And the KerryVision team was lucky to participate. While we didn't get to ask questions, most of what we were curious about was answered anyway. The Senator does not leave out any details.
The call was originally billed as a Massachusetts blogger call, and the topic of discussion was to center around the Senate reelection campaign and Mass.- central issues. Well, you can imagine how that worked out! We had Mass. bloggers, Kerry-centric bloggers, and supporters participating in what ended up being a wide-ranging and informative conversation.
The Senator was having a rather busy day at the Capitol on Thursday - 50 votes or more on the budget bill, at least - so he was delayed by a few minutes getting on the line with us. Once he did, however, he hit the ground running, telling us that he is fully engaged in his reelection campaign, and takes nothing for granted. (The campaign has organized an event for this upcoming Saturday to have the Senator and volunteers collect signatures in the Boston area, with food and drinks for everyone afterwards.)
'....we're down here usually Monday through Friday. We've got a lot of votes - we'll be voting all day today. I don't know what we'll wind up with - 30,40,50 votes....we're voting on the budget with some major confrontations on the tax issue, such as who gets the tax breaks. We're trying to keep the breaks for the middle class and keep them away from the wealthiest and most powerful interests in the country....', Senator Kerry informed us. Just that morning the Senate passed a major AIDS bill he had written six years ago with Senator Frist, that added $ 50 Billion in aid and assistance to go around the world.
After this intro, we then launched into the Q and A session of the call:
On strategy against his Senate re-election opponents on each side - O'Reilly and Ogonowski:
- I'm just doing my job. I'm not going to change suddenly. I'm going to do things the people sent me down here to do. I've led the fight to end the war; I was the individual who put the amendment on the floor in August of 2006 against the advice and to the delight of many of my colleagues and we got 13 votes. Then we got 30 votes when I brought it back later, and finally we got 52 votes. So it is now the majority position of the US Senate.
I don't think anybody could lead more effectively or stronger than I did on that issue, and we got it done. We built a majority in the Senate to actually vote to set a date and begin to redeploy the troops. I also believe you have to do it in a responsible way that recognizes out interests in the region and I'm doing that.
I've been the leader in Global Climate Change and don't think anybody can offer stronger leadership than I have on that, alternative energy, renewable fuels, emission reductions. Entire environmental communities recognize me as the Senate leader on that issue, and I'm proud of that.
So, I'll just do my job - continue what I'm doing, and let the record speak for itself.
On possible concerns in certain geographical areas and voting blocs that might need special attention:
- I'm going to work everywhere. I've constantly been moving around the state, but I always do that. It's not a matter of only doing that during an election year. I try to get around the state as much as I can, meeting with mayors, different constituencies, etc. My attitude is "don't leave any stone unturned" and we won't. '
On what the major challenges are for Massachusetts in this election year:
- I think the single biggest challenge on people's minds is the economy: how to create more jobs, how to hold on to the pay levels people have and to be able to pay the bills. Pay the mortage, the energy costs, pay tuitions which have gone up. Most of the costs to the average person are going up and wages are NOT going up commensurate with that.
A lot of people have been squeezed by the foreclosure crisis in the economy through homeownership. I've led on that. I went to the White House and told the president at the meeting of the leadership that they ought to include the foreclosure/housing issue in the stimulus package. I actually won my amendment in the Finance Committee and got it in there, but the Republicans objected and we weren't able to pass it with everything that we wanted to put in it.
It's now in the Housing proposal that is on the floor and I hope we're going to get it passed. Now, finally, the administration is coming around a month and a half later, saying '"gee, we think we ought to do something about the housing crisis" which I gave them a chance to do in the stimulus package a month and a half ago.
So I think my leadership on that has been ahead of the curve, visionary about what the problem is. We are going to get some stop-gap measure to help with respect to foreclosures and housing, which is a big problem. I was down in Brockton, for instance, a few weeks ago, meeting with the mayor. He's had over 400 foreclosures in that city alone, with another 400 to 800 staring him in the face. A lot of communities have a major challenge with respect to the foreclosure issue.
Creating more jobs....Yesterday I had a hearing where I held the science community accountable because they cut the science budget down here for some of the major efforts we need to do the research that creates the new jobs. I have put in an amendment, which is in the budget we're voting on today, that will increase the amount of money to the Small Business Administration and to the small businesses, as well as increase the science money that we're going to spend.
There's a lot on the line. I think those are very critical issues...Immigration is an important issue in a lot of different ways, one of which is - we have a huge problem with the temporary worker visa program. I've personally talked to Michael Chertoff, and I'm hopeful we're going to get that issue resolved somewhere in the next days, but it's been held hostage to the politics of the overall immigration issue. We're trying to break it out so we can get our small businesses - there are a lot of people on the Cape and Islands, a lot of folks out in the Berkshires, some people in between, who are going to be greatly affected by seasonal employment, and we have to get that problem solved.
