Congressman (and former LG) John Garamendi sat down with a few of us at Netroots Nation. In a wide ranging discussion, we talked about a number of issues. Just a few of these topics:
Electrifying rail lines: This is one branch of stimulus funding that will create jobs right away while decreasing emissions. Of course, there are concerns with the high speed rail questions, but we should see additional commuter lines electrifying.
Made in America: Many wind farms, and even CalTrans, are using Asian steel and manufacturing. For example, CalTrans had a bid for the BayBridge using US steel, but they chose a bid for 10% less. Of course, we ended up spending that money to fix the poor welds. If we’re using tax dollars, we should be buying American products
Vocational Ed: For too long, American schools have been cutting vocational programs. Working with community colleges, we can set up our students for quality jobs for the long-term.
Voting on the issues: He recommends that our Dem leadership in the House make the Republicans vote against these important (and popular) issues. Just keep running the bills stalled in the Senate through the House to make the Senate deal with them again.
Garamendi has hit the ground running since he switched from Sacramento to DC. We should be expecting to see him continuing to press leadership for a vigorous debate.
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16 thoughts on “A Chat With John Garamendi”
You guys gotta have an opinion right?
This reads as if the poor welds were imported from Asia; I had thought that the bad welding job was done by the contractor that built the bridge.
Electrification is the right direction. Right now 3 people in a Prius is the same greenhouse pollution as taking Caltrain, and 4 people in a Prius would be better. With electrification, our RPS will eventually give us very low greenhouse pollution for taking public transportation.
Why is no one running against Devin Nunez for Congress?
I would have attended his session if only I’d known about it.
Too bad he didn’t stick around for the California caucus.
You guys gotta have an opinion right?
This reads as if the poor welds were imported from Asia; I had thought that the bad welding job was done by the contractor that built the bridge.
Electrification is the right direction. Right now 3 people in a Prius is the same greenhouse pollution as taking Caltrain, and 4 people in a Prius would be better. With electrification, our RPS will eventually give us very low greenhouse pollution for taking public transportation.
Why is no one running against Devin Nunez for Congress?
I would have attended his session if only I’d known about it.
Too bad he didn’t stick around for the California caucus.