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.
Rep. Cicilline, I find it laughable that you talk about crossing party lines and putting pragmatism ahead of partisanship. That just doesn’t jive with the most recent donation request you sent to your supporters in which you had this to say:
“Thankfully, public pressure caused House Republicans to cave but this was just one more example of the current House leadership putting partisan interests over the well-being of the American people.”
and this:
“During my first year in Congress, I have focused on practical and pragmatic ways to get people back to work and our economy back on track. I was proud to have my Make It In American Block Grant included in the Democrats’ jobs plan and pleased to have Senator Gillibrand introduce it in the Senate. But the House Republicans have showed little interest in compromising; in fact, they had to be dragged kicking and screaming to pass a tax cut extension!”
Emphasis mine.
So I ask can you provide Rhode Islanders with examples of you leading a bipartisan effort to achieve a common goal? I have several e-mails and quotes from you slamming Republicans and blaming them for a lot of what’s wrong, but not much on the bipartisan front. I believe that if your desire is to have a Congress that sees more than D’s and R’s, I’m sure Rhode Islanders would love to see what you’ve done over the last year to help that effort.
Buzz words like pragmatism, bipartisanship, et. al. are all well in good in campaign slogans. But, I’m curious if the man matches the reflection.
I’ll say this positively about Mr. Cicilline’s message… at least he isn’t resorting to protectionism in his quest to bring well-paying jobs back to America. That’s a classic Democratic blunder these days — blaming free trade with the rest of the world for our problems, as if somehow forgetting that people demand cheap goods and that other nations have a competitive advantage over us in this regard.
Retooling our empty factories to start producing for a green energy economy would be a great first step, although we’re already WAY behind a number of other well-developed nations when it comes to the technology and price point of things like photovoltaics and wind turbines.
Retraining folks who have lost their jobs with at the very least a minimum of computer skills and if their talents lie in manufacturing, again, there ARE things we need built — we just need to incentivize the market to produce those things instead of focusing on tariffs and trade barriers on lower-value lower-technology goods.
Finally, Congressman Cicilline also mentioned bills and projects some Democrats want passed that would help rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, revitalize our National Parks, and help provide financial support to Americans who are trying to better their lives through education. Those issues seemingly can’t be accomplished with bipartisanship in this country, as long as the Republicans refuse to consider a more progressive tax code and a severe reduction in military spending — things that would allow for these aggressive infrastructure and education projects to be funded.
Since the Republicans refuse to consider funding said projects, or defunding other policies (the War on Drugs) which would allow for us to balance our budget while improving our economy — Donroach is quite right in a way — multipartisanism is a joke in today’s America, and saying you want to work closely with the party that seems to support nothing more but corporate charity, class warfare, and violent foreign conflicts (not that the Dems have done a TON better in any of those regards) is kinda a lame joke.
I already told Congressman Cicilline this. His ideas for job creation and improving our economy aren’t actually bad ones — but he’s not going to get those things passed under Republican leadership, and possibly not under conservative Democratic leadership either — so good luck. I for one, am glad he’s at least talking about the right things, and can’t think of anyone else running for CD-01 right now who could make that case better for us in Congress.
“…at least he isn’t resorting to protectionism in his quest to bring well-paying jobs back to America… blaming free trade with the rest of the world for our problems, as if somehow forgetting that people demand cheap goods and that other nations have a competitive advantage over us in this regard.”
I just puked a bit in my mouth. Heaven forbid we actually make something here or limit Chinese imports held artificially low by currency manipulation. I for one don’t “demand” sweatshop labor nor shipping products that could be produced locally half way around the planet.
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China has intervened massively in the foreign exchange markets for at least five years, buying at least $1 billion every day to keep the dollar strong and its own renminbi weak,” Fred Bergsten, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said in the text of a speech.
“This is by far the largest protectionist measure adopted by any country since the Second World War — and probably in all of history,” Bergsten said.
Bergsten estimated the China’s renminbi, also known as the yuan, is currently undervalued by at least 20 percent against the U.S. dollar as a result of China’s currency intervention.
That “is the equivalent of a subsidy of 20 percent on all China’s exports and an additional tariff of 20 percent on all China’s imports,” Bergsten said.
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