Holt – Hank Kalet

Bad deal on debt

It appears that we’ve avoided default. So why don’t I feel better about the economy or America’s future?

The answer can best be summed up by U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, the Democrat who voted against the debt deal. In an e-mailed statement, Holt characterized the debate as a hostage-taking in which the “Tea Party and their enabler … have insisted that, unless Congress enacted their radical, ideological agenda, they would force an unprecedented default on America’s obligations and thus trigger an economic collapse.”

That approach, he said, led to an unbalanced deal that will do damage to the American economy and leave the most vulnerable Americans at the mercy of the market.

The House has voted for vast cuts in government services that ordinary Americans depend on: student loans, unemployment insurance, food safety inspections, highway safety programs, and more. These cuts will force layoffs among teachers, public safety officers, construction workers, and more. These laid-off workers will, in turn, be forced to pare back their spending at their local grocery stores, drug stores, and small businesses, forcing still more layoffs – a vicious circle that threatens to destabilize our fragile economy. We saw in last week’s economic reports that job growth has been choked back by cuts in state and local governments. This deal does not help the situation. It hurts the economy.

The deal lays the groundwork for another $1.5 trillion in cuts to come, to be negotiated behind closed doors by an unelected super-committee. Given that the first round of cuts will have decimated discretionary programs, these later cuts will very likely focus on Social Security and Medicare. The citizens who will be hurt most are those who have the least voice in our democracy. After all, when a handful of politicians gather in the proverbial smoke-filled room, the interests of ordinary Americans are nearly always left out.

Yet although most Americans will sacrifice greatly, the most privileged among us will be immune. Favored corporate interests, millionaires, and billionaires will continue to receive special tax breaks as far as the eye can see. That is not the sort of fair, balanced deal that Americans asked for and expected.

As poor as this deal is on its merits, I am even more troubled by the precedent it sets. The Tea Party and their enablers have, by taking the American economy hostage, transformed a routine budgetary authorization into the most dramatic reshaping of government in decades. Today’s deal establishes that government-by-hostage-negotiation is a legitimate, effective way to achieve one’s political ends. I am frightened by what this means for the future of our democracy.

Send me an e-mail.
Read poetry at The Subterranean.
Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.

Send me an e-mail.
Read poetry at The Subterranean.
Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.

Holt urges Warren nomination

Here is the letter U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, who represents South Brunswick and several other municipalities in Central Jersey, wrote to President Barack Obama urging him to nominate Elizabeth Warren as the head of the new consumer financial watch dog agency:

Dear Mr. President,

We are writing to ask that you nominate Dr. Elizabeth Warren as Director of the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

A consumer financial protection body was Dr. Warren’s idea, first expressed in a journal article in 2007, and we can think of no better person to be its first Director. As a professor at Harvard Law School since 1982, she has risen to national prominence in the area of economics of the middle class. Even before the financial crisis, Professor Warren was warning of risky financial products and of lenders who “deliberately built tricks and traps into some credit products so they can ensnare families in a cycle of high-cost debt.” As Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel she has been an essential voice of reason in the wake of the financial crisis– and an ardent supporter of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

In her original conception, Dr. Warren modeled the Consumer Finance Protection body after the Consumer Product Safety Commission, describing the main functions of the agency “to establish guidelines for consumer disclosure, collect and report data about the uses of different financial products, review new financial products for safety, and require modification of dangerous products before they can be marketed to the public.” She foresaw the new Bureau as being able to evaluate these products to eliminate the gimmicks that made some far more dangerous than others.

At a time when the nation is still coping with the aftermath of a decade of a hands-off regulatory approach that brought the nation the worst financial crisis in three generations, with mortgage foreclosures still occurring at a rate of one million a year, with nearly one in five Americans either unemployed, under-employed, or who have given up looking for work altogether (while still trying to cope with a mountain of consumer debt), we need a CFPB Director who truly understands the burden that American families are coping with today, and the mission of this new body.

Dr. Warren is simply the perfect choice for that post. We hope you will act quickly to appoint her as its Director.

He’s right.