We have a big issue with respect to the cost of energy. New England pays a particularly high premium on home heating, and the cost of commuting to work - gasoline, which is up now anywhere from 3,10 for normal gas to 3,90 for diesel. It is really getting difficult for people with oil at $104 a barrel, so we're going to continue to push those things.
I visited a New Bedford renewable energy plant that is reprocessing landfill materials into energy, and there are a lot of things like that which I believe would be huge for Massachusetts. We're trying to get those production credits and tax credits passed, but unfortunately, once again the Republicans defended the oil companies. We had money that came out of the oil companies, and they fought against it and defended it. But we're going to continue and try to press for those.
I think those three issues are three of the most important, and obviously, ending the war in Iraq and strengthening America's entire response in the War on Terror. I was just in Pakistan and Afghanistan because I'm chairman of the South Asia and Mideast Subcommittee and again came back underscoring the degree to which the real center of the War on Terror (which I think is not the right name, incidentally. It's a larger struggle than that) is in Pakistan and Afghanistan and they're very much related to each other. So, ending that war in Iraq and getting our troops redeployed and strengthening our military is an enormous issue to Massachusetts and the rest of the country.
So, jobs, the environment, national security, energy costs, are the really big issues.
At this point, Senator Kerry was called away for a vote on the floor. He was very apologetic and asked if he could put us on hold. Umm, Senator? We surely don't mind being placed on hold for something as important as voting on the country's future. Besides, your hold music is rather pleasant to listen to!
And while we're on hold, let's take a look at some recent work JK has been involved in for MA:
On if and how the High Tech Industry in Mass. could be revived:
- Absolutely! I am chairman of Science, Technology, and Innovation subcommittee and yesterday, that is precisely the committee that held the hearing to have accountability on the budget proposal that the president has put in, which I believe is inadequate. We have additional money in today's budget resolution to try to raise the money that is going into Science and Technology - to what is called the America Competes Act.
A year ago, we came together as cosponsors on the legislation and passed the ACA - an act specifically targeted to make up the gap in America's commitment to technology and science. We're particularly focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math students - which we call STEM students and providing additional funding in those sectors.
The president has cut the budget to what is called the Manufacturing Extension Program, and he's also cut the budget for the Advanced Technology Program - both of those programs that I've been a critical sponsor of over the years I've been here.
They produce jobs. Last year, about 171 million in profits came out of the companies that we supported in the MEP. We use it very effectively in Massachusetts. So we are trying to put more money into the MEP, more money into the ATP, and more money into the entire basic research sector.
As chairman of the Small Business Committee, we are trying to pass an Access to Capital plan, as well as a Venture Capital plan, which will allow small VC companies to use public assistance when first starting out, in order to create new jobs.
Yesterday morning I spoke at a meeting of about 30 technology executives from around the country, including people like John Chambers from Cisco, etc. Major players from the tech field - and we were specifically talking about these kinds of initiatives and how we can get them going.....
On Cape Wind:
- It's moving on a very positive track. As you know, I am in favor of wind as a project in America. I'm in favor of alternative renewable energy. We ought to be doing more with solar, we ought to be doing more with wind. But I'm also in favor of having the appropriate siting process go through. I'm not against it, not trying to play a backdoor game. I'm simply asking for the process to go forward. It's going forward and I'm very encouraged by it. I'm encouraged by the last report that came out, and if the final reports come together, I expect to be happily helping to make it happen.....
The process is working very effectively, we had a very positive environmental impact statement, and I was very encouraged by that, and I think that that's the way we ought to go forward.
On the outlook with a new administration:
-Whoever our nominee is, assuming we win - it's not an open and shut thing - whether it's Barack or Hillary, you are going to have a very different relationship with American people on the truth of the things that we face, and we in congress look forward to having that kind of honest discussion with the American people. Remember, we are the ones who put pay-go back in place.
Dick Cheney was telling people four years ago "deficits don't matter". We said they do, and now that we're in control of congress, we have wasted no time putting in place new rules, that require us to be held to very tough fiscal standards. In order to vote for any new money for anything, we have to show where it's coming from. We have to find it. Whether it's the alternative minimum tax fixed, or whether it's additional funding for student loans, which we passed the other day; we have to show how we're going to save the money.
And I'm confident the new president is going to lay out to the American people the challenge of Social Security, the challenge of Medicare, Medicaid, the healthcare system...but not just lay out the challenge and then try to exploit it by going private, or doing something like Bush did, but really offer some realistic ways in which we can fix these issues.
For instance - SS can be fixed very easily. It is not a complicated issue. I am less concerned about Social Security in the long term than I am about Medicare, and fixing IT and keeping it from going bankrupt. And we're going to have a much bigger challenge in fixing the health care system, frankly, than the other.
But I think we'll have a level of candor, which is long overdue in the conduct of America's public business, and I look forward to it.
As do we, Senator Kerry, as do we!
This was the last question asked, and the good Senator politely excused himself to go 'vote on a Specter amendment and to change the course of the country'. Who were we to stop him?
