In this “Election 2012 Challenge” series, OC180NEWS provides comments on President Obama’s jobs speech delivered last night to a Joint Session of Congress. We asked for comments from those who would like to represent us in congress, namely, Dana Rohrabacher, Loretta Sanchez, Gary Delong, Alan Lowenthal, and Steven Kuykendall.
For articles in this series which deal with federal issues, OC180NEWS will Always request comments from current U.S. Reps. Dana Rohrabacher and Loretta Sanchez, plus would be representatives Gary Delong, Alan Lowenthal, and Steven Kuykendall. These later three are all running for California’s new 47th Congressional District, which includes, among other areas, Long Beach, Los Alamitos and Rossmoor. We will not include current Rep. Ed Royce because he is not running in a West OC district.
At OC180NEWS we believe the responsiveness of these politicians to our inquiries will say something about their attitude, arrogance, and general responsiveness to those they want to represent. In reading this series of articles, if one of their comments is not presented, it is because they were too busy, unwilling, or unable, to tell their constituents what they think about important current issues.
But, first, we provide a quick recap of what President Obama said. He called the current unemployment rate an “ongoing national crisis” and set the tone for the speech by asking if “we can stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy.”
Calling his proposal the “American Jobs Act,” the President said his proposals include nothing controversial. He repeatedly instructed Congress with the refrain “You should pass this jobs plan right away.”
The President said his plan would:
• Provide a tax break for companies who hire new workers
• Cut payroll taxes in half for every working American and every small business
• Set up an independent construction projects fund to attract private dollars and issue loans based on two criteria: how badly a construction project is needed and how much good it will do for the economy
• Pass this jobs bill, and thousands of teachers in every state will go back to work
• Companies will get extra tax credits if they hire America’s veterans
• Hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged young people will have the hope and the dignity of a summer job next year
• Low-income Americans who desperately want to work, will have more ladders out of poverty
• Companies will get a $4,000 tax credit if they hire anyone who has spent more than six months looking for a job
• Extends unemployment insurance for another year
• People who collect unemployment insurance [will] participate in
temporary work as a way to build their skills while they look for a permanent job
After describing these benefits, the President said the cost of all these breaks would be fully paid for. He referenced the bipartisan “Super Committee” created in July as part of the debt ceiling compromise legislation. The Super Committee, made up of 6 Democrats and 6 Republicans, has the task of finding, between now and Christmas, an additional $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions.
“Tonight, I am asking you to increase that amount so that it covers the full cost of the American Jobs Act,” President Obama said. “A week from Monday, I’ll be releasing a more ambitious deficit plan — a plan that will not only cover the cost of this jobs bill, but stabilize our debt in the long run.”
But, The President acknowledged that his proposal would not include major new initiatives beyond the approach he has already promoted and which the Republican controlled House of Representatives has already rejected.
“It’s a balanced plan that would reduce the deficit by making additional spending cuts, by making modest adjustments to health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and by reforming our tax code in a way that asks the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share,” President Obama said.
He acknowledged that multiple trillion dollar deficit reduction is not likely without addressing the Social Security and healthcare entitlement programs.
“With an aging population and rising health care costs, we are spending too fast to sustain the program,” he said. “If we don’t gradually reform the system while protecting current beneficiaries, it won’t be there when future retirees need it.”
Click here to read the entire speech.
Below we present the responses, in their own words, unedited, complete, and without spin.
We asked the politicians to limit their answers to 150 words. Rather than provide a comprehensive analysis of the issue, our goal here is to provide a brief look into their thinking so we will be better informed when it comes time to select our representatives.
First, to Representative Dana Rohrabacher:
“It was disappointing to see the President going through the motions, speaking in campaign style platitudes, without the substance necessary to take him or his proposals seriously,” said Rohrabacher.
“Being specific about things like building schools and other initiatives he claims will create jobs without giving any specifics on where that money is going to come from is nothing more than a campaign speech to rally his base. How can we take a speech that calls on us to support a bill seriously, when no legislation has been submitted for Congress to consider?
