NDN Blog

This week's issue of TIME magazine is garnering considerable attention, and in many cases, scrunity, for its hyper-narcissitic portrayal of the millenial generation: "The Me Me Me Generation." It's an interesting piece (warning: behind a paywall), but has been accompanied by a range of ripostes from Klein's brief response to Elspeth Reeve's strong rebuttal, "Every Every Every Generation has been the Me Me Me Generation" that refutes much of what Stein claims. 

If you were interested in learning more about this, we are hosting a panel on this subject this Tuesday, May 14th from 5:30 with some of the leading experts in the field of millenails - and NDN Fellows - Mike Hais and Morley Winograd and the National Journal's Ron Brownstein. In this informative discussion, we'll learn about Mike and Morley's latest book,"Millenial Majority: How a New Coalition is Remaking American Politics" that focuses on the political ramifications of this burgeoning generation and the resultant demographic shifts. Join us Tuesday to hear from these veritable experts!

This past Thursday Simon appeared on HuffPost Live to discuss the recent Heritage report on immigration reform, the co-author's previous work relating IQ to race, as well as the overall status of immigration reform and the political climate for it here in Washington. Watch it here. 

From the interview: 

“To me one of the most glaring omissions in this [the Heritage report] is they left out the investment we’re going to be making in the border – more customs agents, potentially depending upon some of the amdendments in the senate, more border infrastructure investment, that will help support millions of tourists coming in and trillions of dollars of trade.” 

Alicia Menendez hosted the segment, and other participants included Professor Michael Dyson of Georgetown, Hillary Tone of Media Matters, and Victor Landa of New Taco. 

For more on guns and the border, be sure to check out this new report from Professor Topher McDougal from the University of San Diego and Kristian Ramos's op-ed, "Want to make the border saffer, immigration system better, pass gun control legislation"

This past Monday, Simon attended a meeting with President and the Vice President at the White House prior to the President Obama's trip to Mexico. In the session, they discussed the border, the complex relationship between the two countries, and immigration reform. The meeting was also attended by latino leaders. From the White House: 

"This afternoon, the President and the Vice President met with Latino leaders to discuss the upcoming trip to Mexico and Costa Rica. As this is the President’s fourth trip to Mexico and his sixth trip to the region, he noted that this is an important opportunity to reinforce the deep cultural, familial, and economic ties that so many Americans share with Mexico and Central America. The President said that he is looking forward to talking with Latin American leaders about our vision for the Americas as a region of shared opportunity. He emphasized that the long term trends in the hemisphere are clearly moving in the right direction, with growing middle classes, declining poverty and inequality in much of the region, and countries such as Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia taking a more active global role. At the meeting, the President made clear that immigration reform continues to be a top legislative priority this year.
 
Participants in the meeting included:

• David Ayon, U.S. Director, Focus Mexico/Enfoque México
• Jose Calderon, President, Hispanic Federation
• Yanira Cruz, President and CEO, National Hispanic Council on Aging
• Janet Murguia, President and CEO, National Council of La Raza (NCLR)
• Ana Navarro, CNN/CNN-E Political Contributor, National Political Advisor for Politic365.com, Republican Advisor
• Javier Palomarez, U. S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC)
• Nathalie Rayes, Executive Director, Fundación Azteca America
• Simon Rosenberg, President and Founder, NDN
• Hector Sanchez, Chair, National Hispanic Leadership Agenda
• Tom Saenz, President, Mexican-American League and Defense Educational Fund (MALDEF)
• Arturo Vargas, Executive Director, National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO)
• Brent Wilkes, Executive Director, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
• Al Zapanta, President & CEO, U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce"

NDN's Simon Rosenberg will speak in Brownsville, Texas on May 3rd as part of a panel at the Bi-national (US/Mexico) Border economic Development (BiNED) workshop. Jointly hosted by U.S. Representative Filemon Vela, the Brownsville Economic Development Council and United Brownsville, the essential idea behind BiNED is that bi-national border economic development is a crucial component of effective border security. 

Simon will participate on a panel featuring other experts from the Woodrow Wilson Center and the Council on Foreign Relations beginning at 10:45am on May 3rd. The event will be held in the 3rd Floor Conference Room of the Science Engineering and Technology Building of UT Brownsville. This event is open to the public. 

For more information or to RSVP, conctact Marisela Cortez by phone (956) 203-1340 or email her at Marisela.Cortez@mail.house.gov. 

Please join us for a terrific and timely event - the celebration of a new book by NDN Fellows and critically acclaimed authors, Mike Hais and Morley Winograd.  Called "Millennial Majority:How A New Coalition Is Remaking American Politics," this is the latest installment in years of research and work about American's changing politics which began all the way back in 2007. 

From Mike and Morley: "We predict today's political tensions and conflicts will lead to a new consensus on the role of the federal government that will be as powerful, distinctive and long-lasting as the New Deal. We take a deep dive into how the Millennial Generation, at the heart of a new coalition that includes minorities and women, will reshape American politics, government and public policy for the next forty years."

We very pleased that Ron Brownstein, the editorial director of the National Journal, and prominent commentator on how America's demographics and politics are changing, will be joining us for a panel discussion. 

Our event will take place on Tuesday, May 14th with lights drinks and snacks at 5:30pm.  The panel will begin at approximately 6:00pm. RSVP now by registering here. In case you cannot join us, the event will also be streamed online. 

