"We're not waiting this time" - Congressman Grijalva, moments ago on a blogger call, regarding the Progressive Caucus budget that will be released at noon tomorrow, an hour before President Obama speaks.
We had about a dozen bloggers on this call - Chris Bowers, @Karoli from C&L, Nicole Sandler, Sandi Behrns, teacherken, I didn't get all the names, so many good questions and answers flying ... I'll try to summarize.
The first thing that came up was the extreme views the 2010 midterm have brought to the House. They're not interested in working things out, they're just posturing because they've got nothing substantial to offer - no solutions, just a lot of noise.
The Progressive budget is going to be scored by the CBO - this isn't some back of the napkin GOP style thing with a few vague charts, it's a real SOLID plan for our country. We heard repeatedly about the richest 2% not paying their fair share, both from bloggers and from the Congressman himself.
I heard that he will not vote for the continuing resolution (CR) and I'm scratching my head on this point. I guess this is to force a resolution to the budget mess so we can get on with the business of governing. Maybe someone else has more insight here?
We got a non-blogger, Illinois local @NightOwl4Music, who is disabled with something that will never be resolved and worried about what will happen with Medicaid. There was a lot of talk about this, with several people chiming in on how the system is both insufficient as is and a trap for those who might need temporary assistance.
I asked a detailed, wonky question about the GAO and the CBO. The GAO audits government stuff and they bring back $5 for every $1 budgeted to them. Of course this is a vital cut in the eyes of the Republican party. The CBO doesn't have an input for rhetoric, they just work with numbers and plans. If they are starved then even more of our government will be done by lobbyists and right wing think tanks. I get the feeling the Congressman thought I'd had interactions with people from these agencies, but that's not the case - I used to work for an auditor back when and I really came to appreciate people who quietly check that things are as they are supposed to be.
These calls are the best thing ever for bloggers - instant credibility, because you got the word straight from the Congressman. If you haven't already made a name for yourself you can turn up, ask a sensible question, get noticed by the rest of the crew, and start getting access. Oh, and Beth twists my arm and makes me add ...
Oh and the hits keep on coming... Thursday from noon til 2 pm EST assorted members of the Progressive Caucus will be here on Daily Kos doing their first group Live Blog! Look for the diary at Noon est by Congressional Progressive Caucus
OK, you people grousing down below - you want stuff done? Get on @Spedwybabs mailing list, turn up for the blogger calls, get on Twitter and follow @USProgressives and @RepRaulGrijalva, and keep in mind we get to do these things because of Progressive Congress News, which you can support by donating here. It costs us $100/month to send the daily email to 600+ staffers, hosting our quarterly staff mixer at the Progressive Congress office costs about $250, and we feel we're getting quite lot of bang per buck :-)