Georgia Now Ground Zero for Super PACs and Citizens United: The "Nastiest Show on Earth" otherwise known as the "Slimary Process" -- the prolonged and agonizing Republican primary to select a presidential candidate -- is already being called the dirtiest of all time by political pundits and voters alike.
Recently in Recent Editorials
“My view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks” — Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
You might expect the above statement from the CEO of a Wall Street bank or chairman of a Fortune 500 investment firm. The fact that it came from the chairman of the congressional committee charged with protecting the public interest by regulating the financial services industry is troubling.
Our right to vote is under attack. Sweeping new laws — including an end to same-day registration and cuts to early voting — could disenfranchise millions of voters in 2012. Read the full article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
As seen in The Hill newspaper, Friday, Oct. 28, 2011, Read the piece in its entirety.
Obama has no magic wand to solve the housing crisis
By Congressman Hank Johnson
In The Hill’s “California Dems intensify pressure on Obama to tackle foreclosures” article (Oct 12), several of my fellow Democrats publicly attacked President Obama for his handling of the housing crisis.
As seen in The Hill newspaper Oct. 11, 2011, edition. Read the piece in its entirety.
Taiwan and Mainland China have transitioned from collision to convergence. What’s next?
By Congressman Hank Johnson & Jonathan Ossoff
We had the opportunity to meet with Taiwan’s president in Taipei last week. We found a cross-strait relationship that has been fundamentally transformed and a partner still eager to purchase advanced warplanes from the United States.
The Taiwan Strait remains one of the world’s most dangerous geopolitical flash points, where a showdown risks conflict between the United States and China, two nuclear powers.
As seen in CrossRoadsNews' July 1, 2011 edition. Read the piece in its entirety
It’s been more than 175 days since the GOP took control of the House, and the only jobs bills to come to the floor this Congress have been Democratic proposals – the GOP voted no on every one of course.
The middle class is hurting, yet the Republicans’ only answer is to end Medicare and continue to give huge tax breaks Big Oil companies and millionaires.
While Democrats continue to promote and pursue the “Make It in America” agenda – which I’m proud to say, contains one of my bills – to create jobs and help our economy recover, the Republicans’ focus is a near myopic charge to gut Medicare.
Read more in CrossRoadsNews.
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Congressman urges deeper, more candid friendship with Turkey:
As seen in The Hill newspaper on Thursday, June 16, 2011 | Read the piece in its entirety
WASHINGTON – Rep. Hank Johnson today published an op-ed in Washington, D.C.’s The Hill newspaper calling for closer ties with the Republic of Turkey.
In “Turkey: Emerging power, valuable friend,” Johnson argues that “a deeper and more candid friendship with Turkey will help the United States pursue its interests and support its values around the world.”
Calling Turkey “the strongest and truest Muslim democracy in its region,” Johnson praises recent elections and argues that the United States should continue to engage in “candid and respectful dialogue with Turkey’s leaders” to advocate for an open and inclusive political process and press and speech freedoms.
Johnson notes that Turkey is “an emerging regional power and important trading partner with a rapidly modernizing economy” and that “Turkish participation in multilateral security missions (including NATO efforts in Afghanistan, anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and Operation Unified Protector in Libya) demonstrates greater assertiveness in international affairs.”
Johnson writes, “This development should be embraced and shaped by the United States, not rejected or contained.”
Read the op-ed in its entirety HERE or at http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/166705-turkey-emerging-power-valuable-friend.
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As seen in The Hill Blog.
By Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA)
Even as technology becomes increasingly critical to the way we live our lives, power our world and defend our shores, the United States has allowed the production of minerals crucial in the creation of these advanced products to slide.
Critical to high-tech clean-energy and defense manufacturing, rare-earth elements (REEs) are minerals used in the production of cutting-edge technologies such as wind turbines, batteries for mobile phones, laptop computers, the planet’s most powerful magnets, military radar and sophisticated weapon systems — just to name a few.
But today, China accounts for 97 percent of global REE production and announced it is cutting production for the first half of 2011 by 35 percent. Because China dominates production, it aims to build a strategic stockpile that will not only fuel their green tech revolution but also give it greater control over international prices.
Dysprosium – one of the most critical rare-earth elements used in heat-resistant magnets for military radar systems (In Latin, dysprosium means “hard to get”) – has risen from $6.50 per pound in 2003 to more than $130 per pound today.
