Congressman John Garamendi Hits Tough Issues at Q&A Session

The Horizon Leadership Series Q&A for Rep. John Garamendi opened with the topic of his “roast” on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report earlier this month.

Garamendi said he agreed to do the interview with Colbert because his staff told him it would be “cool” if he did it. He said the interview was actually fun and his wife thought it was hilarious.

Tom Guarino, East Bay public affairs manager for PG&E and event organizer, said he thought the interview was brutal.

“Even for (Stephen Colbert), I thought it was a little 'cuckoo,'” Guarino said.

Garamendi moved to more serious topics after the Colbert question and spent a lot of time discussing the national debt.

He said things were great in the 1990s, but we’ve run out of financial gas and nation building is a key to fixing the problem. He said we need to have the best education and best research as well as to start manufacturing things again in the United States.

He attributed problems with the national debt to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because the conflict were paid for with borrowed money.

“President Obama comes into office with a ($1.3 trillion) budget deficit and economy that had tanked,” Garamendi said.

The Democratic congressman said the $800 billion economic stimulus program in 2009 worked, but it wasn’t enough. Garamendi said federal spending needs to come down in the long term, not just with short-term cuts.

Having fewer employees does not always result in less efficiency, Garamendi pointed out.

When one man from the crowd said the Federal Reserve had too much control and printing money was causing inflation, Garamendi replied that the currency was not causing inflation and the country was actually experiencing deflation.

The man responded by pointing out higher costs for food and other grocery items, which Garamendi said was caused by a growing demand for food and fuel.

Another man asked about the real estate market and whether Garamendi thought the recession would end without a downward trend in real estate.

“The housing market is crucial to the American economy,” Garamendi said. “When federal and state governments and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sat back and let it rip, we crashed.”

Garamendi said he feels the lending system needs to be more regulated to prevent the same thing from happening again.

He said that the current mortgage laws requiring a 20 percent down payment for a home are too strict. He said 10 to 15 percent would be more reasonable.

Garamendi also discussed government grants for solar energy. He said recipients of those grants should be required to buy products “made in America” instead of from other countries, such as China.

Education was a topic. Garamendi said that teacher salaries and benefits were not the problem.

“The real issue is how we teach.” 

He brought up the idea of having more technology in the classrooms. One example used was the tens of millions spent on textbooks each year. They could be replaced with Kindles or other electronic readers.

Sandy Person, one of people at the Q&A, said she thought Garamendi did a great job discussing what she felt were complex problems.

“I thought he demonstrated a considerable knowledge of a lot of the problems we face,” Person said. “His comprehensive depth of understanding is insightful.”

Guarino described the crowd as passionate. He said he was glad they were interactive, compared with the first Horizon Leadership Series with Pleasant Hill Mayor David Durant, where he had to ask most of the questions.

“They had some very tough questions,” Guarino said. “I applaud their tough questions and the congressman for digging in and responding.”