“President Obama wants to spend $400 billion more to allegedly create jobs, but what happened to the $800 billion we already spent? That so called ‘stimulus package’ failed miserably so why should we give him even more money and expect it would do anything different than the first major infusion of taxpayer dollars?
“Tonight’s speech was nothing more than political posturing at a presidential level, entertaining us with Groucho Marx economics. You don’t know if want to laugh or cry, but you know it’s not good for America.”
Next, to Congressional Candidate Gary Delong:
“While President Obama outlined in his speech goals that most Americans would support, he wasn’t able to articulate how to pay for these things other than say Congress should come up with the money,” Delong told OC180NEWS. “If Congress believes we should print more money and expand the deficit, then I’m opposed. What programs and project will Congress have to cut, or what taxes will they propose increasing, to come up with the funding?
When he suggests we should further tax the wealthy that can also be interpreted as taking money away from job creators and giving the money to the government to allocate instead. I believe it has been proven that the private sector is much better at creating long-term jobs and economic growth than the Federal Government.
As always, the devil is in the details. I look forward to learning more of the details behind this proposal.”
And, running against Gary Delong, is Steven Kuykendall, who provides the following perspective:
“The President’s plan was large, $400+ billion, and detailed. His sense of urgency was front and center and we all agree jobs NOW is the direction we need to be going,” Kuykendall told OC180NEWS. “The details need to be studied, in more depth than this forum allows, to give well reasoned and thoughtful answers to the most urgent issue facing the United States. Giving incentives to employers to put people on the payroll works if there are jobs for them to do. The focus needs to be on building and improving things rather than direct cash payments. For example, if we build or repair a bridge we create jobs throughout the economy, from the engineer drawing plans to manufacturers building the equipment which is then put to work by construction workers. This process can be further speeded up by eliminating some of the crippling regulation that stands between the business and the project. Although not as fast as writing someone a government check to spend, it is a more durable and sustaining type of job creation and it starts building a foundation to get our economy growing again. The President’s plan needs to be reviewed in detail and Congress work as a team to provide job creation in America. Americans need to see that their government can be an asset in this effort rather than a debating society to return some confidence that the nations leaders understand the importance of job creation.”
We did not receive a response from Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez or congressional candidate Alan Lowenthal.
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About Dolores Barr, Publisher
Dolores Barr has lived in Rossmoor since 1992 and has created this site to provide local news for the people of Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Rossmoor, Leisure World, Sunset Beach, and Surfside, California. My husband and I have had two students graduate from the Los Alamitos Unified School District and currently our Grandson, Ricky Apodaca, grade 3 at Weaver Elementary, is actively involved in youth baseball through LAYB and youth football through FNL.
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Gary Delong worries about deficit spending. Steven Kuykendall is concerned about regulations (most designed to protect workers and their families).
These are the Democrats?
Where would they have been when FDR created the WPA and the CCC? Well, they wouldn’t have been behind FDR. FDR spent money like it was going out of style, money he didn’t have. Deficit spending to create jobs. Then those workers became taxpayers, and the resulting boom of the middle class allowed them to pay much of it back over the following years (until Saint Reagan broke the system in 1980). These workers had money, they bought things, they created jobs.
What about regulations? Construction regulations were INCREASED by the WPA/CCC. Bridges and dams were “overbuilt”, which is why so many are still standing today. Minimum wages were maintained and in some areas Unions were required. The Union requirement is one of the key things that allowed Unions to expand in the following years to the point where they represented a plurality of the Middle Class and supported and maintained the middle class lifestyles.
Sorry Steven Kuykendall and Gary Delong. Your embrace of the frames of the GOP show me that you are Reagan Democrats (DLC / Third Way) at best. You are part of the problem facing America. We need strong progressives/liberals who can push the government to the left after years of it being pushed to the right. Your GOP framed responses show that you don’t deserve to wear the (D) in the general election.
Thanks for the comment. Just a clarification – Gary Delong and Steve Kuykendall are both Republicans. So far, the only Democrat in the race for the new 47 Congressional District is Alan Lowenthal. Unfortunately, despite our requests, Lowenthal did not provide his comments.