Weekly Address: Averting the Sequester and Finding a Balanced Approach to Deficit Reduction

President Obama urges Congress to act to avoid a series of harmful and automatic cuts — called a sequester — from going into effect that would hurt our economy and the middle class and threaten thousands of American jobs. The President urges Congress to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction that makes investments in areas that help us grow and cuts what we don’t need.

Watch this week’s Weekly Address.

In Case You Missed It

Here’s a quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov:

Common-sense Reforms: On Monday, President Obama traveled Midwest to Minneapolis to speak with local police, community leaders and folks who have experienced gun violence in their family. The President firmly believes “law enforcement and other community leaders must have a seat at the table.”

With mounting support for universal background checks, President Obama is driving Congress to listen and take action. While pressing for background checks, the President did not let up.

“We shouldn’t stop there. We should restore the ban on military-style assault weapons and a 10-round limit for magazines,” said President Obama. “And that deserves a vote in Congress — because weapons of war have no place on our streets, or in our schools, or threatening our law enforcement officers.”

Watch the full speech here and read our blog post tracking the two weeks since President Obama released his plan for reducing gun violence.

Sequester Delay: On Tuesday, President Obama talked about the sequester and urged Congress to act before automatic spending cuts are put into place starting March 1. If a new deal is not struck by March 1, automatic spending cuts, which are known as the sequester will begin.

Billions of dollars in cuts would hinder education and research, along with defense spending to name a few. President Obama called for “a smaller package of spending cuts and tax reforms” as he is prepared to work with republicans to strike a deal for the American people.

Newest Cabinet Nominee: On Wednesday, President Obama nominated Sally Jewell to head the Interior Department. If the current CEO of the outdoor retail giant REI is confirmed, she will play a critical role in protecting our country’s land and natural resources. Along with an enthusiasm for the outdoors, she carries with her experience as a former oil engineer and commercial banker, which will be vital in dealing with our energy sector and creating jobs for Americans.

Jewell is very excited to work with the Interior and “sharing their hopes and their dreams for our public lands, our resources, our people — especially our first people — our history and our culture.”

Revamped Immigration Page: On Wednesday, the White House released a new issue section laying out what is at stake for comprehensive immigration reform. The President’s proposal calls for the strengthening of our borders, cracking down on companies that hire undocumented workers, creating a path to earned citizenship and streamlining our legal immigration system.

• Sign up for the latest immigration updates from the White House.
• Find all the facts on the immigration page.
• Watch the President’s Las Vegas speech on comprehensive immigration reform.

National Prayer Breakfast: On Thursday, President Obama attended the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton. Citing the importance of faith in his life, the President discussed the comfort Scripture gave President Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I thought about their humility, and how we don’t seem to live that out the way we should, every day, even when we give lip service to it,” said the President.

The biggest hope from the breakfast was Americans, especially our public servants, should embrace cooperation and humility to avoid the constant bipartisan rhetoric in Washington. Watch the full speech here.

SOTU Preparation: This Tuesday, the President will speak to the country through the annual State of the Union address. President Obama will discuss the most demanding issues facing our country and offer solutions to tackle these challenges. On February 12, at 9 pm ET head to our State of the Union page to watch a live enhanced version with charts, graphs, and data to coincide with his address. Before Tuesday, check out our page to view the 2012 enhanced version and discover new ways you can participate in this year’s State of the Union.

Connect with the Campaign for a Fair SettlementThe stories we’ve been getting about how families are fighting back against Wall Street criminals trying to steal their homes are so powerful we wanted to share them with you. The Home Defenders League is collecting these stories as part of the 100 Days to Fix What Wall Street Broke campaign. You can see them here and if you or someone you know is going through something similar you can share it here. These stories help push the Obama Administration to take the steps necessary to finally hold Wall Street accountable.

–Brian, Campaign for a Fair Settlement

The Dunwell family standing up and speaking out to keep their home from being stolen by Wall Street bankers.

At times where I felt weak, I sat and heard my daughter talk about, you know, ‘These banks need to do right by us,’ and my backbone kind of just straightened up.” – David Dunwell, Springfield, MA.

