Soon, Congress will vote on legislation that will literally end the Internet as we know it.
The so-called "Stop Online Piracy Act" is a well-intentioned bill that goes too far to stop online piracy and gives our government the power to severely censor the Internet. That's why I am partnering with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and sites like Google, Reddit, and Wikipedia in opposing the legislation. It's also why, today, we have taken down and replaced our campaign website in protest.
I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. I am glad to be back on the campaign trail, fighting to fix our broken economy and restore the American Dream for millions of hardworking middle class families.
I'm on a mission to restore the American Dream - and I know that to do that, we're going to have shake things up in Washington. It's time we fundamentally change our priorities; and that starts by putting pressure on our leaders to act on creating good jobs and stop protecting unnecessary tax breaks for the wealthiest one percent.
(Welcome to Mr. Hernandez! Check out his website! - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
In the midst of economic and political turmoil, it is difficult to imagine and embrace the fundamental values that we as Americans believe in; the things that make our country the greatest nation on earth. Sadly, these tough times have made far too many middle class families believe that the American Dream is far from reality.
But I can tell you it does exist. And I am living proof of it's incredible promise.
Pro-democratic movements in the Middle East are in the midst of their rendezvous with destiny, but America's destiny can no longer be linked with the fates of dictators, military juntas, and theocratic regimes. We must develop energy independence; we must Make It In America.
America must develop a national energy plan that prioritizes the need to (1) Make It In America, (2) transition away from dirty fossil fuels, and (3) secure energy independence. The events unfolding in the Middle East - and subsequent spikes in fuel prices - demonstrate America's need to transition away from unclean energy from an unstable part of the world.
We spend 16 percent of our defense budget - more than $100 billion - securing oil shipments in the Straits of Hormuz and elsewhere, and there is little doubt that American foreign policy has been perversely shaped over the years by the raw calculus of oil politics (see: U.S. policy in Iraq over decades). It's long past time that we wean ourselves off of foreign dirty fossil fuels. Energy security is national security.
In the days of Washington and Jefferson, Members of Congress had a difficult time reaching the people they represented. A horse and buggy ride from Washington, DC to most states in the union was quite the journey, and most Americans were lucky to have access to their Congressperson one month a year. From the railroad to the telegraph to commercial air travel to this blog, new technologies have made it easier for Members of Congress to reach the American people. On Tuesday, February 8th, at 9:15 PM EST/6:15 PM PST, I'm honored to continue in this tradition by becoming the first Member of Congress to host a live mobile video town hall - or as Josh Richman at the Oakland Tribune coined it, "Garamendi on the Go."
'Visible Vote' is a free application for Facebook, the web, and smartphones (Apple iPhone, Google Android, and Blackberry). It connects you to the lawmakers that represent you and the lawmakers you want to follow. With this American-made technology, you can view live mobile video hosted by Members of Congress on your smartphone and ask questions in real time. With Visible Vote, you can also participate in public policy by voting on past and pending legislation, accessing and comparing your votes to your legislators' records, and submitting your preferences and messages directly to our offices here in Washington. Information on how to set up Visible Vote is available at their get started page.
If you tuned into the Rachel Maddow Show last night, you know that major health care provisions in the Patient's Bill of Rights take effect today. You also know Gail, the woman in this video. She's an amazing person whose life was immensely improved because President Obama and the Democratic Majority in this Congress fought tooth and nail for health care reform that puts patients first.
Gail was told by her doctor, "Either you dip into your retirement fund, or you're going to die." Because of health care reform, she can now choose to live and keep her retirement. Gail, previously denied coverage because she has a pre-existing condition, was able to enroll in a temporary high-risk pool to receive the cancer treatment she needs and deserves because of the Patient's Bill of Rights. By 2014, no insurance company in the nation will be allowed to deny her care.
Gail is one of millions of Americans who know firsthand that the need for health care reform was and continues to be a life and death priority.
I recently met Violet, a gregarious two-year old girl born at Contra Costa County Regional Medical Center near my district. She was born with a rare - and costly - form of epilepsy. Under the old system, she was at risk of reaching her plan's lifetime and annual coverage limits by the age of four, and there was little stopping her insurance company from finding trivial excuses to kick her off her coverage. As of today, the Patient's Bill of Rights guarantees that lifetime coverage limits and rescissions are banned in all new plans, and annual limits are being stretched over a three-year flexible period until they are completely eliminated by 2014.
