December 15,2010

Democratic Steering and Policy Committee I 12th Congress

Dear Members of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee,

As Members of the New York Delegation, we strongly support Representative Carolyn Maloney
to be the Ranking Member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee (OGR) in the
112th Congress.

Based on our seniority system, which has served our Caucus so well, Carolyn is next in line.
Moreover, she is a prolific legislator with a strong record of fighting for what she believes in and
fighting to defend the work of this Administration and Caucus. She has a proven record of
standing up to Republicans generally and Chairman-elect Issa specifically -- as recently as
Tuesday during debate on a Census bill. Carolyn Maloney will not back down from a fight and
will not let an attack go unanswered.

Representative Maloney is ideally suited for the task.

Representative Maloney has the moxie - a New York trademark and dogged determination to
stand up to the Republicans, as she has proved throughout her long career in the House.
Representative Maloney has repeatedly and successfully confronted entrenched interests,
including Big Oil and CIA. She has been the author or lead Democrat on a wide range of
significant legislation, including HR 627, the Credit CARD Act, considered one of the
signature achievements of the Obarna Administration, which eliminates many of the most
egregious practices of the credit card industry; the Contractor and Federal Spending
Accountability Act, to ensure that vendors that repeatedly violate federal law will not be
awarded millions of dollars in federal contracts; the full implementation of the 9111
Commissions recommendations, including the first restructuring of the nation's intelligence
system in 50 years; and the Debbie Smith Act, to provide funding to reduce the nation's backlog
of rape kits, called the most important anti-rape legislation that Congress has ever passed.

Carolyn has served in both the Majority and the Minority and she knows how to get things done
in both environments. She has raised and contributed $100,000 beyond her dues requirement to
the DCCC in this cycle (and that was in the midst of a well-funded primary opponent).

Carolyn has an extraordinary record of legislative accomplishment and effective oversight:

• She went after the oil companies and the Minerals Management Service years before the
Gulf oil spill, and before it was fashionable, and by sheer force of will, she won-saving
taxpayers hundreds of millions in recovered royalties.

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 • She wrote the legislation which enacted the complete recommendations of the 9/11
Commission-and pushed it relentlessly over the objections ofthe Bush Administration
and Congressional Republicans.

• During the 2000 Census she fought with tenacity for full and fair count of urban
residents, of blacks, of Hispanics, of Asians. She was on the floor almost every week
speaking on the Census, fighting the Republicans to a standstill because she knew it
would help elect Democrats, she knew it was both good policy and the right thing. It's
wasn't glamorous, but Carolyn did it anyway.

• She fought for the rights and the health of 9/11 workers and residents near Ground Zero
and, despite vigorous opposition from Congressional Republicans, is now working to
pass the James Zadroga 9111 Health and Compensation Act, to provide health care and
compensation for the first responders and victims of the most deadly attack on American
soil since Pearl Harbor.

• On Financial Services, she's had a similar range of achievements, including taking on the
banks and credit card companies and passing-against all odds, fighting relentlessly-the
Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights, which was the biggest applause line in the President's
stump speech during his campaign, and one of the first bill-signings in the Rose Garden
in 2009.

Carolyn Maloney is the best choice to lead OGR going into the next two years. She is a
determined fighter, an effective legislator and a strong voice for justice. She has the tenacity and
leadership to defend our party and our principles, as she has demonstrated over her entire career­
- and she will be relentless in the face of attacks from opponents of our President.

We believe that seniority should be respected and that Representative Maloney should be the
next Ranking Member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Sincerely,

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