This Chinese monopoly is creating a strategic vulnerability for the United States that undermines our national security and competitiveness in the defense and clean-energy sectors.
Rare earth shortages could also cause green energy and tech companies already weakened by the recession to falter, industry officials say. Electric cars like GM’s Chevrolet Volt use seven pounds of rare-earth magnets, while each clean-energy wind turbine uses more than 600 pounds of another rare earth element, neodymium.
Like President Obama, I am committed to a future powered by clean energy. Without secure access to REEs, we will be unable to lead the world in cleantech. If the global and U.S. green economies are going to truly take off, rare earths can’t remain rare much longer.
“The problems are real and serious,” Robert Jaffe, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,” told Time magazine. “If appropriate steps are not taken, we face possible short-term constraints of supply to what could otherwise be game-changing energy technologies.”
That’s why Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and I proposed the RARE Act, which will dramatically advance our ability to access rare earths worldwide.
The RARE Act directs the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct a three-year, comprehensive global mineral assessment of REEs.
The USGS global assessment, conducted with geological surveys of partner nations around the world, will identify and quantify individual REEs in known deposits, improve understanding of the distribution and formation of rare earth element deposits, assess likely undiscovered deposits worldwide, analyze the state of the complete rare earths supply chain from mining to manufacturing, and recommend further research and steps to improve our understanding and ensure future access.
Mining company Molycorp owns the only rare earth production facility in the U.S. in Mountain Pass, Calif., and produces about 3 percent of the world’s rare earths.
Currently in the middle of a more than $500 million modernization, Mountain Pass will expand its current annual production from 3,000 tons of rare earths to nearly 20,000 tons annually, largely reversing our nation’s near-total dependence on foreign suppliers.
But mining and processing these materials does not come without risk. The toxic acids needed for refining REEs and water runoff mixed with radioactive elements from the thorium and uranium can cause environmental problems.
To meet stricter U.S. environmental standards and make the process safer for our environment, Molycorp is constructing an on-site natural gas plant to cleanly generate the electricity needed to process REEs. The company is also employing mining wastewater recycling process that will not only make the processing of rare earths safer but use just 10 percent of the water that was needed a generation ago.
The only solution to end China’s rare earth dominance is renewed commitment to domestic production with government help. Private industry, aided by the RARE Act, will help reverse the dearth of rare earths in the U.S. needed to fuel our technological future.
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) is a member of the House Judiciary and Armed Services committees and author of the Resource Assessment of Rare Earths Act of 2011 or RARE Act.
As seen in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Tuesday, January 18
The attempted assassination of my friend and colleague, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was an attack on all Americans, our Constitution, and our way of life. It was also a wake-up call. Our culture of violence and our zero-sum political discourse, unhinged by the extreme and hateful rhetoric of shock jocks and demagogues, threaten the Republic.
Last week, Nancy Pelosi handed the House Speaker’s gavel to John Boehner. Though Democrats lamented loss of the House, all Americans should appreciate the peaceful transfer of political power, a basic goal of our Constitutional system and something rarely achieved in the history of nations. We had a spirited national debate. There were disagreements. The people spoke, and their will was respected and upheld. The principle that civic disagreements must be resolved in the courts, the legislature, and the ballot box – not through the barrel of a gun – is fundamental to the American way of life.
By substituting violence for political advocacy, the shooter who grievously wounded Congresswoman Giffords and killed six Americans attacked not only innocent people but our democracy itself. The dark irony of the attack’s setting – a “Congress on Your Corner” meeting, at which Congresswoman Giffords made herself available to hear the concerns of her constituents – only underscores the point.
This week our prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords, the families of those killed and wounded, and all those still fighting for their lives in Arizona.
While we pray, we must recognize this despicable act as a wake-up call. Acts of political violence are not without precedent in American history, but they have come at moments when deeply divisive forces and events test our mettle as a democracy.
This is such a moment.
This plot was hatched in a toxic political climate permeated by vitriol and, in some cases, marked by deeply disturbing calls to near insurrection. The paranoid delusions of the alleged shooter could only have been deepened by the rock-bottom tone of our national debate, which erodes civic trust and incites extremism.
