Bipartisan Solutions

Posted on March 30, 2013 by Dave Johnson

Here is how the DC game works:

- One side proposes to kill everyone in Kentucky and Tennessee. 15% of the public supports this (0% in Kentucky or Tennessee.)

- The other side thinks children should have enough food so they can grow up strong. (85% of the public supports this.)

- A Grand Bargain is reached in which they agree to kill everyone in Tennessee and spare the people in Kentucky, and children will get half as much food as they need.

The DC pundits will say that since everyone is angry at this, it must be the right solution because “both sides” only got part of what they want.

The Democratic Wing Of The Democratic Party

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Dave Johnson

The House voted on budgets yesterday and austerity won. 84 Democrats voted for the jobs and growth “Back To Work Budget” from the Congressional Progressive Caucus. 102 Democrats voted against it. (1 voted “present” and 13 were not voting.) Here is the roll call vote so you can see who voted yes and who voted no.

The Black Caucus budget with some jobs measures and tax increases on the wealthiest got 105 Democrats voting yes and 80 no.

Rep. Mulvaney’s substitute, which was very similar to Senate Committee-backed austerity budget resolution of budget cuts “balanced” with tax cuts got 154 Democrats voting yes and 35 no. The Democratic (Van Hollen) substitute austerity budget that replaced the sequester with targeted cuts and tax increases got 165 Democrats voting yes and 28 no.

The Democratic Wing Of The Democratic Party

Ten years and 6 days ago today: (transcript)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qcQ1XM-Oqk[/youtube]

Continue reading →

The Sequester Is The Fiscal Cliff

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Dave Johnson

Many people don’t know that the “sequester” cuts are the very cuts that were the “fiscal cliff.”

President Obama traded away the expiration of the Bush tax cuts up to $450K in exchange for a delay in the sequester for two months.

That is not well-understood. The whole “avert the fiscal cliff” thing was a 2-month delay in the cuts we are now experiencing.

Filibuster: Hate To Say It But We Told You So

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Dave Johnson

Many of us fought hard to reform the filibuster and fight the Republican obstruction that is blocking everything the country needs to get done. And I do mean everything. We said please just “make them talk,” which is what the public already thinks the filibuster is anyway. But they reached a “gentleman’s agreement” instead. Those Republican “gentlemen” just filibustered a Defense Secretary nomination — the first such filibuster in history. We told you so.

Filibuster Reform Blocked

For months a coalition of labor and progressive-aligned organizations worked to build support for reforming the filibuster. The hope was that the Senate would change its rules and return the filibuster to the form that the public understands: “Make them talk.” This preserves the ability of the minority to delay bills long enough to rally public support (or not) when they feel that the rights of the minority are being smothered.

At the last minute Harry Reid blocked the reform effort, reaching a “gentleman’s agreement” with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Reid explained,

“I’m not personally, at this stage, ready to get rid of the 60-vote threshold,” Reid said in an interview Thursday with The Washington Post’s Wonkblog.

Chris Cillizza, writing in the Washington Post in Why filibuster reform didn’t happen explained,

The news of an agreement that skirts around the edge of reforming Senate filibusters without actually, you know, reforming the filibuster will disappoint liberal Democrats and leave old Senate hands saying “I told you so.”

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Senators – Before You Vote Ask The Public What They Think A Filibuster Is

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Dave Johnson

Senators, before you vote today on the “make them talk” proposal, go ask members of the public what a filibuster is.

The public thinks a filibuster is senators talking all night. It is not a “nuclear option” to change the rules to what the public thinks the rules already are.

The purpose of the filibuster is to allow senators to hold up legislation that they think is just wrong. Standing in the senate chamber and talking lets senators make the case, and argue why they think the legislation violates the rights of a minority. This gives their supporters time to rally their forces. This dramatic act gets news, and alerts the public to pay attention. Then the public can contact their senators and let them know if they should go ahead or stop.

This is all these rule changes will do, bring back this system that protects the minority in a way that makes it a rare event. It is the rarity of the event that gives it its value.

Once again: The public thinks a filibuster is senators talking all night. It is not a “nuclear option” to change the rules to what the public thinks the rules already are.

People – call your senators now.

