Cerritos Community Newspaper Group

Accuses Republicans of trying to stonewall Congress on economy



“Just before the August break, we were working on a number of bills to create jobs,” stated Congresswoman Linda Sanchez in an interview with the LCCN editorial staff, which she said is called, especially by the Democrats, “The Making of America.” She described them as good bills aimed at leveling the playing field and creating economic incentives to get companies to continue to manufacture here and in some cases to relocate their manufacturing from overseas back to the United States.{{more}}
There used to be tax breaks. However we did close one tax loophole in the education bill. She said there are five or six bills we’re working on and hope to complete when we come back from the August break.
Asked to comment on Republican assertions that the country can’t afford to spend more money and what is needed is tax cuts, especially for small business, she accused the Republicans of putting up roadblocks to prevent the Democrats from passing bills that will help the economy-so they can say we haven’t done anything. “It’s the Republicans who aren’t doing anything. They refuse to work with us,” she asserted.
Asked what she thinks might happen if the Republicans gained control of one of the houses. “It tough to say. We have said to them, if you don’t like this proposal, give us you ideas of what needs to be done.“ She said they had nothing to propose.
She said they are still advocating privatizing Social Security, with the downturn of the economy, if Social Security had been privatized when former President Bush proposed it at least one-third of all retirement incomes would have been lost.
Asked if there were any Republicans in the House or Senate who would be willing to compromise with the Democrats, she replied there were a few but they are increasingly rare. She cited the case of former Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, a Republican who represented a district in Maryland. A moderate Republican who you could work with and affect a compromise. The party apparently didn’t like the fact he was a moderate and ran an extreme right wing candidate against him in the primary who defeated him. He in turn lost to the Democratic candidate because he was too extreme for the district. If they had just left him alone there would be a Republican holding that seat today. True, a moderate Republican, but a Republican who could work with Democrats across the aisle.
On another subject she was asked why supporters of President Obama, who voted for him, are now asking why he isn’t communicating with the people. Sanchez said she didn’t know. “We have done some great things in this session of Congress, but we are not getting credit for it. The reason is the message or communication has not been effective.”
She said she doesn’t know what the problem is and that is why she is spending her August break in the District to let the people know what we have done in this session of Congress.
Asked how she viewed the coming national election she said the Democrats will lose some seats. She said Democrats won seats in the last election that are traditionally Republican. Those are questionable. She said the Republicans need to win an additional 43 seats to control the House. The Democrats will lose about 25 seats, but still retain control, she predicted. As for the Senate she thinks the Democrats will lose about five seats. She said many of the bills the House has passed are stuck in the Senate.
Asked if she thought California’s election was a reflection of the nation, she replied no. California is a separate animal, especially with the present budget deficit in Sacramento.
Concerning tax cuts and its effect on businesses, she said tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000 are going to expire. It is written in the bill, the Democrats did not put that in the bill, the Bush administration did. Businesses are not investing, she explained. They are hoarding their money because they are uncertain about the economic future. True, the largest companies have over 1.4 trillion dollars of available cash but are not hiring.
“If people had confidence in the economy which is making slow but steady progress, not hoard their money, the economy would be a lot better off.” She said she has talked to local business people in the District and asked them how was their business. Most said it was flat but better than one year ago. She asked if they thought the economic recovery was moving forward and they replied yes, but slowly.