The Congressional Progressive Caucus

Floor Speech

Mr. ELLISON. My name is Keith Ellison, and we are here for the progressive message, the 1 hour when the Congressional Progressive Caucus will come to the American people and talk about what our agenda is.

Tonight it's important to specify, Mr. Speaker, that the Progressive Caucus is going to be on the floor for the next 60 minutes talking about America's economic picture, the landscape that we're facing, and what the progressive vision is for solving these problems.

I am joined tonight by some stellar members of the Progressive Caucus. We have with us tonight, Mr. Speaker, our outstanding, stupendous, colossal, fearless leader, none other than Lynn Woolsey, who just got through talking about the war. She has been a champion on many fronts. But I'm also joined by my classmate, a tireless fighter for all people across America, none other than Yvette Clarke, who never bends, never bows, and always stays strong for the American people. I think it's important for us to know that we're also joined by none other than Donna Edwards, who is going to grab a mike in just a moment. And the four of us and other members of the Progressive Caucus for about the next 58 minutes are going to be talking about the stimulus package, the economic picture facing the American people, and what the Progressive Caucus believes we need to do about it. Your progressive voice on progressive issues.

So with that, I invite my colleagues to jump on in. We're going to have a colloquy over the next few minutes where we come in and out and share the ball, if you will, to talk about the stimulus package. And let me just kick it off with our chairperson.

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Mr. ELLISON. A very important observation.

I think it's important to point out that H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, does spend about 75 percent of the money within the first 18 months. Much of it is on infrastructure. It will create 3 to 4 million jobs. It does give about 95 percent of American workers a tax cut. Not the people who already get one but the folks who often don't get a tax cut.

If I may, I don't want to spend time on gloom and doom, but I would ask my colleagues to spend maybe 10, 20 minutes or so talking about what got us here. I don't know if you want to go back there, but I think it's important to say it is the absence of a progressive vision that got us to this point. We're talking about years of deregulation and tax cuts for the wealthy. We're talking about an economic philosophy that said that poor people have too much money and rich people don't have enough money; so what we're going to do is take from them and give to the ones upstairs. We're talking about tax cuts in the middle of a war, and we're talking about a war that never, ever, ever, ever should have been started. We're talking about an economic philosophy that really was not in favor of the average working family. And we know that when the average working family is doing well, then everybody does well, and when they're not doing well, then we get what we got. The fact is it is an economic philosophy that has been driving us.

What's needed is a progressive vision for our country, an economy that is inclusive, an economy that helps lift all boats because we do believe a rising tide lifts boats but you've got to raise that tide. It's not the ocean liner but the dinghies that need to be rising up.

So with that I invite you all, if you would, just to talk a little bit about what you believe got us here and what the situation is we're confronting. I think it's important for the American people to know that we are not just spending $825 billion on a whim. We're in serious financial trouble. We're talking about the loss of 2 million jobs and change last year.

This is an unemployment chart in 2007 and 2008. The blue is 2007 numbers. The red is 2008 numbers. Now, if you can see, every red bar is longer than every blue bar. Can you see that? That means we had a dramatic jump in unemployment in nearly every State. Minnesota's right here, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa. Every State has had a dramatic leap forward in unemployment, a very serious issue, and I think that it's important to point out that we are here to do something about it.

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Mr. ELLISON. That's right, that's right.

Well, thank you, Madam Chairman, for pointing out what the role of the Progressive Caucus is. I invite my colleagues to weigh in on that subject as well, as we talk about the stimulus package and our economy tonight.

I think it's important that the American people know that they have a progressive voice, projecting a progressive vision. We will never lay down our role as a coequal branch of government.

You know, we happen to like this President, and we will probably agree with him on a number of things, but it's not our job to agree with him. It's our job to represent the American people, to project an inclusive vision in which every American feels they can be successful where their rights are protected and where they can make a living for their family.

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Mr. ELLISON. Congresswoman Edwards, I want to thank you for pointing out that this stimulus package has been heavily influenced by the work of the Progressive Caucus. But for our efforts, it wouldn't be the great document that it is. Though it may not be all that we want it to be, it's much better than it would have been without our input.

It's important for people to know that the role of the Progressive Caucus is to put forth a progressive agenda to help our leadership stake out a progressive policy, and if we are not pushing, if we are not agitating, if we are not arguing for that case, then the case simply won't be made.

