Press Releases

In my many trips to Alabama to mark the anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery March for voting rights, I came to know Reverend Shuttlesworth as a man of faith, fortitude, and moral leadership. His efforts were instrumental in making sure that the promise of America extended to all of its people. Reverend Shuttlesworth saw injustice in the world around him and would not stand it. He faced great risk to his life but would not fear it. He made a pledge to shun prejudice and would not break it. Today, Reverend Shuttlesworth lives on in our history and will surely never leave it. My thoughts are with his family, his congregation at the Greater New Light Baptist Church, and the people of his beloved city of Birmingham, Alabama, as we mourn his passing.

Make It In America does mean success but Make It In America also means make it in America – manufacture it in America, grow it in America, sell it here and around the world. So that we can build our manufacturing sector, grow jobs in the manufacturing sector, and make sure our inventors, innovators, and developers don't migrate, as some fear, overseas where products are being taken to scale. So we believe that focusing it making it America so that the label will read ‘Made in America’ is very important as we grow our economy, sustain that growth over time and provide the kind of good paying jobs with good benefits that Americans need and want.

By standing united, Democrats helped ensure that the continuing resolution brought to the Floor and passed today does not cut jobs or put disaster relief funds at risk like the partisan bill first offered by Republicans did. Now that we have taken action to keep the government running through November 18th, we must focus on the top priorities of the American people: creating jobs and bringing down the deficit in a balanced way. I sincerely hope that in the coming weeks we will work together to meet the challenges facing our nation.

In 2006, Abby Martinez started ARM, a woman and minority-owned small business, in Los Ojos, New Mexico to provide furniture, IT hardware, office supplies and staff augmentation services to global corporations and government-funded entities.

Max Navarro and Dr. Lynda Y. de la Vina founded Operational Technologies Corporation in 1986 in San Antonio, Texas, which has been recognized as one of the fastest growing small business companies in the United States.

 Tonight, in households and synagogues across our nation, families will come together to celebrate the arrival of a new year. Since its earliest days, the United States has been blessed by the Jewish community’s numerous contributions across the arts and sciences, government, our Armed Forces, and movements to achieve equal rights for all. During this season of reflection, I join in honoring these contributions and standing strongly in support of our ally Israel, praying for the peace and security of its people in the coming year.

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.

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.

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.

"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."

Today marks the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month, a time to reflect on the history of Latinos in this country and to pay tribute to the contributions they have made in shaping America’s culture and achievements. It is an opportunity for all Americans to celebrate the success of generations of Latinos; from military and public service to business, education and the arts, they have enriched our nation’s heritage.