congress – 21st Century Citizenship

Uncapped: The Mishandling of The Country’s Opioid Crisis

On October 26, President Trump declared a public health emergency for one of the biggest problems our country faces, the opioid crisis. I strongly believe that the federal government has not done enough to stop this crisis in the past, however declaring a “public health emergency” does not accomplish this goal. In the words of Democratic Senator Edward J. Markey, Trumps plan “offered the country a Band-Aid when we need a tourniquet.” The opioid crisis has many layers to it, and simply declaring it a public health crisis will not fix the true issues involved in the crisis.

First off, in declaring it a public health crisis, Trump has effectively postponed any actual effort to fight this epidemic. He made his declaration under the Public Health Service Act, which does not guarantee funding for this cause. I believe that he should have declared it a National Emergency under the Stafford Act, which would have allowed for FEMA funds to be used immediately. It is important to note that these funds would have been stretched thin as it is considering that three hurricanes all recently hit the U.S., however immediate action must be taken when 64,000 Americans died in 2016 due to overdoses.

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The president is not the only one inhibiting progress in the fight against opioids, a few members of congress have as well. In April of 2016 the Marino bill was passed, essentially giving major pharmaceutical distributors immunity from DEA penalty for knowingly filing suspicious orders of opioids. The bill was introduced by Representative Tom Marino from Williamsport Pennsylvania, one of the communities hit hardest by the opioid crisis, and was heavily supported by major drug companies, pharmacies, and manufacturer associations. These companies had been targeted in previous years by DEA investigators due to high numbers of unreported suspicious pill shipments, and had ended up paying hundreds of millions of dollars in fines because of this. Needless to say, these pharmaceutical companies did not take kindly to these penalties, and shelled out millions more dollars to pass this legislation.

$102 million was spent by the industry in lobbying expenses on the Marino bill, yet the money only tells part of the story. Companies began hiring former DEA prosecutors in order to protect themselves from further fines, the most prominent being Linden Barber. Barber had taken on the big drug companies for years and knew the ins and outs of every case, so when he started lobbying on behalf of the industry, he knew exactly how to defend them as well. He is the one who wrote the Marino bill, and he was able to use his previous DEA experience to convince the Energy and Commerce Committee of the legislation’s pros.

Currently, at the height of the opioid crisis, every agency that should have the authority to go after those distributing the drugs has their hands tied. The DEA no longer will be able to go after the drug companies that pump pills into our streets, and the president has halted all immediate forms of action that could be taken to help people in need. To make it worse, Trump submitted Marino’s name to congress so that he could be approved as the next drug czar. Marino recently withdrew himself from consideration, yet if the president’s first pick for the position was the man who championed a bill to protect the drug companies, I am scared who he will pick next for the position. What we need is for serious changes to be made by congress in order to save the lives of those affected by opioid addiction. The first of these changes would be to amend the Marino bill as soon as possible. In its current state, the bill puts hundreds of thousands of Americans in danger. The second change that needs to happen is for new legislation to be passed. Senator Markey co-introduced a piece of legislation that would give $4.5 billion in funding for the crisis to the states.

The opioid crisis has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in our country, and more are being lost everyday. The president has said that he will address the issue, yet his actions have not been swift enough. Congress must act quickly so that the government bodies centered around these issues will have the power to solve them.

Political Laryngitis: The Stifled Voice of the American Voter

2016_house_districts_by_presidential_party_winner

“We The People”, the three words that serve as the foundation for our country’s most important document, could not be less accurate when discussing how our elections are set up. As everyone reading this knows, the current leader of our country represents a minority of the popular vote, making him our 2nd minority president in 5 elections. Regardless of political affiliation, we can not deny that the will of the people is not currently decided in our country’s federal elections, but how do we fix this discrepancy? The altering the electoral college would be an easy answer, but there are other problems that could rise in altering the system.

First off, the college was set into the framework of the constitution, so getting rid of it would take an immense amount of work. First off, both sections of Congress would have to pass an amendment abolishing it by three-fourths majority, which would be near impossible considering that the controlling party in both just won an election because of the system. It would be possible, however, for state governments to change how their electoral votes are counted. Most states use a winner take all system for votes, however both Maine and Nebraska award votes, “according to district as well as statewide results”(Schlesinger). So why haven’t more states switched to a method that splits the vote more like the population? By giving all of their electoral votes to one candidate, it “augments their power”(Schlesinger), essentially making state opinion’s count more than national opinions in the voting.

