Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, House Majority Whip James Clyburn, Caucus Chairman John Larson, Caucus Vice Chairman Xavier Becerra, and Assistant to the Speaker Chris Van Hollen held a press availability this afternoon in the Capitol… Continue

“Congress has built a significant record of accomplishments for veterans and military families. But our work is far from over, and I intend to close the 111th session of Congress with an even more impressive list of accomplishments.”

“The fiscal year 2010 Labor-Health and Human Services-Education appropriations bill includes strong increases for key health, education and worker training initiatives, including NIH research, Pell Grants, Head Start and clean energy jobs…”

“Tomorrow, millions of hardworking Americans will be getting a raise. As the final step of the minimum wage increase goes into effect, studies have shown we are also stimulating the economy by giving hardworking Americans the income they need to buy groceries, fill up their gas tanks, and get their children ready to head back-to school…”

“We last visited in Iraq on Mother’s Day, May 10th, and it was a pretty exciting visit for us then because we could congratulate Mr. al-Maliki on the successful regional election that had taken place. At that time, we talked about corruption and how it is an impediment to investment in Iraq. We talked about the removal of our ground security forces from the city that would occur by the end of June — and it has. And we talked about how we can work together to increase security, decreased corruption, promote the rule of law, and attract investment to Iraq, so important to its future.”

‘Here we are today, one day closer than we have ever been in history — to enacting real health care reform. We’ve made great progress — two of our three Committees in the House, one of the two Committees in the Senate, as you know, have reported out legislation and the other two committees are hard at work in doing their jobs.”

“The disability community is a major stakeholder in health care reform, and I thank you for your advocacy on behalf of people with disabilities and chronic health conditions. We know that health care reform that works well with people with disabilities will work well for all Americans…”

“I reiterate, when the Democrats took control of the Congress, we made it a rule of the House that we had to abide by pay-as-you-go. Now, we have a President of the United States who is committed to sign this legislation and we are able to pass it, not as a rule of the House, but as a statute, as a law of the land.”

“When Congress toughened the Bush Administration’s TARP financial rescue proposal last year, we insisted that financial institutions fully reimburse taxpayers–or if possible, reimburse with a profit — when stability returned to our financial system. These taxpayer protections are now bearing fruit.”

“Few have done more to create a sustainable society and a just world than B. Rapoport. B’s causes are diverse; he loves his alma mater, the University of Texas, he’s a dedicated supporter of Israel, and he’s an unabashed liberal. But wherever there is a difficult challenge and an innovative solution, B. Rapoport is there.”