Congressman Jared Polis has said more than once that he doesn't support the People's Budget put out by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Even though Jared is a member of the CPC:
Congressman Polis opposed the CPC budget.
Recently, he had a public presentation in his district that purported to allow his constituents to provide their input to the budget process. From a Polis campaign letter:
Dear Zappatero:
I recently convened town hall budget workshops in Erie, Westminster and Boulder that focused on balancing the federal budget. On a Saturday afternoon, hundreds of Coloradans showed up ready to help restore fiscal integrity, create jobs, and get our economy going. In group exercises conducted by the Concord Coalition, a non-partisan national organization that supports fixing the federal budget, your friends and neighbors voted on a series of proposals aimed at restoring fiscal responsibility in Washington, D.C. I thought you might be interested in the results.
Here's what Boulder resident Tom Moore said about Jared's town hall budget meetings:
It seems like a good idea until the Concord Coalition is unveiled. In The Nation, Nov 21, 2011, an article by Ari Berman paints them as "penny pinching, anti-government and pro-corporate ideologues with board filled with K street lobbyists and corporate executives." Robert Kuttner in the Boston Globe wrote, "As for Social Security and Medicare, the Concord Coalition is an ideological attack on social insurance masquerading as concern for the common good."
Here's a spreadsheet that gives further details on the budget discussions Polis had.
Jared obviously wanted the job as representative in the second district. Though local input is very important, by facilitating this exercise, and allowing the Concord Coalition - a decidedly conservative and debt-focused organization - to significantly affect the parameters of the discussion, Jared, like his senate co-workers Mark Udall and Michael Bennet is ignoring the proposals of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is deferring responsibility for tough budget decisions to his constituents and outside lobbying organizations, and worst of all, is allowing the Conventional Wisdom with regards to the economy, the budget and taxation to exercise its will over what should have been a free-ranging discussion of our country's current economic policies.
All this makes me ask just one thing of the Congressman:
If you didn't want to make the decisions, Congressman, why did you want the job? |
