In his article "Savvy, Minus the Seniority," National Journal Magazine Writer Richard E. Cohen notes Peter "isn't the typical House Democrat."

"Thanks to lengthy state legislative experience and two prime committee perches, he behaves more like a veteran on the Hill. "

 Click here [0] to read the entire article.

April 30, 2008
By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau

MONTPELIER — U.S. Rep. Peter Welch had one thought as he watched President Bush's morning press conference deriding Congressional Democrats for alleged inaction on economic issues.

"It was really baffling to me," Welch said by phone from Washington, D.C., on Tuesday afternoon. "If he really intends to do something for working people, he would first start by suspending shipments to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve."

With the cost of gasoline topping $4 a gallon in many parts of the country — prices here in Vermont have floated around the $3.50 mark this week — Welch and other Democrats in the U.S. House are proposing to temporarily cease putting oil in the emergency reserve, a move they say will drop prices by about 25 cents.

Welch has proposed a bill that would order officials within the U.S. Department of Energy to stop adding oil to that reserve — as the federal government voluntarily did after 2005's Hurricane Katrina — for the rest of the year or until the price per barrel of oil drops to $50.

Seven Days Feature writer Ken Picard gives us an inside look at Peter's work in Washington:

At about 9:30 a.m., in Room 1404 of the Longworth House Office Building, Vermont Rep. Peter Welch and his staff are preparing for a seminal day. In a half-hour, Welch plans to join fellow House Democrats at a Tax Day press conference to detail the true cost of America’s mission in the Middle East. Then, at 2 p.m., he’s scheduled to be at a subcommittee hearing on an issue that has garnered international media attention: a legal loophole that makes it easier for some overseas private contractors to defraud the federal government.

Click here [1]to read the entire cover story.

Rutland Herald Editorial Staff
April 15, 2008

Rep. Peter Welch is pushing a bill that would protect consumers from manipulation and exploitation by credit card companies.

Crushing credit card debt might be dismissed as a problem that consumers have brought on themselves. Why should government step in to protect consumers? Isn't it our responsibility to refrain from purchases that put us in a hole?

Though we are all responsible for ourselves and our mistakes, the government also has an interest in protecting people from predatory practices that exploit ignorance and need. The present housing crisis demonstrates the economic damage that ensues when unscrupulous lenders push debt onto borrowers who can't afford it.

By LARA JAKES JORDAN
April 14, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — A multibillion-dollar loophole that would have helped conceal abuse of overseas contracts has been eliminated from a Bush administration proposal to protect taxpayer dollars, according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

Reversing itself after months of criticism, the administration closed the loophole that was quietly slipped last year into a proposed Justice Department crackdown on government contract fraud.

The loophole specifically exempted contractors from reporting evidence of fraud or abuse in overseas work that cost taxpayers at least $5 million. An updated version of the proposal, drafted April 4, requires reporting on all contracts — whether at home or abroad.