Tempting though the political blame game may be, partisan attacks dishonor the victims of this crime. It is not difficult to identify the sources of incitement and extremist rhetoric in our politics, and I call upon all of those who have played fast and loose with civility to earnestly reconsider their words and deeds.
It is a time for demagogues to search their souls and change course. Indeed, it is a time for all of us to search our souls. Politicians of all stripes sew anger and division. Angry words can lead to angry acts, and political leaders should set a tone befitting a nation that prides itself on commitments to tolerance and democracy.
Beyond the political realm, this tragedy should provoke new reflection on the crass attitudes toward violence that make our country an uglier, more dangerous place. What happened in Tucson on Saturday happens all too often on the streets of our cities, where gunshot and assault victims die anonymously, with no television coverage or national moments of mourning. Often there is only a grieving mother, brother, or child.
None of this is news. But it is well worth acknowledging and reconsidering it in light of Saturday’s tragedy.
We can do better. For all the horror of Saturday, we would do a disservice to the victims and to the nation if we did not seize this moment, look within, and put a better foot forward.
Awakened by this horrific violence, we should renew our shared determination to defend our democracy, strengthen our commitment to civility even in the face of disagreement, and affirm our belief that we are all Americans – no matter our views on health care, taxes, financial regulation, foreign policy, or abortion. Let those who profit from division and fan the flames of distrust and discontent reconsider their actions.
And let us seek peace.
As seen in the Huffington Post
Health Care Reform: Correct, Constitutional, and not Going Anywhere
Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04)
In the past two years, President Obama and Congress have invested heavily in economic recovery, pulling America back from the brink of a second Great Depression and laying the foundations for renewed growth.
The recovery is in progress. But in the shadow of a global financial crisis and a deep recession, unemployment remains high and the American people need Washington to stay focused on job creation.
Americans will no doubt be confused by the priorities of the new Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Will they dedicate the first month of the 112th Congress to job creation, as we did in the 111th? No. House Republicans have announced their top priority: to deny millions of low-and middle-income Americans health care and increase the deficit by repealing health care reform, a signal achievement of the previous Congress.
Their effort is doomed to fail; the Senate will not pass nor would the President sign any such law. But House Republicans will nevertheless pay lip service to the Tea Party activists who put them in power by forcing a vote on repeal.
Opponents of health care reform have rallied around a Constitutional objection to the “individual mandate,” the provision of the reform law that requires Americans to purchase health insurance. They argue that Congress has no Constitutional authority to mandate coverage.
They are wrong.
The powers of the Congress are enumerated in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. Among them are the powers to raise and maintain the military, to declare war, to print and manage the currency, to establish federal courts and to make bankruptcy laws.
Critically, this section also grants Congress broad power “to regulate commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States.” Congressional power to regulate interstate commerce is one of two key Constitutional foundations of the health care law. Under existing case law, Congress has clear authority under the commerce clause to regulate health care and health insurance, which undeniably impact interstate commerce and contribute more than 17 percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product.
The other Constitutional foundation of the health care law is the final Congressional power enumerated in Article I, Section 8: the power of Congress to “make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers.” Congress not only can regulate the health insurance industry; it can establish the laws necessary and proper for carrying out that regulation.
The individual mandate is an essential plank of health care reform, whose core objectives are expansion of access to quality, affordable care and prohibition of insurance practices that deny necessary care to sick Americans.
A key – and popular – provision of reform is the ban on discrimination against patients who are already sick. Without the individual mandate, Americans could abuse this provision by waiting to get insurance until after they are diagnosed with an illness. Insurers would be required to cover care even though the consumer had not been paying premiums to cover the expense. The cost of that care would be passed along to those who are already insured, hospitals, taxpayers and doctors. Such a system would be incoherent, ineffective and unfair.
Only through the individual mandate can we implement the ban on discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions and help millions afford coverage. It is a necessary provision of common-sense regulations that expand Americans’ access to care and stop abusive insurance practices. It is necessary, proper, and falls squarely within the powers of Congress enumerated in Article I.
This debate may well be headed to the Supreme Court. But decades from now, Americans will wonder what all the fuss over health care was about. We passed legislation that expands access to insurance for millions of Americans. It will prevent death from treatable illness for Americans who previously could not afford care. It saves the taxpayer money, and it is Constitutional.