I highly doubt that this alone would fix the system anyways. In a study done by Jeff Singer of The Daily Kos, he found that, “Despite losing the national popular vote by 2.1%, Donald Trump carried 230 congressional districts and Hillary Clinton just 205.” Even if every state voted in the manner that Maine and Nebraska do, Trump would have acquired 230 votes through congressional districts and 60 more votes by winning 30 states outright, giving him 20 more votes than he needed to win the election. It might surprise people that this would be the case (it certainly surprised me), but it makes sense politically. Trump ran as a republican, the party that currently controls the House of Representatives, meaning that most of the congressional districts would align themselves with him.
These districts bring their own political problems to the table, however. These districts are zoned by state legislators, meaning that whichever party controls the state government, also has the power to effect the representation of their party in Congress. As a matter of fact, David A. Lieb of the Associated Press “found that Republicans won as many as 22 additional U.S. House seats over what would have been expected.” So, if, hypothetically, every district were rezoned to give candidates a more equal chance at congressional representation, There would be 22 more Democratic districts. In the situation that every state divides electoral votes out like Maine and Nebraska, this might have caused Trump to get 22 less votes, preventing him from clinching the presidency by 2. Of course this is not a perfect system, but it is much closer than we currently are.

Knowledge for the future

Over these past two trimesters in my government class, I really got to learn in detail how our government made from the ground up. I have been filled with new information, had class discussions, and participated in debates amongst my other classmates. What I want to reflect on is how every piece of information that I have learned in class, leads me to become a stronger citizen for our country.

Two years ago in American History, we began with information on how our government got its foundation. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights guarantee that all American citizens have natural rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These three guarantees are the core of our government.

I’ve learned how to be a responsible citizen because of the individualism that we have been granted certain rights, duties, and responsibilities. At the beginning of the year we took the citizenship test given to immigrants who want to become a legal US citizen. I learned about the process of becoming a US citizen-one of the biggest responsibilities and a right to a US citizen has, is the right to vote.

I have learned that with the right to vote, we take on a huge responsibility. We are responsible to make the right choice for the future of our country. With that, we have learned that elections have consequences. As I watched the Presidential and Vice presidential debates, I got to analyze the candidate’s comments and discus the tone of the electorate, which was very similar to our classmate’s beliefs in opinions. Some of us believed that the world would end if Barak Obama won reelection, while others thought he was the answer to all of our problems. So far the world has not ended and everyone’s problems are still the same or worse. Just like the US economy. Nothing has changed since the election except more of the same, which is why voters must inform themselves about the candidates. That leads me to the actions and responsibilities of Congress.

Congress is made up of two chambers: the US Senate and the US House of Representatives. I have learned how Congressmen are elected and how long they may serve. The US Senate is made up of 100 members; the US House of Representatives is made up of 435 members. Senators may serve up to 6 years and House members 2 years. Each chamber has a speaker and a different committees, much like our student government at Parish. As a representative of my grade in student government, I get to put in ideas and work on projects to better our community, just like what congress does today. We learned that bills originate in the US house and an identical bill must be approved in the Senate. Eventually after debates and rewrites it either ends up on the Presidents desk or dies in committee. We also have seen how the members in each chamber do not get along and how they put their own constituents ahead of the country as a whole and gridlock develops. The president’s job is to be a leader and bring the two groups together, however, this semester in the US government, we have seen plenty of examples of how no ones is working together. They all look like kindergarteners not wanting to work together and fighting over crayons.

I could go on for hours about what all I have learned over these past two trimesters. The main thing I have learned is what little I knew previous about our country. Being in government class, I get a better understanding of how government is supposed to work. I feel like when I am 18 and legal to vote, I will be able to use my knowledge and understanding of Presidential races, and what to look for in debates to place my vote on what I think is best for our country in the future.

Problems with Solutions

The Fiscal Cliff was a problem that Americans faced at the end of 2012. We expected to see solutions, but when the time came to discuss solutions, there was a lot of pushed back dates and putting off discussions for other days instead of actual solutions. March is the month that most of the deadlines were pushed to and March is almost here, creating speculation about events to come regarding the economy. The article I read is titled Calendar of Fiscal Crazy: Congress and the Budget, from CNNMoney by Jeanne Sahadi on February 8^th. The Article discusses the different things that were set for March and the possible solutions to the Fiscal Cliff that were never made final such as budget cuts and the economic plans from the President, House, and Senate.