So it's critical that the Progressive Caucus come before the American people and talk about what we are doing, talk about what we are up to, but also we do some of the work that is our job as Members of Congress to do, which is to push that agenda right in here.

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Mr. ELLISON. If the gentlelady yields back, I'd just like to point out that on this chart that Mark Zandi noted--a conservative economist, quite frankly--in his study he showed that the revenue transfers to State governments have a pretty high multiplier effect of 11.36, which is pretty high.

If you notice nonrefundable rebates, they're pretty low. Some of these things extend--the alternative minimum tax, that is very low. Less than one. Make income tax cuts expiring in 2010 permanent. That's extremely low. And reduce corporate tax rates. That's pretty low too.

So if you really want to get the economy moving, if you want to help small business, help the average person, and help those States that you just mentioned a moment ago, Congresswoman, revenue transfers to State governments.

If I may just point out, you mentioned your State, and I am glad you did, because it's important for people across all the States to know that we are in this thing together; Maryland, New York, Minnesota. We are in this thing together.

In my State of Minnesota the impact of this recovery bill will be State fiscal relief in a significant amount, which is actually over $1 billion, which is quite a lot of money. Title I education, $117 million; special education--always fighting for every penny--$216 million. Very happy to point out Workforce Employment Services, $19 million. That is a lot of money. That makes a big difference.

Weatherization. We like to get up to zero in Minnesota. If it got to be zero, it would be a heat wave in Minnesota. Weatherization is important for us. $210 million. A very important program.

Of course, as you pointed out, when you lose your job and you lose your health care, so our Medicaid funding of $737 million is a significant amount of money. All told, Minnesota is going to be able to benefit $3.3 billion from the stimulus package. We have a State budget deficit of about $5 billion. It won't cover everything, but it's going to help an awful lot, and there will be vital services that will not be cut because the Federal Government, with the influence of the Progressive Caucus, responded to the needs of the people in a real way.

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Mr. ELLISON. We have about 15 more minutes left in our hour, so start thinking about what we want to leave the folks with tonight. But I just want to point out that one of the progressive values that we share is that we have an inclusive vision; so that we don't engage in regionalism, we think about what all Americans need. And so we are concerned. When I see an unemployment number in New York at 7 percent, that sends chills through my spine because in Minnesota we have got 6.9 percent, which is pretty much the same. And we look at Michigan really hurting.

So we know that we need those workforce development dollars there to help get people trained. And the year before that they were at 7.4. So they have been hurting for a long time. And Rhode Island people are really taking a hit, and in North Carolina as well.

One of our values as the Progressive Caucus is that we stand for the American people as a whole. And Congresswoman Edwards, again, here we are moving forward on this stimulus package, and we are going to continue over the course of the year to project a progressive vision and a progressive economy.

I guess one of my questions to you is, how critical is it that we continue to keep up the struggle to project a progressive vision for our Congress and for our Nation?

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Mr. ELLISON. Thank you for yielding back.

Let me say tonight that it is important for us to realize that this stimulus package really is emergency surgery. It is a crisis, and we are addressing a crisis. But when we talk about a progressive vision, we are not just talking about dealing with this crisis; we are talking about setting forth a new way of doing business, saying that the market will not be allowed to run amuck, that the market does not answer our questions, that the market has market failure, and that there is a critical and indispensable role of government. Government is not the problem, but when government doesn't monitor people at the SEC and at other agencies, then we see problems arising. It is a vision of saying that the government has a responsibility to make sure that our economy is fair, that our economy is inclusive, that everybody matters, that everybody counts, and people are just not going to be left out.

It is a vision that says America should be at peace with the rest of the world, that we should pursue peace, we should promote peace, we should engage in dialogue and diplomacy and negotiation, and that war is the enemy of the poor. Not only is war dangerous to people on the business end of a missile, but it is the enemy of the poor in our country because it saps what poor people need.

And we also understand our progressive vision is that our country, a caring nation, a loving nation, should be concerned about the health of its people. And because of that, we need to have universal health care. And one of the best things we could do for the auto industry is to have universal health care, and they would have a lot of problems taken off of their shoulders.

So it is important to talk about that as we move into the final minutes of our special hour as we talk about a progressive vision that we are today dealing with a crisis, but that crisis is not the end of the story; that we are going to be moving into the future, and that we are going to be laying down a progressive vision for quite a long while.

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