2009 Federal Legislation

By Paul Hogarth
BeyondChron

Netroots Nation concluded this past weekend in Las Vegas – with appearances by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, dozens of panels and workshops and a rousing Keynote by Senator Al Franken that renewed hope for liberal bloggers. If there’s one major frustration leading into November, it’s the U.S. Senate – where Republicans have obstructed practically everything that passed the House. Reid came to the Conference on July 24th – right after announcing we “don’t have the votes” for comprehensive climate change reform this year, only adding insult to injury.

One panel on filibuster reform suggested we’re in a constitutional crisis, but Reid himself wouldn’t commit to any specific solution. But rather than give up, Al Franken reminded the netroots that Senators elected in 2006 and 2008 with their help are a “coalition of the impatient” – and represent a new generation of more progressive Democrats. Bloggers are needed this November to add to their ranks, in order to change the Senate.

By Clint Reilly

American banks love to affect a false pose of solidity and enduring strength. That’s why so much bank architecture mimics the classical columns of ancient Greece.

But the American financial system today is in ruins – much like the Parthenon.

So, how can it be that more than a year after the ignominious collapse of our financial system, banking reform still languishes in Congress?

A just-published book by former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson – who wrote the trillion dollar checks – contends that taxpayers stand to make a profit on the bank bailouts.

By Robin Lakoff
Professor of Linguistics, UC Berkeley

Sarah Palin has been ridiculed by intellectuals for her crimes against language – the sentences reminiscent of the Winchester House,  the g’s that drop like the gentle rain from heaven. But in ridiculing her communication, I think we run a risk. She is a master communicator who knows just what she is doing.

She has a reputation for frivolousness, but she gets into the conversation and hangs on like the proverbial pit bull. Her seemingly casual remarks may be uninformed, they may move the political discourse in the wrong direction…but they move it, well beyond the next news cycle. She forces us to take her seriously even when there’s no good reason to do so. Think “death panels.” Think “retarded.” If her throwaway lines accomplish nothing else, they distract attention from serious issues, a boon to the NO Party.

By Kevin Stein 
California Reinvestment Coalition

After saturating neighborhoods of predominantly black and Latino residents with high-cost, often predatory lending throughout the subprime boom, banks have failed at preventing foreclosures while returning to high and disparate rates of loan denial for applicants of color, according to a new report by the California Reinvestment Coalition.

Based on original research using lending and loan modification data that have been largely inaccessible and seldom analyzed, the report looks at how banks, including the largest financial institutions, have acted in five California cities (Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, and Stockton) over the last three years. 

By Traci Sheehan
Planning and Conservation League

On Thursday, President Obama announced the states' shares of the $8 billion in federal stimulus money allotted for high speed rail. California had applied for $4.7 billion but received less than half that amount, with the bulk of the funding going to thirty other states.

The California High Speed Rail Authority's new Business Plan, which was widely criticized both in economic circles and within the Legislature earlier this month, relied on receiving the full amount requested, plus getting another $14 billion in federal aide over the next several years to fully fund the state's high speed rail project. The President has only committed to $1 billion annually to fund all 31 projects nationwide, dashing the Authority's hopes for massive federal subsidies and leaving a gapping hole in the funding plan.

By Assemblymembers Cathleen Galgiani and Jose Solorio

In this Democratic weekly address, Assemblymembers Cathleen Galgiani (D-Livingston) and Jose Solorio (D-Anaheim) discuss the recent announcement that California will receive over a quarter of all first round federal high-speed rail funding. They highlight the benefits California’s high-speed rail system is projected to have on the state’s job outlook and global economic competitiveness.

Click onto the following link for the English language MP3 file. The running time is 1:47.

http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/Newsline/Audio/20100129RadioAddressEngl...

Click onto the following link for the Spanish language MP3 file. The running time is 2:46.

http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/Newsline/Audio/20100129RadioAddressSpan...

Website of Assemblymember Cathleen Galgiani: www.asm.ca.gov/galgiani

Website of Assemblymember Jose Solorio: www.asm.ca.gov/solorio
 
Transcript:

Hello, this is Assemblymember Cathleen Galgiani.

By Robert Cruickshank
Crossposted from the California High Speed Rail Blog

Today is going to be an excellent day for California High Speed Rail and our state's economic future. California has been awarded $2.35 billion in federal passenger rail stimulus funds. $2.25 billion of that goes directly to high speed rail, the other $100 million goes to other passenger rail projects.

Here are the details as I have them - see more in the official White House release:

By Richard Holober
Consumer Federation of California

If utterances from the White House following the Massachusetts debacle are more than posturing, then the Administration’s tone deafness on health care reform may indeed be a terminal illness.

Normally level heads including Paul Krugman call for a Congressional Charge of the Light Brigade, blogging post-Massachusetts that “House Democrats need to be told to pass the Senate bill.”

Howard Fineman calls this a Democratic March to Folly akin to generals pursuing a military campaign in the face of incontrovertible evidence that it will lead to ruination. 

By Pedro Morillas
CALPIRG

Sacramento, January 26, 2010—A report released today shows that many states are making dramatic improvements in websites designed to disseminate information about their share of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), while others have failed to make vital information available.
 
In addition to ranking in the top ten for ARRA transparency, California is also home to the company that produced the technology used by the top five ranking states in the country.  ESRI, a California-based company, also produced seven other states’ interactive maps.   
 

By Clint Reilly

An electoral earthquake shook Massachusetts last Tuesday. When the dust settled, the U.S. Senate seat held for 40 years by Ted Kennedy had fallen to Republican upstart Scott Brown, the Democrats’ 60-seat majority in the Senate had crumbled and the Democratic to-do list was in ruins.

Martha Coakley’s loss was a severe blow to President Obama.

Everyone has their reasons why it happened. Obama’s miscalculation. The economy. Health care overreach. Coakley’s listless campaign. Scott Brown’s truck: