Carl Levin

May 29, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) announced today that the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded $1,425,000 to Sawyer International Airport in Marquette County. The funding will be used for lighting and insulation in hangars #400, 423, and 425.

“This federal funding will help Sawyer meet the needs of travelers in a safe and efficient way,” said Levin. “As we approach Sawyer’s 10th year serving the people of the Upper Peninsula, I am hopeful that this grant will help this important hub continue to grow and improve.”    » read more »

Stemming Foreclosures and Keeping Families in Their Homes

May 29, 2009 -- Foreclosures continue to drag down our economy, and Michigan has one of the worst foreclosure situations in the nation. To address this issue, Congress passed and President Obama recently signed into law the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009.

The act expands and improves the Help for Homeowners program, the Federal Housing Administration’s tools to protect homeowners, and various counseling and foreclosure prevention programs to provide access and assistance to more people. It will bring much-needed help to many homeowners who are trying desperately to save their homes.    » read more »

May 28, 2009 -- WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) announced today that Michigan will receive $8,258,000 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) loans and grant funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The funding will help finance five water and sewer projects in Michigan.

“This federal economic recovery funding will help provide the resources these communities need to invest in critical drinking water and wastewater infrastructure,” said Levin. “I am hopeful that these projects will help provide clean drinking water, safeguard Michigan’s environment and create good jobs at the same time.”    » read more »

May 27, 2009 -- "Thank you, Tim, for that introduction, and my thanks to the Foreign Policy Association for inviting me to be here tonight. It is an honor to speak to the members of an organization who have added so much to our nation’s foreign policy debate over the years.    » read more »

Funds Made Available through the USDA’s Rural Development Program

May 22, 2009 -- WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Carl Levin (D-MI) announced today the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded $2,661,000 to the City of Manistique through the Rural Development Program. The city received $1,995,000 in grant funding and a $666,000 loan from USDA to improve the water treatment plant.

“This funding will help improve water quality for the Manistique area, ensuring that over 1,400 families have access to clean drinking water,” Stabenow said. “Not only will these improvements help keep Michigan families healthy, but it will also protect our environment.”    » read more »

Funds made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which passed earlier this year

May 22, 2009 -- WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Carl Levin (D-MI) announced today that the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) has been awarded $78,310,613 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding through the Department of Treasury. The funding will support the construction or acquisition and rehabilitation of rental housing for low-income families and individuals throughout the state.    » read more »

May 22, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – In a White House Rose Garden ceremony this morning, President Obama signed the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009, a bill by Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The bill will address the unreasonable cost and schedule estimates, unrealistic performance expectations, immature technologies, and repeated program changes that have led to explosive cost growth and costly schedule delays on so many of our major defense acquisition programs.    » read more »

May 22, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – In a White House ceremony this afternoon, President Obama will sign the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act or Credit CARD Act of 2009, which offers a comprehensive approach to protecting consumers from unfair credit card practices. The bill builds on groundwork laid by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., in hearings and legislation over the past four years.

“Credit card companies have crossed line after line with outrageous practices that hurt American families and businesses,” Levin said. “They underestimated the ability of Congress to turn public outcry into public policy. We faced powerful forces against this effort, but we prevailed.    » read more »

Funds made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which passed earlier this year

May 18, 2009 -- WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Carl Levin (D-MI) announced today that Michigan will receive $4,795,000 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The funding will help finance public safety services in rural communities protect.

“This investment will help ensure that families living in rural communities have access to law enforcement, health care, and other essential services,” said Stabenow. “I am pleased that this recovery funding will help keep our rural communities safe, and will help create good-paying jobs at the same time.”    » read more »

May 18, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., said the following today:

“The Administration’s anticipated announcement for joint EPA-DOT regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy contains two important elements that I have been fighting for over many years. First, it will establish a single national standard that will provide predictability and certainty for the auto companies in meeting regulations, which the industry apparently believes it can achieve over a realistic timeframe.    » read more »

FACT SHEET: Reforming Government Contracting

March 4, 2009 -- Upon taking office, the Obama Administration inherited a fiscal disaster: a budget deficit of $1.3 trillion. This burden is compounded by the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. As we get our economy moving again through the Recovery Act, it’s also important that we turn the page on an era of irresponsibility in which taxpayer dollars were used to line contractors’ pockets or maintain projects that do not work. To that end, the President today signed a Presidential Memorandum that reforms how the government does business and that will save taxpayers billions of dollars each year.    » read more »

Statement by Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) Before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on 'Where Were the Watchdogs? The Financial Crisis and the Breakdown of Financial Governance'

January 21, 2009 -- Today’s hearing provides an opportunity to deepen our analysis of what has gone wrong with the U.S. financial system, and what reforms are needed not only to end the immediate crisis, but to rebuild our financial architecture and strengthen investor, consumer, and taxpayer protections.    » read more »

August 12, 2008 -- (WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Most corporations doing business in the United States pay no federal income tax to the federal government according to a new GAO (Government Accountability Office) study [PDF] requested by U.S. Senators Byron Dorgan (D-N.D) and Carl Levin (D-MI).

The report says that two thirds of both American companies and foreign companies doing business in the United States end up avoiding all income tax obligations to the federal government despite corporate sales totaling $2.5 trillion.    » read more »

August 5, 2008 -- WASHINGTON – Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., and senior Committee Member John Warner, R-Va., today announced the release of a report [PDF] by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) detailing annual Iraqi oil revenues and Iraqi government contributions to security and reconstruction efforts in the country. This report was requested by the Senators in a March 6th letter to the Comptroller General.    » read more »

August 4, 2008 -- WASHINGTON – Describing the credit card industry as “rife with unfair, deceptive, and predatory practices,” Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., today urged the Federal Reserve to strengthen its proposed regulation aimed at unfair or deceptive credit card practices. In a 13-page letter, Levin, chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, detailed several abusive practices used by credit card issuers that need to be ended.    » read more »