Among the scores of Democratic politicians in today's crowded Marriage Equality press conference was one federal official, Congressman Rush Holt. Holt represented the entire New Jersey congressional delegation - all seven congressmen and both senators - in expressing their support for the Marriage Equality bill, S1. Holt's brief remarks are below; the text of the letter is after the fold.
UPDATE: We know a little more now about how this video was compiled. Senator Lautenberg with his staff took the initiative, in recognition of National Bullying Prevention Month, which is October. To accommodate busy schedules, blocks of time over two weeks were reserved at the Capitol Visitor Center Recording Studio, with invitations to members of NJ's congressional delegation to record. There are a few faces missing - it would be even better with Reps. Andrews, Garrett, Frelinghuysen, Pallone and Smith. And we must point out that Lance & LoBiondo voted NO on DADT repeal, as Runyan might have but he wasn't sworn in yet. But the effort, and especially Senator Lautenberg's initiative, are much appreciated.
BTW - I'm told this is the first-ever It Gets Better video that includes elected Republicans.
The New Jersey suicide of Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi and other other young gay people prompted the It Gets Better Project, a labor of love from columnist Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller. The project took off like wildfire; over the last year celebrities, sports teams, and ordinary people have turned their webcams on themselves to give encouragement to teens and kids of a welcoming future for themselves. And those videos, some of them simple and low-tech, made by ordinary people, are bouncing all over the internet.
Last month, an upstate New York 14-year-old named Jamey Rodemeyer killed himself outside his house. A smart kid, with supportive parents, and friends who cared about him. A kid whose NY state senator had led other Republicans to reverse course and help pass marriage equality in New York State, in part after Jamey's hero Lady Gaga had asked her Buffalo audience to ask him to. Jamey's last message was a thank you to Lady Gaga for her message of self-worth to gay kids. And Jamey had himself just months earlier made an 'It Gets Better' video to give confidence to other kids. Jamey himself died last month, after a particularly rough bout of online bullying.
Proof if ever there was any that there's work still to be done. This is the 'It Gets Better' video that's going to the press later today, with our thanks to Senator Frank Lautenberg's office for the advance heads-up:
Bob Menendez: Banking (chairs the Housing, Transportation, and Community Development subcommittee); Energy and Natural Resources; Finance; Foreign Relations (chairs the International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs, and International Environmental Protection subcommittee)
Frank Lautenberg: Appropriations (chairs the Homeland Security subcommittee); Commerce, Science and Transportation (chairs the Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security subcommittee); and Environment and Public Works (chairs the Superfund, Toxics, and Environmental Health, Chair subcommittee)
At the exact instant I sat reading about Congressman Albio Sires calling for Nancy Pelosi's ouster as Dem leader in the next Congress, my Blackberry lit up with a press release from Congressman Rob Andrews who's still got Speaker Pelosi's back. Andrews:
"I am strongly supporting Nancy Pelosi for Democratic Leader. As Speaker, she has proven to be a strong leader in tumultuous times. She is a consensus builder who listens to and respects all sides. While she has the skills necessary to find common ground for the American people, I am confident that under her leadership we will never abandon our principles. We will build on our record of landmark healthcare reform, a reduction in taxes for 95 percent of the American people and a strong financial reform bill.
In the 112th Congress, we need strong leadership to continue these efforts to improve our country and revitalize our economy. I believe Speaker Pelosi is the right person to continue to lead our party and, therefore, support her run for Minority Leader."
I am torn about Pelosi and in the end I'm not change-averse on this one. It's an open thread, BlueJersey. What's your take?
If LGBT rights matter to you, you might wanna check out this website to see how your Congressman stacks up in the fight for gay rights.
I am in NJ's 3rd Congressional district where freshman Congressman John Adler turns in an impressive score of 92%. Looks like Adler gets an A in this class.
Congressman Sires' folks sent along this ad, in his all-but-certain re-election campaign against the GOP's Henrietta Dwyer. In the ad, Sires mentions not only his campaign but also puts in a word for down-ballot candidates running as Democrats with him. It begins with the popular theme of jobs. I cannot find a campaign website for the congressman, is that possible?
