Unemployment

America is Speaking Out but Peter Roskam & GOP Turning a Deaf Ear

On August 2, 2010, in America Speaking Out, Congressional Elections, Energy, Financial Sector, Global Warming, Healthcare, Peter Roskam, Peter Roskam's Corporate Agenda, Regulatory Reform, Republican Party, Unemployment, by RSR
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It’s hard to be a Republican like Peter Roskam. The dilemma is always how to sell a package of pro-corporate policies to working people whose votes you need, when those very policies make the lives of those voters more difficult. In the past, the Republican party has turned to wedge issues like abortion and homosexuality, and to scaring the living daylights out of people  by making them believe there’s a terrorist lurking around every corner. Those gimmick are losing some of their effectiveness. America is much more comfortable and accepting of gay people than it used to be and the public feels rightly burned by the experience of the George W Bush Presidency and its lawless “War on Terror”.

This year the Republicans in Congress have a new gimmick. It is called America Speaking Out. It is an interactive website that allows users to submit and vote on ideas in a variety of categories such as “National Security” & “Fiscal Accountability”. The site is being heavily promoted by Peter Roskam and other Republican members of Congress through their Twitter accounts and in their Town Hall meetings with constituents. The Republicans say they want to use the site to solicit input to help them formulate their policy agenda:

This is an open forum, however, where all Americans are welcome to respectfully offer their opinions, regardless of party affiliation and whether we endorse them or not. It is our hope the active engagement of the American people will produce a robust debate that will aid in the construction of a new American agenda.

There’s a catch or two though. Early on, many of the submissions were down right silly, as reported by the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank:

“End Child Labor Laws,” suggests one helpful participant. “We coddle children too much. They need to spend their youth in the factories.”

“How about if Congress actually do their job and VET or Usurper in Chief, Obama is NOT a Natural Born Citizen in any way,” recommends another. “That fake so called birth certificate is useless.”

“A ‘teacher’ told my child in class that dolphins were mammals and not fish!” a third complains. “And the same thing about whales! We need TRADITIONAL VALUES in all areas of education. If it swims in the water, it is a FISH. Period! End of Story.”

“Build a castle-style wall along the border, there is plenty of stone laying around about there.” That was in the “national security” section of the new site.

“Legalize Marijuana, cause, like, alcohol is legal. Man. Also.” That was in the “traditional values” section.

“I say, repeal all the amendments to the Constitution.” (“American prosperity” section.)

“Don’t let the illegals run out of Arizona and hide. . . . I think that we should do something to identify them in case they try to come back over. Like maybe tattoo a big scarlet ‘I’ on their chests — for ‘illegal’!!!” (Filed under “job creation.”)

Since then, the webmasters have been removing stuff like this, but they have, to their credit, not been removing popular ideas simply because they are contrary to GOP policy. For example, decriminalization of Marijuana is polling well:

The site doesn’t always function too well. We have been able to successfully submit ideas and they have been retained on the site. But when we try and cast votes, 9 times out of 10 the site “clocks” and we give up. We don’t know whether or not that malfunction is related to what we vote for. We haven’t wanted to lend any support to GOP platform planks in order to test it.

The problem with all this is that voluntary polls have no statistical meaning. The results on the site can’t be used to draw ANY statistically valid conclusions about the desires and opinions of the American public. And yet Roskam and the GOP say they want to use this information to determine what America wants. The submissions are heavily skewed toward the Conservative because the site has been promoted exclusively by Republicans. And the GOP has reserved the right to promote the ideas it chooses regardless of what America has to say on the site, according to reporting in the Washington Post:

“This isn’t ‘American Idol,’ ” said [Rep Kevin] McCarthy, adding that the top vote-getting idea on the site might not be adopted by the GOP. Referring to the party’s broader platform, he said, “we are in the process of creating ours, so it’s based upon our principles.”

So what America Speaking Out amounts to is a campaign gimmick. It creates noise in support of the GOP platform that allows the party to ignore statistically valid measures of public opinion while marketing their ideas to their base. And, ironically given their ant-spending rhetoric, this is all being done on the taxpayer’s dime. The money comes out of the Minority Leader’s budget and the GOP isn’t talking about how much this all cost us, despite all their protestations about transparency. So the taxpayers help fund the GOP campaign now so there’s more money left to spend on smear adds in October. Pretty clever in an evil sort of way. We think the site should be re-branded as “Republicans Speaking Out” to provide for truth in advertising.

