Raúl joined House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. John Larson Aug. 23 for a press conference in Tucson to discuss the importance of the Fair Elections Now Act, a bill to create public financing for qualifying Congressional candidates who receive sufficient small-dollar private donations. Sixty-seven percent of voters favor a citizen-funded fair election system, and an [...]
Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist who writes a column for the New York Times, made a crucial point today about Social Security: Social Security has been running surpluses for the last quarter-century, banking those surpluses in a special account, the so-called trust fund. The program won’t have to turn to Congress for help or [...]
Raúl has been named one of the 30 best Members of Congress by Corporate Voices for Working Families and Working Mother Media. The award honors lawmakers who have made an extraordinary effort to improve the lives of working families. The awards were given based on applicants’ voting record, sponsored and co-sponsored legislation, and efforts to [...]
“Our Constitution protects individual freedoms and liberties. Nowhere does this document speak of protecting the majority over the minority. Anger about the economy, increased crime and security concerns are fueling this law, not constitutional principles.
Conservatives’ most important responsibility is to remember to protect freedom, liberty and the rights of every citizen. The Arizona immigration law doesn’t do that, and that’s why I oppose it.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 128 metropolitan areas reported jobless rates of at least 10 percent in June. Yuma, in western Arizona, again recorded one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates at 26.4 percent. Yet instead of taking action, Congress recently approved another $34 billion for the ongoing war in Afghanistan that adds [...]
The University of Arizona’s Disability Resource Center got a new $500,000 funding stream in mid-July to enhance its injured and disabled veterans assistance program. The school’s Veterans Education and Transition Services (VETS) effort is nationally recognized for its commitment to helping injured veterans seeking higher educational opportunities. Rep. Grijalva arranged startup funding for the program [...]
Once again, war is being paid for with a credit card while investments in our children’s future are tossed aside. These investments – $10 billion for teacher jobs, $1 billion for summer youth employment, $5 billion for Pell grants, $701 million for border security – were cut from the war funding bill coming to the [...]
“They say the senate has a luxury of time, six-year cycles for elections,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus. “But these last 18 months have, in memory, have not only been the most frustrating but the inertia created in the Senate is what is jeopardizing Democrats and progressives’ opportunities in the midterms. It is not our lack of action. It has been their lack of action.”
I think that this administration is our administration and we need to work with them, whether it’s Congress or organizations that are trying to influence where they’re taking us with policy or what they’re doing with their budget. Having said that, however, it’s also an administration and a Congressional leadership that has to have thier feet held to the fire. The susceptibility of Washington D.C. sometimes is to err on the side of caution over and over again. And I think we’ve been overly cautious.
Only when these multi-billion dollar companies are forced to bear the full costs of their actions will they take safety seriously. Let’s send a simple, responsible message to Big Oil: “You break it, you buy it.”
