Economic Prosperity and Educational Excellence
We will create jobs that stay in America and restore opportunity for all Americans, starting with raising the minimum wage, expanding Pell grants and making college tuition tax deductible. We also believe in budget discipline that reduces our deficit.
Democrats believe that the most effective way to increase opportunity for our families is a high quality, good paying job. The Democratic Party supports fair trade agreements that raise standards for all workers here and abroad, while making American businesses more competitive, and we don’t believe in tax giveaways that reward companies for moving American jobs overseas.
We also believe in balanced budgets and paying down our national debt, while Republicans continue to put huge burdens on future generations by borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars from foreign nations. We want to restore the budget discipline of the 1990s that helped eliminate deficits and spur record economic growth.
Democrats know that the key to expanding opportunity is to provide every child with a strong foundation of education. We will also help expand educational opportunities for college by making college tuition tax deductible, expanding Pell Grants, and cut student loan interest rates.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain will spend tax-payer dollars wisely.
John McCain is taking a ferry ride down the East River from New York City to Highland, New Jersey. Sounds like a great photo op, no? Turns out, McCain's tour will pass a series of landmarks he opposed funding for or even voted voted against.
From CNBC
Today's McCain Myth: As president John McCain would work for job security in America.
John McCain is touring through areas with a history of economic and social justice problems (which Republicans traditionally ignore) to portray the presumptive GOP nominee as "not that kind of Republican." He will visit places Republicans actively vote against the...
On the same day President Bush spoke at an economic summit in New Orleans and stated the "we are not in a recession," Pennsylvania exit polls showed nine in ten voters believed the U.S. was in a recession.
After casting himself as a "Maverick" in 2000, the new John McCain is walking in lockstep with President Bush, pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party, and embracing the ideology he once denounced. On the campaign trail McCain has callously abandoned many of his previously held positions, even contradicted himself, in a blatant attempt to remake himself into a candidate Republicans can accept in 2008.
In Youngstown, Ohio today, John McCain, "standing before a nearly shuttered factory pocked with broken windows," tried to sell his failed Bush economic ideas but failed miserably, showing just how out of touch he is with the issues facing America's families. McCain, the ninth richest member of Congress, even went as far as comparing his presidential primary campaign to the struggles of workers hit hardest by the Bush economy in Rust Belt cities such as Youngstown where jobs have left and people are struggling to find work.
Our friends at the RNC on the latest McCain Makeover Tour under the title, "The Forgotten Places of America." His stops in Selma, Thomasville, and Gee's Bend were the first of many unconventional campaign visits where the Senator will spend...
Today, John McCain gave a speech in Youngstown, Ohio where he touched on some of the economic pain that Americans have been feeling. In order to show his audience that he could connect to average voters hurt by the Bush/McCain economy he reminisced about being counted out of the race for the Republican nomination last summer when he had so little money that he had to fly coach and carry his own baggage.
Today Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and DNC Political Director David Boundy announced the rollout of a new field effort to register voters and talk to them about why McCain is the wrong choice for America's future. The rollout coincides with the launch of the DNC's ad, "Better Off," which will be used at organizing events across the country.
Washington, DC - John McCain says that if he became president he would be "changing the way we do business in Washington" and put us "on a path to a balanced budget." But in reality, a McCain presidency would give us four more years of the same fiscal recklessness we got with the Bush Administration. In fact, just this week McCain said that the economy is going pretty well, despite the massive job losses, soaring inflation, and skyrocketing gas prices we've experienced since President Bush took over. But instead of offering a break with President Bush's disastrous economic policies that have hurt America, as the New York Times editorialized McCain "would dig a much deeper hole than even President Bush, exactly what the country does not need." [ABC's This Week, 4/20/08; Time.com's The Page, 4/21/08; New York Times, Editorial, 4/20/08]
Though he has admitted he doesn't understand economics, John McCain tried his hand at an economic proposal for our country this week. Now the reviews are in, and they're not very good. News accounts and expert analyses show McCain's proposals lack details, his numbers just don't add up, and he's the wrong choice for America's future. While the economy continues to slide, McCain is out of touch and offers a third Bush term of recycled economic policies that got us here in the first place.
