Office of Congresswoman Jackie Speier

111th Congress Begins 

Washington, DC – The 111th Congress was gaveled into session by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on January 6, 2009.  At that time, I began my first full term in the House of Representatives as the Congressperson for California's 12th Congressional District.

As we enter the new year, I think we all agree that our nation is faced with many daunting challenges.  Our economy is reeling from a record number of home foreclosures, years of regulatory neglect and a complete lack of oversight of Wall Street and financial institutions.  Our brave men and women in the armed forces are engaged in perilous duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, and renewed violence in the Holy Land threatens the stability of the entire region.  Here at home, state and local governments face almost insurmountable deficits, public schools struggle to adequately teach our children while weighed down with onerous federal regulations, and too many Americans go to bed every night knowing that, if a member of their family fell seriously ill, it would gut their life savings.

Still, with the start of this new Congress and the promise of a new President, I believe there is cause for optimism.  With every challenge comes an opportunity and I look forward to the opportunities our country has to fundamentally improve the lives of all Americans.

By the very fact that you visited this website, you have shown that you care about the future of our country and the role Congress plays in that future.  In a matter of weeks, we will unveil a new office website that will provide you with even more resources to stay up-to-date on my work here in Washington and allow you to more easily communicate with me and my staff.  If you have not already done so, I encourage you to sign up for “Jackie’s Journal”, my e-newsletter, so I can contact you with matters of importance and let you know what I'm thinking when vital issues are debated before Congress.

My wish list for our nation is long, but we can't accomplish everything right away, so I have chosen to focus on issues that address some of the root problems facing our country.  Despite regional and political differences, Americans share a belief that our government should be basically fair.  We agree that a person who works hard, contributes to society and plays by the rules should be able to count on some basic things - among these are adequate healthcare, an accountable government, respect for personal privacy, decent schools and equal opportunity.

Since I first entered public service nearly three decades ago, I have remained loyal to three guiding principles: 
     1. Government, at every level, must be ACCOUNTABLE to those it serves.
     2. New programs and services must be INNOVATIVE and embrace the leading edge of technology and thinking.
     3. To accomplish these things, real REFORM of the political system is necessary.

Soon after the start of Congress, I will introduce my "F.A.I.R. Plan" which stands for "Fighting for Accountability, Innovation and Reform."  The legislation continues to be honed and perfected, but I wanted to highlight some of the areas I will address this session:

EARMARKS: 
     • Congress cannot honestly discharge its duties if funding decisions are based on political connections.  I will continue working with Members from both parties to provide more transparency for all    appropriation requests. 
     • Locally, I will name a Citizens Oversight Panel to examine every request made to my office for federal money.  This group will be multi-partisan and represent every area of our district to ensure that, at least in the 12th Congressional District, cronyism will play no part in the decision-making process.

FINANCIAL SERVICES:
     • We must provide stronger oversight and regulations to our financial markets.   A first step is reforming the credit rating agencies by requiring that they are paid from a fund rather than by the firms they are supposed to be rating.
     • I will push for a federal comptroller to oversee any company taking money from the TARP (Troubled Assets Recovery Program) Fund.  This official will be charged with examining decisions related to bonuses, salary increases, advertising or corporate sponsorships to insure that taxpayer money is not being squandered. 

HEALTHCARE:
     • Many patients enter hospitals only to get sicker from staph infections.  The most dangerous, the "Methilicillin Resistant Stahylococcus Aureaus" (MRSA) is a problem at hospitals across our country.  These viruses will only get stronger as the germs adapt, making it necessary for rapid and innovative research into new ways to eradicate and treat outbreaks when and where they occur. 
     • Part of reforming healthcare is containing the cost of services.  One way to do this is to prohibit doctors from referring patients for expensive tests to firms where the doctor holds a financial interest.    
     • I will also push for gender equity in insurance plans, mandating that men and women are not charged differently and providing equal access for men and women to contraception.

EDUCATION:
     • "No Child Left Behind" needs to be more than just a catchy slogan.  Too many schools spend too much time preparing students for government-mandated tests at the expense of more personalized instruction.  I will work to make the program live up to its name and provide schools, parents and teachers the funding and flexibility they require to adequately train our next generation of innovators and leaders.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT: 
     • We will all benefit from a cleaner and more sustainable planet.  I would like to see our country put as much financial and brain power into creating new and greener energy technologies as we have in weapons systems.  Innovation and ingenuity have always driven our economy and they will again when we create more high-tech green jobs and start moving our nation away from dirty and dangerous carbon-based energy sources.

ECONOMIC STIMULUS
     • The first work of the new Congress will be passing an economic stimulus package to get America working again.  My legislation to reimburse state and local governments blindsided by the Lehman Bros. collapse will allow states, cities, counties and school districts to begin or resume work on capital projects that were shelved when their AAA-rated bonds lost their value overnight.  In San Mateo County alone, local entities had over $150 million invested in Lehman Bros. bonds.

These are just a few of the areas my staff and I are working on right now.  Many of these ideas originated with a phone call or email from constituents.  Thank you for caring enough about our world to stay engaged in the political process.  Your counsel and guidance are extremely important to me.  After all, ours is a representative government and for me to do my job, I depend on input from you.
All the best,
 
JACKIE SPEIER