THE LEADER'S REPORT: WEEK OF FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Over the course of the last year, the House and Senate thoroughly and publicly debated how best to make health care more affordable and accessible for American families and small businesses. This week, President Obama invited a bipartisan group of Members from the House and Senate for a public discussion on how best to achieve health insurance reform. We discussed substantive differences, but there were also areas of agreement among Democrats and Republicans – many of which are already included in the House and Senate-passed bills and the President’s proposal [2]. In the days and weeks ahead, I look forward to moving forward to accomplish the objectives we all agree on – the need to contain rising costs, reform insurance industry practices, and slow the growth of health care spending and its impact on the federal budget.

 

Next month, we will begin working our way through the budget process, looking to address our deficits and focus on fiscal responsibility. I was pleased to learn today that President Obama appointed members to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The proven leadership they bring to the table will be helpful as they work with Members of Congress to compromise and make the tough decisions our country’s fiscal future demands.

 

We also remain focused on our top priority of job creation. The Senate passed a jobs bill this week, and I was very encouraged that twelve Republicans chose to vote for it.  I hope they and their colleagues will continue to work with us in a bipartisan way so that we can get a final bill to the President’s desk very soon.

 

Leader Hoyer joined President Obama and Congressional Members for a bipartisan meeting that allowed the American people an opportunity to hear how both Democrats and Republicans are proposing to reform health care.

Read release [5]

 

Leader Hoyer praised President Obama on his appointees to the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and hopes the House will select their representatives for the commission very soon.

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Representing a large change in direction from just one year ago, today the Commerce Department announced that the economy grew by 5.9% in the last quarter of 2009, an encouraging sign that steps taken by the Obama Administration and this Congress are working to turn the economy around.

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This week, Leader Hoyer joined Members of Congress and leaders from the disability rights community for an event kicking off the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The anniversary is July 26, 2010.

Read release [8]