Chris Van Hollen

Bank Will Help Create Millions of New, Clean Energy Jobs and Hold Down Energy Costs

Washington, Jan 14, 2010 -- Today Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) sent a letter to President Obama urging him to use his State of the Union Address to launch a Green Bank initiative. On March 24, 2009, Mr. Van Hollen introduced legislation to create the Green Bank, which would accelerate the development, deployment and production of clean energy and energy efficiency technologies across America, and was a key supporter of its inclusion as the Clean Energy Deployment Administration in the American Clean Energy and Security Act. The text of the letter is below:

President Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:    » read more »

Washington, Dec 11, 2009 -- Today, Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) issued the following statement on House passage of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009:

“I’m proud to have joined my colleagues in passing the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, and I support the comprehensive approach it takes to reining in systemic risk, curbing excessive speculation, and restoring transparency, accountability, and oversight to our financial system.    » read more »

Washington, Dec 3, 2009 -- Today Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) issued the following statement on Chrysler and General Motors Dealership Re-Instatement Plans:

“The plans offered today by Chrysler and General Motors are a step in the right direction, but still fall short of what is needed to help re-instate profitable car dealers and put their employees back to work. Earlier this year, after receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer money, Chrysler and GM announced they were terminating more than 3,000 dealerships, many of them profitable small businesses employing thousands of people in communities all across the nation.    » read more »

Washington, Dec 4, 2009 -- Today Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) issued the following statement on the November jobs report from the Department of Labor, which showed that 11,000 jobs were lost last month, far fewer than economists had anticipated:

“Today’s announcement that unemployment has dropped and our economy lost fewer jobs than expected is welcome news – and further confirmation that the Recovery Act is working.

"Coupled with CBO’s recent report that our economic recovery plan has created as many as 1.6 million jobs and growing consensus from a broad range of economists that our plan stabilized the economy, it is clear we are making our way back from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. However, much work remains to be done.    » read more »

Washington, Oct 16, 2009 - Today Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) issued the following statement calling for an end to special advantages for health insurance companies:

“For far too long, health insurance companies have been exempted from playing by the rules that most other businesses must live by. They have abused that benefit. Now is the time to require them to abide by the same rules as everyone else. I believe it is long past time to repeal this exemption.

“By limiting the health insurance industry’s antitrust immunity, we will make sure that the federal government investigates and prosecutes health insurance companies for anti-competitive practices, including price-fixing, bid-rigging, or market allocations.    » read more »

State Report on Recovery Contracting Shows Significant Investment, Job Creation

Washington, Oct 15, 2009 -- Members of Maryland’s Congressional Delegation issued the following statement today after the Obama Administration released preliminary Recovery Act reporting on federal contracting for each state.

The data reports that Maryland contractors have been awarded a total of $590 million and have directly saved or created approximately 965 private sector jobs. Today’s numbers are the first to be issued by the independent Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, and are a preview of the comprehensive Recovery Act report to be released on October 30th.    » read more »