Highlights Contributions of Colorado’s Minority Business Owners
Calls for Focus on Innovative Solutions to Tackle Country’s Challenges – Discusses the Economy, Health Care, Education and Immigration
Denver, CO-Addressing about 800 members of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Michael Bennet, U.S. Senator for Colorado, today highlighted the contributions of Colorado’s minority business owners while emphasizing the need to put problem solving above politics and find innovative solutions to the country’s biggest challenges.
“Opportunity is the precious gift that this country has given each generation, asking of each generation that it, in turn, not squander that inheritance but increase it, and pass it along to the next,” said Bennet. “It is our turn, now, and I believe we will rise to the test.”
In his remarks, Bennet highlighted the need for politicians to put politics aside and work together to address challenges on the economy, education, health care and immigration, and expand opportunity for working families and small businesses in Colorado and across the country.
Below is the full text of Bennet’s remarks, as prepared for delivery:
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you this afternoon and welcome to Colorado.
I’m honored to have the chance to speak to you today and to fill in for Secretary Locke. I believe the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the nearly 2 million Hispanic-owned businesses it represents, understand firsthand the essence of the American Dream. You know that if Americans are connected to opportunity, they and our business community will succeed and we will all be better off.
Our nation and Colorado know that this is not just some phony cliché. It is our reality.
This year we’ve seen Justice Sonia Sotomayor complete an inspiring journey to the highest court in the land. She has been able to achieve so much because she had an opportunity – and because she used her intelligence and drive to achieve in a way that benefits us all. My predecessor, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, has joined Labor Secretary Hilda Solis on President Obama’s cabinet. The country owes a debt of gratitude to their service as well. We can’t let opportunity shrink, it must expand.
There’s no place that has benefited from Hispanic leadership more than Colorado. From before our state’s founding, Hispanic leaders with a deep commitment to Colorado have helped our state grow and become stronger.
Last year, there was a lot of optimism that change, that rebuilding opportunity would come easily. We heard across the country the inspiring call of “Yes, we can” and “Si se puede.” Now some are beginning to doubt whether positive change will ever arrive.
I believe we are at a crossroads. In Washington, the same old politics of the last decade threatens to dominate our debate over health care. And around the kitchen table, families who have suffered a lost job are struggling to make ends meet. Americans are questioning whether we have the strength and sense of common purpose – and just plain common sense – to deal with these challenges and put our nation back on the path to prosperity.
Today, I want to talk to you about how I think we can begin to address vital challenges like the economy, health care, education, and immigration. But first, I want to tell you why I’m confident – if we make the right choices – we can solve these problems.
I’m not a career politician, — in fact, some people might tell you I’m not much of a politician at all. I began my career in the private sector, and worked for our schools here in Colorado. But you don’t have to be a lifelong politician to know that, right now, what we’re all seeing in Washington is more politics as usual.
I don’t need to tell you that campaign season can become silly season. It’s starting early everywhere-including here in Colorado. But slogans and words are not substitutes for getting things done.
We can’t solve difficult problems without a willingness to face reality. Too often, politics has become so divorced from reality results are forgotten. In the jobs I’ve had, rhetoric didnt’t matter. Empty promises by career politicians don’t matter. Results are what mattered. I believe that is the attitude we need.
I know it can work.
When I worked for Mayor Hickenlooper of Denver, we balanced the budget two years in a row during what at that time was the worst recession in city history-and we did it without a single layoff.
When I was Superintendent of Denver Public Schools, we did the same thing for Denver’s students. We closed failing schools. We rewarded teachers whose students succeeded. And we expanded early childhood education so that 9 in 10 Denver students are now connected to learning at an earlier age.
A focus on real solutions works. Coloradans everywhere have shown that you can innovate and succeed, even during tough times. I am inspired by their example and we should make it our mandate – to find innovative solutions is our cause.
Our state has been struggling like the rest of America, but we’ve also made strides toward a brighter future. We have one of the fastest growing clean energy sectors in America, helping to lay the foundation for a 21st century economy that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil while protecting the environment.
That’s a solution.
And even though Colorado needs real reform on health care, we’ve also led the way with innovative transitional care that focuses on the patient. Another solution.
The challenges we face in Washington may be bigger, but we need the same approach. You know well that when businesses ignore difficult realities, accept the status quo and fail to adapt, they fail. I believe the same is true on issues like health care, education and immigration reform.
We need to start focusing on solutions, not on politics.
I’ve spent the summer speaking with Coloradans in town halls and in business places, in hospitals and schools, in all 64 counties, and in every corner of the state. Like many of you, the people of Colorado are asking the right questions: what are we going to do to help our children succeed and lift everyone during these tough times?
The first thing we need to understand is how we got into this mess. We’re in this mess because politicians were so focused on the politics of what they said, they ignored the reality around them – the burgeoning problems in the housing sector, the changes in immigration; they ignored the emerging problems in health care, and in our budgets. We got into this mess because the political advantage for career politicians was to talk about problems, not roll up their sleeves and work together to bring solutions.
I know if we start paying attention to what we’re doing, if we cut through the posturing and focus on results, then we can begin to make real progress. But we need to take the right steps.