The automatic spending cuts, or “sequester”, will cut how much the federal agencies are allowed to spend by $85 million over seven months. This could cause the economic growth to slow and could also cause over 1 million workers to lose their jobs. The spending cuts would most likely come from defense programs with entitlement programs being protected, which was all in Obama’s original plan as President.

The article discusses the different proposals from the President, House, and the Senate. Sahadi says in her article, “If history is any guide, lawmakers won’t take up most of his ideas. But his proposal is supposed to tee-up the budget debate.” From what I have learned about the government in class and the process in which bills are passed, it is not shocking that most of the President’s ideas will not be passed. The process for creating solutions and passing new laws is long and has many different steps. This article shows how difficult it is for the President to play a large role and perform the presidential duty as Chief of State and also Chief Legislator. The amount of work that goes into making something a policy or law makes it hard for the President and members of Congress and the Senate to have a real impact on Americans. There are high expectations for the President and the things he needs to do. He is expected to have a large impact on the rest of government and be able to fix problems, but he can’t do that effectively and with the ferocity that most people expect because all he can really do is suggest ideas with his plan, not actually make them valid until a majority of Congress and Senate also approves.

These regulations make it hard for Congress to act immediately. The article states that Congress has a deadline of March 27^th to do something before federal funding “shuts down”. It is so difficult for Congress to make final decisions with a majority that they are giving them a deadline to make something happen. This forces people to choose a solution even if they think there could be a better one, such as the “sequester”. It is the best of a bad situation.

People of America expect the President to be the leader of the country and create different ways to pull America out of our economic problems. The problem is that we cannot expect the President to be able to pull us out of the Fiscal Cliff if we also expect to keep our American system of checks and balances. The article seems exasperated about the lack of progress that has been made by different politicians, but the author needs to remember all of the difficult steps that are necessary to make a suggestion or plan a reality.

An Urgent Deadline, an Apathetic Response

After the New Year’s Fiscal Cliff situation many Americans were in a panic. What was going to happen to my lives? What will change? How will I live if we fall off the Cliff? While many other people were dreading the day, my government class and myself where anxious to see what Congress would do about the problem. Our class was doing a project that allowed us to make our own solution and I (along with many others) were wondering if our solutions were close to what Congress and the President would come up with. After many hours of watching the TV, waiting for updates the solution was released to the public. There were higher taxes, as expected, but not the spending cuts that needed to happen. Instead Congress delayed the decision until March 1^st. Now it is close to the deadline, again, and Congress is not working, as they should to solve they problem they left to do later. Though Congress leaders know that there is no definite deadline when bills need to be passed. Instead leaders say that the “cuts can be phased in over time” says Alan Silverleib and Ted Barnett from CNN. But with how opposed to each other’s ideas the two parties are, Washington will need as much time as they can get to finally reach a decision.

Spending cuts in national budget — Photo Source: Conservative News Central

Though Congress might not be as urgent as they should be, neither are the people of America. Is the $85 billion necessary spending cuts not important? There are not stories on every news channel about the March 1^st deadline. Instead the new is filled with stories about other events that everyone would rather listen to. There are more significant things in the eyes of the public, such as gun control, Oscar Pistorius’ homicide trial, and other more recent news. If the public is not interested, the news channels and papers will not publish much on some topics even if it needs to be talked about. “Congress isn’t even in session this week” revealed CNN, why would they not be in session when time is running out?

Though Congress is not meeting, there is no doubt that there is talk of solutions. There are Committee meetings, and President Obama probably has the topic on his list of things that need to be talked about. But the two parties have probably not come together to talk of a solution that will satisfy both sides. President Obama expresses his want for collaboration between the two parties at a White House event when he addressed the Republicans asking them if, “they [were] willing to compromise.” Obama and his administration want to There need to be meetings now, so another repeat of the December Obama and Boehner discussions that didn’t end well for either side.

