Congressman Charles B. Rangel is urging the Bush Administration to do all that they can in helping the Caribbean nations of Haiti and the Dominican recover from the damage recently caused by Tropical Storm Noel.
"I am urging that relief efforts in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which were the most directly impacted by the storm, be made a top priority," Congressman Rangel wrote in a letter sent to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday, October 31. "This humanitarian crisis demands our full immediate attention, and merits an outpouring of compassion and generosity of equal measure."
Media reports indicate that death tolls are rising past the initial mark of 30 in the Dominican Republic and six in Haiti. Overall, the storm has driven at least 12,000 people from their residences, destroyed at least 3,000 homes, and isolated close to 36 towns because of swollen rivers and damaged bridges.
Millions Would Benefit From AMT Repeal, Expansion of EITC and Reduction in Corporate Tax Rate.
Last week, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel introduced H.R. 3970, the Tax Reduction and Reform Act of 2007, legislation that would provide tax relief to millions of New York families and businesses.
PROVIDING TAX RELIEF TO MILLIONS OF NEW YORKERS
Specifically, H.R. 3970 would put money back in the pockets of middle and lower-income families by permanently repealing the alternative minimum tax (AMT), enhancing the refundable child tax credit, expanding the earned income tax credit (EITC) and raising the standard deduction.
“This bill would put money back in the pockets of millions of New York families and help keep our businesses competitive internationally,” said Chairman Rangel. “Because of our high cost of living, New York is one of the states hardest hit by the AMT and my legislation would eliminate this monster once and for all. The bill also provides much-needed relief to hardworking families through an increase in the standard deduction, as well as an increase in the refundable child tax credit so that low-income, working families can receive the same $1,000 –per child credit as upper-income families.”
“Further, the bill advances a goal shared by Mayor Bloomberg, expansion of the earned income tax credit for families without children so they do not have income tax liability before they reach the poverty line.”
HELPING NY BUSINESSES COMPETE AND WIN
Chairman Rangel’s legislation would also provide significant benefit to American companies by reducing the top corporate tax rate from 35 to 30.5 percent. The legislation also encourages small business owners to invest in the U.S. by permanently extending the largest tax benefit they enjoy, the ability to immediately write-off the first $125,000 annually of their business investment.
“New York is a state that has experienced a recent loss in manufacturing jobs and this bill would increase incentives for investment in the U.S. and New York while reducing tax benefits for moving jobs offshore,” continued Rangel. ”The Administration’s concern about the competitiveness of U.S. companies appears to start at the border, since they seem more worried about the overseas operations of multi-national corporations, while opposing my efforts to reduce tax rates here in the U.S. to encourage business activity in our cities and towns.”
Click here to view a summary of the legislation provided by the staff of the Ways and Means Commitee.
Congressman Charles B. Rangel released the following statement late Monday in regards to recent comments made in the October 16 issue of the New York Observer:
“I was recently quoted being very critical of Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s personal life. I wish I could say those comments were taken out of context, but I cannot.
NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein Among City and Local Leaders to Greet the Secretary of State.
Congressman Charles Rangel was among the many smiling faces that welcomed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as she visited Harlem's P.S. 154 on Monday, Oct. 1. The Secretary of State had accepted Rep. Rangel's summer invitation to the neighborhood school to see how parents and teachers, under the leadership of Principal Elizabeth Jarret, had improved test scores and created a learning environment of success for all children.
"I complain so much about what we are not doing in our school system that I thought our Secretary of State joining our Chancellor (Joel) Klein could see what we are doing from a very positive way," said Rangel.
Education and the important role it plays in lifting people out of poverty has been a special focus of Congressman Rangel since he became Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee this past January. Calling poverty the greatest threat to our national security, Rangel has been working to bring the private and public sectors together to ensure that children are provided the educational resources they need to improve both their lives and this nation.
It’s a message that resonates with the Secretary of State, both because of her current job as well as her past career in education. Years before she became a leader on the world stage, Rice was a instrumental in starting an after-school program in East Palo Alto. Located near the Stanford campus where she once worked, the Center for a New Generation has been helping middle school students move toward and beyond their college dreams since the early 1990s. "There's a kind of bargain in America. It's a bargain between each individual citizen and this country and that is a bargain that if you work hard and if you take the opportunities before you, then you can succeed," Rice told reporters. "A learning center like this makes it possible for these children to have limitless horizons, makes it possible for these children to know that if they work hard and if they excel, then they're going to be able to go on to that next level and to have an excellent future."Rangel praised the Secretary of State for her efforts earlier that morning, as they both met with a coalition of business leaders organized by the Partnership of New York. Her words, said the Congressman, would help enlist new participants in what he hope would be a new relationship between the public sector and the private sector.