Mayor Emanuel Races Chicago’s Economy To Bottom

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Dave Johnson

Does a city “save money” by outsourcing good-paying jobs to a company that pays crap wages? The people who had good-paying jobs are out of work, replaced by people in low-wage jobs, and the rest of us feel the downward pressure on our wages and benefits as the race to the bottom accelerates. The city tax base is reduced as wages drop and people can’t shop at local businesses. And to make matters even worse the newly-hired crap-wage employees make so little they are likely on public assistance just to get by.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is giving city contracts to private companies that promise to “save money” by replacing hundreds of good-paying union jobs with low-paying non-union jobs. More than 300 janitors and window washers at O’Hare International Airport are at risk of losing their jobs just days before Christmas this year because Mayor Emanuel is replacing their employer with United Maintenance.
As Republicans across the country continue their all-out assault on public employees, labor unions and the middle class, why is Chicago’s Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel — President Obama’s former White Hose Chief-of-Staff — joining in by awarding contracts that eliminate good-paying union jobs for race-to-the bottom, low-paying, insider-connected, anti-middle-class non-union jobs?
To top it off, several news organizations are reporting that the companies involved may have “ties” to organized crime, including top employees convicted of racketeering in organized crime prosecutions, and partnerships with known organized crime figures.
Progress Illinois reports, O’Hare Janitors Set To Lose Jobs Before Holidays Hold Vigil At City Hall (VIDEO), (click through for the whole story)

Time is running out for more than 300 O’Hare janitors who stand to lose their jobs by the end of next week as a result of a new city contract.
Local clergy members and workers’ rights advocates held a prayer vigil with airport workers at City Hall Tuesday afternoon in a last ditch effort to persuade city officials to reverse their decision to award a $99 million custodial contract to a company critics claim plans to replace union jobs with non-union, lower-paying positions.
More than 100 supporters filled the fifth floor hallway outside of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office in protest over the city’s five-year agreement with United Maintenance Company Inc. to provide janitorial services for the airport beginning December 15.

Last week, the last of 54 union custodial jobs at Chicago public libraries were cut and replaced with workers from private firms as part of the city’s contracts with Triad Consulting Services and Dayspring Professional Services. This past summer, as many as 50 union janitors were laid-off when a new company contracted to clean police stations, city senior centers and health clinics replaced them with non-union workers.

Organized Crime Connections?
Several news organizations are reporting that these city contracts are going to insiders who are possibly conencted with organized crime figures.
NBC Chicago: Rahm Emanuel Mayor Skirts Questions About Mob Ties in O’Hare Contract,

The mob-related questions keep coming in connection with the company awarded a $99 million custodial contract at O’Hare International Airport, and for the second day the mayor dodged potential Rahmfather implications.
Reports surfaced Wednesday that Paul Fosco, a vice president of United Service Companies, served time in 1987 after he was charged in the same corruption case as late mobster Anthony “Big Tuna” Accardo, who was acquitted. A day earlier the Chicago Sun-Times reported the owner of United Service, Richard Simon, had partnered in the past with alleged mob figure William Daddano Jr.
Emanuel skirted questions about both connections, twice pointing to the city’s “competitive process” that he said resulted in work for the Service Employees International Union and the hiring of about 100 former employees.

Chicago Sun-Times: More mob ties to contractor in O’Hare cleaning deal,

A high-ranking employee of the contractor who recently won a $99.4 million janitorial contract with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration once served a prison sentence after he was charged in the same corruption case as late Chicago mob boss Anthony “Big Tuna” Accardo.
Paul A. Fosco was convicted on racketeering charges in 1987, sentenced to a 10-year prison term and left federal prison in 1993, public records show. He now is an executive vice president of United Service Companies, according to his profile posted on the LinkedIn networking website.
United Service is owned by Richard Simon, a former Chicago Police officer who led the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau from 2002 to 2005. On Oct. 31, Emanuel’s administration chose one of United’s many companies, United Maintenance Co. Inc., to clean O’Hare International Airport for five years starting Dec. 15.
The Chicago Sun-Times first reported last week that Simon had partnered in yet another firm with William Daddano Jr., who was accused of organized-crime ties by Attorney General Lisa Madigan and the Chicago Crime Commission.

Workers Take Action
CBS Chicago reports, in O’Hare Janitors Descend On Mayor’s House To Protest Looming Job Cuts,

Dozens of union airport workers were holding a prayer vigil outside Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s house on Thursday, asking him to reconsider a decision to hand custodial work at O’Hare International Airport to a new company that doesn’t use union labor.

