Congressman David Rivera’s Week in Review- Week of May 30th

Congressman Rivera focused on fiscal issues this week in Washington as the House voted on raising the debt limit and the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the May job report.

Congressman Rivera: Raising the Federal Debt Limit Without Significant Cuts to Spending & the Deficit Perpetuates Fiscal Irresponsibility

The House voted against implementing the President’s request to raise the country’s debt limit on Tuesday. 

The bill before the House stipulated that President Barack Obama’s budget proposal for the 2012 fiscal year would require an increase of $2.4 trillion to raise the debt limit to 16.7 trillion.  The government reached its legal borrowing limit nearly three weeks ago. 

Congressman Rivera voted against the bill.

“Washington’s serious budgetary issues cannot be solved by throwing money at the problem without a serious plan for how to solve it,” Congressman Rivera said prior to the vote.

Read the rest of Congressman Rivera’s statement by clicking here.

Congressman Rivera to Treasury & Federal Housing Finance Agency: Take Steps to Improve Florida Housing Market

On Thursday Congressman Rivera released a letter that he sent to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward DeMarco on the state of the Florida housing market and suggesting steps that the Department of the Treasury and FHFA can take to facilitate a more robust Florida housing market.

Read more about Congressman Rivera’s letter to Secretary Geithner, as well as the letter itself by clicking here.

Congressman Rivera on May Jobs Report

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the May job report on Friday morning showing that only 54,000 jobs were created in the month of May as the unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent. 

“As we enter the 27th month of the Obama administration’s underperforming job growth, 361,000 more people have been jobless for 27 weeks or more—bringing the total number of long-term unemployed to 6.2 million,” Congressman Rivera said.

Read the Congressman’s full statement on the May job report by clicking here.

Congressman Rivera Calls on Secretary Salazar to Continue Pressuring Repsol Not to Drill Off Cuba’s Coast

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was in Madrid, Spain on Friday where he met with Repsol, the Spanish oil and gas firm that has plans to drill off the coast of Cuba.

Congressman Rivera, whose office was been in contact with Secretary Salazar’s office on this matter, called on the Interior Secretary to discourage Repsol from going through with their agreement with the Castro dictatorship to drill for oil off the coast of Cuba at exploration sites that would be 50 miles from the coast of Florida. 

“I hope that during his meeting in Madrid today Secretary Salazar can express to Repsol why they should not proceed with drilling for oil off of the coast of Cuba.  Secretary Salazar knows that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill hurt our nation’s economy, especially the tourism and fishing industries in Florida and other Gulf coast states.  While we are trying to prevent another similar disaster from occurring off our coasts, we have to be cognizant of the fact that other countries are preparing to drill much closer to American shores without the same concern for safety.  A rig built by and for the Cuban dictatorship will not abide by the same standards as American rigs, and they do not have a contingency plan in the event of a spill,” Congressman Rivera said.  

“Furthermore, the Castro dictatorship operates a corrupt and tyrannical system focused only on enriching itself and oppressing its people.  The Cuban people will never see the benefits of any oil found off the coast of Cuba.  Instead, facilitating their oil exploration efforts will only work to bolster a terrorist regime.”

Read more about Congressman Rivera calling on Secretary Salazar to discourage Repsol from pursuing their agreement with the Castro dictatorship to drill for oil off Cuba’s coast by clicking here.

Notable Meetings: House Republicans go to the White House

House Republicans were invited to the White House on Wednesday for a meeting with President Obama about the debt crisis.  However, when he was asked if he would release a specific plan about how to tackle the debt crisis, and get Americans back to work, the President refused. 

“We went to the White House to discuss the need for spending cuts.  House Republicans are prioritizing jobs and fiscal responsibility.  We have a plan for jobs and implementing spending cuts.  The President still won’t articulate a plan,” Congressman Rivera said following the meeting.

Notable Meetings: Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida

On Thursday Congressman Rivera met with Ed Moore the President of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida, a member-based organization of 29 non-profit institutions that serve roughly 130,000 students in Florida.  ICUF members include Ave Maria University in Collier County and the University of Miami.  Moore presented Congressman Rivera with a plaque recognizing him as a 2010 ICUF All-Star for Higher Education.

Visit our facebook page to see a photo of Congressman Rivera and President Moore by clicking here.

Notable Meetings: Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing with Richard Gere

Congressman Rivera had an opportunity to meet Richard Gere following a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on religious freedom, democracy and human rights in Asia.  Gere was testifying before the panel in his capacity as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Campaign for Tibet.  The organization promotes human rights and democratic freedoms for the people of Tibet.

Visit our facebook page to see a photo of Congressman Rivera and Richard Gere by clicking here.