EC From DC - June 6, 2013

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There were certainly some looks as Kansas City's Minddrive students and mentors rolled into Washington DC and onto Capitol Hill this week, in their restored 1967 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. It is a vehicle they have converted into an electric car – and it is powered by social media!

I have been inspired by these young people for quite some time now – from their trip to Washington last year for Earth Day, to bringing the White House Council on Environmental Quality Chairwoman Nancy Sutley to tour and visit with them in Kansas City.

Minddrive is an after-school program that works with at-risk teenagers from the urban core of the Kansas City area. They focus on engaging students, mentoring them, teaching them, and giving them skills that will help lead to sustainable lives.

There are students who were told by teachers they would never graduate, but are now on the honor roll. There are students who were skipping school and getting in trouble, but are now getting their GEDs and working.

More than 20 students, along with their mentors, made the trip. Whether a Republican, a Democrat, or anything in between – it is hard to argue with the virtue of young people setting a goal, working toward it, and succeeding.

I was pleased to be able to organize the stop and a briefing during their stay in Washington, so they could meet with federal officials interested in their program and their work. This trip started in Kansas City, and made stops in Akron and Pittsburgh before rolling into DC.

From Capitol Hill they will go on to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and end their journey in New York City.

On June 10th, we will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Equal Pay Act. But unbelievably, women still only earn about 77-cents on the dollar compared to men. This is unacceptable.

President Kennedy signed this important legislation in 1963. At that time, women were earning only 59-cents on the dollar compared to men.

So, has there been progress? Indeed.

But enough progress? Absolutely not.

And for African-American and Latina women, the gap is even greater. There is so much work yet to be done.

The Paycheck Fairness Act gives us the opportunity to move forward in equalizing pay in the workforce. Now, it seems to me this is just good commonsense, but it will not happen without a fight.

Everywhere I go throughout the Fifth District, people ask me to continue standing up for the middle class. This is another important way, in my opinion, to do just that.

Enough is enough.

Women deserve to be paid the same amount as men – for the same work.

We must do this, not only because it will strengthen the middle class and help get our economy back on track. We must do this – because it is the right thing to do.

On Saturday, June 8th, at 10 AM, an effort known as the Convoy of Hope will attract thousands to Swope Park. It is my hope to stop by and visit with those in attendance. The park will be filled with tents, each offering a different service. There will be everything from clothes and shoes to haircuts, family pictures and health information. All of the services are free and all in attendance leave with a bag of groceries.

As you know, The Green Impact Zone is a 150-square block area in Kansas City designated for significant federal funds over the last three years to grow jobs, reduce crime, improve curbing, sidewalks and bridges, weatherize homes, support neighborhoods, and bring a quality of life and community back to an area that has been devastated by decay and crime for decades.

Last year this effort brought more than 7,000 people to the park and organizers gave out more than 50,000 pounds of groceries. This year they will also be assisting people with writing resumes, searching for jobs, and connecting those looking for work with those hiring.

I wanted to share with you recent news that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has hired more than 1,600 mental health professionals to assist veterans, service members, and family members.

Access to quality mental health care is something that is critical, and it is an area that has needed improvement. These are services our veterans most certainly deserve.

More than 1.3 million veterans receive mental health care annually from the VA. It is a number that continues to increase. But, as we know, it's not just a number. These are men and women who have served our country with courage and bravery, and they should be taken care of when they are in need of help.

In 2011, the VA announced a national campaign called Make the Connection. That campaign is aimed at reducing the stigma that can, unfortunately, at times be associated with seeking mental health care. The effort is also to inform veterans and their families about resources. To learn more about that, please visit: https://www.maketheconnection.net

There is a plethora of things I love about serving in the House of Representatives. It is one of the greatest honors that can be awarded to an American. But there is one thing about Congress that used to drive me gaga. It is what I call, the fact-free floor debates.

I have said in speeches that Members go home on the weekends to rehearse the distortions they designed during the week; I call talking points distortion diaries.

While doing some reading over the Memorial Day break, I stumbled across a quote attributed to English journalist, thinker, economist, and Nobel Laureate, Sir Norman Angell, which helped me immensely when it comes to understanding the fact crisis in Congress.

Democrats and Republicans, I have concluded, have the same exact facts but they are all too often interpreted ideologically. We come to our interpretation of facts not out of a ‘pure' reason but a provincialistic prism. And therein lies the rub. Ideology, including my own, is far more fraught with peril than anything we do as Members of the People's House.

Why then do Members of Congress look at legislation as political issues? Well, by the time we get elected, ideology, which has been poured into us through environmental influences, has been defended and dignified – figuratively and rhetorically – and after a while, seems to become self-evident truths. Therefore, two good and honorable Members can look at the same facts and interpret them differently.

Despite this dual interpretation of facts, this country has made progress for more than 200 years through the art of compromise. Decision making in this body has always REQUIRED concession swapping, back and forth. In FACT, the U.S. Constitution is often called a "bundle of compromises" because compromise was required to sell the document to the states. The problem is that today, too many of us look at "compromise" as a dirty word.

We need both facts and the understanding of how we approach them with prejudice. Nevertheless, facts are too occupied being unfictitious and unvarnished to concern themselves with Congress.