Congressman Denham's week on both Capitol Hill and throughout the community in California has optimized the dual responsibilities each congressman owes to their constituents and their country. At the onset of Congress's new session, Congressman Denham dealt with issues both on his home front and the issues confronting our nation, such as the crisis in Syria and reforms concerning our nation’s economy and health care.
Exemplifying his dual role serving two distinct groups of citizens, both the American people as a whole and his constituents of his home 19th District of California, Congressman Denham not only voiced his opinion about the crisis in Syria and contributed to the passing of H.R. 2775 No Subsides without Verification Act by voting yes on Capitol Hill, but also met with Council groups from home districts to discuss the current state of affairs for funding of highways and the job market.
Having the ability to tackle issues in which Congressman Denham has prior knowledge and expertise, allows him to distribute his time on both Capitol Hill and in the 19th district of California as evident by this past week, a vision of framers of the constitution for members of the House of representatives to be responsible to both home and national interests.
His condemnation of a military strike in Syria after returning to Washington earlier this week to meet with military officials concerning the Syria crisis, thus voicing his vote as a no to the presidents wish for Congress to authorize a strike, comes from a man who’s a veteran of our armed forces in Desert Storm. Congressman Denham on Fox News Live this week mentioned, “…I don’t see any American interests at stake… It is a credibility issue with the President… I was a lean no before, and I’m a strong no now.” (Denham 2013) Congressman Denham made his decision to not support a strike through American national interests, or lack their of in Syria, demonstrating his ability to put the nation first in this instance as opposed to his home district.
His further work on Capital Hill over the course of the week included his vote to pass H.R. 2775 No Subsides without Verification Act. Through Congressman Denham’s view to “potentially save taxpayers bullions of dollars in fraudulent and wasteful payments… by ensuring the government verifies eligibility before providing health care subsidies under the Affordable Health Care Act” exemplifies his responsibility to the American people in attempting to save tax payers money in this dire economy “Denham 1”.
While serving national interests, Congressman Denham further fulfilled his obligation as a political representative the framers envisioned by dealing with issues on his home front, meeting with groups such as the San Joaquin Valley Policy Council and 5.11 Tactical team. Congressman Denham met with the policy council of San Joaquin Valley to discuss funding for Highway 99, a major trade corridor in the San Joaquin Valley which runs straight through his district. Being on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in Congress, his ability to serve his constituents in need of improved highways while also serving the nations’ infrastructure as whole further highlights Congressman Denham dual serving nature, our expectations of our representatives.
This actions of Congressman Denham on Capital Hill and in California over the course of the past week has exemplified the framers vision of our political representatives, serving pressing national interests as well as being accountable to individual constituents’ needs at home. The ability for Congressman Denham to be active on multiple fronts thus ultimately impacting the nation as well as individuals illustrates our political officials serving responsibly, a quality the framers expected and the American people demanded.
Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZApqmOcFjUk&list=UUqJO6iar6JW6Ce-830yVZiQ
http://denham.house.gov/newsletter/weekly-update-rep-denham-september-13-2013
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/113-2013/h458
1 comment:
Based on this post, it appears that Congressman Denham is a very busy man. His ability to help and respond to the desires of his home constituents and his duties on Capitol Hill exemplify exactly what was intended in the Constitution. With this in mind, do you believe that his emphatic efforts to fulfill both of his duties can continue? He appeared to accomplish a lot in a single week, but is this level of attention to detail attainable over the course of the entire session of Congress? In addition, it would be interesting to hear Representative Denham's viewpoints on potential spillage of the Syrian issue into other areas of the region. Would he be so completely against action (militarily or otherwise) if the issues and violence were to spread to other nations in the area?
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