When I attended Netroots Nation last week, I didn't need to drive the streets of Las Vegas to see the abandoned worksites, boarded up buildings, and closed factories. I can see that in my own district. Too many of us are not making it in America.
Congressional Democrats responded with a two-step approach. In the first half, we sought to stabilize the economy, rein in Wall Street, provide lifelines to families in freefall, and immediately put Americans back to work. We're now nearing the second half, where our job creation strategies must be complemented by a long term commitment to bring back American manufacturing.
In California, Nevada, and across the nation, people out of work through no fault of their own outnumber new jobs available. Five people are out of work for every one job available. The Great Recession led to widespread job loss, and without a new approach to economic development, good manufacturing jobs will continue to be shipped overseas. If we don't make it in America, we won't make it America.
Exactly six months ago, I entered Congress promising to protect this great nation from threats foreign and domestic. Today I'm fulfilling that promise. A bill I introduced today would create a permanent ban on new offshore oil and natural gas drilling from platforms on the West Coast. We can't change the past, but at least we can stop future exploration in federal waters near California, Oregon, and Washington.
Why now? For years, supporters of new offshore oil drilling have told us that platform drilling is clean and safe. The tragedy unfolding on the Gulf Coast proves them wrong. The potential devastation is immense to treasured wetlands, hundreds of miles of coastline, wildlife, and ocean-based industries like tourism and fishing. Many are already calling the Gulf Coast oil spill the worst natural resources disaster in U.S. history. While we can be saddened, we shouldn't be surprised. The inevitable consequence of 'drill, baby, drill' is 'spill, baby, spill'. Unless we block new offshore oil drilling, we will only expose our coastlines to even more disasters.
Students at public universities in California are planning a series of demonstrations across the state protesting tuition hikes today. While a few isolated incidents in recent weeks have provided fodder for some in the media to dismiss their concerns, the students' cause is incredibly important. If we continue to yearly raise tuition in California far beyond inflation, we threaten to derail all that has enabled my home state to prosper in decades past.
It is no accident that the Golden State's Golden Age of economic innovation coincided with the establishment of and continued investment in the best public university system in the world. Fifty years ago, forward-thinking policymakers declared that California would be a state where higher education was the birthright of every qualified resident. Since then, we've become the world's great innovator in computers, biotechnology, space exploration, and clean technology.
Unfortunately, the vision that made California one of the largest and most diverse economies on the planet has fallen to the wayside in recent years, as Governor Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers have decided that it's politically easier to balance state budgets on the backs of students.
The result? Student fees have more than doubled at the University of California and California State University systems over the past decade, and enrollment was reduced by more than 45,000 in the past two years. When you price students out of a college education, you don't just harm the individual. You deny the state the future teachers, nurses, and engineers necessary to propel our economy forward.
Last night, President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address - my first as a U.S. Congressman. You've heard a lot of instant reactions from the Beltway and beyond about the President's message, but it's my hope we can take a step back from the minutia and develop a better sense of recent history.
Let's remember where we were when the President delivered his inaugural address last year. When the President took office, America had just endured the worst year for job loss since 1945. In the last three months of 2008, our country was hemorrhaging an average of 673,000 jobs per month. By the last three months of 2009, that number was reduced to 69,333, a 90% improvement. To be sure, the state of our union needs to be much stronger, but because of the efforts of President Obama and Democrats in Congress, we've endured the worst of the Bush recession and we're creating an economy that once again creates jobs for the middle and working classes.
Last Saturday, I hosted three town halls in Fairfield, Antioch, and Walnut Creek, and as you can imagine, the questions ran the gamut. But time and again, I heard from so many of my constituents about their troubles in this difficult economy. Whether it was recently laid off workers, students unsure if they can afford a 32% hike in their fees after five consecutive years of tuition hikes, laid off workers unable to collect unemployment insurance, employers who can't acquire the capital they need to expand, or homeowners trying to save their properties from foreclosure, our people are hurting, and it's our job in Washington to fix it.
We're all now painfully aware that our financial sector was permitted to run amuck under the previous administration and our government failed to stop it. To address this problem, today I proudly cast my vote for H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. While I think more expansive reforms of the financial sector are necessary, this legislation is an important first-step that will go far in helping to protect consumers, investors, homeowners, and tenants.
