Click here for more information on this upcoming event. To RSVP, please call Lisha Gomes in my Pawtucket office at 729-5600.
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Rhode Islanders deserve to know that their children are attending schools where they feel they are in a safe environment. Unfortunately, as recent reports have made clear, more and more children are subjected to bullying and harassment not only at school, but also when they log on to Facebook or other social networking platforms from home.
That’s why, tonight, March 12th, at 6:30 PM, I will be hosting a discussion on Online Safety at Nathan Bishop Middle School in Providence. At this event, you will hear directly from Facebook employees about the tools and resources available to stop cyberbullying. Full details for this event are as follows:
Discussion on Online Safety
Nathan Bishop Middle School, Auditorium
101 Sessions Street
Providence, RI
Monday, March 12, 2012 at 6:30 PM
If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact my office at 729-5600. I look forward to seeing you tonight.
–David
]]>CBS News recently reported that between 1998 and 2006, 43% of members who retired from Congress later took jobs as federal lobbyists – according to Public Citizen, a watchdog organization, those individuals made an average annual salary of around $2 million. What’s more, the Center for Responsive Politics issued its own report that found a total of 370 former members now work in some capacity of the “influence-peddling” business.
With so many politicians now seeking to leverage their public service for private gain, is it any wonder that public confidence in Congress has sunk to an all-time low?
Last week, I appeared on MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan Show to discuss H.R. 3491, my legislation that would enact a lifetime ban on Members of Congress ever becoming lobbyists.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Under my proposal, violators would face up to $50,000 in fines and a year in prison. Although the law currently bars Senators from lobbying for two years after they retire, and Members of the House for a year, a lifetime ban would help ensure that those running for or serving in elected office do it for the right reasons.
With our country still struggling to get back on the right track, it’s never been more important for us to restore public confidence that Congress works for the people it represents, not for the special interests. That’s why Congress must pass sweeping reforms that put public service ahead of private benefits for elected officials.
This is a simple idea, but getting it done won’t be easy. The same special interests who fought tooth and nail against reforms to Wall Street and our health care system think they can make sure that Washington never changes – let’s show them they’re wrong one more time.
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When I decided to run for Congress in 2010, I began my campaign with the conviction that no issue was more important than putting men and women across Rhode Island back to work.
For too long, national policies had left behind far too many working families in our state. In cities such as Woonsocket, factory employees who worked hard their whole lives were left to fend for themselves because of tax incentives for corporations to ship jobs overseas. Students at schools such as Rhode Island College were anxious that they wouldn’t be able to find work even after they earned their degrees. And small-business owners from Smithfield to Newport were still unable to get access to the capital they needed to support their companies.
Of course, Rhode Islanders certainly weren’t alone in their frustration — the same sentiments were held by men and women across our country. But as I begin the second year of my first term in Congress, I am struck by how little progress has been made to put our country back on the right track.
Since assuming the majority last year, the House Republican leadership has repeatedly missed opportunities to get things done and instead has focused on extreme legislation with little or no chance of passing in the Senate. Making an ideological point has trumped getting things done. Several times during the past year, Republican leaders pushed our country to the brink — bowing to tea party pressure to resist any compromise even as unemployment remained high and Congressional approval plunged to record lows.
But following public rejection of their most recent effort to end a middle-class tax cut and unemployment benefits, I hope that my Republican colleagues will recognize that the time has come to get back to work and take real steps to strengthen our economy and get Americans back to work.
There are several bills pending before House committees that would immediately benefit our economy, and the underlying goals of these bills enjoy bipartisan support.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s (D-Conn.) National Infrastructure Development Bank Act would help leverage public and private funding for infrastructure projects — creating jobs and enabling us to rebuild crumbling bridges and roads across our country. Rep. Dan Lipinski’s (D-Ill.) National Manufacturing Strategy Act would direct the president to establish a manufacturing strategy for our country. Rep.Heath Shuler’s (D-N.C.) tax legislation would make the research and development tax credit permanent, encouraging small-business owners to propose and commercialize innovative ideas.
