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Community Organizers Praise Presidential Rhetoric: Call for Bolder Action to Address Unemployment Crisis and Finish Health Care Reform Right
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement by Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change
Wednesday, Jan 27, 2010Contact: Jeff Parcher, jparcher@communitychange.org, 703-314-6778
Germonique Ulmer, gulmer@communitychange.org, 202-494-9876
Washington – In response to President Obama’s State of the Union address delivered tonight, Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change, released the following statement:
“We applaud the President for focusing on the depths of the economic crisis, and the need to re-engage in the fight against the special interests so the voices and needs of our communities can be heard. We stand ready and willing to work with the President, the Administration and our allies in Congress to ensure struggling workers and families get real relief.
“His words have real resonance with people who are hurting: ‘We cannot afford another so-called economic “expansion” like the one from last decade – what some call the "lost decade" – where jobs grew more slowly than during any prior expansion; where the income of the average American household declined while the cost of health care and tuition reached record highs; where prosperity was built on a housing bubble and financial speculation.’
“The words were right, but addressing the deep distress within our communities will require bold action. There are now 6.4 jobseekers for every unfilled job – and that gap is growing. The Congressional Budget Office projected today that unemployment will remain above 9 percent for at least the next two years. America needs a jobs initiative that has the scale and composition to make a real dent in the pain so many are feeling. Only a community jobs program that provides resources to state and local governments to create direct hire jobs in the public, non-profit and small businesses sectors can create jobs fast enough and on a meaningful scale to address the crisis. When Wall Street was hurting, the federal government stepped in with hundreds of billions of dollars. Main Street deserves more than symbolic private sector incentives and corporate welfare.
“Now is the wrong time to pander to wrongheaded and potentially disastrous calls for a freeze on federal spending. Everything we know about economic crises tell us that public spending is the most important tool we have to create jobs, spur demand and get the economy back on its feet. Herbert Hoover stands as history’s inglorious tribute to the errant ideas of fiscal restraint when people are hurting.
“Lastly, we must finish health care reform right. It’s exactly the wrong time to surrender to the special interests that have fought so hard to block affordable coverage for all Americans. Every day we let the health insurance companies jack up rates and deny our families access to the care they deserve is a day too many.
“Community organizers across the country are eager to work with President Obama and Congress to achieve a community jobs program, real health care reform, stronger financial regulation, [insert anything else from speech we support] and comprehensive immigration reform. Americans who voted in record numbers for change in 2008 demand results and won’t stand for anything less than bold action.”
Since 1968, the Center for Community Change has strengthened the leadership, voice and power of low-income communities and communities of color nationwide to confront the vital issues of today and build the social movements of tomorrow.
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