Cisneros For Congress

Primary elections are an opportunity to choose a standard bearer for the values we hold. The March 1^st election features numerous such opportunities including half a dozen state wide offices and both congressional seats representing Guadalupe County. The 28^th congressional district which will cover the westernmost corner of the county is a strongly Democratic leaning district currently held by a 16 year incumbent who represents big money more than the people of the district.

For the second election in a row the incumbent is being challenged by Jessica Cisneros, an immigration attorney from Laredo who once was an intern in his Washington, D.C. office. In the last election she lost by a mere 4% and this time around she has much better name recognition. Ms. Cisneros is passionate about the need to reform our broken immigration system with which she is intimately familiar as the child of Mexican immigrants with family members on both sides of the border.

Ms. Cisneros is a strong advocate for addressing climate change and is endorsed by the “Texas Drought Project” because she recognizes that south Texas is one of the first areas that will suffer from higher temperatures and more erratic weather. When I spoke to her about her views on the issue she made clear that she recognizes that many on the district worry about jobs more than climate which is why she also reminds voters that green jobs are good paying jobs. Building and maintaining wind farms or installing and caring for solar panels is safer and healthier for the workers while paying just as well or better than oil and gas jobs. Drilling for oil and gas is a cyclical business so those jobs come and go often leaving communities in debt with damaged infrastructure like the roads that get beaten up by all the heavy trucks going up and down them. Solar and wind farms need constant attention so jobs are steady and numerous by comparison.

Jessica Cisneros is supported by “Justice Democrats” because she advocates for raising the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation so that workers never again see their earnings eroded by inflation while congress fails to act to restore their buying power. The last time minimum wage was raised was 2009 which makes this the longest period in history between adjustments. The buying power of minimum wage has fallen 21% since then. Had minimum wage kept up with inflation since 1968 it would now be well over $11 an hour. The incumbent has withheld support for raising minimum wage using the excuses dreamed up by his wealthy campaign donors.

24% of citizens in TX-28 didn’t have health insurance when the pandemic broke out, leaving our community particularly vulnerable to the global public health crisis. The average family with health coverage is spending $12,000 out of pocket on health care premiums and deductibles. The incumbent voted to weaken the Affordable Care Act, reducing the number of workers eligible for coverage and making long-term and comprehensive care more expensive. Ms. Cisneros believes that health care is a right, not a privilege. She supports single-payer, Medicare For All which would insure every American with comprehensive health care. Medicare For All would eliminate premiums and deductibles while expanding coverage to include dental, hearing, vision, and mental health, thereby lowering overall costs to families, small businesses, and government.

While Tannya Benavides holds similar positions she doesn’t have the experience that Ms. Cisneros has.

When early voting starts Tuesday February 14 I’ll be voting for Jessica Cisneros, I hope you will too.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - February 2, 2022

An Opportunity for a More Progressive Member of Congress

Late last year the Texas legislature, in its infinite wisdom and partisan contrivance, saw fit to redraw congressional district boundaries such that Guadalupe County is now split between the 15^th and 28^th districts. The 28^th congressional district encompasses the western most 30% of the county, north of I-10 the boundary is the Guadalupe River, south of I-10 the boundary follows FM 775 south for a bit then zig zags here and there until it hits the county line near Zuehl Crossing.

Since the 15^th congressional district will lean Republican Vicente Gonzalez has filed to run in a neighboring district that is more friendly to Democrats. The 28^th congressional district which included Guadalupe County until the 2011 redistricting cycle has been held by Henry Cuellar since 2006.

Democrats should remember that Cuellar refused to support the Affordable Care Act until some of the most important benefits were stripped out of it. I and many other local activists pounded Cuellar for months before he finally announced his support just days before the bill came to a vote, but not before he worked with a handful of other “conservative” Democrats to add a provision that explicitly banned insurance coverage for abortions. Considering that the Affordable Care Act had so much that would have benefitted the citizens of Guadalupe County and the rest of the 28^th congressional district Cuellar’s diffidence was maddening.

Henry Cuellar has long been known for his ties to Republicans, like when he hosted a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. John Carter in 2018. At the time, the Round Rock Republican was a top target for Democrats in their successful bid to take back control of the chamber that year. Cuellar also champions conservative causes and had an “A” rating with the National Rifle Association. In 2019, he refused calls to return donations from the group. The anti-tax group Club for Growth endorsed Cuellar in 2006, making him the first Democrat ever endorsed by the organization.