As a student, reading an article about Congress not worried about a deadline makes me confused. Now, in my high school career, deadlines and due dates direct my life. When I hear of this attitude about an important subject it confuses me. But I then it makes me think of all the things I have not learned yet about the “real world” that is thrust upon a young adult after he or she graduates high school or college. Even when I learn these things there will still be things I don’t know about the world of politics, which keep changes through the years as new events occur every day. Though there may be things I have not learned yet, there are many things that I have learned in just the passed year that have changed the way I view the world around me. Now that I have an understanding of government I have my own views, instead of just agreeing with everything my parents say about current events. I now can develop my own opinions and tell them to the world. As updates come out about the March 1^st deadline, there is no doubt that I will be there to insert my own ideas and see how the people in Washington solve the problems of today.

Sequester: Here We Go Again…

sequester_breakdown — A chart showing specific government cuts.

A repeat of the fiscal cliff is dawning upon us. By the first of March, $85 billion will have to automatically be cut. Known as the sequester, these cuts will mainly affect federal workers. An approximate 800,000 workers are to expected to face 22 unpaid days, spread out, but end up being very close to about 20% in pay cuts. Congress needs to make a solution to the problem they already created. This solution must not hurt the economy in anyway. From the executive branch, POTUS is still pushing for a combination of tax increases on the rich and increase in spending cuts. It is now Congress’s turn. Congress must either choose raising taxes or increase spending cuts. As Secretary of State John F. Kerry stated, the “price of abandoning our global efforts would be exorbitant.” He means that if the government were to continue with spending cuts, then we would lose a lot of money that were meant for monitoring terrorist activity in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is even more important because of the “recent rise of Al Qaeda-linked militancy in North Africa.” This is why Congress and the President can not even consider of allowing the sequester to occur.

The United States needs these government programs to protect our citizens. The solution must be based on the middle class. Assuming that this solution will not make anyone happy, politicians must look at the benefits versus the costs. Congress must find a way to pull large amounts of money from the 1% of Americans and from large corporations and put that sum back into the middle class. The obvious solution is to raise taxes on the rich. However, after the fiscal cliff, raising taxes on the rich couldn’t even solve the budget crisis for one year. In his State of the Union address, President Obama stated that he wants to push the minimum wage to $9.00. This is a very necessary step to put more money into the pockets of the middle class and reduce the incomes of monopolistic companies. These are actions that Congress and the President could take to help rise the middle class without imposing spending cuts.

Possible Influence of the Buffett Rule

Lately in the News I’ve been following an idea that has been floating around Congress known as the Buffett Rule. It is called the Buffett Rule because Warren Buffett himself gave rise to the taxing issue by originally saying, “Debbie [his secretary] works just as hard as I do and she pays twice the rate I do.” Debbie Bosanek pays a tax rate of 35.8 percent of income, while Warren Buffett pays a rate at 17.4 percent. The principle behind this rule is that no household making more than $1 million each year should pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than a middle class family pays. To be more specific, Buffett is proposing that the minimum tax rate for the super wealthy be 30%. While this is a major change, the national debt is rising and this is a possible way to bring in more money to the government. Buffett has received much criticism for this idea. The main goal Buffett has in mind is fairness for every taxpayer, not to start class warfare.

While this is still only an idea, it has the potential to turn into a bill. From Government class I have learned the specific process that a bill must undergo before getting past. First and most obvious a bill has to be drafted, or created. Then it is referred to a standing committee in either the House or Senate, depending on the bill. When a bill reaches the committee it can be referred to a subcommittee or reviewed by the committee as a whole. If the committee does not act on a bill, it is the equivalent of killing it. If a bill is passed through the subcommittee a publication of a written report is produced. The report describes the impact on existing laws and programs along with views of disagreeing members of the committee. After doing so the bill has to be scheduled for what order it will come up in. After a bill is scheduled it is debated and voted on. A majority of “Yes” votes out of all the votes being cast is required to pass a bill. If passed a bill is then sent to the President. The President can either sign the bill, making it law, or veto the bill. Congress has the power to override a Presidential veto if they can get a 2/3 vote in the house and senate.

This class has been a major influence on me now being able to formulate my own opinions. For this subject, I happen to agree with Buffett. It seems to be fair if the wealthy pay more because their life is usually more stable than those below. If the Buffett rule doesn’t pass, I still believe change needs to happen. I think Taxes should be a flat rate for everyone, which is 100% fair for everyone, or have the wealthy pay more, which is what the Buffett rule proposes. It is not fair that about 55,000 millionaires pay a lower effective tax rate than millions of middle- income Americans.

