Working to Bring Jobs back to American Soil
Unfair trade agreements have closed too many factories and sent thousands of good-paying jobs to foreign countries. According to a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute, 2.4 million U.S. jobs were lost or displaced due to trade with China between 2001 and 2008. This week I had the opportunity to support a number of bills this week designed to help American manufacturers and promote American products.
The National Manufacturing Strategy Act (H.R. 4692), the Clean Energy Technology Manufacturing and Export Assistance Act (H.R. 5156), and the End the Trade Deficit Act (H.R. 1875) aim to boost the domestic manufacturing sector, assist green energy companies, and improve our trade deficit.
Through my work in Congress, and in the bipartisan House Buy American Caucus, I am working to stop the trend of sending American manufacturing jobs overseas and promote American manufacturing.
Supporting Our Service Members
The brave men and women who serve our country deserve the best care and support our country can offer, while in uniform and throughout their lives. I always strive to improve veterans’ access to health care, and to supply our VA medical centers with sufficient resources to ensure they have the best available staff and equipment to treat America’s veterans.
Ensuring that all of our veterans have access to convenient, high-quality health care facilities is one of my top priorities. This week, I voted to improve veterans’ health care and increase their benefits by more than 7 percent. The bill provides more than $1.8 billion for Guard and Reserve military construction, ensuring our troops have the resources they need to best defend our country. Additionally, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act (H.R. 5822) will fund an additional 4,000 permanent claims processors to make it easier for our vets to receive the benefits they deserve.
Rebuilding America’s Infrastructure
This week, I was proud to support the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2011 (H.R. 5850) which makes investments in our country’s infrastructure and ensures safety in transportation. The bill allocates $45 billion to repair our nation’s road infrastructure and will create more than 142,000 jobs nationwide.
Restoring and Protecting the Coast
This week, I continued working to address the ongoing effects of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf by voting in favor of the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2009 (H.R. 3534) to provide for the cleanup of the BP disaster and make reforms for oil and gas exploration on federal lands and waters. That bill, and the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2010 (H.R. 4899), provide millions of dollars for economic assistance programs.
A spill like the one we have seen in the Gulf jeopardizes our small businesses, our wildlife, our waters, and our coastline. I will continue to do everything in my power to hold the responsible corporations accountable, to ensure proper clean-up, and to ensure that spills like this do not happen again.
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