Tom Carper

Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act Will Support Business Growth and Put More Americans Back to Work

March 17, 2010 -- WASHINGTON -- Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) issued the following statement today after the Senate passed the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act by a vote of 68 to 29. The legislation now goes to President Obama for his signature:

“Slowly but surely we are witnessing signs of economic recovery and even economic growth. While this is encouraging, we know that this progress is fragile and Congress must provide a nurturing environment where businesses – particularly small businesses – can thrive and hire again.    » read more »

WASHINGTON (March 11, 2010) – Today Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), a senior member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, participated in a full Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the challenges facing our transportation system. The hearing, “Federal, State and Local Partnerships to Accelerate Transportation Benefits,” examined federal, state and local partnerships that leverage federal transportation investments and explored the ways in which the benefits of those investments could be accelerated.    » read more »

Bipartisan bill would extend key production and investment tax credits for offshore wind until 2020

March 3, 2010 -- WASHINGTON – Today, Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced legislation to provide critical financial incentives for the investment and production of offshore wind energy.

Specifically, the Carper-Snowe-Brown-Collins Offshore Wind Bill provides the offshore wind industry with enhanced stability by extending production and investment tax credits for offshore wind until 2020. These provisions are vital because of the long lead times required to permit and construct wind turbines offshore, compared to onshore wind energy.    » read more »

"Effective First Step In Creating Jobs"

February 24, 2010 -- WASHINGTON – Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) issued the following statement today after the Senate passed the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act by a vote of 70 to 28.

“Our nation’s economy has bottomed out, and is just beginning to bounce back. Now, our job in Congress is to provide a nurturing environment where businesses – especially small businesses – can begin to grow, expand and hire once again.

“Today’s passage of the HIRE Act is just the first element - a down payment - on an aggressive jobs agenda that Congress will pursue over the coming months.    » read more »

New Executive Order Was Focus of Carper Subcommittee Hearing This Week

January 29, 2010 --
WASHINGTON -- Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services and International Security, issued the following statement this morning in response to President Obama’s announcement that the Federal Government will reduce its greenhouse gas pollution by 28 percent by 2020.

Sen. Carper said: “I am very pleased that President Obama has set aggressive, but realistic, targets for reducing energy use by federal agencies.    » read more »

Applauds emphasis on passing health care reform, creating jobs, stabilizing economyJanuary 27, 2010 -- WASHINGTON – Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) issued the following statement tonight in response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address to Congress.

Sen. Carper said: “A year ago, President Obama inherited an economy that was losing more than half a million jobs month after month. Job creation, relief for the middle class and economic recovery were priorities from day one, and remain a top priority today.    » read more »

Subcommittee Chairman Continues to Push for Comprehensive Air Quality Legislation

January 25, 2010 -- WASHINGTON – Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Clean Air and Nuclear Safety subcommittee, today applauded the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to strengthen a four-decades-old nitrogen dioxide air quality standard to better protect public health. This decision comes on the heels of other proposals over the last two months to tighten national sulfur dioxide and ozone air quality standards.    » read more »

Sen. Carper Opposes Murkowski Proposal To Overturn EPA Global Warming Endangerment Finding

January 21, 2010 -- WASHINGTON – Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) issued the following statement today in response to Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) resolution to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) global warming endangerment finding.

Sen. Carper said: “I strongly oppose Sen. Murkowski’s resolution to overturn the EPA endangerment finding because the science about global warming is clear: Greenhouse gases endanger public health.    » read more »

WASHINGTON -- Dec. 15, 2009 – Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), co-author of landmark government transparency legislation, issued the following statement in response to the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board’s announcement today that as many as five percent of companies who received money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) have failed to report how and where the money was spent.

Sen. Carper, who worked closely with then-Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Tom Coburn (Okla.) to author the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (S. 2590), said: “The release of today’s list of ‘Non-Reported Awards’ is a troubling development, but an important step in making sure ARRA monies are being spent wisely.    » read more »

December 7, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – In response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) announcement that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety, Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) issued the following statement.

Today’s announcement marks EPA’s response to the April 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which confirmed that greenhouses gases must be considered as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act:

“I support the EPA findings because the science about global warming is clear. Greenhouse gases do pose a threat to public health. This announcement starts the EPA’s long regulatory process to address global warming under the Clean Air Act.    » read more »

December 1, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) issued the following statement tonight in response to President Obama’s announcement that he will send 34,000 additional soldiers and Marines, as well as trainers, to Afghanistan - the largest single U.S. deployment since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

“Tonight, President Obama did something his predecessor never did. The President laid out in clear, thoughtful terms a comprehensive and workable U.S. strategy on Afghanistan, one that was not about escalating the war in Afghanistan but ultimately about ending the war there.    » read more »

November 21, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Tonight the Senate voted to begin debate on their heath care bill by a vote of 60 to 39. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) issued the following statement in response:

“This bill, created by the merger of two Senate bills, deserves to be debated by the full Senate when we reconvene following Thanksgiving weekend.

“Is it perfect? No. Can we make it better? Yes we can, and we’re sure going to try.

“It is my hope that the full Senate will pass an even better bill by Christmas than the one we’ll be starting with now.    » read more »

Senators' Legislation Provides Certainty & Fairness, While Being More Fiscally Responsible

November 17, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio) today reintroduced fiscally responsible bipartisan legislation to exempt families, farms and small businesses from the estate tax burden.

The legislation, which also reflects proposals advocated by President Obama, would freeze the estate tax at its current 2009 levels. Under the bill, the value of any estate above $7 million per couple or $3.5 million per individual will be taxed at a 45 percent rate. That rate will remain constant, while exclusion amounts will be adjusted upward each year to account for inflation.    » read more »

November 17, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed tighter controls for dangerous sulfur dioxide emissions, winning the support of Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Clean Air and Nuclear Safety subcommittee.

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is a dangerous air pollutant that can travel long distances and results when sulfur-containing fuels such as coal, oil or diesel are burned. Each year, manmade sources emit more than 14 million tons of sulfur dioxide nationwide

“Current federal standards simply fail to protect public health,” said Sen. Carper. “I have long supported tighter SO2 controls that protect Americans with lung diseases like asthma, and especially children and older adults.”    » read more »

Carper, Kaufman, Castle urge Army Corps of Engineers to reconsider plan

November 12, 2009 -- WILMINGTON, DE – In a November 10 letter to Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), Delaware’s congressional delegation objects to the Corps’ plan to proceed with the deepening of the Delaware River without required permits, urging her to reconsider.

Bypassing a congressional directive that requires the Corps to obtain appropriate permits from Delaware, the Corps intends to commence a $300 million project as early as next month to deepen the Delaware River shipping channel – a project that has not yet received environmental clearance from the state.    » read more »