In a new campaign video Cuellar claims “I built the relationships to be effective, no matter who is in power, to deliver results for my district,” as photos run of the congressman and recent presidents.  Cuellar goes on to say “... That’s why I’m always able to get to the table where the important decisions are being made.”

Unfortunately his claims aren’t true as he has strongly opposed legislation to address the human causes of climate change even though Laredo’s water supply is the Rio Grande which has seen water levels falling for decades and is projected to dry up entirely by 2040. I’ve already mentioned his failure to champion the Affordable Care Act which could have brought medical care to many low income residents in the district. Cuellar has also shown no interest in raising minimum wage or protect unionization efforts of workers. While Cuellar certainly manages to get a seat at the table he uses it to benefit his wealthy campaign donors especially those in the oil and gas industry.

Just last week Cuellar’s home in Laredo and his office in Washington were raided by dozens of FBI agents who carried out numerous bags of evidence. Media reports say an unnamed law enforcement agent indicated the raid is connected to ties Cuellar has to Azerbaijani government officials and oil and gas industry executives there.

This time around he is being challenged for the Democratic nomination by two strong Latinas, Jessica Cisneros who nearly beat him in 2020 and Tannya Benavides.  I’ll tell you more about both of them next week.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - January 26, 2022

Failure of the Super-Committee is an opportunity

The Super-Committee has failed in its duty to find $1 trillion in budget cuts over the next decade but that doesn’t mean we don’t still need to make those cuts. Congressman Cuellar has been open to cutting many areas of the budget but not the Pentagon budget which is perhaps the most bloated of all. Did you know that we spend more on our military than the next 17 nations combined? That’s China, France, the UK, Germany, Russia and a dozen others. The U.S. spends 43% of all the money spent on the military in the entire world.

Now I’m not talking about cutting military healthcare budgets and raising co-pays on our military retirees as has been proposed by some, I’m talking about real cuts in our weapons budgets for things like the troubled V22 Osprey that has failed to meet design goals over and over again. I’m talking about closing half of the over 800 overseas military bases we staff. If we bring those troops home where they will spend their paychecks in American stores and restaurants employing American people who pay American taxes we get twice the bang for the buck.

Guadalupe County and Bexar County are the home of many active duty and retired members of our military as well as their families. If the Pentagon budget isn’t cut those who have given the most to our country will be forced to give more and that isn’t right.

Bi-partishanship that's just nuts

In one of the most disgusting displays of bi-partisanship I’ve ever seen both Congressman Henry Cuellar and Senator John Cornyn are advocating for a balanced budget amendment. Both these highly educated gentlemen are lawyers and experienced legislators but obviously not economists.

Enshrining a balanced budget in our constitution would shackle our nation in times of disaster or war by preventing the federal government from spending on emergency needs without either immediately cutting spending elsewhere by the same amount thus cutting government services and putting government employees out of work or raising taxes precipitously to immediately offset that spending rather then spreading the payments out over time.

According to a blistering analysis of a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) by Macroeconomic Advisers, one of the nation’s preeminent private and non-partisan economic forecasting firms, if a constitutional balanced budget amendment had already been ratified and were now being enforced for fiscal year 2012, “the effect on the economy would be catastrophic,” Macroeconomic Advisers also concludes that under a balanced budget amendment, “recessions would be deeper and longer,” and uncertainty would be cast over the economy that could slow economic growth even in normal economic times.

In short Congressman Cuellar and Senator Cornyn should bone up on their economics before bring up this silly amendment ever again.

Letter to Congressman Cuellar regarding his vote against cutting the bloated Pentagon budget

February 20, 2011

The Honorable Henry Cuellar

336 Cannon H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515
fax: 202-225-1641

Dear Congressman Cuellar,

I’m stunned that you voted “no” on the amendment offered by Representatives Barbara Lee and Pete Stark (No. 141) to the continuing resolution that would have insisted that the Pentagon budget be cut back to the level of FY 2008. You’ve previously supported efforts to reduce federal government spending yet when you had an opportunity to really accomplish it you back off.