Earlier this year, I introduced the Make It in America Block Grant Program Act, a bill that has garnered 37 House co-sponsors, and a companion bill was introduced by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). This legislation would make investments, administered through the Commerce Department, to help small and medium-sized manufacturers retool their factories, retrain workers and acquire the capital they need to compete. American manufacturing helped push our country ahead in the 20th century, and making it a national priority again is key to revitalizing our economy.
I return to Washington, D.C., even more mindful of the urgency of taking action to improve our nation’s economy and the lives of those I have the honor of representing and more aware of the obstacles that continue to impede progress for everyday Americans.
A willingness to cross party lines and put pragmatism ahead of partisanship has been missing for far too long in Washington. But with millions of our friends, family members and neighbors still out of work, it has never been more important for Congress to get to work so that Americans can get back to work. We can’t wait.
Rep. David Cicilline is a member of the Small Business and the Foreign Affairs committees.
Originally published in Roll Call.
]]>I want to extend my congratulations to Brian and the entire progressive community of Rhode Island on getting this site back up and running. There’s never been a more important time for all of us to stand together in support of the progressive values that we know are key to putting our country back on the right track.
When I arrived in Washington with eight other freshmen Democrats last year, I knew we would have to work hard to fight against the House Republican leadership and the Tea Party rank and file. As a new member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, I was proud to cast one of my first votes against the Republican budget that would have critically weakened Medicare.
And over the past year, the Republicans have not stopped pushing their radical conservative agenda. They have taken up numerous measures that would weaken clean air and water protections, and threaten our environment – including a bill that would force the Department of the Interior to open up offshore areas for oil drilling along the Northeast coast, including Rhode Island.
Just a few weeks ago, at the close of a year in which they nearly forced a government shutdown, as well as a default on our national debt, the House Republican leadership brought us to the brink once again by threatening that they would not pass a temporary extension of the middle class tax cut and unemployment benefits – even after the same proposal passed with 89 votes from both parties in the Senate. For more than a year, Republicans in Congress have been bringing their most radical ideas up for votes on the House floor, without once considering serious proposals to get our economy moving again.
Progressives know we can do better. We know that fiscal responsibility doesn’t have to come at the expense of the New Deal and Great Society programs that made our country strong, like Social Security and Medicare, so we can keep tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. We know that putting people back to work and protecting the air we breathe are not mutually exclusive values, and that we should never put middle class families in jeopardy just for the sake of a political victory.
And as difficult as the last few years have been for our country, and especially our state, we know that standing up for these values has never been more important as we work to get things moving again.
Congratulations again on relaunching the blog – I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts in the months ahead and working with you to address the issues facing our state and our country.
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Over recent weeks I have visited Main Street small businesses and toured manufacturing facilities throughout Rhode Island’s First Congressional District. I have met with jewelry makers, boat builders, and creators of cutting edge medical devices and aeronautical components, and heard from restaurant owners, small textile retailers, and information technology start-ups. Across this diverse array of interests I hear one common and constant concern – in order to survive, prosper, and grow, entrepreneurs and seasoned small business owners alike need consumers, and those consumers need jobs.
Since becoming a member of Congress, I have hosted Town Hall and Tele-town Hall Meetings in communities across my District in an effort to hear directly from constituents. With unemployment in my state and across the country at unacceptably high levels, we must heed concerns from Main Street and the families we serve. In light of recent Congressional Budget Office projections that forecast slow economic and job growth, and in advance of your announcement outlining recommendations to spur job creation, I would like to take this opportunity to share the views of constituents in Rhode Island’s First Congressional District and some of my thoughts on this critical matter.
Rhode Island was the first state in the northeast to enter the recession three years ago, and at 10.8%, our unemployment rate continues to be among the nation’s highest. As you have consistently expressed, our government must set priorities, cut what does not work or is not needed, and make the investments that will create jobs, sustain our economy today and into the future, and ensure our ability to compete in the world.