Meanwhile the news from legitimate polls doesn’t indicate strong support for GOP plans:

  • On  the Bush tax cuts: The National Journal’s Congressional Connection poll of 7/22 found that only 30% of Americans believe that all of the Bush tax cuts should be extended. 58% believe that either all of the cuts, or those on the wealthy alone should be repealed.
  • On health care reform: The Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 50% of Americans have a positive of the new health care law. Independent voters polled at 48% positive. Only 35% of Americans hold a negative view of the measure.
  • On stimulus spending for job creation:  According to a Gallup poll from June, a clear majority of Americans favor additional government spending aimed at creating jobs
  • On financial regulation: A Washington Post / ABC News poll in April found that Sixty-five percent of Americans backed proposals to rein in banks and the financial industry.
  • On offshore drilling: In a Pew Research Center poll in June, 52% of Americans indicated opposition to more offshore drilling
  • On global warming: A WSJ / NBC news poll taken in June found that Americans favored comprehensive energy and carbon pollution reduction legislation by 63 percent to 31 percent – a two to one margin – even if it meant an increase in the cost of energy.

So yes, America IS speaking out. But it appears that the GOP and Peter Roskam have gone deaf.


 

6th District Congressional Candidate, Democrat Ben Lowe, Reacts to Jobs Numbers

On April 2, 2010, in Ben Lowe, Congressional Elections, Economy, Peter Roskam, Unemployment, by RSR
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We received this statement today from Daniel Salcedo, Director of Communications for Ben Lowe, the Democratic candidate running to replace Peter Roskam this fall as U.S. Representative for Illinois’ 6th Congressional District:

Wheaton, IL April 2, 2010. Candidate for Congress Ben Lowe released a statement regarding the job report published today by the Labor Department. The report shows that the US economy added 162,000 new jobs in March, with less than 30% (48,000) being temporary census positions. This result is in stark contrast to the over 700,000 jobs that were being lost this time last year, and signals the largest creation of jobs in the past three years.

“Today’s job report clearly shows that, in spite of Republican obstruction, the strategic steps taken by the Obama administration have indeed turned the tide of the economic recession that began during the Bush presidency. The economic stimulus, while enormous by all measures, was necessary to stabilize the damage that rampant deregulation of financial markets had wreaked upon the entire economy. The stimulus saved the country from a repeat of the 1930’s depression era, and the eventual profits from the TARP program infused even more funds into small businesses, generating new jobs.

While today’s employment report is encouraging, it shows an economy that continues to struggle, with businesses of all sizes wary to expand, lest the recovery is fleeting. The best economic forecasts available, and taking into account the costs and savings of the healthcare bill, offer confidence that the economy will continue to grow following the steps that the Democratic Party has been implementing and the Republican Party has been largely rejecting.”

We agree with Ben’s assessment and are growing weary of Peter Roskam’s trash-talking about the economy and about Democratic initiatives. Roskam is not interested in constructive solutions but only in sabotaging economic recovery for his own short-term political gain. His conduct ill serves the people he was elected to represent, working families who are now struggling because of the economic crisis provoked by failed Republican policies of deregulation and discredited ideology of trickle-down economics.

We encourage our readers to visit Ben’s campaign website to learn more about his candidacy and to make a donation to help Ben fight Roskam’s campaign of misinformation so heavily funded by banks and insurance companies.

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President Obama Masterfully Demolishes GOP Critics, Roskam Included

On January 29, 2010, in Barack Obama, Economy, Healthcare, Peter Roskam, Unemployment, by RSR
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Just finished watching the video of President Obama’s Q&A session at the GOP House Issues conference today. The President was brilliant. He called the GOP to account for for their campaign of misinformation about healthcare reform and the economic stimulus, but did it with respect and a sincere invitation to Republicans to work with him in the nation’s best interest. The President was articulate and knew his facts, including detailed knowledge of Republican counter proposals. He was warm and human in demeanor and gentle but firm in his criticisms, using self-deprecating humor effectively to put the room at ease. I have never seen a more brilliant performance by a President. Never.

You can hear Congressman Roskam pose his question at about 67:15.

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Don’t Fall for Peter Roskam’s Fearmongering on the Debt, Unemployment

On January 26, 2010, in Deficit, Economic Justice, Peter Roskam, Unemployment, by RSR
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Peter Roskam’s been doing his best to sow fear and doubt about President Obama’s handling of the economy. He is doing this in a cynical attempt to sell you more of the redistributive (poor to rich), deregulatory, trickle-down economic policy that brought the world to the brink of depression under President Bush. Don’t fall for it.

