WASHINGTON D.C. – Congressman Charles Rangel interacted with over 100 members in his district at his "WeHarlem" Online Townhall on July 19, 2011. For an hour, the Congressman addressed questions submitted by constituents on a variety of issues, from raising the debt ceiling to bringing jobs to the district, and additionally current military campaigns in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It is embarrassing what we’re going through right now," Rangel said. "If the debt limit isn’t raised, the economic ceiling collapses here and throughout the world. While a handful of people don’t care because they hate the President or are defending big corporations, I can give assurance that the debt ceiling will be raised."

The townhall was moderated by Sergio Lilavois, the founder of WeHarlem.com, an online social network that connects the Harlem Community to the latest news and developments in the area. Participants were able to submit questions and watch the Congressman live via their computers and smartphones via Visible Vote.

Congressman Rangel was the first legislator to utilize Visible Vote, an online and mobile application that allows lawmakers to share their voting records and viewpoints as well as livestream video conferences. Almost 700 of his constituents are already using it.

Rangel recently engaged with nearly 13,500 constituents in his tele-townhall back on July 13, 2011. Rangel has also hosted two blogger conference calls, tele-townhalls March and earlier this month, also a seniors tele-townhall that brought in over 7,000 participants in April.

"In order to preserve Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, the people have to be heard," Rangel stated. "Constituents are the most important people who can give an elected official guidance and support. I am pleased to utilize this new technology to better serve the community and I look forward to working again with Sergio and WeHarlem to discuss the true priorities our great nation needs to address."

This was Congressman Rangel's first district-wide online-townhall. He is also currently one of the most active members on social media platforms, with over 8000 Facebook friends and fans (www.facebook.com/cbrangel) and over 5,600 followers on Twitter (@cbrangel).

Here are some excerpts from the townhall addressed by Congressman Rangel:

On the need for government action on jobs: “Even though we walked into a fiscal crisis, everyone knew that we needed to get American back to work. The whole idea of investing in students and research is not just to meet the demands of the coming technology but right now, we have to have ways to protect energy. There are so many exciting things that we have money for to help us prepare for the competition from Asia, especially China that the Republicans want to cut. People have to be working, we’re not saving money when we’re throwing people out on the street while we cut programs they need. Our businesses need customers in order to hire more workers. The federal government has to participate in not knocking unions, teachers or firefighters but to rebuild our infrastructure. I’ve been to too many events in Harlem and New York City where we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge or the subway. We’re an old city and if we’re going to get out of this recession, we have to have the technology and the transportation to remain competitive for the future.

On Harlem’s thriving tourism industry: “We are doing record business in my empowerment zone and surprisingly in our restaurant industry because Harlem is a tourist destination. 125th Street is an economic corridor. We’ve opened new restaurants on 125th Street, 8th Avenue, 5th Avenue, Madison Avenue. Mr. Ellis just opened up a Chocolat on 8th Avenue and Frederick Douglass Blvd.  

On mental illness: “This is an issue our country has not been addressing that is going to explode. The military people that are coming back home that are not being adequately evaluated before they leave the service, they are not aware they need mental health services. They’re not exposed to medication that can help them or know how sick they really are. We need to get people to recognize the problem and to take action because one person can bring irrevocable harm to the family and the community. I plan to continue to work with local organizations to address this urgent crisis.

On Libya: “Since World War II, we have lost so many Americans and sent them in harm’s way when Congress never declared war. The Constitution makes it clear the President cannot declare war without the support of Congress. On Libya, it is clear that the President believes that we can pay for troops that are not on the ground because we’re concerned about humanity. Libya is unique because we got the Arab Countries to say we need to get involved and NATO agreeing to take over except that we have no idea who the revolution against Gaddafi is. There was a time when Gaddafi was considered a friend and rehabilitated, now he is considered an enemy. As a lawyer, I feel very uncomfortable when our nation decides who gets to die and who gets to live.  

On the role of spiritual leaders in politics: “The questions that we’re dealing with: jobs, homelessness, losing health care payments, homelessness, protecting our senior citizens, all of these things may sound like economics but they’re moral questions. We need our moral leaders to say that legislatively, we have a responsibility to protect these people. Go to your religious teachers, in every religious doctrine, we’re asked “how do we treat our vulnerable? How do we treat our less fortunate brothers and sisters?” When we talk about sacrifice, we’re talking about people who had nothing to do with our current economic crisis. If we do the right thing and close the loopholes that benefit the wealthy, we can protect our vulnerable from severe cuts. Go to your religious leaders and ask them what they are doing to speak out to their Reprensentative?