Rep. Donna Edwards is teaming up with the Prince George’s County Young Democrats tomorrow and health care is on the agenda. There are few issues that have incited so much debate and interest among the American people this year, but when President Barack Oama made a promise to overhaul the national health care system, everyone got involved. That included Prince George’s County’s own Donna Edwards.

Edwards who was elected to office only after unseating incumbent Al Wynn in a primary is likely the most liberal member of the Maryland delegation. Some would run away from that, Donna Edwards is excited about it. As she discusses health care tomorrow with not only members of PGCYD but the general public as well, Rep. Edwards will almost surely face a few questions:

1. What does this plan mean for Prince George’s County?
2. What is your bottom line?
3. Will Congress pass health care reform this year?
4. Will it include a public option?

The last question will likely be the most well discussed question. President Obama’s administration seemed to float a balloon with the possiblity of dropping the public option from the final version of the bill. Rep. Edwards and her liberal allies shot that balloon up with it seemed like the very AK-47s they are so opposed it and sent it back to the dark room the idea was developed in. Now for days the Obama White House has been trying to back away from consideration of dropping the option.

Regardless of what turns out to be the bill, tomorrow Rep. Donna Edwards will meet with the young people in her district and discuss why we need health care reform, why passing it this year is important, and what it means for young people. Our entire Executive Board and all of PGCYD invite you to join us for the discussion tomorrow.

Donna Edwards Talks Health Care with PGCYD

Thursday, August 20, 2009

7:00PM

UFCW Local 400 ~ 4301 Garden City Drive, Hyattsville, MD

in the Basement

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Check out Donna Edwards discussing her demand for a strong public option at a rally with the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Tri-Caucus by clicking here.

Barney Frank Means Business

Why have townhalls meant to educate the public and allow them to pose questions to our elected officials become a circus? This clip shows that not all Dems will allow that kind of banter at their townhalls.

Democrats Seem Set to Go It Alone on a Health Bill

Is the debate over? Can Dems reach a compromise with Republicans? Or have politcal calculations over where to stand on healthcare reform framed this debate.

Novak debates Zappa

“Public Option”

Yes some liberals are angered by this notion

Death Panels’ Aren’t the Half of It, Says Senator Kyl
By CARL HULSE
A leading Republican rejects the notion that misinformation
is driving public anxiety in the health care debate.

http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/death-panels-arent-the-half-of-it-says-senator-kyl/index.html?nl=pol&emc=pol

RESOLUTION

CONCERNING: Comprehensive Health Care Reform

WHEREAS, the Prince George’s County Young Democrats believe all Americans, regardless of life station or social position, have a right to high quality, affordable Health Care; and,

WHEREAS, one in six or 45 million Americans and 150,000 in Prince George’s County alone are currently uninsured, and another 20 million are underinsured, which places and expensive burden upon the nation’s emergency services and proliferates contagious diseases; and,

WHEREAS, young people aged 18-29 comprise the largest uninsured group in the United States, with nearly a third living without Health Coverage; and

WHEREAS, Health care costs have increased 85% in the last ten years, with the expectation of exponential increases in years to come, forcing as many as 72 million Americans onto the roles of the uninsured by 2040; and,

WHEREAS, the increasing costs of Health Care will lower the take home wages of Americans by nearly $25,000 in 2040, detrimentally impacting the United States’ Gross Domestic Product and saddling future generations with insurmountable national debt; and,

WHEREAS, the Obama-Biden Health Care proposal seeks to expand coverage, improve quality, lower costs, expand preventative care, and promote innovation and advancement in medical technologies, at an affordable cost to America; therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED, the Prince George’s County Young Democrats and its members stand with Rep. Donna Edwards, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Senators Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin to fight for the passage of President Obama’s Health Care plan this year; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Prince George’s County Young Democrats officially and publicly add its name to the growing list of progressive organizations which support the Presidents Health Care plan.

Ok, I will admit that I am new at this blogging thing. I know that I am supposed to write something everyday, regardless if I am swamped at work or on a plane coming back from Chicago. So I apologize for just now posting a new blog.

I am sure everyone wants to know what happened the next day. There were a series of events in the morning. The Credentials Committee was in a meeting all morning to prepare for the big elections that afternoon. The awards committee reconvened to vote on the awards for the night’s Gala dinner. I spent the morning playing tourist with my family that lives in Chicago. If you have never been to Chicago you must go. It is really a beautiful city. We drove past Oprah’s studios and had brunch at Wishbone. They are known for their Shrimp and Grits. 

Ok back to the Convention. The afternoon was slated for the general session for elections. On the way to the main hall one was attacked by representatives from all of the candidates with stickers, posters and other propaganda. There was a flurry of activity as people scrambled for last minute votes. The afternoon started with speeches from outgoing President David Hart and his partner. Rachael Morse who is David’s Chief of Staff said a few words and spelled out the rules for elections.  Then the drama began.