McCain's economic plan meets resistance on the Republican side as well, with Republicans in the House and Senate "split on some of the details, including a plan to stem the tide of foreclosures and another creating a summer gas-tax holiday."
That headline makes plenty of sense since John McCain doesn't know what he is talking about. John McCain admitted on national television that his economic plan is at odds with experts. But rest assured, he's not winging it. McCain's got experts of his own, and Alan Greenspan's book, too!
Today's Myth: John McCain says he "will not leave office without balancing the federal budget" and at times has said he would even balance the budget by the end of his first term.
McCain pledges to offer help for average Americans, but most of his proposals are aimed at the wealthy and corporations:
Despite the evidence to the contrary, John McCain toed the George Bush line on the economy with a rosy outlook for the future. John McCain's self-professed lack of economic understanding prove to be disastrous for the country.
Adam Blickstein, blogging at Democracy Arsenal for the National Security Network, commented on the President's speech about defense spending this morning. Bush just stated in his speech that spending on defense as a percentage of the U.S. economy was around...
Republicans are struggling to find candidates at the Congressional level this cycle and, in particular, coming up empty-handed in New York. From the New York Times this morning: Heading into this election cycle, Republican leaders in Washington identified dozens of...
Today, the Democratic National Committee announced the second in a series of McCain vs. McCain debates to be broadcast today on www.mccaindebates.com. The debates, which show Senator McCain debating himself, make it clear that even John McCain doesn't agree with John McCain on the vital issues confronting the American people.
The failed economic policies of George W. Bush in action: New U.S. factory orders declined for the second straight month in February, and fell more than twice as much as economists expected, the Commerce Department reported today. New factory orders...
With the economy continuing to slide and John McCain himself admitting he doesn't understand the economy, the role of his economic advisers becomes particularly significant in his campaign. The Washington Post today details the questionable economic records of two of John McCain's key economic advisers and raises questions about what a McCain presidency would mean for America's working families.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain has a record in Congress working to help families have access to housing.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain can be trusted to stand up for American jobs.
John McCain is in France today, appropriate since he's been sending them potential American jobs.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain will fight to keep American jobs in America.
The Democratic National Committee today called on McCain to stand up for American workers when he meets with French President Nicolas Sarkozy tomorrow.
As the economy continues to slide and jobless claims register higher than expected, the Washington Times reports today that on economic issues John McCain is out of sync with American voters.
First, the necessary backstory, via TPM Muckraker:
A recent CNN/Opinion Research poll finds that more than seven in ten Americans believe spending on the Iraq War is, at least partly, responsible for the current economic situation. Also, the poll finds that less than one in three Americans support the war, with opposition at 66 percent.
A recent USA Today/Gallup poll found that three in four Americans believe the economy has tipped into a recession. As the Federal Reserve expanded credit to securities dealers and President Bush said his administration had taken "strong and decisive action,"...
The failing economy spells bad news for McCain and GOP in November:
Despite John McCain's claims that the lobbyists don't have any influence on him, the Associated Press today reports that the lobbyists running McCain's campaign lobbied on behalf of a European company that won a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain would fight for American jobs as president.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain will put an end to the reckless Bush budgeting and deficit spending.
It's about time for John McCain to get with the economic program:
America's working families are struggling with skyrocketing health care, energy, and college costs, stagnant wages, and a foreclosure crisis that has many Americans struggling to pay their mortgages. But John McCain just doesn't understand the challenges working families face and is offering nothing more than a third Bush term on the economy that will leave America worse off.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain can be trusted to balance the budget.
John McCain has tried to portray himself as a fiscally responsible deficit hawk who can be trusted to balance the budget.