See the end of the video where they discuss facial angles. They also discuss homeland security, intelligence, and immigration. 

Today, NDN's Simon Rosenberg and Kristian Ramos released the following statements on the Senat4e "Gang of Eight" Border/Immigration Bill:

Simon Rosenberg, President of NDN:

“The Senate Gang of Eight border and immigration bill is a serious, thoughtful effort to make our border safer, our immigration system better while also expanding legal trade and travel through our nation’s ports of entry. 

The Eight Senators should be congratulated for their ambition, and courage.  In a time when rancorous politics have dampened legislative ambition in Washington, this bill reminds us that our leaders can come together, across party lines, to offer big, comprehensive solutions to tough modern-day challenges. 

The seriousness of the Senate Bill gives us here at NDN a great deal of optimism that a good and smart border/immigration bill can be passed by Congress this year.”

Kristian Ramos, Policy Director, 21st Century Border Initiative:

“While there is much to recommend in the Senate bill, two parts in particular should be highlighted:

First, at the heart of the bill is a broad legalization process for ten million plus people living and working in the United States today. If the bill passes this summer, we could see the legalization process begin as early as next spring, with millions passing through the process by the summer of 2015.  It cannot be overstated the impact the this initial legalization process will have on the lives of these undocumented immigrants and their families; and on resolving a debate that has brought harm to the broad Hispanic community as a whole.  That this process is so comprehensive is a major bi-partisan achievement, and one which makes America a better place for all of us. 

Second, while there is a significant emphasis on border security in the bill, the bill also makes smart investments in modernizing our ports of entry.  By funding 3,500 more customs agents in the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection department, the bill not only makes our border safer but will facilitate more trade, travel and tourism which will bring significant benefit to our economy and entire country.

The Senate Gang of Eight border/immigration bill is a great starting place for this important debate.”

If you have any questions about NDN's recent research or publications on the southwest border and immigration, please contact Chris Bowman at either 202-842-7217 or cbowman@ndn.org.

Today, Ezra Klein revisited the issue of the undemocratic Senate in his blog, highlighting its impact on the recently failed gun legislation. In doing so he joins Alec Macgillis from The New Republic, who recently highlighted the same imbalance and forecast the result on the gun legislation, and the New York Times' Adam Liptak who also wrote on the undemocratic nature of the Senate.

Klein explains that "Of the senators from the 25 largest states, the Manchin-Toomey legislation received 33 aye votes and 17 nay votes — a more than 2:1 margin, putting it well beyond the 3/5ths threshold required to break a filibuster. But of the senators from the 25 smallest states, it received only 21 aye votes and 29 nay votes." He concludes, powerfully, that the Senate ultimately "took a bill supported by most Americans and killed it because it was intensely opposed by a minority who disproportionately live in small, rural states." 

NDN has researched and investigated this topic thoroughly, this "small state bias," starting back in early 2012. At the core of our research is the idea that with demographic and population shifts, the Senate's representational schema has increasingly amplified what was already disproportionate representation for individuals in small states at the time of the founding. Though Wyoming has a population approximately 1/66th of California, both are of course awarded same amount of Senators. If you combine Wyoming, Alaska, North Dakota and Vermont, they suddenly have four times the amount of Senators as California, despite, with their aggregated populations, only having 1/16th as many people as the "Golden State". 

50% of the population of the United States is represented by 18 Senators, leaving the other 50% with 82. These halves, though proportionately equitable, are hardly the same. States with higher populations tend to be more diverse, a trend likely to continue with demographic and population shifts. 

The undemocratic imbalance in the Upper Chamber has real legislative consequences - the failure to reach cloture on the vote yesterday cogently demonstrates that. And for those who highlight that the Founders intended the Senate to be the generally slower, more conservative (not ideologically, but in instituting or passing legislation), and deliberately more representative of smaller states - consider that at the time of the Convention, the biggest discrepancy in state populations was between Delaware and Virginia. That difference in population only represents a fifth of the current difference between California and Wyoming. Further, there was no institutional hurdle akin to the Filibuster. The new threshold of sixty votes exacerbates the disconnect between the people and its representation in the Senate.

Popular support for background checks, depending on which poll you look at, hovers between eighty and ninety percent. Jon Kohn and Eric Kingsburg crunched the numbers and found that when you factor in the population of states from which the Senators voting "yea" yesterday, nearly two-thirds of the US population is accounted for. Not only is that a substantial majority, but it exceeds the threshold for the Filibuster. And that is still fifteen to twenty-five points shy of the polling numbers. 

The undemocratic Senate is then a major abbettor in the Upper Chamber's failure to pass background checks through a filibuster. If this were amended, it seems the legislation would likely advance. As the President promises that the debate on background checks and reform is not over, we'll have to see if the tide of popular support will eventually win out in the debate to stem gun violence.  

Simon appeared on Al Jazeera's Inside Story America to discuss President Obama's budget with Nancy Altman, co-director of Social Security Works and author of The Battle for Social Security; Ryan Grim, Washington bureau chief for The Huffington Post.

Simon explained the importance of the budget in political negotiations: "He wants to get a big deal done on deficit reduction and the budget before he leaves office and ... this was a balanced and thoughtful approach that is more focused on the growth than the Republicans [would want] and probably a little bit more focused on deficit reduction than some of the Democrats would want."