If you are looking for ways to reduce the deficit, military spending should be the first place you look. The U.S. spends more on our military than the next 18 nations combined, are you actually concerned that we couldn’t defend ourselves with a lot less. Let’s be clear, we have over 700 acknowledged military bases on foreign soil and hundreds of thousands of troops manning them. We also continue to build Cold War era weapons systems while also fighting an illegal war in Iraq and an unnecessary one in Afghanistan. If you really want to be a deficit hawk it’s past time we brought home all our troops from Iraq and that includes the mercenaries we euphemistically call “security contractors”. We need to rapidly phase out our military presence in Afghanistan and cut the number of overseas bases in half.

Many members of Congress from both major political parties have insisted that the Pentagon should not be exempted from spending cuts as Congress works to reduce the federal budget deficit. Remember President Eisenhower’s warning of April 16, 1953, before the American Society of Newspaper Editors:
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children . . . This is not a way of life at all in any sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”

I hope that you will look for future opportunities to reduce the out-of-control Pentagon budget. I would like to learn why you voted against this amendment.

Sincerely,

Guns vs. Butter in earnest

Our federal legislators are currently considering a budget for next year that imposes a spending freeze for most domestic programs yet somehow there's money to spare when it comes to nuclear weapons pork. The budget requests $7 billion for nuclear bomb making capacities, a $1 billion increase over last year's budget for the same programs and an astounding 40% jump over average annual spending, after adjusting for inflation, on nuclear weapons during the Cold War era.

The budget has hundreds of millions for new bomb plants that would enable the U.S. to increase its capacity to create new nuclear weapons in the future. A new plutonium facility in New Mexico to enable a huge increase in the production of radioactive cores for nuclear weapons is just one example of several proposals in the budget. This piece of pork will cost taxpayers $225 million in the coming year and about $4 billion by the time construction is complete.

While the president is working with the Senate to ratify the New Start Treaty which would reduce the threat of nuclear war, we don’t need to be building capacity to make more nuclear bombs. Just as importantly, we shouldn’t be spending money on unneeded weapons when we can’t balance our budget without cutting domestic spending in areas such as education and alternative energy that would create jobs now and be investments in our future.

Congressmen Lamar Smith and Henry Cuellar need to know that we want to invest in our future not our past.

Our Internet Sold Out for Campaign Contributions

Failure to adequately regulate industry has within the last two years led to the collapse of Lehman Bros., the banking system and the U.S. economy as well as the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that British Petroleum is responsible for. The collapse of our financial markets hurt us all and has put about 10% of the labor force out of work, the oil spill in the Gulf is more localized but will harm that locality for as much as a generation. Both the fishing and tourism industries are likely to suffer for years not to mention many species of fish and birds including Louisiana’s state bird, the brown pelican, which was removed from the endangered species list just six months ago.

Now the telecommunications industry wants internet services to be unregulated. This as we’ve so recently seen is a recipe for disaster. The websites that so many of us have come to rely on and enjoy are at risk of being shoved aside by telecommunications companies that seek monopolize control of access and use of the internet in order to maximize their profits. They claim to want to advance innovation when in fact they want to stifle it. Innovation is a messy business that is most often accomplished by small organizations and seldom by monopolies.

The telecommunications industry like the Wall Street bankers and oil industry before them have exerted pressure on our elected representatives. 73 Democrats in the House including Congressmen Henry Cuellar, Ciro Rodriguez and Charlie Gonzalez have submitted to that pressure. You ask what kind of pressure, how about anywhere from $23,000 to $36,750 in campaign contributions.

It is time we had a campaign finance solution that removed the influence of special interests from the equation. It’s time we passed the Fair Elections Now Act, HR 1826, which provides for voluntary public campaign financing. Call you congressman and urge him to support Net Neutrality and co-sponsor HR 1826.

Letter to Congressman Cuellar in light of the Massachusetts special election

Dear Congressman Cuellar,

Immediately after the Massachusetts Senate special election a Research 2000 poll of Brown voters in shows 82% of Obama voters who went for Brown support the public option and by a 3:2 margin think that the current bill doesn't go far enough. The Obama voters who stayed home think the bill doesn't go far enough by a 6:1 margin.

