Latest E-Newsletter

You've heard it all year: the conservative House majority has talked about cuts, austerity, pain and what we can’t accomplish. They've talked about scaling back, about families needing to "sacrifice more," about wealthy CEOs being job creators while the unemployed are dragging us down. Meanwhile, my progressive colleagues and I have been saying our number one priority has to be job creation. The American people clearly agree: a new non-partisan poll found 40 percent saying the economy is their number one issue, compared to 8 percent who said "the deficit" and 3 percent who said "taxes."

That's why today was such a big day. Today the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) introduced its jobs platform and several pieces of legislation -- with more to come -- so we can get this country moving again. No rhetoric or hype, just common sense.

What does that mean? Investing in school construction.Hiring teachers and police and firefighters. Improving our transportation and infrastructure nationwide. Putting hundreds of thousands of people to work improving neighborhoods with energy efficient home features, better recycling programs, and other basic needs that make all our lives better.

One bill I'm proud to have introduced today, along with my colleagues Reps. Barbara Lee and John Conyers, is the Prioritize Emergency Job Creation Act. The recently passed Budget Control Act sets a maximum on how much money can be spent through the annual Congressional appropriations process, but exempts military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Prioritize Emergency Job Creation Act amends that law to exempt funding for emergency job creation. If we can keep spending hundreds of billions on our exhausted wars overseas, shouldn't we be able to put some of our budget toward getting America back to work? This bill means putting jobs and families first again. Enough talk about how the economy is your fault and we can't afford to help you. There's nothing more important for a government to invest in than its people.

You can watch a video with highlights of today's press event here: http://bit.ly/o5GyDU. As you'll see, we're not waiting and hoping everything turns out alright. We're pushing ahead to make sure job creation stays the focus until the American people get the help they need from Congress. Conservatives keep telling us how important it is to let job creators do their thing and stay out of the way when corporations want more giveaways and tax breaks. It reminds me of those late-night advertisements for products that break as soon as you order them. The pitch sounds great, but the reality. . . Well, we can look around and see the reality for ourselves.

The Progressive Caucus is fighting for you, I'm fighting for you, and this fight is really just getting started. The CPC began a conversation today that's going to continue until America is back to work, no matter who stands in the way. Thanks for your continued support, and thanks for pushing Congress to do the right thing.

Peace,
Raúl