You Can Take Action
Click here to read about Good Jobs and Chicago Families at Risk: O’Hare Worker Stories.
Petition here: Mayor Rahm Emanuel: STOP CUTTING GOOD JOBS
—
This post originally appeared at Campaign for America’s Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF.
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The Terrible Cost of Not Fixing the Filibuster Sooner

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Dave Johnson

Senate Democrats were all about getting things done, and that kept them from getting anything done. They didn’t take on the filibuster head-on, so now obstruction is the expected norm. There have been more than 380 filibusters and the public (and apparently the media) doesn’t know there has been even one. It is time to MAKE THEM TALK if they want to filibuster a bill.

380 Filibusters – The Public Doesn’t Know

Under Lyndon Johnson there was one filibuster, and the public knew about it because a Senator had to talk all night. In the last few years there have just a few been more than one and the public doesn’t know about it at all. How many filibusters have there been? Harry Reid writes in Politico: “Since Democrats took control of the Senate in 2006, Republicans have mounted 380 filibusters.”

If you talk to the public you will find people do not know about this. Most people do not believe there has been even a single filibuster because they haven’t seen it happen. To the public a filibuster is a dramatic event, a big deal, involving Senators talking all night until they fall down from exhaustion.

Here’s the thing. The public hates obstruction, and would apply the right amount of pressure if they knew about it. That is how democracy is supposed to work. But the public does not know that obstruction is occurring. The silent filibuster tactic has been successful because people don’t see it. And that means that democracy isn’t working the way it should.

The Senate Made A Mistake

In the 1970s the Senate changed rules that required a filibuster to be a spectacle and a talkathon. Instead they wanted to be able to move on and get things done so the “silent filibuster” was enabled. Nobodye could have predicted that a corporate/conservative minority would later use the new “silent filibuster” tactic more than 380 times to keep anything from getting done. The filibuster is now so abused that the media tells the public that Senate rules require 60 votes to pass any bill.

Senate Democrats have been irresponsible in allowing this to continue, because democracy wants the public to be alerted to obstruction. In their wish to get things done and get along with the other side they have been accomplices in the obstruction strategy. They have resisted making a big deal out of each and every obstruction, resisted using theater tactics like “bringing out the cots,” resisted “making waves” by changing the rules, and tried to just keep the Senate moving along and getting along. But the result of accommodating the conservatives is they have enabled a take-no-prisoners minority to just block everything. Since the public is largely unaware of this minority obstruction they are not applying the pressure that a functioning democracy requires.

Basics:

People believe a filibuster is senators talking all night.
People have not seen any senators talking all night.
People do not believe there have been any filibusters.
But there have been more than 380 filibusters.
Democracy suffers because the public does not understand that these filibusters are occurring.
We, the People are not getting from our government what we want and need.
Conclusion: Make. Them. Talk.

A Simple Fix – Make Them Talk

Make. Them. Talk.

There is a simple fix that will stop obstruction — except when obstruction is appropriate. This simple fix is to change the rules back to what people think the rules already are: make them actually filibuster in the way the public understands. They should make them talk all night if they want to obstruct a bill.

Here is why making them talk all night is the best solution. While getting rid of the ability to silently and secretly obstruct action it retains the ability of the minority to make their point, and does it in a way that brings that point to the attention of the public. By killing the “silent filibuster” and making Senators engage in the public theater of a dramatic event, where they stand in the Senate chamber and talk and talk, Democrats can actually restore a functioning democracy and engage the public in our democracy.

But when something is happening that is truly egregious and the minority wants to bring the public’s attention to this, they can alert the press and their supporters and get started in a dramatic talk-all-night theater event. They can launch an actual filibuster, just like the movie. It will be big news. The news channels will all make a big deal of this, and people can contact each other and organize a response.

Making them talk gives the public time to get involved. In fact it invites the public to get involved. Or not. It gives the public the choice, which is why we have those first three words in our Constitution.

The Cost Of Filibuster Abuse

The core principle of our government is that We, the People make the decisions. We are supposed to have self-government by majority rule. But in the last few years this has been turned on its head by this silent filibuster obstruction. Nothing gets done, and the public doesn’t understand why not. The cost to We, the People has been staggering.

How many things that the people and our economy want and need have been blocked in the last few years? Well, aside from literally everything, I mean. This abuse of the rules even keep us from learning who or even what country (Disclose Act) is paying for the abuse of the rule.

