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1000+ GSA WORKERS HEADED TO DOWNTOWN AREA
A large crowd of GSA employees gathered to hear from Congressman Cleaver about the upcoming move.
GSA employees in Kansas City are headed to the downtown area. This week I helped make that announcement and worked to answer questions from employees about the impending relocation. This is an effort I have been assisting in for longer than two years. It’s an important development for revitalization in the downtown area. It is also an excellent opportunity for south Kansas City. There are interested parties looking into the entire area as a new business home. I will continue to keep you updated on this issue as we move forward. We are working to make sure the needs of employees are met as they make this transition and that we constantly explore every chance to keep and grow jobs for the Kansas City area.
Congressman Cleaver answered questions about parking, daycare, and other issues surrounding the move.
UPDATE! PAYROLL TAX CUT AND EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
While I am pleased that 160 million Americans will keep their much-needed tax relief, that the millions of Americans out of a job will continue to receive the critical help they need while searching for work, and that seniors who depend on Medicare will be still be able to see their doctors, I could not in good conscience fully support this bill.
Time and time again, my colleagues across the aisle have asked a single group of Americans, federal employees, to bear the burden of reducing the deficit. This bill targeted federal employees’ retirement to offset $15 billion of the cost to extend unemployment insurance for ten months. While the extension to unemployment insurance is only temporary, the impact of federal employees’ pensions would be permanent. Federal employees have already sacrificed $60 billion, through continued pay freezes, toward reducing our deficit. This is a clear assault on public servants, the majority of whom work around the country as police officers, mechanics, lawyers, correctional officers, environmentalists, nurses, mine inspectors and more. Yesterday, speaking to GSA employees, I said that I will not participate in this new Congressional program, the economic foraging of federal workers—and I meant it.
Further, after a long fought battle for affordable health care for all, this bill cut the Affordable Care Act by over $11 billion, $5 billion in cuts come from preventative care and $4 billion from hospitals. Finally, even though this bill extends unemployment insurance through the end of this year, certain states would lose in the current conference agreement as compared to current law. Due to the nature of the calculation of the total unemployment rate in the overall bill, Missouri would lose 30 weeks of unemployment benefits. This bill was literally one step forward, and ten leaps back. For these reasons, I could not support it and I voted no.
POOR REMEDY FOR ILLS
This week the House was scheduled to consider H.R. 7, the American Energy and Infrastructure Act. While our transportation system desperately needs a reauthorization bill to guarantee a steady funding stream to ensure our streets and infrastructure are properly cared for, H.R. 7 is a poor remedy for our transportation ills. The bill is currently being reworked, and I am hopeful that the new version that is considered on the House floor addresses many of my concerns. In its current form, I am opposed to H.R. 7.
Just the other week, Ray LaHood, my former colleague and current Secretary of Transportation called this bill, “the worst transportation bill I have ever seen during 35 years in public service.” I could not agree more with Secretary LaHood. This bill does a great disservice to our infrastructure, our highways, our public transit system, and the American people.
In a time of recession, where job creation should be our number one priority, we are considering a bill that our own Speaker has insisted is not a jobs bill. This hack and slash method of deficit reduction has the potential to destroy over a half a million jobs over the coming years. It is unconscionable that my colleagues across the aisle have chosen to move forward on a bill that will put the livelihoods of thousands of families’ at stake. These are jobs that America, and Missouri’s Fifth District, now more than ever, cannot afford to lose.
Under this bill, my home state of Missouri will lose over $700,000 in federal highway aid. This bill does nothing to promote economic development or rebuild our broken infrastructure. America’s infrastructure is crumbling, and it is inexcusable that we have allowed our roads and bridges to deteriorate to this extent. America ranks 23rd for overall infrastructure quality. Instead of leading the world in infrastructure development, this nation has fallen to mediocrity. Cutting transportation funding today threatens the foundation of America's economic engine.
I did not come to Washington to support a bill that kills jobs and depletes vital transportation resources. Adequate transportation is something Missourians and all Americans depend on. Whether it is the elderly couple that uses the public bus system to go to the grocery store, or the young family that relies on the Safe Route to School Program to get their children to school, our constituents deserve a Congress that will fight for their safety and transportation needs. Our roads and bridges are in crisis and this bill does nothing to rectify this problem.
GREEN IMPACT ZONE
Huge progress continues in the Green Impact Zone. So far – more than eight acres of concrete have been poured to repair sidewalks and driveway entrances in the Zone, PLUS 9.2 miles of new curbs – and we are not finished yet.
These improvements are part of the TIGER grant (Transportation Improvements Generating Economic Recovery) awarded to the Kansas City region in 2010. Stay tuned for a MAJOR announcement in the Zone very soon!!
NEW! NEW! NEW!
Did you know you can use my website, available here, to send me an email? To request a meeting for your group or organization? To request a tour of the White House, or the Capitol? Soon you will be able to see photos and videos, upcoming events, the latest press releases and important updates. My staff and I are working to make the site better and more useful for you all the time. Look for a new and improved website in the next few weeks, and make sure you bookmark http://www.house.gov/cleaver/ so you don’t miss it.
CIVILITY CORNER
Just about everyone is at least partially familiar with the immortal British composers and playwrights, Gilbert and Sullivan. Sir W. S. Gilbert was the master of the double entendre and literary banter, while Sir Arthur Sullivan composed the memorable music.
My interest in these two Victorian era geniuses was peaked when I read that often, they could hardly stand to be around each other. Last week I looked deeper into this quarreling pair’s relationship. What I found, I absolutely must share with you.
Gilbert, I guess one could say, was a liberal. At every opportunity, he took pot shots in his writing at England’s wealthy and most powerful citizens. Sullivan, on the other hand, was close to them. He objected to Gilbert’s not-so-veiled attacks on those who paid the bills. Additionally, Gilbert and Sullivan had very real creative differences. There were times when the two only spoke to each other while they churned out their masterpieces, which continues to influence theater in English-speaking nations around the globe.
Surely the intelligent, visionary and patriotic men and women of the U.S. House of Representatives can churn out budgets and legislation that can alter the very course of world history, despite the multitude of differences between Democrats and Republicans.
Oh, did I mention that Gilbert and Sullivan often compromised or put their differences aside in order to achieve a common purpose? In fact, biographer Michael Ainger quotes Gilbert as having said, “A Gilbert is of no use without a Sullivan.” In other words, despite the contentious complexion of their relationship, Gilbert saw that they could do things together that they could not do individually. Eventually, the duo split for rather mundane reasons, and neither Gilbert nor Sullivan were able to achieve the same success alone as they did united.
The differences between Republicans and Democrats should challenge us to legislate at a higher level. We are stronger united than we will ever be alone and divided.
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 Emanuel Cleaver, II
Member of Congress
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