Jacqueline Barber. Grace Alexander. Debbie and Ron Austin. David and Yanick Dunwell.

These are four stories from the wave of foreclosures Wall Street unleashed when they broke our economy, wiped out our savings, and stole our homes. They are the real people directly affected by greedy Wall Street criminals. These are the people President Obama needs to keep in mind when he delivers his State of the Union address next Tuesday.

It’s been a year since the President announced a task force to hold banks accountable for their actions and the only thing many underwater homeowners and foreclosure victims have to show for it is a lot of press stories, a few small potatoes lawsuits, and the continuing stress of fighting to stay in their homes. It’s clear that the Administration knows the faces of Jaime Dimon at JPMorgan Chase, Brian Moynihan at Bank of America and John Stumpf at Wells Fargo a lot better than it knows those of the 14 million underwater homeowners and millions of foreclosure victims.

To help President Obama remember Wall Street’s many victims, our partners at the Home Defenders League have started to share their own stories of fighting back when bankers try to steal their homes on this website, 100 Stories of What Wall Street Broke.

“US Bank is the reason I’m no longer in remission for my cancer.” – Jacqueline Barber, Fayetteville, GA.

Jacqueline Barber, a retired Atlanta police detective and grandmother, is fighting GMAC, US Bank, and bone marrow cancer. Grace Alexander is fighting a Bank of America eviction despite evidence of fraud in her mortgage. The Austin family has been evicted by Fannie Mae, which claims they missed a payment despite a receipt proving otherwise. The Dunwell family is fighting Bank of America, which gave them a trial mortgage modification for a year but then decided to foreclose anyway – even though they had never missed a payment on the modification!

“It’s been a real humbling experience, first losing my job [in 2008 during the Great Recession], now losing my home. At times where I felt weak, I sat and heard my daughter talk about, you know, ‘These banks need to do right by us,’ and my backbone kind of just straightened up.” – David Dunwell, Springfield, MA.
There are a host of things the President can do right now -without waiting for Congress – to ease the continuing crisis in homeownership, beginning with holding accountable the Wall Street bankers who created it. They’re reporting record profits (again), while millions of us still own houses valued at less than our mortgages or are in some stage of foreclosure. Fixing the housing crisis by resetting mortgages to market value and finally forcing banks to treat our families fairly would be the best thing he could do both for us and for the nation’s economy.

That’s whyHome Defenders League members are stepping out of the shadows to tell their stories – so that the Administration can’t keep ignoring people like them and us even as Wall Street lobbyists swarm the Capitol and White House. You can see them here, at 100 Stories of What Wall Street Broke.

They aren’t alone, though, as Jacqueline, Grace, Debbie and Ron, and David and Yanick can attest. With millions of families affected, we know that you must know someone in a similar situation – it might even be you. So, they’ve set up a form so you can submit your own story as well. You can tell it here.

“We did everything right, yet our government allows these banks to steal our very homes out from under us.” – Debbie Austin, Portland OR.

We are a few weeks into the first 100 days of President Obama’s second term. Time is running out for him to take decisive action against the Wall Street criminals stealing our jobs, our savings, and our homes. Telling the stories of people directly affected by Wall Street bankers is one way we are bringing home the necessity of urgent action.Check them out here and take a moment to add yours here.

Many people have great local groups fighting alongside them: Jacqueline has Occupy Homes Atlanta, Grace has New Jersey Communities United, the Austins have We Are Oregon, the Dunwell’s have City Life/La Vida Urbana – and we also have all of you through the Campaign fighting alongside the Home Defenders League.

But we need a President to stand up for us too.

In solidarity,

Brian Kettenring, Executive Director, Action for the Common Good and Campaign Director, Campaign for a Fair Settlement
http://www.campaignforfairsettlement.org/100_days

-=-=-
Campaign for a Fair Settlement · 11 Dupont Cir, Suite 240, Washington, DC 20036, United States
CFS is a multi-sectoral coalition. Common Good and Action for the Common Good staff provide strategic and logistical support to the effort.

