House Democrats’ “jobs agenda” includes expanding broadband and bridging the...

people and have real national security if we [allow] erosion of our manufacturing, our industrial and technological base to continue,” she said. Later, the union asked its members to work for narrow legislation confirming the FCC’s broadband authority. “There is a broad feeling in Congress on all sides -- Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative -- that Congress is the right place to fix this,” Shane Larson, a CWA director, said at the conference. “They just need to feel that sense of urgency.” Congress should remember that ISPs provide hundreds of thousands of jobs, while Craigslist, for example, supports only 30, he said. Communications workers won’t vote strictly by party in the November congressional elections, said CWA Executive Vice President Annie Hill. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and other Democrats shouldn’t count on CWA’s support if they haven’t helped workers, Hill said. “Those days are gone, brothers and sisters, and it’s about damn time.” The union endorsed Lt. Gov. Bill Halter’s unsuccessful primary challenge to Lincoln. CWA will work to re-elect senators only if they support revamping Senate procedural rules to remove filibusters and other roadblocks to passing legislation, Hill said. “This Senate is the worst excuse for a democracy I have ever witnessed.” Larson agreed, saying the Senate has “totally constipated the federal government.”