EC From DC - September 16, 2011

Striving for Civility



Last week, I was delighted to join my friend and neighbor, Congressman Tim Johnson (R-IL), politicians, and high school students in a Getting to Common Ground and Greater Good debate, put on by Purple America. Purple America's mission is to unite America around twelve values, neither red nor blue, that form our common ground: Equality, Faith, Family, Freedom, Love and Respect, Self-Expression, Doing the Right Thing, Community, Giving Back, the Good Life, Opportunity and Success.

The program kicks off Purple America's national Re-Imagine America® campaign to foster civility and the non-partisan, core values Americans of all faiths and political parties share. The program challenges Americans to remember and re-create the national unity experienced in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

The thinking of those of us in Congress is flawed. We have come to think about compromise as capitulation. Instead, the meaning of leadership today must be redefined and redeveloped. In the Sixties, our country was divided over the struggle for civil rights. Congress took a leadership position by passing the Civil Rights Act because they believed it represented the values for which America stood.

True leaders guide with compassion and by example. As elected officials, our constituents expect us to fight vehemently for issues about which we care passionately, but with the level of decorum expected from statesmen. Embracing a civil exchange of ideas and respectful difference of opinion allows real debate to occur and the best ideas to emerge. It is time we recognize that harmful rhetoric, personal attacks and injurious diatribe are not only destructive to the work, atmosphere and relations among lawmakers, but also the American people. We can and we must disagree without being disagreeable.

As Chair of the Civility Caucus, I encourage Members to develop respectful relationships with one another, showing by example that even those on opposite sides of the political spectrum can serve together as amiable colleagues. Of course, we must promote civil discourse not only across party lines and in heated exchanges, but within our own political ranks as well. This does not mean compromising our views or free speech, but rather a commitment to the American people who have called for less hostility and more understanding.

"One thing I've learned—and I've said this to Republicans and Democrats—is, bees cannot sting and make honey at the same time. They have to make a choice. Either they are going to be a stinger or a honey-maker, and I contend that honey is a symbol of legislation and, the nuclear language used by members is the stinger, and you can't do both." Click here to read the interview with Congressman Cleaver.

1. Tax Cuts to Help America's Small Businesses Hire and Grow
   • The President's plan will cut the payroll tax in half to 3.1% for employers on the first $5 million in wages, providing broad tax relief to all businesses but targeting it to the 98 percent of firms with wages below this level. In Missouri, 120,000 firms will receive a payroll tax cut under the American Jobs Act.
      
2. Putting Workers Back on the Job While Rebuilding and Modernizing America
   • The President's plan includes $50 billion in immediate investments for highways, transit, rail and aviation, helping to modernize an infrastructure that now receives a grade of "D" from the American Society of Civil Engineers and putting hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the job. Of the investments for highway and transit modernization projects, the President's plan will make immediate investments of at least $716,900,000 in Missouri that could support a minimum of approximately 9,300 local jobs.
   • The President is proposing to invest $35 billion to prevent layoffs of up to 280,000 teachers, while supporting the hiring of tens of thousands more and keeping cops and firefighters on the job. These funds would help states and localities avoid and reverse layoffs now, and will provide $565,200,000 in funds to Missouri to support up to 9,100 educator and first responder jobs.
   • The President is proposing a $25 billion investment in school infrastructure that will modernize at least 35,000 public schools – investments that will create jobs, while improving classrooms and upgrading our schools to meet 21st century needs. Missouri will receive $422,200,000 in funding to support as many as 5,500 jobs.
   • The President is proposing to invest $15 billion in a national effort to put construction workers on the job rehabilitating and refurbishing hundreds of thousands of vacant and foreclosed homes and businesses. Missouri could receive about $71,900,000 to revitalize and refurbish local communities, in addition to funds that would be available through a competitive application.
   • The President's plan proposes $5 billion of investments for facilities modernization needs at community colleges. Investment in modernizing community colleges fills a key resource gap, and ensures these local, bedrock education institutions have the facilities and equipment to address current workforce demands in today's highly technical and growing fields. Missouri could receive $69,100,000 in funding in the next fiscal year for its community colleges.
      
3. Pathways Back to Work for Americans Looking for Jobs.
   • Drawing on the best ideas of both parties and the most innovative states, the President is proposing the most sweeping reforms to the unemployment insurance (UI) system in 40 years help those without jobs transition to the workplace. This could help put the 109,000 long-term unemployed workers in Missouri back to work.Alongside these reforms, the President is reiterating his call to extend unemployment insurance, preventing 40,400 people looking for work in Missouri from losing their benefits in just the first 6 weeks. And, across the country, the number saved from losing benefits would triple by the end of the year.
   • The President is proposing a new Pathways Back to Work Fund to provide hundreds of thousands of low-income youth and adults with opportunities to work and to achieve needed training in growth industries. Pathways Back to Work could place 2,400 adults and 9,500 youths in jobs in Missouri.
      
4. Tax Relief for Every American Worker and Family
   • The President's plan will expand the payroll tax cut passed last December by cutting workers payroll taxes in half next year. A typical household in Missouri, with a median income of around $49,000, will receive a tax cut of around $1,520.
      
5. Fully Paid for as Part of the President's Long-Term Deficit Reduction Plan.
   • To ensure that the American Jobs Act is fully paid for, the President will call on the Joint Committee to come up with additional deficit reduction necessary to pay for the Act and still meet its deficit target. The President will, in the coming days, release a detailed plan that will show how we can do that while achieving the additional deficit reduction necessary to meet the President's broader goal of stabilizing our debt as a share of the economy.

Emanuel Cleaver, II Member of Congress