| |  | | | | Bipartisanship Back Home, and Beyond
Today, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole called for increased civility and bipartisanship in Congress. I couldn't have said it better myself, although I have tried. The point I am trying to make, perhaps poorly, is that the thinking of those of us in Congress now is flawed. We have come to think about compromise as capitulation. One thing I've learned—and I have said this to Republicans and Democrats and everyone in between—is, bees cannot sting and make honey at the same time. They have to make a choice. Either they can sting other bees, or they can make honey with other bees. You cannot do both.
This past Monday, I was invited by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, along with my friend, neighbor, and colleague Congressman Kevin Yoder. We talked about our time in Congress. I forgave him for being younger and for being from the other side—of the border, not the aisle. Local business leaders from the area shared their stories, concerns, complaints, and calls for—you guessed it—civility. More than ever, we can and we must disagree without being disagreeable.
Check out this editorial from the Star to see what others are saying:
Americans are sick of name-calling in Washington, disgusted by a dysfunctional Congress and waiting for compromises on key tax and spending issues that will help get the U.S. economy back on track.
So are, it turns out, congressmen Kevin Yoder and Emanuel Cleaver.
With another reckless government shutdown looming this week, Yoder and Cleaver spent 80 minutes Monday doing something unusual. The two men — Republican Yoder from Kansas and Democrat Cleaver from Missouri — held a civil discussion about a few hot political issues at a Union Station forum sponsored by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. It was exactly the kind of level-headed conversation that ought to be happening every day in Washington among those sent there to set priorities and manage billions of taxpayer dollars. No, Yoder didn't agree to big tax increases on the rich. Cleaver didn't promise to slash entitlement spending. Both stuck to their core partisan positions.
But it was how they disagreed that was so noticeable, with no finger-pointing or sound bites about the supposed evilness of the other political party. Take Cleaver's comment on the Republican speaker of the House: "I actually like John Boehner." Even more encouraging: They also agreed on a few key issues:
- The country needs to spend more to rebuild its highways, bridges and other important infrastructure.
- Banking regulations have gone too far in restricting loans, especially by smaller community banks across the country.
- The federal government shouldn't dictate to local school boards how to educate their students.
- And, above all else, the gutter-level discourse by politicians in Washington must be changed to help bring about the possibility of needed compromises on crucial issues.
Yoder, in his first term, said he had never seen such meanspirited personal attacks by elected officials while serving in the Kansas Legislature. Cleaver noted that on a day he was expected to follow a Democratic talking point on the House floor and promote job-creating bills, he instead bemoaned the rude behavior of so many of his colleagues.
The posturing by so many officials in Washington has blocked needed progress in the last few years. Cleaver and Yoder have shown there's another way to discuss issues, in a mature and calm style. That's something others in Congress should emulate, especially when this nation's economy is hanging by a thread. |
Great Grants!
It is with great pleasure that I share with you a wealth of grant awards, announced this week.
On Monday, the Department of Labor announced nearly $500 million in grants to community colleges around the country for targeted job training and workforce development to help economically dislocated workers. The Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) program will provide grants to 32 organizations to support partnerships between community colleges and employers to develop programs that provide pathways to good jobs.
Since 1971, the USPS has been a self-supporting government agency that covers its operating costs with revenues generated through the sales of postage and related products and services. In the first three quarters of FY2011, the USPS ran a deficit of $5.7 billion. The USPS has reported that it will exhaust its borrowing authority in FY2011 and be unable to make a mandatory $5.5 billion Retiree Health Benefits Fund payment on September 30, 2011.
I'm proud to cosponsor H.R. 1351, a common sense piece of legislation that would restore fiscal stability to the postal service. I met with postal workers and reps this week, and I support efforts to allow the USPS to use its own funds (not taxpayer money) to resolve its short-term financial problems and continue to meet their obligations.
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In Missouri, this will take the shape of MoHealthWINs, a new program that will retrain 4,600 unemployed Missourians for jobs and careers in growing health care fields. I contacted the Department of Labor to lend my support to this program, which was sought by a consortium of twelve community colleges in the state. Missouri's public community colleges and Linn State Technical College received a $20 million federal grant to develop and launch MoHealthWINs. Metropolitan Community College will use its portion of the grant to retrain nearly 900 unemployed workers. Job retraining works, and gives willing workers the skills they need to get back in the workforce.
Using MoHealthWINs funds, MCC will launch three programs to retrain Missourians for careers in health care: - A new maintenance technician program will provide accelerated training to prepare workers for maintenance positions at hospitals, nursing homes and other health care settings. The program will involve intensive technical training, ending in a specific certificate upon completion. If the student chooses, the earned credit can be counted towards an associate's degree;
- An expanded nursing program;
- And an information technology program will train workers to enter and advance in positions in the high-demand field of health informatics.