The Democratic Party has less than 10 months to start governing as a people-powered party, or we will lose both the House and the Senate. With the election of Scott Brown to fill Sen. Kennedy’s unexpired term the damage is done. Unless the Democrats move aggressively to correct the perception that we are the party of backroom deals and massive corporate bailouts, 2010 will be more of the same. Given that the Cook Political Report rates TX 28 as even between the Democrats and Republican you’re on the bubble and are likely to be one of the losers if the party fails to pass populist legislation.

So if you want to activate base voters you need to get behind a big jobs bill to put the nearly 10% of Texans who are unemployed back to work. You need to pass a strong health care reform bill with the Public Option. Surveys show that likely 2010 voters "oppose a mandate to purchase private insurance by 64% to 34% but support a mandate with a choice of private or public insurance by 60% to 37%."

You and the party need to pass green energy legislation and come to grips with the fact that global climate change will happen within the lifetime of many of today’s voters if you don’t do something now. Finally it’s time to stop pouring blood and treasure into Iraq and Afghanistan and bring our troops home so we can spend the money here on infrastructure, health care and education. Those are winning issues in the upcoming election.

I like a quote I read recently, "… a Democratic Party that would abandon their central initiative this quickly isn't a Democratic Party that deserves to hold power." I would add that if the party doesn't stick to the principles it professes to hold and stand up to the lobbyists you’ve kowtowed to from the start, "holding power" won't be anything you have to worry about because the Tea Party is gunning for you. In order to be re-elected you’re going to need the party base proud of what you’ve done and actively campaigning for you and not sitting on their hands at home like the folks in Massachusetts.

Sincerely,

Afghan surge and taxes to pay for it

December 4, 2009

The Honorable Henry Cuellar
336 Cannon H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515
phone: 202-225-1640
fax: 202-225-1641

Dear Congressman Cuellar,

I believe that we should immediately begin a phased withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan because we are aggravating a situation that is well beyond our ability to control. Since it appears that we will instead increase our military engagement there the war must be paid for without mortgaging our future and to do that we must raise taxes.

I know that you, a proud Blue Dog, understand how important it is that government operates in a fiscally responsible manner, it is therefore incumbent upon you and your Blue Dog associates to demand that we either withdraw from Afghanistan or raise taxes to pay for it. It is my understanding that it costs approximately $1 million to field one soldier for one year and since we’re soon to have 100,000 troops on the ground then $100 billion in taxes must be raised. Only the House can raise taxes so you and your Blue Dog colleagues are the nation’s best hope for prosecuting this unwinnable war in a fiscally responsible manner. I urge you to demand that all Afghanistan War funding be put into the standard military budget bill rather than in special supplements that hide the true cost of this war.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Congressman Cuellar - thanks but...

Today members of the Dem's Café and allied groups visited with Congressman Cuellar's aide to thank the Congressman for his support of the health care reform bill HR 3962, we also let him know that we weren't happy with his vote in favor of the Stupak amendment eliminating insurance coverage for abortions. We also delivered the visual aid and following letter.

Dem’s Café activists and allies

November 17, 2009

The Honorable Henry Cuellar
100 S. Austin Street, Suite 1
Seguin, Texas 78155

Subject: HR 3962

Dear Congressman Cuellar,

Thank you for standing with your constituents and the American people in voting for HR 3962. There is still a long way to go and we urge you to continue to work for a robust public option, one that allows everyone to participate and starts right away. The bigger the pool of participants the more efficient the system will be and the greater the savings your constituents will enjoy, as well as, according to the CBO, the greater the impact it will have on lowering the federal deficit.

While we appreciate your support for this historic legislation our happiness is tempered by your vote in favor of the Stupak anti-choice amendment and we will be working with our friends in the choice community to ensure that this dangerous measure is stricken from the final bill. President Obama has said that the Stupak Coat Hanger amendment goes too far and doesn’t maintain the compromise of the Hyde amendment. We’re counting on you to recognize that the Hyde amendment already is highly restrictive and including the Stupak amendment in the final bill is unnecessary and unjust as it would effectively eliminate abortion services from any insurance plan whether or not it is paid for with federal funds.

We understand that Catholic bishops put a lot of pressure on members of Congress to support the Stupak amendment. We ask you to realize that many of your supporters are not Catholic nor are they religious and our form of government exists because of the separation of church and state. We therefore urge you to step back from the Stupak amendment and allow it to die in conference.

