EC from DC - April 4, 2014
I do not believe slashing Head Start and forcing parents to stay home from work is the right way to go.
I do not believe adding debt to college students while giving tax breaks to big oil companies is the right way to go.
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And I don’t believe ending the Medicare guarantee for our seniors, raising taxes on the middle class, and cutting jobs – in order to cut taxes for millionaires – is the right way to go.
There is a lot of debate right now on Capitol Hill when it comes to the budget. I believe we must have a solid budget that responsibly reduces the deficit, protects hard-working, middle class Americans, and keeps in place a strong safety net, one that ensures our children have enough to eat, promises made to our seniors are kept, and that we don’t cater to the rich at the expense of the poor.
The common term for the Republican budget is called the Ryan Budget. I don’t like to call it that, because in pointing out problems with it, it implies a criticism of the person. I don’t harbor any ill will toward the man, only a disagreement with the ideas.
* For instance, Missouri’s Fifth District has 27,290 current and former federal employees. The proposed GOP Budget would essentially cut their pay by 6%.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) reports this proposed Republican budget gets 69% of its cuts from programs that would help our most vulnerable Americans. These are our neighbors, our friends, and the folks sitting next to us in the church pews.
According to the CBPP:
- Medicaid and subsidies to help low and moderate income people buy private insurance would be cut by $2.7 trillion.
- At least 40 million of these Americans – 1 in 8 people – would become uninsured in the next decade alone.
- The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would suffer $137 billion in cuts over the next decade. Almost half of the people served by SNAP are children.
- Pell Grants for low and moderate income students would be cut by up to $125 billion.
- An additional $385 billion would be cut from programs that serve the elderly, the disabled, provide school lunches to kids whose families can’t afford them, and tax credits for child care so parents can work.
And where are the jobs in this proposed budget? There are numerous cuts to critical investments, but no talk of jobs.
We need to help create jobs in this country, not stand in the way of that. We need to keep jobs here at home, not outsource them to other countries. We need training, trade policies, and tax incentives to put American workers on the job, by manufacturing things here, in America.
Just this week, the jobs report was released for March. For the 49th consecutive month now, our country has seen private sector job creation. March marked a pivotal month – as we, finally, hit the number signifying we have recovered all of the private sector jobs lost in the devastating economic recession.
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This is NOT a time to go backwards.
We need to expand our good-paying jobs, not eliminate them.
We need to increase our minimum wage, lifting millions of Americans out of poverty and revitalizing the economy.
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We need to extend emergency unemployment insurance to those who are desperately searching for work. A renewal would bring critical relief to some 49,300 Missourians.
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And for heaven’s sake … women should make equal pay for equal work!
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We should be caring more about what we are doing for hard-working Americans' pocketbooks – than for multi-millionaires' portfolios.
A budget is a moral document, it shows where our priorities lie.
I do not believe we should be leading our country down the path of creating more wealth for millionaires, while our seniors, our students, and the very backbone and strength of our country - the middle class - pay the price.
It is not right.
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The increasing cost of tuition was the topic of conversation recently when I sat down with a group of student advocates from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Many colleges and universities have seen costs jump by more than 50% in the last five years! This is simply unacceptable. This is a time when we should be protecting and strengthening our funding for education, not gutting it. I have unapologetically led efforts to protect Pell Grants in the past, and I will continue to do so in the future. College should be affordable for all those who have the desire to learn and the dedication to work hard.
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Speaking of hard work, look who I bumped into as I left a meeting this week. None other than Lauryn Williams, whose hard work and extraordinary success are an inspiration to millions around the world. To say she is an elite athlete is truly an understatement. She is the fifth person in history, and the first woman in the United States, to medal in both the Winter and the Summer Olympics. Recently, in Sochi, Russia, Lauryn won the Silver in the two-woman bobsled competition. In the 2012 London Olympics, she was part of the women’s 4X100 meter relay team that brought home the Gold.
Oh, and did I mention she won the Silver in the 2004 games in the 100 meter race? No, I couldn’t resist. I invited her to bring that ‘never give up’ attitude right here to Capitol Hill!
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employees from Missouri’s Fifth District |
This week I got the opportunity to meet with a group of U.S. Army Corps employees from the Kansas City area. These folks are just some of the many, who are on-the-ground and in the trenches each and every day, making sure we have a working water infrastructure that protects us, not only from the Missouri River, but also from the Blue River. A thriving infrastructure, of course, means a thriving economy, as well.
The most explosive running back I have ever seen in person was Berniece Mundean, my high school team mate. Under different circumstances, I believe that Mundean would have been an outstanding college running back and would have certainly ended up in the National Football League. He was just that good. During practice, one warm fall evening in Wichita Falls, the team was going through our punt return coverage where the punt returners were at one end of the field while the punter and two line men were at the other end.
The punt returner, and we had a good one (Willie Joe Adair), would do his thing. The back-up returner was the slippery Mundean who would take over only if Willie Joe got hurt.
The drills were going fine until Mundean stepped in to return the punts. When he walked on the field he removed his helmet and said,” Neither of you guys can touch me so I don’t need a helmet.” Let me say again, this Mundean fellow was “lightning” in a bottle and could change directions faster than the batting of an eye. Sure enough, like a whirling and twirling Alvin Ailey dancer, he glided, twisted, and turned; he made the big linemen with tortoise-like speed look foolish. Coach Robert Garnett was neither amused nor impressed with his star running back.
The coach called every one “up and on one knee.” He called for the first team defensive line man and the first team backfield. “I don’t need the first team offensive lineman because Berneice doesn’t need blockers.” Coach Garnett told the quarterback to just hand off to Mundean.
Mundean, with the moves of Barry Sanders and the speed of Jamal Charles, was essentially dismembered by the same slow linemen he had dismissed earlier. After about four or five plays the coach moved us to other drills. There was no need to say a word, every player got the message, especially the now hurting but humbled Mundean.
Just like a good football team, a good Congress succeeds when its Members work together to play the game. Some may be swift, some may be strong, some may be strategic, but many different talents are needed to achieve success in any one play, in any one game, and in any one season. If we prize only our personal proficiencies, we will perish as a Congress and as a nation. Our nation can’t afford to look back at history hurting and humbled.