President Obama's Weekly Address 2/13/16: The State of American Politics

SPRINGFIELD, IL — In this week’s address, the President spoke from the place where his political career first began in the Illinois State Senate. Building on his State of the Union, the President discussed his time in the State Senate working in good faith across party lines with Democrats, Republicans and Independents to effectively govern as an example of proof that a better politics doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything. The President also built on his call to make it easier to vote, as well as the need to address the way we draw our congressional districts. Nine years after Barack Obama chose the steps of the Old State Capitol – where Abraham Lincoln once called on a divided house to stand together – he returned to ask Americans to join him in the unfinished business of perfecting our union. Because in the final year of his Presidency, it’s clear that he’s followed through and that, together, we’ve made real progress building a better future for the next generation.

Labor Day 2014

"If any man tells you he loves America, yet hates labor, he is a liar. If any man tells you he trusts America, yet fears labor, he is a fool." -Abraham Lincoln



Union Maid - Pete Seeger

John Lennon - Working Class Hero

To Be Old Was To Be Destitute

The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:

Earlier this week, I joined the AARP and several thousand area residents for a wide-ranging conversation about Social Security, Medicare, and other issues of concern to seniors in New Jersey.  A video of our conversation is available online.

One topic of conversation was Social Security.  As I noted in the call, Social Security has improved American society.  Back in 1935, to be old was, on average, to be destitute.  Social Security changed that.  It is one of the most important governmental programs in the history of the country, and it has worked and it still works.  Without Social Security, 44 percent of elderly Americans would live in poverty; with Social Security, only 9 percent do.

One thing I advocate, and this would be good for fairness as well as for individual Americans, is to remove the cap on wages subject to the Social Security taxes.  Right now, if you pay Social Security taxes, as almost every wage-earner does, you pay taxes on only about the first $117,000 in income.  For this reason, millionaires pay a smaller percentage of their income in Social Security taxes than ordinary folks.

No middle-income or low-wage worker should pay a higher rate on Social Security taxes than millionaires.  If we got rid of that cap, then no one would raise a question about Social Security’s long-term finances for many decades to come.

A New Nation, Conceived in Liberty

One hundred and fifty years ago, Abraham Lincoln stood at Gettysburg and proclaimed, from the bloodiest battlefield of our nation’s bloodiest war, that “we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

These words were Lincoln’s first, but now they belong to all of us – and I encourage you to make them your words as well.  The Learn the Address project, associated with patriotic filmmaker Ken Burns, encourages ordinary citizens to record the Gettysburg Address and share the results on YouTube.

Lincoln captured in the fewest possible words the essence of what America is about.  I have just posted my own recording of the speech, and I hope you’ll join me in honoring this moment in American history.

Working for You

Recently, a Monroe woman contacted me because the IRS had refused to issue her $1,400 tax refund.  The refund had been held up due to procedural delays, and despite the constituent’s repeated efforts, the IRS would not resolve her case.  After I contacted the IRS to cut through red tape, the woman quickly received her refund.

Have you encountered a similar problem with the IRS, a passport center, the VA, Social Security, Medicare, or any other federal agency? If so, please call me at 1-87-RUSH-HOLT or by sending an e-mail. I’ll do all I can to address your problem.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress

Only 150 Years

The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:

On New Year’s Day, America will recognize the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, which abolished slavery within the states attempting to secede from the U.S. and marked a step toward fulfilling our founding vision of a nation where all people are created equal.

It is worth pausing to reflect upon how far America has come since that January day in 1863. One hundred and fifty years is, within the long span of human existence, barely the blink of an eye – only two lifespans. In fact, my own grandfather could remember that day (yes, my grandfather). Yet in that time the Civil War has faded into the history books, the descendants of former slaves have risen to fill nearly every rank and role in American life, and the scourge of racism has diminished greatly. It required not only the leadership of a great man, President Lincoln, but also the personal involvement of millions of Americans rededicating themselves to the great unfinished work of the nation.

Indeed, history often reveals a remarkable human capacity to overcome division and hatred. I was born a few years after the United States concluded a horrific war against Germany, Japan, and Italy. Tens of millions had died. One might have imagined that the bitterness arising from such bloodshed could never be overcome – and yet now, only a handful of decades later, we count these former enemies as friends and allies.

Even during my time in Congress, I have seen progress that many thought impossible. In 2004, a president called upon Congress to amend our constitution to deny gay men and women the right to marry. Earlier this year, a different president announced his personal support for gay marriage.

Today, as America stands on the verge of a new year in which our challenges seem as great and our differences as stark as ever, I am encouraged to remember these lessons from our nation’s past. If history is any guide, the years ahead will once again bring the healing of deep scars, the bridging of great divisions, and the surmounting of insurmountable obstacles.