If you’re going to support the Stupak Coat Hanger amendment then to be consistent you should work to eliminate coverage in Medicare and the Exchange for Cialis, Levitra, Viagra and penile implants.

Legalized abortion is now clearly understood to be largely responsible for the decrease in violent crime over the last 15 or so years by minimizing the number of unwanted children born to women too young or otherwise unable to care for them*. It has also reduced the number of battered children reducing the need for programs like Child Protective Services and Head Start. By eliminating women’s options you are guaranteeing the need for more police, SCHIP, Medicaid and CPS funding as well as the untold misery caused by the adolescents and adults those unwanted children turn into.

The Stupak amendment does not literally say that plans on the exchange can’t include abortion coverage, it just makes it completely impossible that a plan could for several reasons. To pretend that a reading of the Stupak amendment could not easily be used to stop the sale of plans covering abortion on the exchange is absurd. That is like claiming a law making it illegal to sell tubes capable of having a bullet pass through at high speeds would not be a ban on firearms.

If women and families are forced to have children that are unplanned and unwanted, then the government and society that imposes that burden on women and families must offset the burden with all of the necessary societal programs that are needed to sustain and enhance the child and the family. If you take away choice, then you must replace it with social and economic programs to help the families be responsible, productive tax paying citizens. When your fiscally responsible views collide with your anti-abortion stance you have to choose and fully support one or the other, which will it be?

Redistricting will soon be here and as I understand it Texas stands to pick up two new House seats. Your district may not remain the same so unless you are prepared for a primary challenge from the left you should remember that “Hell hath no fury like a woman disenfranchised”. If you plan to stay in office much longer you should remember that women support Democrats more often than men and women are more likely to be Pro-Choice than men so you’re throwing away the Democrat’s slim edge in the district. Virginia Governor candidate Creigh Deeds ran away from the Democratic Party’s principles and party stalwarts stayed home in droves on election day. The day that Democrats in your district don’t bother to vote because you don’t inspire us to come out is the day that the Republican challenger will beat you.

For the good of the country, the Democratic Party and most of all for the good of women we urge you to work to eliminate the Stupak amendment from health care reform legislation.

Sincerely,

Dem’s Café progressive activists, Members of American’s United and allies


* "The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime" by John Donohue and Steven Levitt published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics in 2001

Letter to Congressman Cuellar urging support for strong public option in health care reform legislation

August 30, 2009

The Honorable Henry Cuellar
336 Cannon H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515
phone: 202-225-1640
fax: 202-225-1641

Dear Congressman Cuellar,

Thank you for speaking out in support of HR 3200, I urge you to take the position that you’ll only vote for a reform bill that includes a strong public option right away. It should include the following concepts:
Everyone is eligible.
Pre-existing conditions won’t disqualify anyone.
It must also be transparent and accountable to Congress and taxpayers.
It has to be nationwide to pool risk most efficiently.
It has to be nationwide so it has the clout to negotiate with all forms of health care providers.
It has to be nationwide so that it is portable when a citizen moves.

Your constituents have far more to gain than they stand to lose by such reform. HR 3200 would:
Prevent 620 health care-related bankruptcies in the district
Properly compensate health care providers in the district who currently provide $47 million worth of uncompensated care
Cover 244,000 of the 267,000 people in the district who are currently uninsured
Be deficit neutral through increased efficiencies in Medicare and Medicaid and a surtax on one half of one percent of the population in the district.

Sincerely,

Today, June 17th, fourteen progressive activists from various parts of Guadalupe County representing Moveon.org met today with Mark Gonzales of Congressman Henry Cuellar’s staff to deliver a letter and supporting documents urging the Congressman to work to strengthen the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

We gathered to show our support for a stronger clean energy bill. Mr. Gonzales promised to pass our request to the Congressman. I asked him to please have the Congressman get back to us on our request and he promised would. I reminded Mr. Gonzales that this was our third visit about this issue and it should be taken as a measure of our commitment to this issue and we wanted to see real action on our agenda. We won’t really know if we have had any impact for some time to come so we’ll have to maintain pressure by continuing to contact Congressman Cuellar. I urge you to call Congressman Cuellar by phone or mail.

The Honorable Henry Cuellar
336 Cannon H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515
phone: 202-225-1640
fax: 202-225-1641