Currently, most residents in New Jersey's 3rd Congressional district have access to only one or two Internet Broadband Providers. This relative lack of choice raises the possibility that Broadband Providers can slap a toll on content (what gets sent on the Net) and service (how fast.) This would lead to a multi-tiered Network where some Websites enjoy premium access speeds to their customers. Websites that are unwilling or unable to pay the toll would be relegated to the proverbial "slow lane."
John Adler believes that this inequitable arrangement would threaten the dynamism on the Internet. John strongly supports Network Neutrality and the innovation and openness that stem from it. In fact, a primary reason the Internet and the World Wide Web have proven so dynamic is the inherent openness and egalitarianism of the Network.
John Adler believes that only by preserving Network Neutrality; ensuring a diversity of media ownership; and bridging the Digital Divide will the Internet thrive as a hub of innovation and free speech in NJ-3 and beyond.
...the key part is that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's staff has been briefing FCC commissioners on changes that will be made to the regulation of Internet lines. The companies in charge of such lines, such as phone and cable companies, have been arguing that new regulations would hurt their businesses. They fear that they may have to open these lines to competitors (God forbid!) or be forced to have rate limits (the horror!). According to the WSJ report, the FCC officials are saying that won't be the case, and instead will mainly be concerned with ensuring net neutrality.
Albio Sires was the only other New Jersey Democrat to sign on to the letter, which is a pretty good hint how bad it is. It's not difficult to guess that they are motivated by money.
The Hill picks up that Congressman Albio Sires is using twitter to answer questions and deal with problems his constituents are having with the census:
Jeff Caldwell tweeted at the lawmaker Monday:
@Rep_Albio_Sires We haven't received any forms at 351 8th Street in Hoboken!
Sires responded:
Call Census at 866-872-6868 or my D.C. office for assistance! RT @jeffreycaldwell: We haven't received any forms!
Kudos to the Congressman. I always like when members of Congress are responsive to their constituents and certainly am a fan of using technology to engage. Just another way to make sure you provide constituent service. Take the survey below the fold and tell us if you would use twitter to follow and contact your member of Congress.
One thing I enjoy reading and writing about is how government and candidates for office are using technology. A story in the NY Times says that Republicans in the House are kicking some serious Democrat donkey butt:
It may have been sort of a counterintuitive thought at one time, but it's become pretty well-established that Republicans on Capitol Hill have embraced Twitter more than Democrats.
But just how much congressional Republicans are out-Tweeting the Democrats may be a bit of a surprise. According to a new study from the public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard, House Republicans have pecked away on Twitter more than five times more frequently than their Democratic counterparts - sending out 29,162 tweets all told through Jan. 3, compared to 5,503 for Democrats.
In New Jersey, @Rep_Albio_Sires and @FrankPallone are our lone members on twitter in the House. @SenatorMenendez uses twitter from our Senate delegation, but the GOP clearly has more members utilizing the medium to communicate:
The study also found that about two-thirds of Congress' 132 active Tweeters are Republicans.
But what type of communicating they are doing offers the caveat to these numbers:
Many congressional Twitter users don't follow others or reTweet items, Mr. Senak said in an interview. "It can be more like one-way communication, which is not really what Twitter was designed for," he said. Mr. Senak, who writes a blog about the F.D.A., said curiosity about how lawmakers were discussing health care was a major reason he started the Twitter study.
If they're not utilizing the medium to create a dialogue, they're not getting the complete potential. See Cory Booker for an example of how you can harness the power of social media. But on top of that, it's troubling that our leaders aren't embracing new opportunities to interact with their consituents. I know it's hard to convey public policy in 140 characters, but if you use more words no one listens, are you better off passing up the opportunity at a captive audience? If you are on twitter, even though your member of Congress may not be, you can find and follow us @BlueJersey
Let me preface this conversation by stating that I supported Senator Frank Lautenberg's re-election campaign during both the primary and general elections last year, but...
1) ...after seeing him speak in public numerous times at a dramatically reduced level of performance than in the past...
...and...
2) ...after last week's gubernatorial election results...
...and...
3) ...assuming that the aspiring Governors that are currently serving in the State Senate and State Assembly are not going to be willing to rescind the power that the Governor currently has to fill vacated U.S. Senate seats, I think that Democratic Party leaders, electeds, and rank-and-file members should reach out en masse to Senator Frank Lautenberg and ask him to resign his seat.
