elvin's Profile
elvin
Location: Boston, MA
Date Joined: November 14, 2007
Votes: 107
Questions: 5
Questions Answered: 6
Latest
CNC Picks
-
As the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, what are your priorities going to be in making sure that 2008 is a year of progress and change for the Democrats and Congress? More
Asked 26 weeks 6 days ago of U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA)
by elvin from Boston, MA -
American high schools have high drop-out rates. What can Congress do to curb this trend? More
Asked 36 weeks 2 days ago of All U.S. Congress
by elvin from Boston, MA
Answered
As the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, what are your priorities going to be in making sure that 2008 is a year of progress and change for the Democrats and Congress?
Asked by: elvin from Boston, MA. Received 30 Votes.
Listen to: U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA)
Our committee has three goals and this is what we have been trying to accomplish: protecting taxpayer’s dollars from waste, fraud and abuse and making sure government works for the people third holding the government of this country accountable for their actions that’s what we have been trying to do in 2007 and 2008 during the time I have been chairman of that committee.
Answered on Jun 5th, 2008 More
-
Digital rights pioneer Larry Lessig recently launched the 'Change Congress' website, which encourages "a national movement to end corruption in America's congress. " The site organizes citizens to encourage their lawmakers to pledge to change the rules of Congress to favor transparency. Sen. Feingold, will you take this pledge?
Asked by: elvin from Boston, MA. Received 9 Votes.
Listen to: U.S. Rep. John Salazar (D-CO)
Salazar: Well I think we made major reforms just this last term in the 109th. And we have certainly made clear, a clear movement towards transparency especially in the earmark reform area. And so I think while Democrats have been trying to do the good things we’ve been constantly blocked by the minority party.
Laslo: Do you think there is more that needs to be done on transparency legislation and ethics reform?
Answered on May 9th, 2008 More
-
Why do legislators always wait till the end of the year to appropriate tax dollars?
Asked by: elvin from Boston, MA. Received 16 Votes.
Listen to: U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT)
This last year was the worst year I have ever seen for pushing things off to the end. And part of it was an effort on the part of leadership to attach non-germaine issues that were very controversial to pieces of legislation that were not controversial. So I really think it was a lack of organization this past year.
Answered on Jan 22nd, 2008 More
-
Why do legislators always wait till the end of the year to appropriate tax dollars?
Asked by: elvin from Boston, MA. Received 16 Votes.
Listen to: U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
Well there are certain things like the spending bills that simply have to be done and at the end of a session everyone is tired and wants to go home and it’s easier to get things done that way. And usually we do some pretty bad things at the end of the session. But I think people get tired and realize it needs to be done and we procrastinate at the end of the year, and it just ends up that way.
Answered on Jan 22nd, 2008 More
-
What are you willing to do to make sure that the remainder of the 110th Congress is productive considering it is an election year? What will your legislative priorities be?
Asked by: elvin from Boston, MA. Received 16 Votes.
Listen to: U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
Democrats have returned for this second session of this Congress reinvigorated and ready to tackle the problems challenging our country. We come back to this new direction Congress focusing on the economy. It has been clear for the past few weeks that all sectors of the economic world, all shades of opinion in the economic world are saying to us that a stimulus is needed to avoid a downturn or to worsen the situation.
Answered on Jan 16th, 2008 More
-
American high schools have high drop-out rates. What can Congress do to curb this trend?
Asked by: elvin from Boston, MA. Received 36 Votes.
Listen to: U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA)
Oh there’s a lot we can do to fix that in the rewrite on No Child Left Behind, we plan to focus on those high schools that produce the greatest number of dropouts, to try to put together a plan for those high schools, to also focus on those schools that feed into those high schools.You know have about two-thousand high schools that produce almost fifty-percent of the drop-outs in the country and so we want to start looking at how’d we improve the graduation rates, how we help the schools attract students to come back to school, maybe even some of the students who’ve dropped out come back
Answered on Jan 6th, 2008 More
Recent Comments
That is a good one. Do you have audio?
Did you even ask him the question? He didn't directly answer... and you didn't even ask the right congressperson. What gives?
Can you specify which goals?
There are still issues...
Posted by on March 20th, 2008 at 3:35 PM
Now. If we could just solve the waste disposal issue...
Yes... that is a pesky little problem.
As I see it, fixing the 'energy problem' requires more than building better power plants.
The government needs to start encouraging efficiencies up and down the supply line -- starting with power plants, then through distribution channels, and perhaps most importantly with buildings.
Agribusiness is destroying our land and our people. Small farms are more productive per square acre.
Respectfully Rep. Cubin, we shouldn't be designating land as 'wilderness' just because it is pretty. The earth that our country rests upon is the greatest resource that we have. It was here long before we came, and it will stay here long after we've gone. Not only do we owe it to future generations of Americans but also to people all across the planet to protect American wilderness.
Just because stretches of this country don't look like the 'Grand Tetons' doesn't mean that they aren't useful for cleansing the environment of the toxins that we are introducing...
As a former DC resident I feel comfortable talking about this issue.
First off, I agree that the District should have representation in Congress. That is a no brainer.
That being said, I think that those living in the District should focus their efforts more squarely on improving their Capital City from the ground up. DC has one of the most exciting mayor's in the country right now and he is working to make significant changes.
The citizens of DC are capable of coming together to improve this tired city.
Improving DC's schools is in my mind, unequivocally more important than earning a singular vote in the house.
Clearly, Rep. Bishop is playing partisan politics. I don't follow Congress all that closely, but I know that in years past (especially when Congress was lead by Republicans) Congress waited till late in the year to appropriate tax dollars.
At least Flake is being honest, stating that it is a shame that Congress waits so long, because everyone is tired. The unfortunate result is that "we do some pretty bad things at the end of the session."
What I'd really like to hear is what Flake things some of those bad things are.