On Wednesday, September 28, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) announced more than $243 million in grants to 238 law enforcement agencies to hire, preserve, and/or rehire 1,021 career law enforcement officer positions. The DOF has awarded $1,683,950 to the Kansas City Board of Police Commisioners, to hire ten police officers.
COPS Hiring Program (CHP) grants provide funding to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to hire, preserve and/or rehire career law enforcement officers in an effort to create and preserve jobs and increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts. The $243.4 million allocated for CHP will create or preserve 1,021 sworn law enforcement positions for three years. These grants will cover the full salary and benefits packages for highly trained public sector positions. The jobs created, preserved, or refilled with CHP dollars will advance community policing at the local level, and contribute greatly to the quality of life of the citizens in each community.
Helping More of Our People Make It In America
Finally, here is an op-ed I cowrote with my good friend and colleague, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer. I hope you enjoy it. By Rep. Steny Hoyer and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II
America is still recovering from the worst economic crisis many of us have seen in our lifetimes. For many African-Americans, recovery is not coming nearly fast enough. We have made some progress since the worst days of the crisis -- President Obama inherited an economy that was losing nearly three-quarters of a million jobs each month, and we now have had eighteen straight months of private sector job growth -- but more needs to be done.
While the unemployment rate for all Americans remains at just over 9 percent, the unemployment rate for African Americans is an appalling 16.7 percent. Black communities in cities like Detroit, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis-St. Paul are facing unemployment rates above 20 percent that rival the worst of the 1930s. The picture is even bleaker when we count those working fewer hours than they would choose as well as those who have given up the search for work entirely.
This is simply unacceptable. We must do more to get Americans back to work. Everywhere we go, we hear one word from our constituents: jobs. They want a positive, bipartisan, job-creating agenda from Congress, and they want it now.
President Barack Obama and Democrats have a plan to do so, offering three complementary initiatives to get people back to work. Taken together, President Obama's American Jobs Act, the Congressional Black Caucus' For the People Jobs Initiative and House Democrats' Make it in America plan provide Congress with real solutions that will begin putting people back to work now.
This month, President Obama sent to Congress the American Jobs Act, a bill based on bipartisan ideas that will help put people back to work in the jobs that form the backbone of our communities: teachers, first responders, and construction workers.
Out-innovating, out-educating, and out-building the rest of the world is crucial to renewing opportunity in this country and confronting the joblessness that still plagues too many of our communities. Which is a big reason why the Make It In America plan focuses on manufacturing. The loss of manufacturing jobs has hit African Americans especially hard. In 1979, almost one in four African-American workers in the U.S. had a manufacturing job. Today, it's about one in ten. However, we are seeing a resurgence of the U.S. manufacturing sector, and it has the potential to create jobs and address the African-American unemployment crisis.
The Make It In America plan also includes legislation to help more Americans receive training for well-paying jobs, building links between colleges and advanced manufacturers so students can be prepared for the jobs of tomorrow and so manufacturers can fill their personnel needs without moving their operations overseas. The Make It In America plan seeks to drive innovation by helping small business entrepreneurs thrive right here at home through tax credits and grants. President Obama signed six Make It In America bills last year. This year, one Make It In America bill to reform the patent process and encourage innovation has been signed into law. But there is more still to be done.
That is why we are not stopping there. The Congressional Black Caucus has put forward the For the People Jobs Initiative, which consists of jobs-focused legislation, job fairs in economically distressed cities, town hall meetings, "Job Creation Recommendations: Create, Protect, Rebuild," and a Jobs Commission. Both this initiative and the American Jobs Act emphasize small business development, education, and worker training -- the same core elements of House Democrats' Make It In America plan.
The House should consider the nine job creation proposals included in the CBC's Job Creation Recommendations, which target our nation's most vulnerable communities. We believe those who have suffered relentlessly from our country's "Great Recession" have another chance ahead of them to pursue the American dream by "Creating, Protecting, and Rebuilding." Creating and maintaining an infrastructure bank to invest in our country's aging infrastructure and establishing and revitalizing critical community programs. Protecting our nation's most vital programs to preserve our economic security while providing tax protections and eliminating barriers for small businesses. Rebuilding, educating, and re-training our nation's workforce.
Democrats believe in an economy that provides job opportunities for everyone who wants to work, and we won't stop working until we get there.
To achieve this, Washington must focus on job creation, and passing the American Jobs Act is the first step, followed by passing the CBC's "For the People" Job Creation Recommendations and the Make it in America plan. |
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Emanuel Cleaver, II
Member of Congress
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