Blue America Chat With Mary Jo Kilroy, 11 AM PDT

Most readers here have probably heard most recently about Mary Jo because of the letter that she drafted, with the help of Grijalva and Grayson, to prevent the Cat Food Commission from trying to balance the budget on the backs of Social Security recipients. But that kind of legislative attitude is what regularly made Mary Jo Kilroy such a valuable leader for ordinary working families-- and, of course, a target for the special interests and their Republican allies. Normally she and Grayson are hard at work inside the House Financial Services Committee looking out for the interests of ordinary middle class families, instead of the bankers and special interests lobbyists who feel so very entitled to be served by that committee. (Her opponent, Steve Stivers, I might add, is not just a close ally of John Boehner's, he's also a career-long banking lobbyist eager to repeal Wall Street Reform.)

This week Stivers and Boehner were hysterical over a widely popular bill Mary Jo wrote, the Medical Debt Relief Act, which is meant to prevent credit bureaus from using paid off or settled medical debt against consumers seeking car loans, home mortgages and the like. The problems addressed have affected nearly 72 million working-age adults who have some sort of medical debt listed on their credit reports. The bill passed unanimously through mark up. The bill passed unanimously in the Committee; not even the worst reactionary Wall Street shills dared to vote against it-- and it should have passed by a voice vote but Boehner, sensing the House was about to give Mary Jo a big legislative win, decided to cause problems, and placed a hold on the bill requiring Republicans and Democrats to negotiate whether or not a recorded vote would be necessary. The Republican Study Committee then got into the act claiming the bill would have all sorts of false unintended consequences, straight up fabricating a rationale for Republicans to vote against it. Mary Jo swung into action and beat back Boehner's purely partisan attempts to destroy the much needed legislation. More Republicans voted with Mary Jo (87) than with Boehner (81) and the bill passed with a huge bipartisan majority, 336-82.

Since being elected, Mary Jo Kilroy played a very active role in crafting Wall Street reform regulations. She authored key provisions, including one that would end the credit rating bureau's ability to stamp AAA ratings on junk mortgage assets by putting serious penalties on them for approving bad assets. She was one of the key players and proponents in ensuring a strong Consumer Financial Protection Board and she was one of two freshmen to serve on the Wall Street Reform Conference Committee where she fought behind the scenes against the Senate for greater consumer protections.

"People in the 15th (district) have a very clear choice," Kilroy said. "They can vote for someone who spent a career as a banking lobbyist and supported the kinds of policies that led to the recession and 'too big to fail,' or they can support someone who has been a watchdog and an advocate for the middle class. I think it makes a difference that people know I'm on their side."