| This Congress is making steady progress on health insurance reform and is close to having a final bill that ensures middle-class affordability, improved access and stability of coverage, and greater protections for consumers. This legislation would protect the interests of seniors by strengthening Medicare to improve care, provide greater access to physicians, and improve coverage by eliminating the “donut hole” coverage gap. In addition, because the American people are rightly concerned by the deep deficits and debt confronting our nation, President Obama and Democratic Leadership remain committed to passing fiscally responsible health reform that accomplishes our reform goals without adding to the federal deficit. My hope is that it will not be long before we can pass health reform on the House Floor.  | Leader Hoyer joined Speaker Pelosi, Rep. Mark
Schauer, and Jim Williams, the CEO of Easter Seals,
to discuss the importance of health care reform for
children with pre-existing conditions.
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Democrats also continue to focus on job creation. As part of that effort, we held an economic forum this week to hear from experts about the state of the economy and ways to keep saving and creating jobs. On Wednesday, I joined President Obama in Landover, MD for the President's announcement of new initiatives to give small businesses the tools they need to thrive, create jobs and help drive the nation’s economic recovery. Rebuilding our economy and getting Americans back to work is the top priority of the Obama Administration and Congress, but once we get our economy back on track and are steadily creating jobs, we are committed to doing everything we can to be fiscally responsible and bring down the deficit. Creating clean energy jobs is another part of our economic recovery and investing in our future. This week, the House passed legislation that invests in solar energy research, helping to improve our solar technologies and decrease their cost. We also passed the Coast Guard Authorization Act, which strengthens the Coast Guard in its role of keeping our nation safe.
Next week, Democrats are continuing to help small businesses through this recession with a bill that will increase their access to capital – one more way Democrats are continuing to help small business owners access credit and save and create jobs. In addition, the House will take up a continuing resolution as Congress completes its work on appropriations bills.
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