Just a few examples: Here are just a few examples — just a few out of 380+ filibusters — from Dylan Matthews in the Washington Post, in 17 bills that likely would have passed the Senate if it didn’t have the filibuster,

DREAM Act

DISCLOSE Act

Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)

Public option

Paycheck Fairness Act

Permanent middle-class Bush tax cut extension

Rescinding of the upper-income Bush tax cuts

Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act

Emergency Senior Citizens Relief Act

Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act

American Jobs Act

The Buffett rule

Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act of 2011

Repeal Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act

“Shared Sacrifice”

Withholding Tax Relief Act of 2011

Burmese import restrictions

Appointments – [click through to see the whole list]

Again, those are just a few of the things that We, the People want and need, that were blocked by Republican filibusters. JOBS. The public option. Stopping tax breaks for outsourcing. Ending the huge tax breaks for the oil companies and the billionaires.

A big one: Labor: This week’s anti-union vote in Michigan shows us that one cost to We, the People was that reforming labor law was blocked. Blocked by filibuster in 2007, Senate Democrats dropped this in 2009 because it could not get past a nother filibuster — just one of 380.

June, 2007, GOP Senators Filibuster Employee Free Choice Act,

A majority of Senators voted in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) today, but the vote was nine votes short of the 60-vote requirement to break a filibuster of the bill by a handful of obstructionist Senators.

Then in 2009, (again from 17 bills that likely would have passed the Senate if it didn’t have the filibuster above), Democrats were trying to get the Employee Free Choice Act passed,

But at the time, well over Democratic Senators had indicated their support of the bill, which also got 51 votes and passed the House in 2007, when Democrats had fewer seats, meaning it was especially likely to pass in 2009.

And of course, never forget climate change. Action has been obstructed and obstructed and obstructed…
So many solutions to our country’s problems have been obstructed by corporate&billionaire-funded minority filibusters!

Things You Can Do

Fist, be aware that the filibuster does exist and has been used 380 times, even though you haven’t seen anyone talking all night.

Call the offices of both of your state’s senators and tell them you want them to fix the filibuster and make them talk all night if they want to block a bill. You can use this number: 1-877-782-8274.

Visit Fix the Senate Now and sign up for updates.

There is a Fix the Senate Now Facebook page. “In the US Senate, back room deals and filibuster rules allow a handful of senators to stop the rest from making any progress. Let’s fix the Senate, now.”

Follow @FixTheSenate on Twitter.

Start your own Fix the Senate online petition; Use an online petition tool like SignOn.org to start your own petition to ask your Senators to reform the Senate rules. You can get ideas for language to use at http://fixthesenatenow.org/page/s/signthepetition/.

New Mexico Senator Tom Udall has a special Senate Rules: Common Sense Reform website with a lot of resources and recent press coverage, as well as all of Senator Udall’s past statements on rules reform.

Because it is time to Make. Them. Talk.

—
This post originally appeared at Campaign for America’s Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF.
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Afraid Repubicans Would Say Bad Things About Him

Posted on August 18, 2012 by Dave Johnson

Obama Lags on Filling Seats in the Judiciary,

…Mr. Obama moved more slowly and sought relatively moderate jurists who he hoped would not provoke culture wars that distracted attention from his ambitious legislative agenda.
… Mr. Obama has also largely shied away from nominating assertive liberals who might stand as ideological counterpoints to some of the assertive conservatives Mr. Bush named. …
…“Obama didn’t assertively put forward progressive candidates who would be the ideological counterweights to some Republican appointees, and yet his choices have been met with relentless obstructionism anyway,” said Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice. “All of this has left Obama with a significantly smaller judicial footprint than he is entitled to.”

This last line is the elitist mistake. It is not OBAMA and his legacy that is harmed by this, it is US! I don’t care about Obama’s legacy, I care about having a counterweight to the corporate right!!!! THAT is why I voted for Obama, and why so many people might choose not to vote at all this time.

Message To Campaigns

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Dave Johnson

Don’t just put me on your email list. There are 435 Congressional campaigns and how many Senate campaigns? I seem to be on every one of these campaigns’ email lists without being asked. So when I get your email I go straight to the “Unsubscribe” link. And then I am annoyed and LESS inclined to write about your campaign. Also all my time gets used up dumping all the emails and unsubscribing.
One more thing, tricky email subject lines get you banned. I might be tricked into opening the email, but I will never, ever open another one, no matter how important it is. Fool me once, etc…
If your subject line starts with “Re:” you are banned, period, no matter what. If it says, “Getting back to you” you are banned.
You have to be THE most progressive candidate EVER to make up for those things.

Why Did Obama Administration Stop Homeland Security Tracking Of RW Terrorists?

