Commentary

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) Statement at Hearing on National Debt

NNPA NEWSWIRE — “…The shameless GOP tax scam contains massive giveaways for the nation’s largest banks. According to Americans for Tax Fairness, the country’s six largest Wall Street banks will collectively save an estimated $14 billion in 2018 alone.”

Published

5 years ago

January 2, 2019

Oakland Post

WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, gave the following statement at a full Committee hearing entitled, “The Peril of an Ignored National Debt.”

As Prepared for Delivery

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, since this hearing is about attention to the national debt, I think it is important for the public to understand that the Republican tax scam, pushed through by Congressional Republicans and Donald Trump during this Congress, explodes deficits by an estimated $2.3 trillion from 2018 through 2028, leaving future generations to foot the bill.
The shameless GOP tax scam contains massive giveaways for the nation’s largest banks. According to Americans for Tax Fairness, the country’s six largest Wall Street banks will collectively save an estimated $14 billion in 2018 alone.
And it’s not just banks – the tax scam includes a 20 percent deduction for pass-through businesses, which is a huge giveaway to hedge funds and other Wall Street firms.
To make matters worse, companies are overwhelmingly using the windfall from the tax scam not to hire more workers or raise wages, but to buy back shares from their investors.
This law has been very deliberately constructed by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to benefit huge corporations on Wall Street and millionaires and billionaires, at the expense of hardworking Americans.
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The American public, and future generations will be forced to pay for these handouts to massive corporations because of the actions of the Republican-controlled Congress and this President.
And of course, Republican policies such as the Bush tax cuts – and the Iraq war – are also major contributors to the deficit.
So, when my colleagues on the other side of the aisle talk about fiscal responsibility and the perils of ignoring the national debt, it must be understood that their actions do not match their rhetoric, particularly when it comes to tax cuts for the wealthy.
When we return next year in the new Congress, with Democrats in the Majority, this Committee will reject harmful and reckless policies like these, and work to ensure that our financial system is fair. We will prioritize protecting consumers and investors, making sure strong safeguards are in place to prevent another financial crisis, expanding and supporting affordable housing opportunities, encouraging responsible innovation in financial technology, promoting diversity and inclusion in the financial services sector and ensuring that hardworking Americans and small businesses have fair access to the financial system and opportunities to thrive.
So, Mr. Chairman, I thank you and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

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Opinion: Surviving the Earthquake, an Eclipse and “Emil Amok.”

Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago. That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

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1 week ago

April 17, 2024

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In New York City, the eclipse was about 90 percent visible. Good enough for me. Though a full solar eclipse is a celestial rarity, blockages of any sort aren’t generally celebrated. My one-man play is about growing up with the eclipsed history of American Filipinos and how I struggle to unblock all that.

By Emil Guillermo

I’m a Northern Californian in New York City for the next few weeks, doing my one-man show, “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host, Wiley Filipino, Vegan Transdad.”

I must like performing in the wake of Mother Nature.

Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago.

That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

And it just doesn’t happen that often.

Beyonce singing country music happens more frequently.

When I felt New York shake last week, it reminded me of a time in a San Francisco TV newsroom when editors fretted about a lack of news an hour before showtime.

Then the office carpeting moved for a good ten seconds, and the news gods gave us our lead story.

On Friday when it happened in NYC, I noticed the lines in the carpeting in my room wiggling. But I thought it was from a raucous hotel worker vacuuming nearby.

I didn’t even think earthquake. In New York?

I just went about my business as if nothing had happened. After living near fault lines all my life, I was taking things for granted.

Considering the age of structures in New York, I should have been even more concerned about falling objects inside (shelves, stuff on walls) and outside buildings (signs, scaffolding), fire hazards from possible gas leaks, and then I should have looked for others on my floor and in the hotel lobby to confirm or aid or tell stories.

Of course, as a Californian who has lived through and covered quakes in the 4 to 6 magnitude range, I tried to calm down any traumatized New Yorker I encountered by taking full responsibility for bringing in the quake from the Bay Area.

I reassured them things would be all right, and then let them know that 4.8s are nothing.

And then I invited them to my consoling post-Earthquake performance of “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host…”

It was the night of the eclipse.

ECLIPSING THE ECLIPSE

For example, did you know the first Filipinos actually arrived to what is now California in 1587? That’s 33 years before the Pilgrims arrived in America on the other coast, but few know the Filipino history which has been totally eclipsed.

I was in Battery Park sitting on a bench and there was a sense of community as people all came to look up. A young woman sitting next to me had a filter for a cell phone camera. We began talking and she let me use it. That filter enabled me to take a picture of the main event with my iPhone.

For helping me see, I invited her and her boyfriend to come see my show.

Coincidentally, she was from Plymouth, Massachusetts, near the rock that says the year the Pilgrims landed in 1620.

In my show she learned the truth. The Pilgrims were second.

History unblocked. But it took a solar eclipse.

Next one in 2044? We have a lot more unblocking to do.

If you’re in New York come see my show, Sat. April 13th, 5:20 pm Eastern; Fri. April 19, 8:10 pm Eastern; and Sun. April 21st 5:20 pm Eastern.

You can also livestream the show. Get tickets at www.amok.com/tickets

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. He wishes all his readers a Happy Easter!