Monday, April 14, 2014

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


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