Friday, March 29, 2024

Comentarios From Maria: Executive Action Necessary

MC HeadshotPresident Obama dubbed 2014 as the year of action in regards to the measures he has taken that will benefit the American people and the actions he will continue to take with or without this Republican Congress, which continues to be the least productive in history.

As a Latina who grew up with the American Dream ingrained in my mind, I know that the actions of this president are based on those American principles that accept immigrants who come to this country in search of the same dream.

We already know one of these principles is that if we work hard and follow the rules, we should have the ability to reach our dreams, get ahead and give our children a better future where nothing is out of their reach.

Since the President assumed power in 2009, inheriting one of the worst economies in recent history, together with the resilience and perseverance of the American people we have seen the country move forward.

Despite the good news with respect to the unemployment rate, there is still a lot of work to do and we cannot continue to wait for Speaker of the House, Congressman John Boehner, who has given in to the most extreme factions his party.

We have to ensure that the middle class can sustain itself in the long run and that everyone who wants to succeed can do so without obstacles. Currently, Republicans have stuck to their “do nothing” attitude; the only thing that concerns them is wasting taxpayer dollars on frivolous lawsuits against the President just because he has enacted measures in line with the will of the people, who by the way elected him by more than 5 million votes.

Enough with these absurd political games that do not help anyone and that are designed to encourage the extreme factions of the Republican party to go out and vote in November.

Regardless of all the obstacles since January, the President has taken more than 40 actions to foster economic growth among the middle class and expand opportunities for all Americans:

–          Create new manufacturing jobs

–          Support job flexibility and equal pay

–          Make student loan payments more affordable

–          Increase college opportunity

–          Cut carbon dioxide emissions that continue to hurt the health of our children

–          Garner support to increase the minimum wage across the country upon signing an executive order to increase the minimum wage for federal contract workers

Despite all of this, there are still many things that this Republican Congress failed to address before going on vacation, like taking steps to alleviate the crisis of Central American children at the border and passing immigration reform. The President is ready to work with Democrats and Republicans in Congress, but until they are prepared to work with the president, he will continue to use his executive power to offer relief to the people who elected him to govern.

This piece originally appeared in Spanish in the Washington Hispanic