Step one: we have to continue to help the economy recover. A strong economy starts and ends with small business growth. The jobs you in this audience create will lead this economy out of recession and put our nation back on the path to prosperity. You are part of the solution, but only if you are given the chance. You need access to capital, and the Recovery Act we passed can help. Some experts say it will save or create 60,000 jobs here in Colorado alone.
But we must do more.
We need to make sure that these efforts to help America’s economy succeed don’t leave anyone behind. 13 percent of Hispanics in this country don’t have a job. We must ensure our recovery extends the American Dream to all people.
And if we’re really going to put America back on the path to prosperity, we need to help reconnect Americans to pathways to opportunity.
Step Two: On three critical issues – health care, education, and immigration – we’ve become trapped in a politics that rewards distraction over reality and rhetoric over results. On these three issues, I will fight for an approach that targets inefficiencies and rewards success.
Let’s face the facts. Soaring health care costs and incomplete coverage are a dead weight on our economy. 1 in 3 Hispanics do not have health insurance. Small business owners pay 18 percent more value for health care than large businesses. And I can tell you from having traveled this state talking to Coloradans, nobody thinks they are getting 18 percent more value for paying this extra money for health coverage. By 2016, many American families will spend 40 cents of every dollar on health care. In Colorado alone, family income is down 800 dollars over the last ten years, while health care premiums almost doubled.
That’s why we need health care reform that provides for higher-quality, more affordable care. We need reform that covers the uninsured. And we need reform that protects small businesses.
And we should reward success by investing in innovation such as medical IT and new research that can lead to low-cost care that’s more effective.
We need the same approach for education. 1.2 million children drop out of school each year and our graduation rate is 20th among industrialized countries. Let me say that again: When it comes to high-school graduation rates, the United States of America ranks 20th. In 2007, Hispanic students had a 21 percent dropout rate. And in some communities, it’s 50 percent.
I can tell you from experience that if you managed a business this poorly, you’d get fired. Yet education is the most important promise we make to our children. It’s also the most significant determinant of whether our economy can recover and compete in the 21st century.
Fortunately, there are leaders all across the country, including our Secretary of Education and our President, who realize that doing the same old thing will yield the same results. Take it from me, I have the scars, change is hard, but it is necessary. Don’t tell any one of our kids that a 21 percent dropout rate is the best we can do. Don’t say that. Is anyone willing to say that?
But, like health care, old battles and ancient divisions take center stage, while results and accountability are neglected.
Step three: We need to improve our classrooms by using proven techniques and rewarding the teachers who actually help students succeed. We should invest in new technology and innovation so that our children have access to the most up-to-date tools for learning.
In Denver, where over half of the students are Hispanic, we increased achievement across the board. We did it by addressing the challenges faced by those still learning English and we developed a system of accountability.
We didn’t just try new things and pray they would pan out. We evaluated, built on success, and adapted to failure. And we got results.
Finally, immigration is an issue where our fears and misconceptions distract us from the values that have made our nation great.
It is unacceptable to have 12 million people in our country living in the shadow of our legal system. Of course, we must secure the border, and require the undocumented to register and become legal, pay a fine, pay their taxes, learn English and pass criminal background checks. Those who have serious criminal records should be sent back to their country of origin.
Many of you come from families who have been here for generations. Others are new immigrants striving to achieve the American dream. There are nearly 1.6 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States that add 400 billion dollars each year to our economy. Your innovation and hard work sustain America’s values; your successes shape its future.
My own family shares a common experience with those who have sought the hope of America. My mother and her parents came to America in 1950 from Warsaw, being some of the few members of her family to have survived the horrors of World War II in Poland. Of the three of them, my mom, then 12, was the only one who spoke English, and she helped find them all a place to live, and figured out where she was supposed to go to school.
And they were able to rebuild their lives here and succeed beyond their dreams because America welcomed them. It greeted them not with prejudice but with opportunity, and they worked hard –they worked very hard– to be worthy of that great gift. It was a gift that my grandmother, Halina Klejman, who loved this country as deeply as anyone I have ever known, taught me never to take for granted, and that’s a lesson that my wife Susan and I are trying now to teach our three little girls.
Opportunity is the precious gift that this country has given each generation, asking of each generation that it, in turn, not squander that inheritance but increase it, and pass it along to the next. It is our turn, now, and I believe we will rise to the test.
We can fulfill our great national legacy with a balanced, compassionate approach to immigration that rewards hard work, expands opportunity for all, and doesn’t seek to single out the most vulnerable among us for exploitation and blame.
I believe we need a comprehensive immigration bill that is smart, economically sound, and family-focused.
As a co-sponsor and advocate for the DREAM Act, the AgJobs Act and the Save Our Small and Seasonal Business Act, I believe we have a real chance to make headway on immigration reform. These bills will reward those who play by the rules while helping farmers, small businesses and, ultimately, consumers.
We need to connect people to opportunity in a way that is fair for everyone. Those who work hard and play by the rules should have a chance to live the American Dream.
We must fight for these values. We believe in an America where you have the opportunity to achieve anything, to confront any challenge, to compete with anyone in the world, to serve others. Today the challenges are profound, but we can meet them. The time has come to set aside the childish games of politics. We need to face reality. We have work to do. Every generation of Americans has done it, and we are their proud heirs What we must do, now, will make our children proud of us.
If we think of them, then we can succeed, together. “Si se puede-juntos.” Yes we can. Together, we can change our future.