Late yesterday, Hopeful posted a diary asking that you contact Rep. Adler's office with respect to the House "robust public option/Medicare+5" bill that Speaker Pelosi was hoping to bring for a vote.
We also found out that Reps. Steve Rothman (NJ-9) and Albio Sires (NJ-13) may also be on the fence, so we are asking that if at all possible, can you call all three of their offices and urge them to support the Speaker and 70% of Americans for REAL healthcare reform.
Here are their numbers, both in DC and here in NJ:
John Adler:
DC-202-225-4765
NJ-856-985-2777
NJ-732-608-7235
Steve Rothman:
DC-202-225-5061
NJ-201-646-0808
*************
I'm told we may have until around 2PM today, so anything you can do this morning is extremely helpful. And as Rosi said last night:
If you live in their congressional district be sure to tell the staffer.
If you don't live there, but work there, or spend vacation time or money there, tell them that. And of course, be brief and polite to the staffer who takes your call.
If you know somebody in the district, please shoot them an email with the phone number - you can make a difference this morning.
Also, if you could tweet this and post to your Facebook status, that would be great too. After all, elections have consequences, right?
And we have gotten some good press and recognition around the intertubez for our efforts in this area. So, when I got an email from Jane Hamsher at FDL telling me that Mike Farrell had recorded a video thanking us for our efforts, I couldn't wait to see it and share it.
That being said, the fight is far from over, but at least we can enjoy some props:
Congressmen Bill Pascrell, Rush Holt, Donald Payne and Albio Sires deserve a standing ovation.
Before the Congressional recess, I started a series about calling our Representatives about the public option. And as fast as things were moving, our goal changed as quickly as we started - for a number of reasons. For starters, we wanted to have our Reps. commit to vote against any health care bill without a public option. And at the time, there were 2 (Holt and Payne) who committed to do so - Holt even did it on Blue Jersey Radio.
As bills passed the various House committees and the teabagging restarted, both Pascrell and Sires joined Holt and Payne in Taking the Pledge. So now, we are here, and we have a bit of a different take on things:
Instead of using a stick and "whipping the public option", a netroots-wide initiative is underway to use "carrots, not sticks", and thank those who have taken the "pledge" in the form of online donations to all members in the House who have taken the pledge.
For starters, here is the ActBlue page called They Took the Pledge that you can click on to show our 4 Reps. some love. I just donated $20 to each of them.
As my good friend, David Atkins (thereisnospoon) said the other day:
A new initiative organized by Howie Klein, Jane Hamsher, my brother Dante and myself to verbally and financially reward Congressmembers who pledge to vote down any healthcare bill that does not include the public option is catching fire. The objective is to use carrots as well as sticks to achieve progressive goals. As I said in the diary kicking off this intiative at DailyKos:
Human beings are psychologically predictable creatures, much like Pavlov's famous canine. We do respond well to punishment, but we respond just as well if not better to positive reinforcement. Do nothing but beat a dog with a stick, and the dog is likelier to be aggressive than lovingly loyal. Do nothing but scream at a child, and the child will eventually fail to respond to her abusive parent. Senators and Representatives, no matter how elevated, are still just people: the rules of psychological conditioning still apply. If all we can do is scream at people who don't do what we want, eventually no one will listen to us at all.
From this initiative, one that started 3 days ago, there is already $250,000 raised from over 4,000 donors - all to show that we have the backs of those who have ours.
As members of Congress headed home for break, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed out their version of the healthcare bill. They wanted to arm members of Congress with the facts, so they put out district by district breakdowns:
The Committee has prepared, for each member, a district-level analysis of the impact of the legislation. This analysis includes information on the impact of the legislation on small businesses, seniors in Medicare, health care providers, and the uninsured. It also includes an estimate of the impacts of the surtax that is used to pay for the legislation.
America's Affordable Health Choices Act would provide significant benefits in the 7th Congressional District of New Jersey: up to 18,200 small businesses could receive tax credits to provide coverage to their employees; 8,100 seniors would avoid the donut hole in Medicare Part D; 800 families could escape bankruptcy each year due to unaffordable health care costs; health care providers would receive payment for $30 million in uncompensated care each year; and 21,000 uninsured individuals would gain access to high-quality, affordable health insurance.