According to the CBO, in the third quarter of this year alone, 600 thousand to 1.6 million jobs were directly created or saved by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, reducing our country's unemployment rate by 0.3 to 0.9 percent. This is an especially important finding for my home state of California, which at 12.3 percent, suffers from the third worst unemployment rate in the nation.
Indeed, it's worth noting that the CBO report does not measure indirect job creation. Jobs created through most sub-contractors and vendors are not included in the report nor are the jobs created at local businesses when 1.6 million Americans have sufficient wages to put their money back into the economy.
They say all politics is local, and that may or may not be true, but it's certainly the case that all jobs are local. When I talk to constituents, I hear from understandably frustrated people who think the stimulus has been ineffective. I understand that 1.6 million jobs created is just a statistic when you are still unemployed, when your family is still struggling, when your phone is ringing off the hook from relentless creditors, when you're falling behind in your rent or mortgage payments.
In the months following the end of George W. Bush's disastrous term as President, my Congressional colleagues and President Barack Obama worked tirelessly to create an economic recovery plan that could begin the difficult process of creating jobs and rebuilding our economy. Had I been in Congress at the time, I would have gladly voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and as a recent New York Times article by Jackie Calmes and Michael Cooper reveals, "the accumulation of hard data and real-life experience has allowed more dispassionate analysts to reach a consensus that the stimulus package, messy as it is, is working."
They continue: "The legislation, a variety of economists say, is helping an economy in free fall a year ago to grow again and shed fewer jobs than it otherwise would. Mr. Obama's promise to "save or create" about 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010 is roughly on track, though far more jobs are being saved than created, especially among states and cities using their money to avoid cutting teachers, police officers and other workers."
"It was worth doing - it's made a difference," Nigel Gault, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, a financial forecasting and analysis group, explained in the article. "I don't think it's right to look at it by saying, 'Well, the economy is still doing extremely badly, therefore the stimulus didn't work.' I'm afraid the answer is, yes, we did badly but we would have done even worse without the stimulus."
So despite the consternation of some pundits, it turns out the President was right. Stimulus relief worked, and Democrats in Congress keep working. Since I joined Congress earlier this month, my House colleagues and I have backed a number of bills that will strengthen small businesses and create more jobs.
After an exciting week in Washington, I returned to the 10th Congressional District this week to host my first town hall as a Congressman. More than 100 constituents were in attendance for the event, where we emphasized economic development and job creation opportunities in Livermore. "It's about jobs, and that's what I really want to focus on here," I told the assembled crowd.
California has a 12.2 percent unemployment rate (up from 7.8 percent this time last year), and there are many opportunities to create new jobs at the national labs and through the federal stimulus package and local transportation and clean technology investments. But while I would estimate that two-thirds of the crowd was interested in the job creation discussion and supportive of my actions as a Congressman to date, a minority of the crowd was more interested in using the opportunity to criticize my vote on the House health care bill.
Lisa Vorderbrueggen of the Contra Costa Times and Randy Shandobil of KTVU 2 have good coverage of the event, including partial video. While there was a brief moment where the crowd got a little rowdy, once I respectfully asked everyone to stop shouting and clapping, we were able to continue with a constructive back-and-forth dialogue.
More of the town hall's health care discussion over the flip...
I have had one of those weeks that you remember for the rest of your life. On Tuesday, I won a congressional election. On Thursday, I was sworn in by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and got to cast the first vote of my congressional career: a resolution honoring female veterans and military personnel. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to cast the most important vote of my 34 years in public service.
The health care reform bill that cleared the House yesterday, if approved by the Senate, will transform this country's health care delivery system. Denial of treatment for pre-existing conditions will be a thing of the past. None of us will have to worry that if we fail to report the chicken pox, we'll be denied treatment from our insurers for cancer. Out-of-pocket expenses will be capped and subsidies and tax breaks will be made available to consumers and small businesses. This combined with the reduction in administrative overhead costs, the savings associated with an emphasis on preventative medicine, and other measures will provide us as individual consumers and as a nation with substantial long term cost savings. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the health care reform bill will cut the deficit by over $30 billion over the next decade and will continue to create a surplus over the next 20 years.
Yesterday's plan also includes a public option that, while not as expansive I would have liked, is still very worthy of support. And as most of you are well aware, we had an unfortunate setback for women's health in yesterday's voting. But on the whole, this is change we can believe in.