Send me an e-mail.
Read poetry at The Subterranean.
Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.

Memo to Rush Holt, et al: Join this caucus

A Populist Caucus is forming in Congress, according to The Huffington Post.

Rep. Bruce Braley, an Iowa Democrat, will officially announce the formation of the caucus later this week, with 21 founding members — all Democrats. The initial purpose will be to influence legislation from within the Democratic caucus, but Braley did not rule out opening the group to Republicans.

Braley said that the caucus will give voice to the populist anger created by the plummeting economy and opaque bank bailout.

“As someone who has been out holding town hall meetings and getting a faceful of that populist rage, I know that it is real, it is a force that needs to be dealt with, and it needs to be given a voice,” said Braley.

It won’t be all pitchforks, though, Braley said. “We want to give voice to those cries and at the same time work constructively with other individuals in Congress to craft policies that are going to respond to those concerns.”

The Populist Caucus will make its first major play by advocating for the inclusion of a “Buy American” provision in the stimulus package. Fair trade, healthcare and middle-class tax policy will also dominate the caucus’ agenda, said Braley, a sophomore member.

No New Jersey Congressman appears on the list of founding members, which is a crime — I want to encourage the U.S. representatives who represent the communities we cover — Democrats Rush Holt and John Adler and Republicans Chris Smith and Leonard Lance — to get on board. (Of course, the chances that Smith or Lance would lend their names to such a project fall somewhere between none and none.)

In fact, I’m surprised to see only one New Jersey Democrat listed — Donald Payne, who represents Essex County — on the roster of the Progressive Caucus. What’s up with that, Mr. Holt?

The intelligence debate

We’ve heard quite a bit about the objections raised by intelligence insiders Diane Feinstein, Jay Rockefeller and Jane Harmon about Barack Obama’s pick (made official today) of Leon Panetta for CIA director. It is useful to note, as Rachel Maddow (They’ve apparently changed their minds — or at least Feinstein has — making it even more clear that this was about some sort of false sense of decorum and not about qualifications.)

It probably would be useful, however, to hear from someone who has been right on all the major intelligence questions raised during the Bush years — the war in Iraq, rendition, torture, warrantless wiretapping. U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, D-12, has been right in each case.

Here is what he has to say:

“Having served in Congress in the wake of Watergate and the domestic surveillance abuses that surfaced during the 1970s, Mr. Panetta understands how a democratic government should operate. He also demonstrated skill in running the Office of Management and Budget and as Chief of Staff under President Clinton. We need the CIA to collect reliable, actionable intelligence in ways that respect American values and honor the Constitution. Mr. Panetta’s background and reputation indicate he would serve the intelligence community, the President, and the country well.”

He issued a joint statement this morning with the Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, following the official Panetta announcement:

“We support President-Elect Barack Obama’s choice of Leon Panetta to serve as Director of the CIA. Mr. Panetta has a 40-year record in public service – notably as a member of Congress, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Chief of Staff under President Clinton, and recently as a member of the Iraq Study Group. A consumer of intelligence for years, he consistently has demonstrated an ability to lead in a bipartisan fashion and always see the big picture – attributes that would benefit the CIA and our nation.”

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., a member of the Senate intelligence panel, also has been right and supports Panetta, saying “he was pleased with Panetta’s nomination from the onset.”

“I was thanked for my positive remarks and urged to keep making them,” he said.

And Ron Wyden, D-Ore., also a member of the intelligence committee, is supporting him:

Wyden said he expects Panetta will be “seriously grilled” during his confirmation hearing by members who want to ensure he’s the best person for the job.

But after that, the country will have “someone who will be a change agent and an outstanding head of the CIA.”

NJ vote on FISA bill

The New Jersey delegation voted 7-6 for the FISA compromise, an affront to the U.S. Constitution. All six Republicans voted for the amendments, as did Democrat Albio Sires, who represents the 13th District.

Voting against: Rob Andrews, Donald Payne, Bill Pascrell, Steve Rothman, Frank Pallone and Rush Holt, who gave an impassioned speech against the bill (above). (Thanks to Blue Jersey for alerting me to the clip.)