...of McCain's economic proposals:
Today on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, John McCain ducked questions about whether he has sacrificed his principles to pander to the right wing of his party and showed once again that in an attempt to get elected, he is offering nothing more than a third Bush term on everything from the war in Iraq to the failed economy, not the change Americans are looking for.
Yesterday Republicans blocked the economic stimulus package in the Senate, which would have extended unemployment benefits and sends helped out wounded and disabled veterans. It also would have helped 21.5 million senior citizens get stimulus checks.
Google Trends, specifically, which roughly tracks search volume
by keyword:
Today the Department of Labor issued a report stating that 17,000 non-farm jobs were lost in the month of January -- yet another indication that the economy has suffered under the leadership of Bush Republicans.
MSNBC commentator Joe Scarborough, a former Republican Congressman from Florida, paraphrased Senator John McCain's presidential platform to "less jobs, more wars."
"After eight years of failed Republican leadership, Americans are ready for change, not the third Bush term we'd get with any of the Republican presidential candidates," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "President Bush's final State of the Union must be just that. America literally cannot afford another State of the Union address by a Republican who may have a new name, but most certainly will support the same policies that have kept us in a never ending war in Iraq and gave us an economy that's not working for all Americans."
It reminds me a lot of his failure to recognize the problems that we're facing over in Iraq. I'm sure the "next six months" will be vital to determining the future of the economy...
Nearly 1,000 employees at the General Electric refrigerator plant in Bloomington face losing their jobs when the company announced the plant's pending shutdown. General Electric could close its Bloomington refrigerator plant late in 2009, dealing another setback to an industrial...
Home construction in December fell to "its lowest point in 16 years." Just the stats, all via the Wall Street Journal:
South Carolina Republicans beware…. The Mitt Romney you see this week may bare little resemblance to the Romney you saw last year. After losing in Iowa and New Hampshire, smooth talking Mitt Romney retooled his message in order to reposition himself as a champion of working families. In reality, not only did Millionaire Mitt have to redefine the "middle class" before he could offer working families any relief, but Mitt's mismanagement left a major mess in Massachusetts. On his watch, Massachusetts saw unemployment rise, jobs leave, higher taxes and fees, and increased cost of living. Not only is he promising to bring that brand of change to Washington, he's flip-flopped and morphed himself into a Bush Republican on taxes, promising to extend the Bush tax cuts he once refused to support, and endorsing tax cuts he previously said were for "fat cats."
Democrats are offering "cost-effective ways" to boost the economy. Republicans, meanwhile, are offering more of the same.
Democrats are willing to work with the President to design a responsible strategy for stimulating our economy and reversing current policies that have us headed for recession.
Yesterday, a spokesman for President Bush announced, "I don't know of anyone predicting a recession."
President Bush reappointed Richard Stickler, the former industry executive-turned-Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) head that mishandled the response to the Crandall Canyon mine collapse last August. Meanwhile, the MSHA missed the deadline for finalizing new safety standards.
"This is a major warning shot that the economy is in trouble," said economist Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors.
A recent study examined wage gaps between whites and non-whites in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington state. The results are staggering, especially for Latinos.
Earlier I wrote about how your family owes $16,500.00 for the war in Iraq through 2008. Amazing, then, that President Bush decided that he wants to veto a health and education bill because he claims to be concerned about spending.
Republicans' mishandling of the economy will "pose serious obstacles for their party's presidential candidates" in 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported today.
One day after trying to smooth talk his way through yesterday's Republican presidential candidate debate, Mitt Romney is back in Colorado for a fundraiser today.
Once again Rudy Giuliani resorted to exaggerating his own fiscal record as mayor of New York City in order to score political points.
More of the Same was the resounding message from the Republican presidential candidates tonight as they tripped over one another to stand with the Bush Administration's failed economic policies.
After his much delayed entry into the GOP presidential contest, lobbyist turned Senator turned actor Fred Thompson finally made his debate debut tonight and it's unlikely he impressed any of his many critics.