When I was California's Insurance Commissioner, my staff fielded thousands of calls from California residents who fell victim to the insurance industry shenanigans. When large fires hit San Diego, Oakland, and elsewhere, hundreds of consumers were victimized a second time by their insurance companies. My capable staff was successful at coming to a consumer-friendly resolution for almost all cases, but at times, I had to personally ring up high ranking industry executives to use all forms of persuasion available to my office to make sure my constituents were treated fairly.
When one's business model depends on collecting monthly payments from people in the hope that you'll never have to provide them with the services they are paying you for, it's disappointing but not shocking that the insurance industry looks for loopholes to maximize its profits.
(I meant to promote this yesterday, but still, go get 'em Congressman! - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
On Tuesday, communities across America voted in hundreds of local and state elections. In Northern California's 10th Congressional District, voters saw fit to send me to Congress. To all my supporters who voted, volunteered, donated, and spread the good word about our campaign, you have my sincere gratitude.
Today I was sworn in by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to represent the people of the 10th Congressional District (video here, about 1:35:00 in). It is an honor to serve my constituents and my country at such an important moment in U.S. history.
When we started our campaign for Congress this spring, we knew we would run a forward-thinking campaign with unwavering support for comprehensive health care reform that includes the public option. With a team of hundreds of volunteers and the support of more than 66,000 voters, we won our special election with a double digit lead. I look forward to voting for a House health care bill worthy of support as early as this Saturday - a bill that includes a robust public option, ends the denial of coverage for so-called pre-existing conditions, creates cost-savings, and protects Medicare for our seniors.
Taking into account some suggestions and comments, I made some changes to my previous attempt at redistricting California. I conceded an additional 2 seats to the GOP, which concomitantly makes a number of other seats more strongly Democratic. The additional 2 safe GOP seats are CA-4 and CA-48. Here's what version 2 looks like, overall:
The Lt. Guv doesn't really have a ton of power, but where it does, it is in the Board of Regents of the CSU and UC, and the State Lands Commission, etc. And according to the SacBee, and precedent, those powers will stay with Garamendi's Chief of Staff, Mona Pasquil.
Garamendi's chief of staff, Mona Pasquil, would serve in an acting capacity as lieutenant governor until a Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointee is confirmed, according to Garamendi spokeswoman Beth Willon.
Pasquil would serve an administrative function, carrying out the lieutenant governor's functions at the State Lands Commission, University of California Board of Regents and other panels. But Willon said that if the governor vacates his office or leaves the state, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg would become the state's acting governor based on the state's line of succession.
In past instances when constitutional officers have vacated their positions, chief deputies have taken over until a replacement was appointed. Willon and Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said that while a chief deputy in this case would fulfill administrative duties, their offices believe the line of succession does not allow her to serve as acting governor.
So, even if Democrats choose to block any Arnold appointee, somebody who had the trust of John Garamendi will have the control of those votes on the boards. Good news, there.
As John Garamendi nears his coronation hard-fought election in CA-10, the Capitol is all abuzz over who will replace him as the political powerhouse known as Lite Guv.
If Democratic Lt. Gov. John Garamendi wins a special congressional election Tuesday in the Democrat-leaning 10th Congressional District, Schwarzenegger has the power to appoint Garamendi's replacement.
The Republican governor has not tipped his hand. He has the option of choosing a caretaker who will serve out Garamendi's last year. Or he could use the appointment to reward a Republican legislator for working on his behalf in recent years. (SacBee)
Sure, Arnold could nominate Sen. Maldonado, but guess who hates that? Jeff Denham and Sam Aanestad, who have been banking on opposing Arnold at every turn in order to get the LG nod. Now, the nominee only needs majorities in each house, so Democratic support alone could be enough, and a vacant Senate seat in Maldo's coastal district could be enough to satisfy Democrats. After all, would the Dems rather have an extra seat in the Senate or the LG position? Furthermore, it's not even clear that an incumbent Maldonado wins the primary in 2010.
Of course, Arnold sees this problem too. Hee might try to float some right-wing name to toss some red meat to the base, and might even nominate some winger. However, Arnold knows there's no way a right-wing republican gets through to replace Garamendi, so the pick will ultimately be somebody like former LA Mayor Richard Riordan, or a similar type who doesn't plan on seeking reelection.
But hey, Arnold, I double dog dare you to put Maldo up. C'mon...do it.
