Camp pulls ahead in U.S. House race

Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., held a hefty lead over challenger Debra Wirth in the race for the U.S. House race in Michigan’s 4th District.

With 35 percent of the votes tallied as of 11:15 p.m. Tuesday, Camp lead with 65 percent of the vote to 31.8 percent for Wirth.

Camp has represented Michigan’s 4th District since 1992, and the 10th District the year before that. He currently serves as the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Camp told CM Life previously that his No. 1 priority following reelection is to focus on jobs in Michigan.

“I am focused on fostering economic growth and job creation by advancing legislation in four areas: reducing out-of-control federal spending; preventing tax hikes while pursuing comprehensive tax reform; enhancing America’s global competitiveness by increasing trade and better enforcing U.S. trade laws; and reducing unnecessary and burdensome federal regulations,” he said.

During the past Congress, Camp said he worked on three particular pieces of legislation that were negotiated, passed and signed into law on bipartisan basis under his leadership.

These laws were the Korea, Columbia and Panama Free Trade Agreements, which opened new markets to farmers in Michigan; the Stop the Invasive Species Act, which speeds up the Army Corps of Engineers timeline to propose a solution to protect the Great Lakes from Asian Carp; and the Payroll Tax Conference Committee, which protected middle-class Americans from tax increases and reformed unemployment and welfare programs.

Camp caught press recently when he sent a letter to Department of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Oct. 23. The letter was a call for compliance with the Delphi document request, and indicated he was willing to subpoena if the Obama administration did not follow through by providing the documents.

The documents are associated with the termination of pensions for 20,000 Delphi employees.

“I understand the answer may be difficult to explain in states like Michigan and Ohio, but politics cannot dictate the timing of when the American people learn the truth,” he said in a news release. “If the administration fails to act in a timely manner, they may well find themselves on the receiving end of a subpoena that compels their cooperation.”