I applaud the President’s efforts to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in classrooms throughout the United States by launching the new STEM Master Teacher Corps.  The President is recognizing the great work that America’s classroom teachers provide to their students as they teach the problem solving and critical thinking skills that are so important for life and necessary for technological development and job creation.  By investing in STEM education and teachers in particular, we are building a firm foundation of technologically literate and skilled Americans ready to continue American innovation and excellence and ensuring a critical and discerning public that will safeguard our Democracy.  The tangible result of the President’s efforts will be an outstanding corps of teachers committed to the development of a cadre of students who have the necessary skills and aptitude to thrive in colleges, career academies and their future jobs. 

As Silicon Valley’s representative and a science teacher, I know how important investing in STEM education is to our nation’s future. For decades, I have been fighting to ensure that each student who dreams of being a global innovator has the knowledge and resources she needs  to succeed.  In Congress, I have: sponsored legislation to bring scientists and engineers into the classroom to help teachers understand and use technology; worked to get innovativeness and inventiveness taught in our public schools; and had provisions of my Enhancing STEM Education Act to improve coordination of the federal government’s STEM efforts become law.  My STEM Education Innovation Act continues this work by: promoting STEM education at the Department of Education, enhancing the work of consortia of STEM stakeholders in the states; and supporting the development of educational technologies.  In the near future, I will also be introducing legislation to provide elementary educators high quality pre-service education in the STEM fields.  I will be discussing these and other important ideas at a forum with STEM leaders at the 2012 Silicon Valley STEM Innovation Summit, hosted by the Microsoft Corporation, on July 30. 

It is my great honor to congratulate my friend Sparky Harlan on being named a White House Champion of Change. As CEO of the Bill Wilson Center, Sparky has built programs that focus on housing, education, counseling, and advocacy for the community of Santa Clara County, California. Sparky’s leadership is a loadstar for every American – inspiring each one of us to do our part to help forge a more perfect union. Through Champions of Change, the White House honors individuals who are doing extraordinary things in their communities to innovate, educate, and create the kind of change that makes for a better world. As a former educator and Peace Corps volunteer, I understand the need for leaders like Sparky. She embodies a selfless dedication to serve her community and a boundless energy to win the future. I am proud to know her and have worked with her in the community all these years.

Republicans have been in charge of the House of Representatives for 554 days and they have not created a single job for the American people. 

Today, Republicans attempted to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA for short) for the 31st time in the 112th Congress; wasting further valuable legislative time on a misguided crusade against people’s health care rights instead of focusing on creating jobs for the American people.

Let me be clear, a vote to repeal the ACA is a vote to strip millions upon millions of Americans of their health care rights. 

Written by Mike Honda

Monday, 2 July 12:40

I am overjoyed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announcement to open a satellite office in Silicon Valley, CA.  This proposed Silicon Valley office will be part of a USPTO initiative to recruit and retain a broad national workforce while trying to reduce its massive backlog of approximately 650,000 pending patent applications.  While the USPTO has been making valiant strides to reduce this backlog, a patent application typically takes three years to be reviewed – an eternity for fast-paced innovations in the high-tech sector.

A Silicon Valley USPTO office has enormous potential to spur our local economy and create jobs by providing local access to USPTO services, particularly for limited-resourced inventors and companies unable to travel to Washington, and thus expedite to market the innovative products and ideas from Silicon Valley.

Realizing a USPTO satellite office in Silicon Valley has been a great collaborative effort from the Bay Area, including my colleagues Representatives Zoe Lofgren and Anna Eshoo, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, City of San Jose, and local universities and business groups.  As an appropriator on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, I have advocated for a Silicon Valley office directly to the USPTO Director David Kappos and the Secretary of Commerce during multiple hearings, meetings, and correspondence.

With hundreds of satellite office locations considered, the USPTO recognized Silicon Valley as the nation’s leader in patent production, including five of the top ten patent-producing cities in the nation with the City of San Jose at the top of the list.  Our top-tier universities in engineering, sciences, and law would provide a large and highly qualified workforce for the USPTO to employ, particularly those with expertise in the same disciplines that are producing the newest innovations. Furthermore, Silicon Valley’s high-tech culture and infrastructure would lead to easy implementation and wide-scale adoption of USPTO’s online training and telework programs.  Without question, closer proximity to USPTO’s most prolific costumers - the unique nexus of leading global companies, innovators, research labs, universities and garage workshops - would help the USPTO achieve its goals to speed patent processing and improve customer service.

The American Invents Act of 2011, signed into law on September 2011, requires the USPTO to establish at least three satellite offices within three years.  The Silicon Valley office will be one of three new satellite offices, others to be located in Denver, CO and Dallas, TX, in addition to the first satellite office in Detroit, MI, scheduled to be open on July 13, 2012. The newly announced offices are expected to be open from late 2013 to early 2014.

Today, after months of delay by Republicans, Congress finally acted to maintain the student loan interest rate at 3.4% for another year.  While I am pleased that over 7 million students have been protected from a doubling of interest rates, we should not forget the differing priorities of the parties in this debate that got us to this point, and what they say about our core principles and values and about who we are as Americans.

