In the early days of our republic, President Andrew Jackson established an important principle of American-style democracy – that we should measure the health of our society not at its apex, but at its base.  This means placing focus on the living conditions that exist on Main Street, not just on the numbers that come out of Wall Street.  We must recapture that spirit today. 

Since joining the Senate, Congress has made progress enacting policies in the spirit of one of my guiding principles of “economic fairness”—from raising the minimum wage to AMT tax relief.  In the coming years, I will continue to build on these achievements with health care reforms and measures to ensure that our trade policies are fair to the American worker.

Increasing the Minimum Wage
I am pleased to have worked in support of an increase in the federal minimum wage, enacted in 2007, from $5.15 to $7.25—the first minimum wage increase in 10 years.  Prior to the increase, full-time minimum wage earners made $10,712 a year.  That kind of income is hardly sufficient to make ends meet in today’s economy.  I am pleased to be part of the Congress that was able to achieve this increase and I will work to ensure the minimum wage is regularly increased to fairly reflect the standard cost of living.

Granting Relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) for 650,000 VA families
My Senate colleagues and I passed legislation in 2009 that will provide tax relief for millions of working families affected by the alternative minimum tax (AMT).  The AMT was originally intended to ensure that the wealthiest Americans paid a minimum amount of tax.  Because the tax was not indexed for inflation, it threatened one out of every five Virginia taxpayers.  I am pleased that the AMT patch was passed by Congress as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to protect more than 650,000 Virginians from unnecessary higher taxes. 

Helping Homeowners
In the first quarter of 2009 Virginia ranked tenth in the nation in foreclosures.  Across the country, homeowners have lost billions of dollars in home values and, in increasing numbers, families have lost their homes to foreclosure.  To help turn the housing crisis around, I supported the successful Helping Families Save Their Home Act, signed into law in May 2009, to ease restrictions on eligibility for refinancing for responsible borrowers.  This legislation expands the ability of the Federal Housing Authority and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to modify loans, and authorizes the Department of Housing and Urban Development and USDA to give loan servicers the opportunity to modify loans, including: reducing interest rates, reducing principal, or stretching out the term of these government-insured loans.  This measure will assist thousands of Virginians who are struggling to keep their homes by allowing lenders to modify their loans.

Improving Access to Credit
One of the defining characteristics of the economic crisis has been the contraction of credit markets, affecting individuals, families, and businesses.  I am proud to have supported the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009, which contains important tools to increase the flow of credit in the US economy, including an increase in deposit insurance to provide added confidence to depositors and increasing the borrowing authority for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the National Credit Union Administration  The program is expected to assist 3 million to 4 million homeowners in the next three years.