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Dave Johnson

Sunday a right-wing terrorist killed six people and critically wounded three others. This was just one of many ongoing right-wing terrorists attacks around the country. Monday, for example, a mosque in Missouri was burned to the ground.
Right-wing terrorism is a serious threat, and we know it for a fact. Think Tim McVeigh. But in 2009 the Obama administration shut down most Department of Homeland Security tracking of right-wing terrorism, and still has not revived it.
Focus on violent extremists hampered by US laws, political pressure,

Daryl Johnson, the former official who ran the team, told Wired Magazine’s “Danger Room” blog this week his team had been “dissolved,” and that Homeland Security was “scoffing at the mission of doing domestic counter-terrorism, as is Congress.”

The Obama administration has some explaining to do.

Senators Filibustered For $23,582,500

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Dave Johnson

This week the Senate filibustered the effort to stop giving huge, huge tax breaks and subsidies to oil companies. Why did they filibuster? FOR MONEY.
See Senators Who Voted To Protect Oil Tax Breaks Received $23,582,500 From Big Oil | ThinkProgress
What more needs to be said? This is filed under corruption & corporate rule.

You Want To Bring The Old Economy Back? Really?

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Dave Johnson

There are small signs that real recovery might finally be kicking in. (Republicans have been able to obstruct it for only so long.) But we have not rewired the economic paradigm to work for the 99%, so any recovery will only bring back the imbalances that caused the problems in the first place. This means recovery may not have the electoral effects Democrats hope for, because any growth means the beneficiaries of the old economy are the beneficiaries of this recovery.
Green Shoots Taking Root?
The economy is not collapsing – today. There is at least some growth in most sectors, and this certainly beats continuing decline. The layoffs have slowed to a less gut-wrenching level and there is even hiring occurring. The overhanging inventory of unsold houses has pulled back from record levels. Car companies are doing well and you can’t turn on the TV without seeing car commercials everywhere. Yes there are signs that “green shoots” might be taking root this time – maybe.
But at the same time, to what end?
Here We Go Again
Right on the tail of any green shoots we see signs of the old ways returning, the old imbalances resurfacing. People are running up credit cards again. Trade deficits with China are rising to extreme levels again. Banks and other giants are finding ways to soak scam fees out of customers again. Unrestrained financial-casino speculators are helping drive the price of gasoline to highest-ever levels. And here we go again: the top 1% captured 93% of the income gains in the first year of recovery.
This all shows an economy wired for the 1% will only benefit the 1% as it recovers. The gains are not trickling down.
THIS is what you call recovery?
Won’t Help Election
Democrats and the President are hoping, hoping, hoping that signs of recovery will continue, and people will look more favorably at the President and his party. But any recovery that just goes back to the old economy will not help, because it will not help regular people. An economy wired for the 1% only helps the 1% during any recovery. Today’s poll demonstrates this: Washington Post: Gas prices sink Obama’s ratings on economy, bring parity to race for White House,

Disapproval of President Obama’s handling of the economy is heading higher — alongside gasoline prices — as a record number of Americans now give the president “strongly” negative reviews on the 2012 presidential campaign’s most important issue, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

“Recovery” only helps the President and Democrats if the recovery actually helps the 99%. Mere words won’t do it.
Mere Words Won’t Do It — We Need An Actual Agenda For The 99%
Mere words won’t do it. We need an agenda bigger than what we are doing now, otherwise we just “recover” an economy that didn’t work for working people or for the planet. We need actual change that people actually feel. This means a serious, meaningful attack on inequality and its effects. This means changing the wiring of the economy so We, the People again are in control.
Democrats have to be perceived as actually fighting for the interests of the 99%. The way to be perceived as doing this is to actually do it. This means bringing in people to the Treasury Department and economic advisors who don’t actually work for the interests of Wall Street and the big banks and the 1%. This means actually fighting to raise taxes on the 1% back up to actually meaningful pre-Reagan levels. This means actually doing something about the trade agreements that pit the 99% against exploited workers who have no say, while creating massive trade deficits that drain our economy. This means actually providing good schools and college education that everyone can afford. This means an actual national industrial policy that helps us actually compete in the world’s economy. This means actually fighting climate change. This means actually empowering workers to form unions so they can actually confront concentrated wealth and power with some actual leverage. This means actually hiring millions of people to actually modernize our infrastructure and retrofit our buildings to be energy efficient. This means an actual Medicare-for-All health care plan instead of just reinforcing the 1%er insurance giants. This means actually doing those things that need to be done.
Mere words won’t do it. Actually rewriting the economic paradigm is what is actually required here.
This post originally appeared at Campaign for America’s Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF.
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Seeing the Forest

Who is our economy FOR, anyway?

Category Archives: Bad Democrats