Mr. Speaker, I come to Congress as a career prosecutor. Someone, whose job it has been to sort through facts in search of the truth.

 

In my career I have found that usually the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Running for Congress gave me the opportunity to meet with many people across the sprawling First Congressional District of Maryland with divergent opinions.

 

But what I found was that as differing as their opinions may have been, they more often than not shared the same common goals for their families and their communities.

 

Most wanted more financial stability, they wanted to send their children to college, and they wanted a government that didn’t interfere with their small business, but provided incentive and opportunity to grow.

 

People agreed that that a clean and healthy Chesapeake was vital to our region, whether they valued the bay for sport, commerce, or tourism, and people wanted a Congress that applied oversight to every penny they appropriated.

 

The long and short was that among my constituents there were just as many shared goals as there were opposing viewpoints. 

 

In my first few days as a Member of Congress I have found the same to be true among my colleagues.

 

I pledged to my constituents that I would work with both sides of the aisle in order to help accomplish these common goals and that is the same promise I make to my colleagues.

 

No party has a monopoly on good ideas, and, as always, if we work in a bi-partisan manner we will find that the truth is somewhere in the middle.