The leading Republican presidential candidates have skipped most debates that address issues important to people of color. We've responded with a new web video on the American Dream.
The Republican Party is in danger of losing key constituencies:
Don’t ask him about student loans!
The Democratic Congress yesterday sent landmark legislation to the President that reduces college costs for millions of young people. The Democratic National Committee and College Democrats of America praised Congressional Democrats and highlighted the bills benefits for Asian American and Pacific Islander families and students:
Rudy Giuliani had a rocky relationship with the New York public school system.
There was a huge spike in home foreclosures in July, but the White House thinks it's " not a very interesting" story.
Fred Thompson conveniently omits fourteen years of lobbying experience from his official bio.
Fred Thompson's facts on the economy are all wrong--but does he care?
Political observers and experts expect Republicans to continue their downward slide in 2008.
Obstructionist Republicans wouldn't allow it to come to a vote under the last Congress, but the Democrats made sure they made it a priority when they took office earlier this year.
After John McCain was deserted by three top aides today, he turned to veteran Republican lobbyist Rick Davis. But Davis may be just another reminder of McCain's insider politics.
According to a new report released this week, the world's richest people are getting even richer. Their combined wealth surged last year to $37.2 trillion dollars--at the same time that Republicans were trying to block a minimum wage increase of $2.10 an hour for the lowest-paid workers in the U.S.
Both the Senate and House education committees have approved legislation that would cut federal subsidies to lending companies by as much as $19 billion. The savings would be channeled to student aid, lower interest rates on student loans, and make it easier for students to repay their loans after graduation.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and the head of the DNC’s Faith in Action initiative, Rev. Leah Daughtry, issued the following statement praising the announcement of the One Vote '08 Campaign, which will use the 2008 Presidential election...
Today the ONE Campaign launched One Vote 2008, aimed at making fighting global poverty and disease across the globe.
With the Senate recently completing their 100th work day, it's worth taking a look at all they have already done to improve the lives of Americans. Unlike the do-nothing Republican Congress they replaced, Democrats have already pursued a positive agenda and gotten things done on ethics reform, minimum wage, energy independence, eduction, health care, homeland security, veterans, and Iraq.
Democrats are giving college students more reason to continue revitalizing their local chapters across the nation. Diverse, which focuses on issues related to higher education, has the story:
A report by the Government Accountability Office found that large businesses are exploiting rules intended to give small businesses a chance to compete for contracts to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.
Despite a record of irresponsible spending, creating the worst budget deficits in American history and a horrible jobs record, President Bush continued his PR tour on the economy today with a stop in New York City. During his latest PR offensive, Bush failed to mention that Congressional Republicans left a "budget mess" at the end of last session, leaving it to the Democratic Congress to fix the GOP's mess.
Today, President Bush was in the financial district in New York City giving his "State of the Economy" address. Glaringly absent from Bush's remarks today and his recent State of the Union address was any mention of the economic reconstruction effort in the Gulf Coast region. Over a year has passed since President Bush's speech in Jackson Square in which he promised to make reconstruction in the Gulf Coast a priority and much of the region is still struggling to recover including the lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans.
With his approval levels at Nixonian lows, President Bush today started his pep talk on the economy in Peoria, IL before "a hand-picked audience likely to be supportive of him," according to the Journal Star. [
Peoria Journal Star, 1/30/06] The
Journal Star also notes that former President Richard Nixon, while facing sinking poll numbers like Bush, visited the area in June 1973. Nixon stopped in the town of Pekin, which sits just 10 miles from Peoria, and received a warm welcome as he faced growing public outcry over the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to his resignation.
According to a Reuters article today, proposed increases in the minimum wage, such as those passed by Democrats in the House of Representatives, would result in a raise for nearly 2 million African American workers.
Today, despite supporting substantial increases to their own pay, Senate Republicans voted against a pay increase for millions of hard-working Americans by blocking a minimum wage increase strongly supported by House and Senate Democrats. As part of their "100-hours" agenda, Democrats in the House passed a bill that would increase the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour.
