Better Off

The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:

A person or a country invests with the hope and expectation that investing some resources now will produce a better future. Historically, America’s optimistic outlook and commitment to investment have made us great and strong.

This week the House considered a budget that abandons that vision of optimism and investment. The so-called Ryan Budget – named after its author, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan – is based on the premise that America cannot afford to invest in infrastructure, science, education; that we have to cut back, shrink, reduce our efforts, hunker down.

It would slash $790 billion from our budget, even beyond the already harsh cuts of sequestration. It would push up to 170,000 vulnerable children out of Head Start, cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance for children by $125 billion, reduce Medicare coverage, eliminate jobs for up to 29,000 teachers and aides, and make college less affordable for millions of students by cutting $205 billion for higher education. The Ryan Budget Resolution passed the House. The Budget Resolution is just a plan; it is not appropriations, but it is probably the clearest statement of how we see ourselves as a country.

In short, the Ryan Budget suggests that America can’t afford to do things – anything. Paul Ryan says we have a debt, and so, it seems, we cannot invest. That is simply not true. What a pessimistic view of our country! The wealthiest nation on earth can and should invest as if we have a future. By his way of thinking, the USA could not have created the national highway in the first decade of the 19th century or the interstate highway system in the 20th, or the transcontinental railroad during the Civil War, the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation, Pell Grants or the community college system, the GI Bill for housing and college, the National Weather Service or the Head Start program, the Peace Corps or the greatly expanded National Parks. All of those things, and so many more that have contributed to our greatness, were done when we were in debt, sometimes significantly more than now. And they have helped us grow as a people and an economy.

This week my colleagues and I in the Congressional Progressive Caucus outlined a better path forward. Our Better Off Budget would create 8.8 million jobs over its first three years by investing in infrastructure, education, training, and research. It would invest $100 billion in teachers and schools and $81 billion in science. What's the secret? None. We simply would raise the necessary revenue to cover the necessary expenses.

Quite simply, the Better Off Budget calls for investing as if we will have a tomorrow.

Don’t Change the Target. Change the Approach.

Earlier this week, I met with the European Union’s Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, who is among the highest-ranking international officials devoted to addressing climate change.

We spoke about the EU’s successes in making the fight against climate change a policy priority and in developing forms of non-carbon energy.  I was impressed by her sense of urgency and her commitment to holding world powers accountable for their promises to reduce carbon pollution. As she said in a speech to the United Nations late last year, “We should learn from the economic policies. If targets are not met, normally you don't change the target. No, you add more policies in order to achieve the target. Nowhere in politics will this approach be more needed than exactly in climate policies.”

What No Student Should Face

Along with late Sen. Frank Lautenberg, I’ve worked for years to end bullying and harassment on college campuses – spurred in part by the memory of New Jersey native Tyler Clementi. As you may recall, Tyler was an 18-year-old freshman at Rutgers University when he died by suicide after being harassed by his roommate.

Late last month, Sens. Patty Murray (WA) and Tammy Baldwin (WI) reintroduced into the Senate the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act, which I wrote with Sen. Lautenberg.

As Sen. Murray said, “I am extremely grateful for the work my friend Frank did to honor Tyler Clementi’s life with this legislation…. No student – whether they’re gay, straight, black, white, Christian, or Muslim – should have to face discrimination and harassment in their pursuit of education.”

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress

It Is More a Matter of Will

The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:

Half a century ago, 26 percent of Americans endured, in the words of President Johnson, the “squalor and misery” of poverty. Many politicians claimed at the time that their misery was natural, even inevitable – that any economy will have winners and losers, and that government can do nothing to address that fact.

But President Johnson knew better. And so 50 years ago this week, he launched the “War on Poverty,” kick-starting programs as varied as Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Head Start and others.

And what has been the effect? As a recent Columbia University study revealed, today’s poverty rate – when properly measured, taking into account the effects of government efforts – is about 16 percent, down by 40 percent since the War on Poverty began.

This success can be traced to the programs created or improved by President Johnson. Without Medicare and Social Security, for instance, half of seniors would live in poverty today and would lack any type of health insurance. Food Stamps now keep four million people out of poverty.

Although President Johnson’s coinage may have been a misuse of the word “war” (a misuse repeated in many other government efforts to confront challenges, problems, or threats – cancer, drugs, or terrorism), he intended the effort to be massive. In fact, beyond Medicaid, the programs amounted to only 1.5 or 2 percent of GDP – a large sum to be sure, but not as huge as implied by the critics of these programs. In the wealthiest country in the world, with one of the largest GDPs per person, and with tens of millions of people looking for a way out of poverty, we could do more.