We started with the elections for President. I like Chris Anderson. He has done a lot for YDA over the years and has truly been a leader within the organization. However, it was not even close. Crystal Strait won 2 to 1. Next was the election for Executive Vice President. I thought this one would be very close as both candidates were very qualified for the position and both have truly been a blessing to YDA over the years. However, as we got to some of the larger states like New York and Michigan, Rod Snyder pulled away from A’shanti Gholar.

Next was the position for 1st Vice President. This was the closest election of the afternoon. The two candidates were Zack Hawkins from North Carolina who was on the slate with Chris Anderson and Renee Hartley from Texas who was on the slate with Crystal Strait. Though was supporting Crystal and most of the people on her slate I was an animate support for Zack Hawkins. Mr. Hawkins is the former President of the North Carolina Young Democrats. He served as President of the state chapter during the Obama campaign and worked to help turn the state blue. He is a science teacher in Raleigh, North Carolina with a wealth of organization experience. During his term as president they also grew the number of chapters in North Carolina. I think Renee is a nice person and she has worked hard as the President of the Dallas County Young Democrats. However, I thought Zack was more qualified. In fact, I seconded his nomination. The end result, Renee won the election. I will admit that I was disappointed by the outcome. However, I wish Renee the best of luck and I look forward to working with her in YDA. However, I am sure that we will hear from Mr. Hawkins again and I will stand beside him once again.

The remaining elections were not even close. Colmon Eldridge was elected 2nd Vice President. Isaac Robinson was elected 3rd Vice President. Mark Newman was elected Treasurer and Emily Robinson was elected secretary. There were some disappointed faces and some angry individuals. However, I hope that we can come together as an organization. If there were any issues of malfeasance which would have affected the outcome of the elections then the proper measures need to be taken by filing a formal complaint and having the matter reviewed by the Judicial Council.

After the elections, I went the Tomorrow Club reception. The Tomorrow Club is the small donor fundraising arm of YDA. People who join the Tomorrow Club give a specific dollar amount to YDA every month. As a member of the Tomorrow Club I figured I should enjoy one of the few perks of membership. The special guest at the reception was Mayor Newsome from San Francisco.

I then left there to change for the Gala. I knew before the Gala that PGCYD was nominated by the Young Democrats of Maryland for the Local Chapter of the Year award. Therefore, I purchased a ticket for the Gala just in case we won. This is the first time that PGCYD was up for the award and I was not certain if we would actually get it. I was just much honored to have been nominated and that YDM thought enough of us to submit our name to the national awards committee. The Gala was not as nice as the one from 2007. This is because YDA is still broke. Not as broke as we were in February when the general membership found out but broke still. Therefore, the Gala was appetizers and an open bar. I guess they figured if they get you drunk enough you won’t notice that they are not going to serve dinner.  The Gala was nice. The newly elected executive board was sworn in. Then came the awards. When I heard that PGCYD was the recipient of the local chapter of the year award was over come with emotion. I know that I do what I do because I want to help educate people about the issues that affect them. I did not become President of PGCYD because I wanted awards and accolades. However, it was nice to see that people are noticing what we are doing here in Prince George’s County.  

That evening was cause to celebrate the elections, the awards and Joseph’s election as Recording Secretary of the YDA Labor Caucus. I threw on my yellow dress and enjoyed the Chicago night.

It is day three in the windy city. We have officially taken over the hotel with fine young dems from across the country.

Today was the day of the caucus elections. Our very own, Joseph Kitchen successfully ran for Recording Secretary of the Labor Caucus. The Labor Caucus meeting and elections was an interesting one. The caucus meetings and workshops are being held at the conference center next to the hotel which does not have as much security as the hotel. During the labor caucus meeting, a person who appeared to be living on the street entered into the meeting. The unwanted interruption though simply highlighted exactly how important the labor movement is here in America. The outgoing chair of the labor caucus, Isaac Robinson passed a cup around the room to collect funds for the man. Then a brother from IEBW gave the man the address to the local hall and the time for him to come down and get training so that he can hopefully find a job. What appeared to be a negative moment turned into a beautiful point. We need to remember that it is labor that brought to us the 40 hour work week, the 8 hour day, paid leave and health care benefits. The YDA Labor caucus is one of the fastest growing caucuses in all of YDA. We need to support labor. We need to support the original version of the Employee Free Choice Act. Not a hybrid or a mark up. I look forward to working with the brothers and sisters in the Labor movement to support working families. That is what being a Democrat is about.

Yesterday was a good day. I went to the Women’s Caucus breakfast with Christine Pelosi, the daughter of our current speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. She was very inspiring about women in politics.

Later in the afternoon, I served as one of the moderators of the “Chapter Building” training with Sarah who is the President of the Arlington County Virginia Young Democrats. It went very well and hopefully it was helpful to those that attended.

However, the highlight of the day was the general session. At general session we heard speeches from some of the candidates who are running for national office. The speech delivered by Colmon Elridge who is running for one of the Vice President positions was phenomena!!! I had decided before I left Prince George’s County that I was going to vote for Colmon. I heard a lot of wonderful things about him and the work that he has done in Kentucky with the Kentucky Young Dems and College Dems. The speech was solid, the delivery was great!! Mark my words; we will see great things from Mr. Elridge in the future. You have heard it hear first.