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“Guantanamo is a symbol of everything we did wrong,” said Johnson, a former criminal defense attorney. “It’s an ugly reminder of the fact that our international relations have been severely damaged.

The legislation passed the House by a vote of 328-93, drawing support from 85 Republicans.

Johnson, who voted against TARP but voted for HR 1586, was pleased that three-fourths of the TARP funds that have been spent went to companies that would be covered by this bill.

In particular, Johnson and his colleagues investigated consolidation of the banking industry and the vast amount of public money used to stabilize banks and other financial institutions rocked by toxic mortgage assets, and asked the fundamental question – are there institutions that are “too big to fail?”

Officials of the IRS will be on-hand to answer questions and process individual tax returns.

Participants will learn about earned income tax credits, determine their filing status and receive information about tax-exempt businesses, organizations and 501(c)3 entities.

The money – which was released by the Federal Transit Administration – is part of what is expected to be more than $1 billion the state will receive for infrastructure under the Recovery plan, which was signed into law last month.

If passed by the Senate and signed into law – H.R. 1106 – Helping Families Save their Homes Act of 2009 would empower judges to reduce amount of principal owed, cut the interest rate or extend the length of a loan for a homeowner struggling with their mortgage.

It comes on the heels of Johnson’s first telephone town hall meeting held Feb. 24 from his office in Washington, D.C., in which he reached out to 25,000 Fourth District residents to discuss the Recovery Act.