The Budget Bombshell

On Wednesday the Democratic controlled Senate blocked a budget plan proposed by House Republicans. The loss in the proposal came after Democrats were constantly bashing Republicans for not implementing tax raises as a part of cutting the deficit. The Republicans fired back by stating that the budget deficit is projected to reach over 1 trillion dollars for the fourth consecutive year.

The American Congress has become a mockery of what it was intended to become by our Founding Fathers. Currently Congressmen only care about their reelections, and are forgetting what actually must get done. Without a decisive budget plan, Congress cannot be told to stop spending reckless amounts of money because they agreed on a set amount. Instead, Congress constantly blocks each other’s plans just as a way to aggravate their opponent parties. What Americans need to charge their Representatives to accomplish is crossing party lines to accomplish the necessities by logical compromise. Without this Bi-Partisanship, America will continue to spin out of control until we are destroyed from the inside out. For example, Democrats complain that the middle class is being harmed by a certain bills budget cuts, and instead they want to raise taxes on the rich. This causes Republicans to automatically reject the counter argument, and everyone goes back to the drawing board.

The most aggrivating part about our government is that they act like they actually want to break down barriers and fix the problems at hand. Congressmen only wish to be reelected and to give their parties more good press. Although it may seem that all is lost a and Congress only wants to lie to us to make themselves seem better, we must not forget the true task that is at hand for these men and women. They must apease the entire countries wants and needs, approxamatley 300 million peoples different complaints. This is why only the people can help themselves in this situation, we must fight for our issues instead of letting them be argued by many third party sources.

America is meant to be the perfect example of a democratic country. Americans need to speak up to their representatives and fix the problems in our country. My overall point in this blog post is America must fix its current spiral into obliteration. We the masses must fix this problem by making a loud enough argument through social media that the people in charge must listen and make a change.

The Little Guy’s Big Day

One of the biggest events happening in our country right now is the 2012 presidential election. Candidates are coming to a close in their campaigns and it is almost time for the people to share their opinions officially to elect the next president of the United States. I have learned a lot about this process over the year, and the policies the candidates choose to shape their image. Our unit on elections helped me, as a new voter, understand what goes into the process of an election and how everything works behind the scenes. From the Electoral College to campaign commercials, our Government class has given me a better understanding of the everyday life of a politician. It also goes the other way as well. The events occurring in the presidential race have helped me understand a more realistic version of our studies in class.

I have not necessarily formed opinions on any subjects based on discussions in our class, but I have maintained a greater understanding of where the candidates lie on their policies. Activities such as the debates have given me insight to certain events that take place like the Iowa Caucuses. I never knew that one event could have so much influence on a campaign until I researched and learned that, according to ABC News, the Caucus has a 50% success rate on predicting the winner of the election. This is a pretty substantial number considering all of the other primaries and caucuses. I also find it very interesting that the Caucuses can give people publicity that they may not have had before because they lack the money that it requires to make themselves known. Some candidates like Rick Santorum have to find other methods to win over votes. He visited all 99 counties in Iowa to win over votes in the Caucuses to make up for the lack of money invested in his campaign. It was argued in class that the Caucus did not represent the entire American population very well. Because it is a dominantly white state, it is debated on whether or not they can actually predict how the American people would vote. I find it interesting that so much power is placed in one caucus, yet they still do a good job year-to-year of predicting candidates for the GOP and eventually Presidents.

Another debate I learned from was regarding Mitt Romney as a candidate and his conflict of choice of policy, for an example his sudden change in views on abortion. Debating whether Romney was the right candidate to defeat Obama helped me understand both sides of the argument and get a feel for how my views might relate to one of the candidates views come November. I gained insight to policies of candidates for the November elections, and now have a starting ground to make my choice for President of the United States this year. We also recently learned about the loopholes in Congress and the convoluted way bills are reviewed. I would never have known about this had we not studied it. There are much deeper levels to the process involving Committees that most ordinary citizens are not aware of because Congress does not advertise it. There should be an easier way to understand what goes on in Congress without having to research and decipher vague descriptions of duties performed by the members because it is a citizens right to know what is happening in the government. One would think that it was as simple as a signature to approve a bill and would never expect many to go unread or ignored. My hope is that one day, Congress will realize that it’s corruption cannot continue and will make themselves more understandable by the general public.

Overall, our government class has prepared me well for the election this year, and has made me a more responsible citizen with more knowledge about the events that occur during the most important day in our country every four years. I will now be a more responsible voter and know that it takes more research than just hearing the common news to form an opinion about a subject.