray, as well as Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Max Baucus, D-Mont., to the panel. Nine of the panel’s 12 positions are now filled. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi will name the other three.

The committee is charged with coming up with at least $1.2 trillion in budget savings over the coming decade. It has until the day before Thanksgiving to come up with a plan that gets at least seven votes.

If it fails, or if the House or Senate votes down its recommendations, severe across-the-board spending cuts would be triggered automatically, hitting large swaths of the federal budget starting in 2013, including priorities dear to both parties. These include Medicaid, farm subsidies and the defense budget.

Camp is chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, which also oversees Social Security and Medicare. Upton is chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee.

On Wednesday, Camp made it clear he will continue to fight against “job-killing tax increases as a way to reduce our debt and deficits.”

“If we are successful in curbing the overspending in Washington that has sparked fear in the financial markets and created uncertainty on Main Street, we will start to see the job creation we desperately need,” Camp said.

In the Senate, Kyl is the No. 2 ranking Republican and Portman, a freshman, was a budget director under former President George W. Bush.

“Chronic joblessness, out-of-control deficits and debt, and an unprecedented credit downgrade represent an historic challenge but also an historic opportunity for lawmakers in Washington to show they can work together on a plan that puts America back on the path to prosperity,” McConnell said. “The American people know that we cannot dig ourselves out of this situation by nibbling around the edges, and I am confident that each of these (Senate GOP) nominees can be counted on to propose solutions that put the interests of all Americans ahead of any one political party.”