"That when we say no kid is going to be left behind, we're talking about the love for this country and the need to provide for its security," said Rangel.
New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, on hand to welcome the pair, agreed.
"The racial and ethnic achievement gaps in America are the greatest shame of this great nation and in New York City," said Chancellor Klein. "We're taking that seriously. We are changing that and the kind of partnership that the Secretary and the Congressman are talking about is precisely the kind of partnership that we need to continue to take this effort to our next level."
The city's Department of Education was more than happy to showcase the gains made at PS 154, where 70 percent of the students are of African American descent and an additional 27 percent are of Hispanic descent. Since 2003, the percentage of students scoring at level 3 or 4 on ELA (reading) has gone up from 33 percent to 45 percent. In math, the scores have gone up higher, from 40 percent to 57 percent.
SPENDING TIME WITH CHILDREN & TEACHERS
Soon after arriving, Principal Jarett led Chancellor Klein, Secretary Rice, Chairman Rangel and City Council Majority Whip Inez Dickens upstairs to tour two classrooms. In the fifth grade class of Ms. Yvonne Laroche, student Amy Sissoko read an essay dedicated to Rice entitled "My Inspiration." Students also presented the Secretary of State with a book of illustrations organized around the theme of "Top Ten Reasons Why We Admire You." (Tops on the list -- 'You are an African American role model for young women.')The visiting dignitaries then moved on to the fourth grade class of Ms. Amy Narus, where they participated in the tail end of an interactive computer social studies lesson.
After answering some questions from individual students, the Secretary of State autographed a class copy of the "Condi: The Condoleezza Rice Story." The class, in turn, gave her a framed copy of a group photo that they each signed. After visiting the classroom, Rangel and Rice were greeted by a number of local and elected officials, including Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, City Council members Danny O'Donnell, Jr, Robert Jackson. Domenic M. Recchia, Jr.Yet the highlight of the morning was the school assembly that followed, where Rice and Rangel also took questions from a select group of students. Among the questions asked was how it felt to be in such a powerful job, what she did was doing when she wasn't making decisions about the future of the country and what she thought the future was going to be like when they grew up. "A lot of that depends on you. When you grow up and start becoming active in our country, start voting," she told Harlem resident Kevin Garcia. "…When you're 18 years old and old enough to vote, you'll have a lot of control over our future, too."
The students, not unlike some reporters, also wondered whether she would run for President. However, Rice repeatedly mentioned that she was not interested in the Oval Office, wanting to instead go back to the education arena. "There are a lot of things that we need to do in foreign policy and a lot of things we need to do to keep our economy strong," Rice told fifth grader Kimberly McMillian. "But I just want to say again that I think the first thing that I'm most concerned about and that when I leave this job I'll still be concerned about is that every child in America really has a chance to get a quality education."
Fourth-grader Nyle Salley managed get in a question for Chairman Rangel, asking him what he had wanted to be when he grew up. A congressman, said Rangel, was the furthest thing from his mind.
"I had no idea what I wanted to be," Rangel told the audience. "I didn't have parents to share with me a dream. It didn't happen in school. And when I got a chance to go back to school after the Army, I had no idea where I would end up."
REMEMBERING TO DREAM
That's why, both Rice and Rangel advised, they shouldn't let stereotypes or low expectations stop them from achieving all that they desired.
"I would say to each and every one of you don't let anybody underestimate you, " said Rice. "Don't let anybody tell you that you are less good at something because where you came from or the color of your skin."The assembly concluded with the children serenading Rice with the school song and presenting her with a published book of some of the children's writings. It was a fitting way to end a day that Rangel hoped each of them would remember for always. The simple act of coming face to face with someone as important as Rice was something that could foster limitless possibilities. Knowing that someone who looked like them and who even sounded like them could be in such a highly respected position would give them the hope that they too had the potential to be someone great. "You are indeed a part of a very few people in this country that have been able to say that you met her, you've seen her and you listened to her," Rangel told the audience. "You will never be able to say you did not have an opportunity to dream."
