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Bill would give Vermont greater resources to perform oversight of federal recovery fundsA bill sponsored by Rep. Peter Welch that would provide state and local governments with greater resources to prevent waste, fraud and abuse of federal stimulus dollars was approved Wednesday afternoon by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.The Enhanced Oversight of State and Local Economic Recovery Act, H.R. 2182, ensures that officials responsible for monitoring and accounting for the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act have the tools they need to perform their oversight responsibilities efficiently. The bill allows state and local governments to set aside a portion of allocated stimulus funds for auditing, contracting and grant planning and management.

Rep. Peter Welch supported and the House passed the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights, of which he is a cosponsor, Thursday afternoon. The vote was 357 to 70.The bill provides some basic fairness to credit cardholders long resisted by card issuers by applying common sense regulations that would ban most retroactive interest rate hikes on existing balances, double-cycle billing and due date gimmicks. It protects cardholders from arbitrary interest rate increases, empowers them to set limits on their credit and requires card companies to fairly credit and allocate payments.

Rep. Peter Welch announced Tuesday he will seek an amendment to the Credit Cardholder's Bill of Rights that would cap credit card interest rates at 18 percent.

Rep. Peter Welch today voted in favor of the COPS Improvements Act, a bill that would bolster community policing efforts by hiring 50,000 police officers over the next five years. The measure, which was cosponsored by Welch, passed the House this afternoon on a vote of 342 to 78.The bill, which is designed to reinvigorate Community Oriented Policing Services grants, could result in the hiring of as many as 109 police officers in Vermont, according to congressional estimates.