Press Release

Nancy Lilly is President and founder of JEM Engineering, a small business which designs and manufactures antennas for the communications industry. Nancy and her husband, launched JEM Engineering in 2001, and together they manage engineering, product development and R&D activities at JEM.

Today’s announcement by the President to provide states with flexibility in return for education reform is a positive step, and I look forward to learning more details about the Administration’s plan. Maryland and other states awarded funding through the Race to the Top grant program have been undertaking serious efforts aimed at raising graduation rates, ensuring high-quality teachers in every classroom, and closing the achievement gap in key subjects such as reading and math. I am disappointed that Congress has not yet been able to come together on a bipartisan basis to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is a central component of Democrats’ Make it in America jobs plan. I hope doing so will be the next step as we continue seeking ways to prepare more of our students to succeed.

For decades public health has been the basis for how we enact emissions standards. The bill before us today, the TRAIN Act, represents a view of environmental protection that is simply off the rails.

This vote sent a clear message to Republicans: the American people want a bipartisan approach to running our government. We should immediately pass disaster relief that meets the needs of our people and protect - not cut - programs proven to create jobs while we reduce the deficit. If Republican leaders bring a bill to the floor that honors the bipartisan agreement from August, they will find it has bipartisan support for passage.

For the thousands of service men and women discharged under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and the countless others who have sacrificed their integrity all these long years, today is a day long awaited. The ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy was a rebuke not only to those gay and lesbian Americans who wished to serve under our flag and risk their lives for it but also to the principles of inclusion and equality that we as a nation hold dear. I was proud to help lead the effort last year to repeal this discriminatory policy once and for all. With this step, our military is surely strengthened at a time when we face great threats to our security and continued demands on our troops. Every American has a share in marking this civil rights milestone, because we all benefit from a strong and capable military that reflects our values.

The plan put forward by the President today is a balanced approach to create jobs in the short-term and bring down the deficit over the long-term. It asks everyone to pay their fair share, strengthens Medicare and Medicaid for future generations while protecting beneficiaries, and emphasizes the need for immediate job creation. It lays out how the Joint Select Committee can go beyond their mandated deficit reduction requirement, which I believe is essential to getting a handle on our nation’s deficit. I also support the President’s call for tax reform that would help grow the economy and reduce the deficit by lowering rates and closing wasteful loopholes that only benefit the wealthy and special interests.

"We share with our friends and allies a determination to see this conflict ended peacefully," Hoyer said. "Voting together to oppose unilateral steps that set peace back would strongly reaffirm our common commitment to this shared goal and to the longstanding principle enshrined in the Oslo Accords that both parties ought to reach a solution through direct negotiations. Quite fundamentally, it would be an expression of our common values."

What the President offered was a getting jobs now bill. He wants American jobs to be created as soon as possible and offered a comprehensive package, which is related to one another, putting money in the hands of businesses so they can hire and grow jobs, putting money in the hands of consumers so they will be able to purchase goods.