Yet today many in Congress are instead embracing the old and disproven claim that government is helpless in the face of poverty. These skeptics, mostly Republican, have already cut Food Stamps by $5 billion – and they’re trying to cut it by another $40 billion. About 57,000 students have been kicked out of Head Start, and only about one in ten children eligible for Head Start is now enrolled in the program.

Eliminate poverty? Maybe, maybe not, but it is more a matter of will than of our ability to devise programs to confront the problem. Can we muster the compassion to say, "We will not accept this in the United States!"?

Share This Newsletter

I hope you find this weekly newsletter, the eGenda, to be engaging and informative. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you regularly about my votes, my services, and the issues that affect Central New Jersey – as well as to share important information during emergencies like Hurricane Sandy.

If you find the eGenda helpful, may I ask for your help in sharing it? Please forward this message to your friends and family in Central New Jersey, or ask them to sign up by visiting holt.house.gov/egenda. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress

President Obama's Weekly Address 4/27/13: Time to Replace the Sequester with a Balanced Approach to Deficit Reduction

WASHINGTON, DC— In this week’s address, President Obama said that because Republicans in Congress allowed a series of harmful, automatic budget cuts—called the sequester—to take effect, important programs like Head Start are now forced to reduce their services. After travelers were stuck for hours in airports and on planes this past week, members of Congress passed a temporary band-aid measure to stop the cuts that impact airlines — but they must do more to stop cuts to vital services for the American people. That’s why it’s time for a balanced approach to deficit reduction that makes smarter cuts and reforms in the tax code while creating jobs and strengthening the middle class.

Hallowed Grounds

From the E-Newsletter of Congressman Rush Holt:

Earlier this week, I joined six fellow members of Congress, representatives from the Civil War Trust, and Princeton University Professor James McPherson on a tour of Gettysburg National Military Park to promote our American battlefield protection legislation. Professor McPherson, a preeminent Civil War historian, guided us through the hallowed grounds of the battle. 

We visit these battlefields and study our history in order to honor, to learn from, and to gain from the sacrifices of generations of Americans.  Unfortunately, urbanization, sprawl, and development are constantly encroaching on many significant historic sites.

I introduced the American Battlefield Protection Program Amendments Act of 2011 to protect American battlefields that are in danger of being lost forever. The bill would allow federal officials to collaborate with state and local governments, non-profit organizations, and concerned individuals to preserve and protect endangered historical sites, and it would provide up to 50 percent of the costs of purchasing battlefield land threatened by sprawl.

My bill was recently approved by the House Committee on Natural Resources and is awaiting consideration by the full House. As the centennial of the War of 1812 approaches and as we continue to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, now is an opportune moment to recommit ourselves to the protection of our nation's hallowed grounds.

Saturday: Town Halls in Cranbury and Ewing

On Saturday, I’ll host town halls in Cranbury and Ewing to hear directly from you about issues affecting you and our community, such as job creation, health care, college affordability, and any other issues that you may wish to raise.  I hope you will come to share your thoughts, ideas, and concerns.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

10:00 a.m.
Cranbury Town Hall
23-A North Main Street
Cranbury, New Jersey 08512

1:00 p.m.
Ewing Township Municipal Building
2 Jake Garzio Drive
Ewing, New Jersey 08628

How Will Kicking 100,000 Kids Out of Head Start Help Our Economy?

How will kicking 100,000 kids out of Head Start help our economy?  How will firing researchers at the National Institutes of Health create jobs?  How will eliminating nutrition assistance to 700,000 children and mothers help to make our nation fairer?

According to the acting director of the Office of Management & Budget, these are representative of the cuts that would be required next year if domestic programs are slashed by 8 percent, as called for in the deal that Republicans demanded last year to avert a government shutdown.

It would be difficult under the best of circumstances for federal programs to absorb an 8 percent cut.  But the language of last year’s deal is particularly onerous and foolish.  It requires that the same percentage must be slashed from every “program, project, and account,” meaning that federal agencies cannot shield urgent or crucial priorities by focusing cuts on less-important programs.  A recent Center for American Progress analysis found that, due in part to these restrictive terms, cuts to the Federal Aviation Administration could result in the closure of as many as 106 U.S. airports.

Last week, I led more than 70 of my colleagues in writing a letter to House and Senate leaders demanding that crucial domestic programs not bear the unjust burden of spending cuts.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress

P.S. Just a reminder: I always want to hear from you, but to ensure a prompt response, please don’t reply to this e-mail.  Instead, please visitholt.house.gov/contact or call 1-87-RUSH-HOLT (1-877-874-4658).