Rick Crawford today called on Speaker Pelosi and other Congressional Democrats to cease employing abusive intimidation tactics against American companies that are required by law to report adverse financial conditions to pension funds, mutual funds, individual stockholders, and other investors that own company shares.
“At Speaker Pelosi’s direction, House Democratic committee chairmen are lining up public interrogation sessions for some of our nation’s leading job creators, including John Deere, Caterpillar, AT&T, and Verizon Communications,” said Crawford. “Instead of attacking the great American companies who provide tens of thousands of jobs, Congress should be taking a hard look at the true costs of the new healthcare entitlement program.”
Friday House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak wrote to the heads of John Deere, Caterpillar, AT&T, and Verizon Communications requesting that the companies testify in sworn statements before Congress. The letters request specific information about accounting methods, emails among senior company officials, and comes with the implicit threat that subpoenas would be issued for companies that refuse to comply with the Congressional request. The information is due by April 9, 2010, and the hearings are set for April 21, 2010.
Waxman’s call for hearings came after Speaker Pelosi told Democrats to go on the “offensive” in defending and calming public doubts about the new entitlement program.
“This liberal Congress seems to be friendlier toward prisoners at Guantanamo than American job creators,” concluded Crawford. “Especially during an once-in-a-lifetime economic recession, we should be seeking to work with businesses, not trying to cripple and intimidate them. I believe that we would have been much better served if Congrress would have focused on creating jobs and addressing the national fiscal crisis rather than spending money we do not have on a new entitlement program for 32 million people that will only put government between us and our doctors.”
Rick,
Good to see your taking the current leadership to task. In my opinion Democratic leadership is weakening our country for generations to come. Social agendas have taken over DC. The Democrats have made a mockery of the principles that this nation were founded on. I’m all for fiscal responsibility and clarity in reporting, but lets apply the same approach they are using to their recent tactics in passing the healthcare bill. Lets call them to room full of conservatives to be grilled on their latest exploits and how the middle class will be paying for their legacy for who knows how long? If publiclicy traded companies need more stringent guidelines for reporting, deal with the issue in the process.
JB
We have an opportunity to take back control of America in 2010, please for the sake of our grandchildren and their children lets not leave them a place that is much worse off than at anytime in our history. The time for the American people is now to defend our rights as a free people and get out and vote these people with socialistic tendencies out of office. Most Americans want to see health care reform that is approached with logical and realistic goals set forth that can be acheived without destroying more jobs and opportunity.