You can see the benefits by district for each member of Congress:
You can see the full bill text and a summary put out by the committee as well. If you support this bill, your member of Congress needs to know about it. If you call, get your member of Congress to take the pledge. Our representatives are being inundated with phone calls and emails opposing healthcare. We need people who support the healthcare overhaul to start putting some action behind the talk, otherwise we'll be counting the time until the next chance to do something about healthcare.
Congressman Albio Sires took to the House floor yesterday for a short speech talking about while some states have refused stimulus funding, New Jersey has used it to create jobs:The Democrats have repeatedly hammered Chris Christie for his comments saying he would refuse stimulus funds pointing out the cost in each area of those actions:
Earlier this month, the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services' reported that New Jersey would lose $5 billion in federal economic recovery money if the state refused to accept funds with conditions set forth by the federal government, a position held by Christie. A rejection of these funds would include over $1 billion in transportation funding, which would have gone toward funding projects like the Plauderville Station High Level Platform Construction and creating good jobs across New Jersey.
?Since the beginning of his campaign, Christie has made a lot of promises about improving New Jersey?s economy, but offered little in the way of details for how he?d do it,? Weinberg said. ?In times like these, New Jersey needs leaders who will stick to their core values and have the courage to do the right thing for New Jersey. Having worked closely with Governor Corzine to lead our state through this global economic recession, I know that he will provide the leadership we need to create jobs and get our economy back on track.?
Under Governor Corzine?s leadership, New Jersey was the first state in the nation to launch a comprehensive economic recovery plan in October 2008, which is expected to create over 16,000 private sector jobs over the next two years and provide tax relief for New Jersey businesses large and small. In partnering with President Obama on the federal economic recovery plan, Corzine also leveraged $17 billion in benefits for new jobs, individual and business tax relief, and infrastructure investment.
Christie is hoping the headlines stay as they are. It allows him to continue failing to offer specifics while speaking in vague platitudes. He'll continue to take shots at Corzine, but his statements show that the problem he would need to solve would be bigger as Governor because of his rejection of federal stimulus dollars. He doesn't give details of a plan to deal with the problem we have, much less what will come from his rejection of help. It may be smart politics, but isn't enough to govern in tough times.
I went through the FEC filings to see how our House members are fairing with their fundraising efforts. First here are some observations
Congressman Adler raised the most money in the 2nd quarter with over $518K, followed by Congressman Pallone and then Garrett.
Congressman Pallone has the most Cash on Hand by far and away with over $3.7 million. He has twice as much as the next member, Congressman Rothman who is followed by Pascrell and then Lobiondo.
Congressman Adler raised the most form individuals at over $267K, followed by Pallone, Garrett and then Rothman.
Congressman Adler raised the most from PAC's at over 250K, followed by Pallone, Lance and Frelinghuysen.
The members of the NJ delegation that raised more from PAC's than individuals were Congressmen Andrews, Payne, LoBiondo, Frelinghuysen, Pallone and Lance.
Congressional Quarterly has analyzed the roll call voting patterns of members of Congress since 1953. The three principal studies involve:
The frequency with which lawmakers vote with the president when he clearly indicates his preferences (Presidential Support).
The frequency with which they vote with their party, on occasions when a majority of Republicans oppose a majority of Democrats (Party Unity).
And the frequency with which they show up and cast "yea" or "nay" votes (Voting Participation).
And here are the NJ members on the House side:
Pres Support
Party Unity
Participation
John Adler
88
86
97
Rob Andrews
96
99
99
Rodney Frelinghuysen
58
80
99
Scott Garrett
15
98
97
Rush Holt
96
99
98
Leonard Lance
69
74
100
Frank Lobiondo
77
65
100
Frank Pallone
96
99
96
Donald Payne
88
99
96
Bill Pascrell
96
95
89
Steve Rothman
96
99
98
Albio Sires
96
97
97
Chris Smith
77
64
97
And the numbers for our Senators:
Frank Lautenberg
97
100
99
Bob Menendez
97
100
99
Lance and LoBiondo are two of only sixteen members to participate in 100% of the votes. Only thirteen other Republicans gave less support to President Obama than our very own Scott Garrett. Smith and LoBiondo are sixth and seventh for the lowest party unity with Lance ranking 22nd. Menendez and Lautenberg are both tops in party unity with 100% support.