On one side of the debate were those of us who value an educated society and believe that a college education is a great investment in our nation, while House Republicans sought to divide people based on their wealth and leave a college education only for those who can afford to pay for it outright.  I believe that a college education is an important way to help the lower and middle class achieve success. I believe that post-secondary education is a right for all and not a privilege for some.

Along the way, Republicans offered to maintain the 3.4% student loan interest rate only by paying for it by cutting funding for preventive health care for women and children, undercutting the underserved in the name of continue a program designed to help them.  They rejected Democratic proposals to cut subsidies and tax loopholes to big oil as a source of revenue, standing by their deep pocketed donors instead of the American people..

I will continue to fight to protect the American Dream, including the pursuit of a quality education.  Federally subsidized student loans help so many Americans become the first member of their family to attend a college or university.  Entrance into community colleges, career academies and universities offers a ticket to good, high paying jobs and increases the pool of taxpaying Americans who are earning more than minimum wage.  An educated society is the best national defense strategy we can employ, and a thinking American society is the very underpinning of our democracy.  I am glad that Congress was able to continue to support this dream for another year.

Today, I joined my Democratic colleagues in a walk-out protest of the politically-motivated and partisan House contempt vote against Attorney General Eric Holder. In its history, the United States House of Representatives has never held a United States Attorney General, or any other Cabinet official, in contempt. House Republicans are participating in an election-year witch hunt despite the fact that the Department of Justice has made extraordinary efforts to accommodate Congress by turning over almost 8,000 documents – including all the documents that relate to the tactics in this operation and the other flawed operations that occurred in Arizona during the Bush Administration.

 
Contempt power should be used sparingly, carefully and only in the most egregious situations, yet the Republican Leadership has articulated no legislative purpose for pursuing this course of action. Even the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Darrell Issa, a Republican, has acknowledged that there is no evidence that Attorney General Holder authorized condoned, or knew about the “Fast and Furious” operation. 

 
I believe Agent Brian Terry and his family deserve justice and that a true investigation should be mounted to ensure that this never happens again. Unfortunately, House Republicans have refused 10 different requests from Democrats for a hearing with Ken Melson, the former director of the ATF—the agency in charge. Similarly, they have also refused to call former Attorney General Mukasey, who was personally briefed on the interdiction efforts during the Bush Administration, to testify about the program. 

 
As a Member of the Appropriations subcommittee on Commerce Justice Science, I cannot in good conscience give credence to this action by casting a vote. The memory of Agent Terry deserves true justice, not an election-year circus. 

Two years ago, I was proud to make history and follow the leadership of President Obama in finally bringing the promise of affordable healthcare to everyone in our nation. I was proud to help pass the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In the two interceding years, the law has already stopped the worst abuses by insurance companies: from denying care to people with pre-existing conditions to preventing hard-earned premium dollars from lining the pockets of company executives rather than on care outcomes; the law has made the health system work for Americans.

 
Today, the Supreme Court affirmed this promise and upheld the law recognizing that the need for healthcare profoundly affects all aspects of our society. Today, the Supreme Court recognized that it cannot leave hardworking families who live paycheck to paycheck at the mercy of a broken health insurance system. We will not go back to the old way; we will not forsake the health and safety of millions upon millions of Americans in the pursuit of partisan politics.

 
Because of today’s decision 2.5 million additional young adults, including 1.3 million minorities, who now have access to care, can continue to receive a measure of economic security. We will continue our country’s investment in the 350 new community health centers created by the Affordable Care Act that provide critical health services to more than 50 million Americans in medically underserved areas. We will ensure that we truly bending the cost curve downwards so that trips to the emergency room on the taxpayers’ dime are far and few in between.

 
In the blind rabid partisan push to repeal health care reform, the people who will be affected the most by this decision have won a great victory. I will, as I have done in my twelve years in Congress, continue to fight for them and ensure that they receive the support they need. 

I applaud the Supreme Court’s ruling to strike down three of the four key provisions of Arizona’s misguided anti-immigrant enforcement bill (SB 1070), on federal preemption grounds.  However, I am extremely disheartened and disappointed by the Court’s ruling to essentially uphold the highly discriminatory and dangerous “show me your papers” provision—thus keeping open the floodgates for legally-sanctioned racial profiling.  

As an American, I proudly stand with President Obama’s landmark decision to protect young, hardworking, high-achieving, undocumented people and make us a more perfect union.  These young people did not choose to come to this country, and in fact, this country is the only home they have ever known.  However, they choose to sacrifice their lives to fight for our country.  They choose to pursue higher education and contribute to our society and economy.  They choose to participate in the American life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.   

Today, Republicans in the House of Representatives broke from tradition and in polarized partisan fashion passed a watered-down reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a customarily bipartisan bill. For nearly two decades, VAWA has served as a critical backbone in our national response to the rising problem of domestic violence. It has instituted programs that train judicial personnel on how to handle sensitive cases, provided shelter and support to victims and their children, strengthened laws against perpetrators and helped provide protections for those who need it the most.