It's not enough that America realizes it's way past time we increase the minimum wage. It's not enough that families across the nation struggle to make ends meet. It's not enough that the House voted for a no-strings-attached minimum wage bill. Senate Republicans still blocked an increase in the minimum wage.
An Op/Ed in the New York Times this morning talks about the plight of teachers -- the one not seen on the silver screen. From the article: At the beginning of Ms. Swank's new movie, "Freedom Writers," her character, a...
The ability of the Democrats to win over significant numbers of Republicans on most votes signals the slim but enticing possibility of Democratic mastery over a demoralized Republican Party. If the new bipartisanship takes root, the prospects for health care legislation and immigration reform sharply improve.
As part of their first 100 Hours Agenda, Democrats in the House are expected to vote today on the "College Student Relief Act of 2007" - which will cut interest rates in half on loans for middle class borrowers, saving the average student thousands over the life of his or her loans.
Today, the Democratic Congress passed a bipartisan measure to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. With 89 percent of Americans backing this measure to help our country's working families, President Bush and Republicans in Congress now have the opportunity to help millions of hard-working Americans and their families by supporting this legislation.
Tackling a top priority, the House pushed an increase in the federal minimum wage toward passage Wednesday, finally giving hard-working Americans the raise they deserve. "For 10 years the lowest-paid Americans have been frozen out. They have been working at a federal poverty wage, not a federal minimum wage," said Democratic Rep. George Miller (CA), who authored the legislation.
Earlier this year, when the Republicans cut Pell Grant funding by almost $1 billion, young Americans suffered the burden at a time when tuition for higher education is skyrocketing.
Union Leader: [Democrats are] championing a consensus legislative agenda geared toward helping families that have been left behind by the GOP. They're standing up for America's shrinking middle class. Pelosi has pledged to spend her first 100 hours on key bread-and-butter economic issues long neglected under Republican rule.
This is a leader who understands her mandate.
Democrats have their work cut out for them when they take the reigns over from the Rubber-stamp Republican Congress in January. Not only did Republicans fail to provide leadership and oversight while in power, but now they have taken up an irresponsible scorched-earth policy in their final days, and have resisted new rules that would require them to actually work for a living under a Democratic Congress.
President Bush’s fiscal irresponsibility continues unabated as the latest Treasury Department report shows that the “federal government started out its new budget year with a slightly higher deficit than last year as revenues and spending for October both set records.” The “deficit for October totaled $49.3 billion, up 4.3 percent from” last year. The department also reported that “the deficit for the current 2007 budget year is expected to resume rising.” So far, President Bush has “presided over the three largest deficits in U.S. history in dollar terms.”
Today, the Bush Administration celebrated the latest job numbers released by the Labor Department. Unfortunately, the America’s working families aren’t benefiting from the Bush Economy. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement.
With more than 6,000 state legislative seats on the ballot next week, Democrats could gain control of a majority of state capitols for the first time in a decade. This would increase the number of women in leadership positions, and influence the outcomes on issues such as the minimum wage and stem cell research.
Today, the Bush Administration’s "Fear and Smear" tour headed to Cincinnati where Vice President Dick Cheney addressed the USA Regional Chamber. Vice President Cheney continued the Administration's fear and smear rhetoric in a desperate attempt to distract voters from its failed economic policies, which have caused Ohio to lose 151,600 jobs since Bush took office. Democrats offer a new direction for America's families and will increase the minimum wage and promote policies that benefit working families.
Today, President Bush will make remarks on the economy while visiting the Urban Trust Bank in Washington, DC. The President continues to deceive Americans when he says that the economy is growing stronger, as he fails to mention that the Bush Economy continues to benefit only the wealthiest Americans. By citing growth in the stock market, he ignores the fact that 10 percent of Americans own 80 percent of all stocks.
While the President would like to tout his economic record in the African American community, the truth is that the Bush economy has left African American families increasingly less secure.
