Education Costs, Health Care Will Likely Sway Youth Vote

By Adrianna McGinley

Youth leaders and policy experts cited rising costs in education, health care, child care, and housing as key issues for winning the young vote in 2012.

The discussion at the Center for American Progress was based on a recent report from the think tank Demos and the Young Invincibles entitled “The State of Young America”.

Heather McGhee, Demos’ Washington office Director, noted the report shows that while college tuition has tripled over the last few decades, federal aid has been cut in half. A maximum pell grant that she said covered 69 percent of costs in 1980, today only covers 34 percent. She added that in 2010 the amount of student debt surpassed that of credit card debt and 76 percent of participants in the study reported it has become harder in the last five years to afford college.

McGhee said these numbers make young people “more oriented towards public solutions, more willing to pay higher taxes for higher degrees of service from the government than any generation since the depression generation.”

Aaron Smith, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Young Invincibles, said Congress has the power to help youth but only if they make their voices heard. Smith cited Obama’s Affordable Care Act as “an example of how Congress can really step up to the plate and address one of these big long-term challenges,” and added it would be a grave mistake for Congress to repeal it in 2012.

“Going backwards is obviously, I think, exactly the wrong move…we’re going to be doing more work in the Fall to educate young people about what the health care law actually means for them,” Smith said. “Once you have the education I think then you’re prepared to sort of become an advocate, to tell your story, to explain ‘yes…I’m a young person, but healthcare really does matter to my life,’ and we found that when those stories are told, it can be quite powerful and change the political debate.”

The panel also touched on immigration issues.

Eduardo Garcia, Advocacy Associate for Campus Progress, said the 2012 election will depend on how the administration continues to deal with the undocumented population.

“Young people are very much feeling the impacts of some of the harmful deportation policies that the administration has adopted, and I think that it’s especially hurtful because many of those folks turned out in 2008 to get this president elected.”

The panel cited immigration reform as a possible key to economic recovery as well, saying that while 54 percent of all young adults have or want to start a business, that rate for minority youth is over 60 percent.

Ronnie Cho, White House Liaison to Young Americans and Associate Director of the Office of Public Engagement, said it is up to youth to make their voices heard.

“It is incumbent upon ourselves to really assert ourselves, not ask for an invitation to be a part of the discussion, because that’s simply not going to happen and it hasn’t happened…that’s why the discussion hasn’t been around how this affects young people,” Cho said. “It is our time to emerge as this force to be reckoned with.”

McGhee added that while young voters need to stand up, the federal government must continue to protect voters rights, citing that in 2010, 31 states passed voter ID laws that could inhibit youth from voting since over a third of 18 year olds do not have a federally issued ID.

Lawyer Predicts Virginia's Health Care Reform Challenge Will Fail

Philip Bunnell - Talk Radio News Service

Despite a Federal Judge’s decision Monday to allow a lawsuit filed by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli challenging the national health care reform law to proceed, Walter Dellinger, Chair of the Appellate Practice at the firm O’Melveny & Meyers in Washington, D.C. and an acting Solicitor General in the Clinton administration, predicts the effort to block the legislation will fail.

“It is fairly routine that thousands of cases go forward every week in the courts of this country that survive a motion to dismiss on the face of the pleadings where ultimately the plaintiffs lose, and I think that will be the case here,” Dellinger said during a conference call hosted by the Center for American Progress.

Dellinger also noted that filing a lawsuit that challenges decisions made by elected representatives is “a very dramatic expansion of judicial authority” and that such a notion would likely bother conservative judges.

“This is the kind of challenge that was brought against the Social Security law by the people who lost in the legislative process,” added Dellinger.  “This kind of litigation was brought against the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act.  These challenges have always failed because in the end, courts realize that these important decisions are to be made by the elected representatives of the people.”

Hoyer Pledges Jobs Creation Will Help Americans 'Make It In America'

Robert Hune-Kalter - Talk Radio News Service

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Friday at the Center for American Progress (CAP) that if jobs are created in America, Americans can make it in America and he believes job creation must be part of the American agenda.

“The private sector has added jobs for, as I said, six straight months,” said Hoyer. “By comparison, it took more than two years after the end of the last recession for our economy to return to six consecutive months of job growth in the private sector.”

He was critical of Republicans, accusing them of attempting to “demonize” legislation that has clearly helped the private sector and job growth.

“The House Minority Whip himself, hosted three job fairs ironically featuring employers who have benefited from such federal funds, a policy he voted against,” Hoyer said. “In fact, while all House Republican’s voted against these investments, more than half of the Republicans in Congress have taken credit for them in their districts.”

Hoyer says Republicans want to return to the same failed policies that put America in the current economic recession.

“The chairman of the Republican congressional campaign committee, whose job it is to recruit members to come to Congress to make policy said, and I quote, ‘We need to go back to the exact same agenda’,” said Hoyer.

Congress Can't Trust BP To Protect Clean Up Crews, Says Democrat

Philip Bunnell - Talk Radio News Service

Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) said Monday that BP, the oil giant responsible for the massive oil spill in the Gulf Coast, cannot be counted on to protect the health of workers assigned to clean up the spill.

“We know we can’t trust BP,” Capps said during a discussion at the Center For American Progress (CAP) in Washington, D.C.. Capps added that BP lacked the incentive to provide adequate healthcare to cleanup workers.

Ellen-Marie Whelan, the associate director of health policy at CAP, explained the importance of extensive data compilation so that government agencies can monitor the long term health effects of the spill, especially regarding the unknown effects of the chemical dispersant.  

“Some of the [health] effects can take years to emerge,” said Whelan.

Dr. Lesley Russell, a visiting fellow at CAP who focuses on health issues, outlined the many risks that can arise from the spill, including contaminated seafood, PTSD, and fertility issues.  Russell cautioned that cleanup workers near the crude oil, burning oil, and dispersants, are already complaining of feeling ill.

All three emphasized that it is important to learn from past disasters, such as 9/11, the Exxon Valdez spill, and a 2002 oil spill of the coast of Spain, when looking at the adverse health effects and how to protect emergency cleanup workers as well as residents.

Podesta Claims Gulf Coast Spill Could Be Oil's Final Nail In the Coffin

By Linn Grubbstrom - Talk Radio News Service

John Podesta, the head of the think tank Center for American Progress, said Tuesday that the disastrous oil spill off the Gulf Coast could be the catalyst to finally move the U.S. away from oil.

"It's our hope that 2010 will be remembered as the year the U.S. began to turn away from oil in a meaningful, serious way. We've been talking about it for probably 40 years now," said Podesta during a forum held by the National Italian American Foundation. "I think ... maybe 2010 will be that moment were we really do begin that long march towards cleaner sources of energy."

However, to be able to do that Podesta, who served as Chief of Staff in the Clinton administration, wants President Barack Obama and Congress to take several immediate steps toward the development of renewable energy.

"I would like to see him go faster, I would like to see the Senate move forward this summer," said Podesta.