{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://clyburn.house.gov/reconnecting-communities-steve-benjamin-joins-clyburn-podcast-april-episode/", "RECONNECTING COMMUNITIES: STEVE BENJAMIN JOINS CLYBURN PODCAST APRIL EPISODE", "2024-04-04", "2024", "2024-04", "Democrat", "House", "SC", "James E. Clyburn", "C000537", "clyburn.house.gov", "clyburn", "https://clyburn.house.gov/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Today, U.S. Congressman James E. Clyburn (SC-06) released the newest edition of the Clyburn Chronicles podcast featuring Steve Benjamin, former mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, current Senior Advisor to the President, and Director of the Office of Public Engagement in the Biden Administration.\n\nBenjamin began by explaining the importance of the Office of Public Engagement, which he describes as \u201cthe front door to the White House.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy grandmother would say, \u2018You know, God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason: You listen twice as much as you talk.\u2019 It\u2019s one thing to go and tell people the great things that are happening under the Administration\u2019s leadership,\u201d said Benjamin. \u201cIt\u2019s more valuable to actually be able to listen and to get constructive input, constructive criticism from people, about, okay, this is what\u2019s happening on the ground where real people are working every single day to live up to their God given potential.\u201d\n\nThe pair also underscored the importance of reconnecting communities that have been divided by previous generations of American infrastructure \u2014 a core component of Benjamin\u2019s work in the Biden Administration.\n\n\u201cWhen you reconnect these communities, you give people an opportunity to interact with each other. You give businesses a chance to grow and flourish, and you improve the lives of children, being able to really go to school in their communities rather than getting bussed out of communities,\u201d said Congressman Clyburn.\n\nThe two closed by connecting over the phenomenon of Republicans voting against signature pieces of the President\u2019s agenda but taking credit for the recent influx of investments in their communities.\n\nCongressman Clyburn explained that rather than attend a campaign fundraiser in New York, he went and \u201ctalked about rural water down in Berkeley County. A tremendous $24 million addition we\u2019re making to that water system down there. So, I decided I\u2019ll stay here, and go to that groundbreaking, so nobody else will get the credit.\u201d\n\nBenjamin laughed, saying \u201cBecause, you know they\u2019ll vote no, and they\u2019ll show up at the groundbreaking or the ribbon cutting and everything else. You\u2019ve got to go make sure you go.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T20:47:55Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://clyburn.house.gov/reconnecting-communities-steve-benjamin-joins-clyburn-podcast-april-episode/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6831330247223377, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}