Here Rachel Maddow does a nice segment with economist James Galbraith of the University of Texas that cuts away the bullshit being dispensed by the GOP:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Peter Roskam Bellyaches about High Unemployment but Won’t Lift A Finger to Help Unemployed

On December 21, 2009, in Economic Justice, Peter Roskam, Unemployment, by RSR
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Peter Roskam has lately been complaining loudly to anyone who will listen about the high unemployment rate in Illinois. Roskam is trying to discredit the President and Democrats in Congress because unemployment exceeded the 8% peak projected earlier in President Obama’s term. Roskam pays lip service to the need for job growth:

“November’s continued job losses only further confirms that our economy is in serious peril, and we need to set aside partisanship and employ pro-growth policies that will create jobs.”

But when it comes time to actually vote on a jobs creation measure, partisanship wins out and Roskam votes against it.

That was what happened this past Wednesday, when the House voted on the Jobs for Main Street Act of 2010, as an amendment to H.R. 2847: Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. Peter Roskam voted no, along with all of his obstructionist Republican colleagues.

According to Speaker Pelosi, the bill would redirect $75 billion in TARP funds to pay for highways, transit and other infrastructure; to hire or retain teachers, police and firefighters; and to subsidize loans to small businesses.

The bill also extends unemployment benefits, COBRA subsidies, and Medicaid payments for people hard hit by the recession.

While Roskam loves to talk about unemployment in order to smear the President, and in order to work against legislation that his corporate sponsors oppose such as health care reform, financial regulation, and climate change legislation, Roskam demonstrates no empathy for those who have suffered job losses due to the Bush recession. You will recall that Roskam voted against unemployment benefits extension once before, back in September.

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As Unemployment Rises, Peter Roskam Votes to Eliminate Food Programs

On October 19, 2009, in Economic Justice, Peter Roskam, Poverty, Unemployment, by RSR
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Even as the overall health of the economy shows signs of improvement, the unemployment rate in Illinois rose to 10.5 in September, the highest rate since 1983, and Illinois lost over 14,000 non-farm jobs. That’s in addition to over 306,000 jobs lost since August 2008 due to the Bush recession.

With so many families in trouble, we might expect our Congressman to be taking action to provide aid to those hit by job losses. Here in the 6th District, our Republican Congressman, Peter Roskam has been gleefully citing these statistics to make political trouble for President Obama. But utterly devoid of empathy for those who are suffering, Roskam hasn’t lifted a finger to help those families. In fact, he’s been doing his best to make things worse.

We have already written about Peter Roskam’s vote in September against the extension of unemployment benefits for those whose benefits are about to end.

This month, Peter Roskam voted to eliminate a number of key federal food assistance programs.

The vote came on October 7 on the conference report for HR 2997, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. Peter Roskam voted no.

In voting against the conference report, Roskam voted to eliminate the following programs which are critical to meeting the nutritional needs of those experiencing economic hardship:

Child nutrition programs. The child nutrition programs included in S. 1406 provide funding for the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program, Summer Food Service Program, and Child and Adult Care Food programs. These programs serve nutritious lunches and breakfasts to children attending school or residing in other institutions. The purpose is to improve the health and well-being of the nation’s children. H.R. 2997 would provide $16.85 billion in mandatory budget authority for child nutrition programs, which is $58 million more than the President’s budget request and $1.9 billion more than the enacted Fiscal Year 2009 level.

Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). The WIC program provides assistance to pregnant, breast-feeding and post-partum women and infants, and children up to age five who are at nutritional risk because of inadequate nutrition and inadequate income. H.R. 2997 would provide $7.25 billion in discretionary budget authority for this program, which is $525 million less than President’s budget request and $392 million more than the enacted Fiscal Year 2009 level, excluding emergency appropriations. Additionally, it is important to note that $487 million in contingency funds will be available in Fiscal Year 2010 making a total of $7.7 billion available for the WIC program.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps). The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides assistance to needy persons and families to alleviate hunger and malnutrition and increase their food purchasing power. H.R. 2997 would provide $58.2 billion in mandatory budget authority for this program which is $3.07 billion below the President’s budget request and is $4.3 billion more than the enacted Fiscal Year 2009 level.

Commodity Assistance Program. The Commodity Assistance Program provides supplemental food to infants and children as well as prepared meals to low-income households. H.R. 2997 would provide $248 million for this program, which is $14.6 million more than the President’s budget request and is $17.2 million more than the enacted Fiscal Year 2009 level.

I really find it hard to fathom how a man with any conscience at all could choose to play political games at a time like this and ignore the suffering of his brothers and sisters. Fortunately, the measure passed without Roskam’s vote and is expected tobe signed into law shortly by President Obama.

I’d encourage you to contact Roskam to register your displeasure, but quite frankly that would be useless. This man is unconcerned with anything but political advancement and aiding his corporate campaign donors. He is blind to the suffering and hardship that exists amongst his constituents.

Ellen in the 10th has a good post with some stats fleshing out the degree of economic hardship here in Illinois.

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