Our Federal Program

An Agenda For The 111th Congress

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PRIORITIES FOR THE NEW CONGRESS—NHPIRG’s Liz Hitchcock testifies on a bill to increase safety at chemical facilities. The bill is another one of NHPIRG’s priorities in the 111th Congress.

With new leadership in Washington comes new opportunities. NHPIRG is urging our state’s congressional delegation to step up and seize the moment as we push for better and more public transportation, affordable and dependable health care, changes in government regulation of Wall Street, and tough curbs on special interest influence in politics.

Securing Our Financial Future: NHPIRG’s Securing America’s Financial Future campaign brought together a number of the nation’s top economists, consumer advocates and taxpayer watchdogs to fight for greater oversight of and accountability for the bailout funds. Our advocates will prepare and deliver a reform package for the new Congress.

Funding Public Transportation: The 111th Congress will renew the Transportation Bill, which funds highways, bridges and public transportation every six years. We’re calling for investments that will boost our economy by expanding public transportation and spend taxpayers’ money more wisely.

Lowering Health Care’s Cost: Our health care system costs too much and delivers too little. NHPIRG’s campaign for affordable and dependable health care will partner with a large coalition of national and state organizations to promote policies to bring far-reaching new consumer protections to the marketplace. The effort builds and expands upon the victories of several state PIRGs in curbing some of the worst insurance industry abuses and the spiraling cost of care.

Cleaning Up Washington: During his campaign, President Barack Obama pledged to fix the presidential campaign funding system to keep wealthy interests from bankrolling campaigns. The president declined to use public financing, a system he called broken. We look forward to working with the new administration to reduce special interest influence in campaigns.

Financial Security

Wall Street Bailout: Where Did All The Money Go?

As Congress and President Bush rushed to pass legislation to bail out Wall Street last fall, Ed Mierzwinski, a senior fellow in NHPIRG’s Washington office, warned that the law didn’t do enough to hold banks accountable or protect Americans.

“The hastily developed law gave unprecedented spending authority to a single individual in the administration but lacked basic protections for taxpayers and assistance to homeowners,” said Mierzwinski.

For example, in December, the government invested $20 billion in Citigroup and backed more than $300 billion worth of the company’s loans and securities.

“It’s sweet for Citigroup,” said Mierzwinski, in a story posted on TheHill.com, “[but] I don’t see the taxpayers getting the benefits they need.”

NHPIRG and other state PIRGs are backing a detailed set of reforms to re-regulate Wall Street, protect taxpayers, and hold the financial industry accountable. For details, click here.