Our Opportunity To Change the Agenda

Working families fed up with corporate scandals, expensive government bailouts and an economy teetering on recession have the opportunity on Nov. 5 to regain control of the House of Representatives.

A net gain of just six seats would give the Democratic Party a majority in the 435-member body and would put every key leadership position into the hands of lawmakers who embrace an agenda for all Americans: creating good jobs and safe workplaces, safeguarding retirement, ensuring quality health care, improving the quality of education and guaranteeing the freedom to form a union.

The last two years have been bleak. Under the leadership of right-wing extremists, Congress overturned the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s ergonomics standard, leaving thousands of CWA members to the ravages of repetitive motion injuries and carpal tunnel syndrome.

The Republican-led Congress passed a sham Patients’ Bill of Rights, failing to hold HMOs accountable for denial of care resulting in injury or death. It passed $100 billion in tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans and a bailout for the airline industry with nothing for workers who lost their jobs in the aftermath of Sept. 11. And by the thinnest margin — just one vote — it granted President Bush Fast Track trade authority that will send thousands of American jobs overseas with no protection for workers’ rights or the environment.

Change begins with leadership. The majority party chooses the House leadership and determines which bills make it onto the floor and which die in committee. Take a look at just a few leadership positions. By electing working family candidates, you determine whether these and other changes will take place:

• Speaker of the House. Long-time champion of workers’ rights Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) would topple the present speaker, Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).
  
  Gephardt voted right on working family issues 100 percent of the time in 2001 and 88 percent lifetime, according to the AFL-CIO. He is listed as a “hero” in CWA Rates Congress, meaning he voted with working families on each of the key roll calls selected to evaluate the responsiveness of lawmakers.
  
  The AFL-CIO says Hastert never voted right in 2001 and voted the interests of working families only 7 percent of the time during his entire career in the House. The current speaker voted wrong 96 percent of the time in 2001, according to CWA’s rankings, which are more narrowly focused on concerns of its members.
  
  
• Chairs of key congressional committees — Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) would replace Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.) as chair of the House Appropriations Committee. Appropriations controls funding for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National Labor Relations Board, the Federal Communications Commission and other federal agencies that protect the interests of workers and consumers.
  
  Obey is ranked a “hero” by CWA for voting with working families 100 percent in 2001. His lifetime voting record is 90 percent right votes, according to the AFL-CIO. Young is ranked a “zero” by CWA for consistently voting against the interests of working families during 2001. Young has voted wrong 84 percent of the time during his House career, according to the AFL-CIO.
  
  Control of the Education and the Workforce Committee would pass from Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) to Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.).
  
  Miller is a proven friend who voted the interests of CWA families on every issue, including measures to preserve OSHA’s ergonomics rule and to block the Republican-led repeal of the estate tax benefitting only the wealthiest 1 percent of individuals. Boehner’s votes contributed to the Republican leadership’s success in abolishing the safeguard against repetitive strain injuries and in repealing the law that prevented the wealthy from passing on estates worth millions tax-free.
  
  Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), another CWA “hero,” would take the reins of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which shepherds telecommunications policy. Dingell has consistently authored and supported legislation to promote competition in the industry, creating more jobs in telecom, cable TV and broadband. The current chair, Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), rated a “zero” from CWA last year, voting to provide $100 billion in tax cuts to corporations and the wealthiest Americans.
  
  In addition, leadership of the House Judiciary Committee would pass to Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), another CWA “hero,” presenting the opportunity to move civil rights and hate crimes legislation that is of vital interest to members. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) would become the new chair of the Committee on Government Reform, leading the charge for integrity and accountability from the Bush administration. Waxman consistently voted the interests of working families in 2001 and has a lifetime rating of 90 percent right votes from the AFL-CIO. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) would take charge of the Ways and Means Committee, controlling the movement of tax and trade legislation. Rangel, who voted right on every issue of concern to CWA members in 2001, is a staunch opponent of fast track trade authority.

Every vote for every working family candidate counts toward making this scenario a reality. And every lawmaker we elect brings us closer to stopping the Bush administration’s corporate agenda. Make your vote count on Nov. 5.

One Vote Makes All the Difference

The outcome of the 34 Senate races to be decided on Nov. 5 could not be more critical to the quality of life of CWA members and all working Americans.

Today, Democrats control the Senate by just one vote. That is why each individual contest holds the power to determine whether the Senate is run by friends of working families or defenders of Enron-style corporate greed.

It’s the difference between a Senate that supports a working families agenda or one that tries to destroy our hard-won rights. The difference between winning a Medicare prescription drug benefit and strengthening Social Security, or seeing both programs privatized and pillaged to benefit the giant drug companies and Wall Street. The difference between investing in education and our children’s future or giving millionaires an average of $85,000 in tax cuts. The difference between improving our safety and health inside and outside the workplace or giving corporate America the green light to run roughshod over working families.

Much of the Senate’s agenda is determined by the leaders of the party in power and the chairs of key committees. So take a closer look at just a few of the positions that one seat will decide.

• Senate Majority Leader. The current majority leader, Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) voted 100 percent in 2001 to side with working families on key votes, according to the AFL-CIO.
  
  If the Republicans recapture control, the new majority leader will be either Trent Lott (R-Miss.), the current minority leader, or current Minority Whip Don Nickles (R-Okla.). Either would be a disaster for workers.
  
  Lott scored a “zero” when it came to voting with working families in 2001. Nickles, who voted right just 13 percent of the time, has been a strident opponent of collective bargaining rights and has said that management should hire replacement scabs when union workers strike.
  
  
• Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which addresses key labor and workplace issues. Present chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) is a champion of working families who voted 100 percent right in 2001.
  
  If the Republicans take control, Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) would chair the committee. Over the course of his Senate career his AFL-CIO score is a dismal 2 percent. He voted to eliminate the ergonomics standard, to restrict the free speech rights of labor unions, to deny benefits to workers laid off in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, and sponsored legislation that would cripple the Family and Medical Leave Act.
  
  
• Chairs of the key budget and taxation committees. Under Republicans, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee would switch from Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), who voted for working families 75 percent of the time in 2001, to Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who voted right only 25 percent of the time.
  
  The Senate Budget Committee would be chaired by Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), who had a 21 percent AFL-CIO voting record in 2001, instead of Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who voted right 94 percent of the time.
  
  And the Senate Finance Committee, which sets tax policy, would switch from the chairmanship of Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who had an 81 percent voting record in 2001, to Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), whose labor rating was just 13 percent.

“In every respect, the narrowest of electoral margins has the potential to lead to the greatest of differences in the laws that most affect the lives of workers and their families,” CWA President Morton Bahr said. Either we will have an opportunity to make progress in helping working families build a better life or our standard of living and our workplace rights will be at risk.

This portion of this website is paid for by the CWA Committee on Political Education - Political ontributions Committee, with voluntary contributions from union members and their families, and is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.