By ThinkProgress War Room

The NRA’s Getting What It Paid For

The NRA is a big spender when it comes to lobbying and campaigns. ThinkProgress investigated the NRA’s contributions to Members of Congress and — lo and behold — the most heavily NRA-backed congressman are leading the charge against new gun violence prevention measures. Here’s Josh Israel with the details:

1. REP. DON YOUNG (R-AK) — AT LEAST $107,425

Young said last month, “I have serious concerns with the statements made today by President Obama and take issue with the President’s call for banning aesthetically altered rifles and shotguns and certain magazines. This is a dangerous limitation on a family’s ability to defend itself in the event they’re threatened. Perhaps in cities where the police response time tends to be more rapid, it is easy to forget how important a firearm is to keeping loved ones safe. However, in rural America where law enforcement is many miles away, a semi-automatic weapon could mean the difference between life and death.”

2. REP. STEVE CHABOT (R-OH) — AT LEAST $65,950

Chabot said last month, “I have serious concerns regarding many of the president’s gun control proposals. Further, I am disturbed the White House bypassed the American peoples’ elected representatives in Congress and implemented much of their agenda by executive order.”

3. REP. PETE SESSIONS (R-TX) — AT LEAST $64,000

Sessions said last month, “Going forward, I will continue to tirelessly defend Americans’ right to bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment. In doing so, I will fight against the President’s unrelenting attempts to bypass Congress and further erode our Constitution.”

4. REP. LEE TERRY (R-NE) — AT LEAST $59,650

Terry said in a January radio interview, “We’ve seen several assaults on the constitution. This is just another one.” He said President Obama’s efforts are “unconstitutional,” adding “These aren’t going to curb the real issue. The real issue is someone with mental health issues gets a gun… these aren’t going to solve that problem… How many bullets you have in a magazine ultimately doesn’t solve any problem.”

5. REP. BOB GOODLATTE (R-VA) — AT LEAST $57,250

Goodlatte, who chairs the House Committee on the Judiciary, told CQ Roll Call in December that he does not favor tightening controls on firearms. “We’re going to take a look at what happened there and what can be done to help avoid it in the future, but gun control is not going to be something that I would support,” he said. Any gun violence prevention measures would likely require Judiciary Committee approval.

6. REP. JOE BARTON (R-TX) — AT LEAST $57,248

Barton said last month, “The Obama Administration’s plan amounts to a power grab. I will fight any legislation that further restricts qualified owners’ access to guns. I am also against the President using executive orders to circumvent the will of the people and infringe on the constitutional rights of my constituents. The right to bear arms is guaranteed by the Second Amendment, and when I took my oath of office I swore to defend the Constitution. I believe that violent crime must be reduced, but I will not support measures that infringe upon the rights of law-abiding citizens.”

7. REP. HAL ROGERS (R-KY) — AT LEAST $51,725

Rogers has apparently said little publicly since Sandy Hook, but did say in December, “As we search for understanding and gain minute-by-minute explanations of how an unfathomable tragedy of this magnitude occurred, we must be judicious in our response.”

8. REP. TOM LATHAM (R-IA) — AT LEAST $49,750

Latham said last month, “while I always support having a vigorous and thorough debate on the important issues facing our nation, I continue to believe that we must ensure any Congressional or executive action pertaining to firearm regulations should not erode the rights we are guaranteed in our Constitution.“

9. REP. KEN CALVERT (R-CA) — AT LEAST $48,400

Calvert has reportedly refused to even discuss gun violence prevention until a full investigation of the Newtown shootings is completed.

10. REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH) — AT LEAST $47,800

Boehner, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, has dismissed calls for quick House action on gun violence. “When the vice president’s recommendations come forward, we’ll certainly take them into consideration,” he said in December, “but at this point I think our hearts and souls ought to be to think about those victims in this horrible tragedy.”

After receiving more than $600,000 total over the years from the organization, expect these ten Republicans to be among the fiercest opponents of even the most commonsense measures to prevent future tragedy.

BOTTOM LINE: After receiving more than $600,000 total over the years from the organization, expect these ten Republicans to be among the fiercest opponents of even the most commonsense measures to prevent future tragedy.