Support is growing in Congress for more efforts to protect consumers from bad financial practices involving mortgages, predatory lending, credit cards, retirement accounts, payday loans and other financial instruments. In response, a bill is has been introduced to create a new agency that would oversee and regulate the process:
It's called the Financial Product Safety Commission and is modeled after the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The new agency, endorsed by a long list of consumer organizations, could become a part of a new regulatory scheme almost certain to emerge from the country's experience with what's been called the Great Recession.
A bill establishing the agency has been introduced in the House and the Senate. It would "prevent and eliminate practices that lead consumers to incur unreasonable, inappropriate, or excessive debt, or make it difficult for consumers to repay existing debt, including practices or product features that are abusive, fraudulent, unfair, deceptive, predatory, anti-competitive, or otherwise inconsistent with consumer protection."
Not surprisingly, Scott Garrett opposes this effort saying the problem isn't deregulation, but actually too much regulation (no joke):
"Failed regulation, government policies and inappropriate intrusion by the federal government into the market were in large part what caused the financial crisis," he says.
Garrett says he is "skeptical" about the ability of any new regulator to "promote stability in the marketplace or truly provide a service to the consumer."
Leonard Lance thinks we can fix what we already have:
"I am not in favor of creating new agencies simply to have new agencies," says Lance, "but I would be willing to work with the new administration to create more effective consumer protection."
But Congressman Holt doesn't think that's possible and if you follow me below the fold, you can see the rest of the story.
With the help of the New Jersey delegation, the party of no kept their streak in tact today opposing a bill that would help families stay in their homes by avoiding foreclosure:
Democrats are in blue, and Republicans are in red.
The measure passed 234-191. There were seven Republicans in Congress who supported the bill, none from New Jersey. Here's a description of the intent of the bill they opposed today:
To prevent mortgage foreclosures and enhance mortgage credit availability.
Three New Jersey districts are in the top 50 district nationally for 2009 foreclosures: NJ-03 has the 13th most, NJ-01 the 14th most, and NJ-02 the 44th most. What's more, the 2009-2012 numbers project an even bleaker future. This mortgage relief bill is badly needed.
So the question arises: Will NJ Republicans vote for a mortgage relief bill to help thousands of families struggling in their districts? Or will they continue to kowtow to Rush Limbaugh and sell out their voters? Time will tell, but don't count me among the optimists.
So with his district ranked 44th in 2009 foreclosures, Frank "the moderate" LoBiondo turned his back and walked the party line. He was joined by Leonard Lance, Chris Smith, Rodney Frelinghuysen and of course Scott Garrett. Keep making New Jersey proud guys.
Democrats are in blue, and Republicans are in red.
Regarding the Economic recovery vote, it passed with absolutely no Republican support in this new era of bi-partisanship by a 244-188 margin. Americans United for change ripped the NJ GOP opposition to the plan, leaving out Scott Garrett who also voted no:
Thanks to the extraordinary leadership of President Obama and Speaker Pelosi, the U.S. House has acted quickly and decisively to move forward this major economic recovery plan that will put millions of middle-class Americans back to work and back spending money again. This was perhaps the most historic vote in Congress since the vote to authorize the war in Iraq. Yet, amid a crippling economic recession that has cost millions of Americans their jobs and threatens millions more if nothing is done, Representatives Frelinghuysen, Lance, LoBiondo and Smith all chose to put partisan politics and the failed policies of the past over the struggling families they represent. President Obama reached out to Democrats and Republicans alike and set aside partisanship and ideology to craft a bold measure to get America back to work. It's sad that these Representatives are still clinging to petty partisanship and the same failed, well-worn ideology of Bush 'trickle-down' economics that got us into this mess to begin with.
The delay of the digital transition vote failed by a vote of 258-168. It wasn't a party line vote and in NJ, Congressman Adler voted against, while Congressman Lobiondo voted for. Congressman Payne did not vote on the bill. I'm not sure what the delay would have done, it's not like there is going to be more money available in four months.
