Roundtable with Congresswoman Waters

Recently, Congresswoman Maxine Waters held a media roundtable to provide an open forum for conversation between her and key reporters, editors and publishers from media outlets covering the communities of the 35th Congressional District.
One of the major items on the agenda of Congress that Waters identified was jobs and the economy. She identified known statistics that African Americans are have the highest unemployment rate in the country at more than 16 percent with slight fluctuation. Waters attributes some of this to the “last hired-first fired” concept. Blacks seem to be getting more jobs, but when it is time to make cutbacks, they are always the first to be let go.
Waters also stressed the importance of education, saying that in the midst of this economic downturn, having an education makes job security more of a reality and a possibility.
Many cutbacks are being made all over the city, and there has been much speculation that the Post Offices will soon cease their Saturday delivery services which will result in thousands of cutbacks. Congresswoman Waters is adamant about fighting to avoid this, recollecting, “The Post Office was the place where Blacks could get good jobs and make a good living, I have to try to stop that from happening.” Waters also said that much of the problem with regards to the budget and the deficit is the government’s wasteful spending, especially in regards to the military’s constant review of nuclear capability. “We don’t need more. We have more than enough. The more we get, the more other countries will feel they have to match us. Much of that money can be used on other things, like saving the Post Office”
In a separate effort to create more jobs in the community, Congresswoman Waters would like to reduce the amount of outsourcing, especially in terms of call centers. Many times consumers call customer service, and someone in India, or wherever else, has a cookie-cutter list of responses to your questions, and often don’t understand you well enough to help with your inquiries. These jobs, Waters believes, will be much better served in this district. “They would create hundreds of jobs and the start-up costs would be minimal. All we would need is a building with phones.”