An Explanation to My Constituents

Last week, Congress passed a misguided bill authorizing the Defense Department for 2013. The legislation contained some positive provisions, including a (small) pay raise for troops, additional funding for family housing and support services, some provisions for additional research in breast cancer, some protections for women from sexual harassment and rape in the military, and an amendment I authored that creates a permanent National Language Service Corps within the Defense Department. It is intended to provide for the men and women we ask to defend our country.

Unfortunately, the good measures were far outweighed by the bad. For example, the bill perpetuates a bloated nuclear weapons complex that does not enhance our security and in fact compromises our nonproliferation efforts. The bill continues funding for an exo-atmospheric kill vehicle – a provocative and destabilizing system that will waste millions more on our failed national missile defense effort. Worse, rather than moving toward a realistic scale of American military commitments, the bill commits our soldiers and our dollars to defend countries in Europe and the Pacific that should be capable of defending themselves. It continues to fund our combat operations in Afghanistan instead of restricting the use of those funds to withdrawal-related operations only.

Overall, the bill continues the acquisition programs and policies that have been in place for decades. It does not fundamentally reshape our armed forces for security today. It continues Cold War weapons acquisition programs that have no place in a 21st century, where the threats are much more diffuse and dispersed.

I deeply regret that I inadvertently cast a “yes” vote for this bill last week. There were six votes recorded in a row: a motion to recommit and then to pass of a large across-the-board cut of government programs, as proposed by Budget Chairman Paul Ryan; an honorific naming of a veterans health clinic in Spokane and another in Grand Rapids, naming a mountain peak next to Yosemite in honor of a former Olympic skier; and the Defense Authorization bill. I mistook the Defense bill. I intended to vote “no,” and I have inserted a statement into the Congressional record clarifying my intent. This is a very rare mistake for me. Although the bill passed by a huge margin, with many Republicans and Democrats voting for it, this was an important bill that in good conscience I would not vote for, and I want my constituents to know.

Stay In Touch with FEMA

If you registered for disaster aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, it is important that you keep in touch with FEMA, especially if your contact information changes. Updating contact information with current address and phone numbers will ensure FEMA can reach you with new information or questions.

To update your contact information, call the toll-free FEMA hotline at 1-800-462-7585. If you have not yet registered for disaster assistance, you may do so online by visiting www.DisasterAssistance.gov. Please note that FEMA has extended the deadline for New Jersey victims of Hurricane Sandy to apply for aid until January 30, 2013.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress

Labor Day Quote of The Day

"If any man tells you he loves America, yet hates labor, he is a liar. If any man tells you he trusts America, yet fears labor, he is a fool." -Abraham Lincoln


Hat Tip to BeingLiberal.org

The Abraham Lincoln Analogy

On this , the 200th birthday of president Abraham Lincoln, Katharine Q. Seelye of the NY Times has just posted the following article about how past and current Presidents have invoked Lincoln to shape their own presidencies. 

Ms. Seelye goes to great lengths to describe how President Obama has used the Lincoln analogies to shape his image as a leader and how he used them very successfully to guide his campaign and his young presidency:

Barack Obama is not the first president to feel a kinship with Abraham Lincoln. Nixon made at least one midnight visit to the Lincoln Memorial for a talk with the great man’s statue. Teddy Roosevelt wore a ring that was made from a lock of Lincoln’s hair. Franklin Roosevelt hired Robert Sherwood, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his play, “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” as his speechwriter.

But Mr. Obama has taken the identification with the 16th president to a new level. He began his presidential campaign two years ago in Springfield, Ill., Lincoln’s home, on the weekend of Lincoln’s birthday. And he comes full circle on Thursday, Lincoln’s 200th birthday. After speaking in honor of Lincoln at the Capitol Rotunda in the morning (“I feel a special gratitude to this singular figure who in so many ways made my own story possible,” he said), he journeys back to Springfield to deliver another tribute in the evening.

Of course, the timing of his election with Lincoln’s bicentennial, being celebrated today around the country, is coincidental. Still, we wondered if Mr. Obama could over-do the Lincoln analogy. Is it in his political interest to mind-meld with another president? Is he being presumptuous? Is he raising expectations?

Mr. Obama’s pilgrimages to Springfield are bookends to a period in which he has elevated Lincoln to the status of, well, almost a co-president. He quoted Lincoln throughout the campaign and mimicked the trappings of his inauguration, down to copying the menu for his inaugural lunch from Lincoln’s, and having the food served on replicas of the china that Mary Todd Lincoln chose for the White House. On Wednesday, Mr. Obama even joined a star-studded celebration for the rededication of Ford’s Theatre, where Lincoln was assassinated.

We talked with several historians and analysts about the political benefits and the risks for Mr. Obama in keeping Lincoln so close at hand. Most generally agreed that the advantages outweigh any disadvantages, which explains why he’s still doing it.

Harold Holzer, a Lincoln scholar and co-chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, says he believes that Mr. Obama feels a genuine kinship with Lincoln. That said, he suggests that in the early days of the campaign, resurrecting Lincoln had a political purpose — he was an example of someone who didn’t have much Washington experience and yet went on to become a great president.

   

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