Nationally, the manufacturing sector has been a bright spot even during these trying economic times. If this vital economic engine is to be sustained, we must continue our investments in programs that help manufacturers compete in a global economy, retool to be more efficient and effective businesses, and retrain the workforce so that skill sets utilized in declining sectors can be transferred to those that are expanding. This is the driving force behind my Make It In America Block Grant legislation and a number of common sense, job- creating bills that have been introduced in the 112th Congress to strengthen and modernize our nation’s manufacturing industry. I strongly encourage your Administration to carefully consider these proposals that will help bolster research and development, expand advanced manufacturing capabilities, and level the playing field with our foreign competitors.
If we are going to strengthen our manufacturing capabilities and make new products here at home, then we must have the ability to execute the timely and effective transport of goods, people, and ideas. This work will require significant investments, both public and private, in our nation’s infrastructure. A critically important first step in this effort is the passage of a robust surface transportation reauthorization.
Building and repairing our nation’s highways, roads, and bridges now is not only a surefire job-creating strategy, this important infrastructure work also helps advance the broader economy, enhances the safety of our citizens, and is a far more cost-effective investment today than it will be in the years ahead. Without a doubt, we must work collectively to rein in our nation’s debt. However, numerous studies, such as the Infrastructure Report Card from the American Society of Civil Engineers, clearly demonstrate that we cannot be responsible stewards of our nation’s finances if we continue to allow the price-tag for infrastructure improvements to escalate with each passing year.
This vital work also extends beyond roads and bridges, and includes our nation’s water systems, ports, schools, public parks and facilities, power grids, and telecommunications. The nearly 14 million unemployed Americans, more than 61,000 of which reside in Rhode Island, demand bold action from their government. When our nation endured the economic strains of the Great Depression, it was bold action in the form of the Works Progress Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the Public Works Administration that helped put Americans back to work, building and repairing our nation’s infrastructure.
While labor and financial market conditions in the 1930s may have been vastly different than today, what remains the same is the underlying notion that a robust investment in rebuilding our nation’s roads, bridges, and schools will generate job growth and enhance our ability to compete in the global economy. Investing today in building and restoring our nation’s infrastructure is not only smart job-creating policy, it is also smart fiscal policy – as continued deferred maintenance drives the future costs of repairs higher and higher. I strongly urge that your recommendations for job creation include a range of options that encourages both public and private investment in this important work – including the creation of an infrastructure bank and enhanced, innovative, and effective funding opportunities for states, cities, and towns that will put people back to work on priority infrastructure projects.
At the same time, we must recognize that a comprehensive proposal to create and sustain jobs in America must include initiatives that support workforce training and small businesses. Job growth today and into the future, especially for our nation’s manufacturing and construction sectors, requires enhanced support for effective on-the-job training programs, and greater collaboration between our elementary and secondary schools, higher education institutions, and employers in developing multiple career pathways for young adults and improving the skills of unemployed and underemployed Americans. Furthermore, as a member of the Committee on Small Business, I strongly encourage your continued efforts to expand small business access to capital, the lifeblood of small start-ups and longstanding businesses alike. The more than 95,000 small businesses in Rhode Island make up 96% of the state’s employers. They have endured the brunt of our nation’s economic downturn, and our country’s full and sustained economic recovery requires that small businesses have access to the resources that will allow them to form, grow, and prosper.
As the debt ceiling debate underscored, there is strong disagreement about the best approaches and the appropriate role for government in creating jobs. There is no shortage of ideas on how to put people back to work and spur economic growth in the near-term. But, the time for bold action is now. On behalf of my constituents in Rhode Island’s First Congressional District, I thank you for this opportunity to give voice to the small businesses, manufacturers, builders, and unemployed as you prepare your proposals. I look forward to hearing your recommendations, and working to find common ground across the aisle and between levels of government to help put Americans back to work.
Sincerely,
David N. Cicilline
Member of Congress
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