A Meeting with the President

Statement

Yesterday, the Congressional Black Caucus, of which I am proud to Chair, met with President Obama. As I first shared with you in November of last year, being Chair has delivered far more good for our District than bad. I have had the chance to be at the center of many national discussions and be in a better position to push for even more jobs and resources for our community. Because my party now occupies the minority in the House, the challenges have been greater. I have spent a great deal of my career in Congress reaching across the aisle. Those efforts are more important now than ever.

It is always an honor to meet with the President. At the same time, it is a challenge to convey the concerns that deserve the most attention. For that task, I turned to you.

Now, my wife will be the first to tell you that I am not the most "tech-savvy" person in the world. But with a little help from my staff, I have managed to catch up with e-newsletters, Twitter, and Facebook.

On Wednesday, on this page, I asked,

"What questions would you ask President Obama? Tomorrow, I will meet with the President as Chair of the CBC. I want to be your voice."

The questions you shared ranged from concerns about immigration, education, our military presence in the Middle East, trade, taxes, and finally to gas prices, as well as many more important issues. The most popular topic, however, was jobs.

Ron asked to focus more on jobs and the homeless. Catie asked about efforts to stop the outsourcing of good-paying jobs to other countries. Mary asked about job creation. Erik asked why the focus was on deficit-cutting when our unemployment rate remains extraordinarily high.

While the overall trajectory of the economy has improved dramatically over the past two years, our national unemployment rate is at 9.0%. For the Kansas City metropolitan area, the unemployment rate was at 8.9% as of March 2011. I know President Obama understands the urgency of our unemployment situation, and I am satisfied that he has his utmost attention toward the situation. That said, I cannot be satisfied when the poor and the vulnerable are hurting, and when some of my colleagues want to balance our federal budget on the backs of the least of these.

In yesterday's conversation, we exchanged creative ideas on how best to create jobs and improve our economy. It is a pleasure to represent you in these conversations with the President. Please know that I am committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and with President Obama to get America back to work.

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