by Rep. Jerry Nadler
(Jerrold Nadler, author of this guest post, represents New York's eighth Congressional district)
On Wednesday night I will be sitting down with Howard Dean, Kelli Conlin (NARAL Pro-Choice New York), Baratunde Thurston (Co-founder of Jack & Jill Politics and a comedian with Laughing Liberally) and Joel Silberman (who works with Media Matters) for a frank conversation about where we go from here with progressive policy and activism.
Since President Obama took office, I've worked hard to pass two forward-thinking pieces of legislation through the House. The first was an amendment to the stimulus package, which added $3 billion for new public transportation projects. The second bill which I co-sponsored and helped to write was the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which was the first bill that President Obama signed into law.
As Chair of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on the House Judiciary Committee, I will continue to hold hearings about abuses of executive privilege in the Bush administration. And, on that score, I recently introduced two important bills -- the Midnight Rule Act and the State Secret Protection Act -- in order to roll back some of the more odious elements of Bush's disastrous legacy. In the Judiciary Committee, we've again subpoenaed Karl Rove to testify and finally answer some questions on the flagrant politicization of the Justice Department under Bush. Hopefully Rove saw me on Countdown with Keith Olbermann recently making it clear that he will be held in contempt and arrested if he continues to ignore the law.
My questions to you now is: what else do YOU think I should be doing in the House for you? And what are progressive activists who gave Obama his historic victory doing to keep the administration accountable to progressives and making real change? How can our efforts intertwine to make a real impact? How do we convince the new administration to go forward with bold legislation as well as look back at the Bush years and hold those who disregarded our Constitution accountable?
We hope you can be there for this conversation on February 18th. But even if you can't, we want to hear what questions and issues you think should be covered in this dialogue about progressive activism both inside and outside government right now.
Please put your questions in the comments for me and my special guests in the comments.
Again, I hope you can join me on February 18th from 6pm-9pm at Tribeca Cinemas at 54 Varick St. in NYC. For more information/buy tickets for 2/18: http://www.jerrynadler.com/2.1...
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