Health Care
Since 1992 I have spent my lifetime working for improvements in our health care system through improved outcomes, greater access to insurance coverage and modernization of medicine. As a State Senator I led the creation of Pennsylvania’s Children’s Health Insurance program, which later became a national model. Now, in Congress, I sit on the Ways and Means Committee which is responsible for much of our nation’s health policy.
Regionally, health care drives our economy, and as such I’ve lead efforts to ensure that our robust health care economy, including medical research, medical education, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and health services, thrives and continues to create jobs here in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
In Congress, I led the charge to:
Ensure Meaningful Insurance by
·Prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage to children with pre-existing medical conditions.
·Ensuring that young adults can stay on their parent’s health coverage until age 26.
·Providing consumer protections including requiring uniform definitions of terms and a ‘coverage of facts’ label for all insurance plans so consumers can make informed comparisons.
Strengthen Medical Education and Health Care Innovation by:
·Establishing a $1 billion therapeutic tax credit for small biotechnology firms that are on the cutting edge of innovative, lifesaving discoveries. This provision will create jobs right here in Southeastern Pennsylvania, and already nearly 6000 companies nationwide have applied to be a part of this exciting program.
·Protecting our hospitals and academic medical centers – to ensure that top quality care continues in Southeastern Pennsylvania and that we continue to educate the best physicians and health professionals in the country.
·Providing health care providers and hospitals with incentives to adopt health information technology -- leading to better health outcomes, fewer medical errors and lower costs by investing $19 billion in new technologies to enable doctors and hospitals to implement health IT.
Economy
President Bush and Congressional Republicans brought America to our worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. Congress has taken important action to turn around our economy, and although there is no denying we still have much to do to ensure that economic recovery reaches all of our families, economists have been clear that had Congress not taken action, our nation would have fallen into Depression.
As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, I’ve been active in ensuring we give the private sector the right tools to create jobs and new economic activity. I supported legislation in Congress to help Americans get back to work, strengthen small businesses and invest in our local communities including providing tax incentives to expand access to lending, tax credits to small businesses that hire unemployed workers and veterans, and closing tax loopholes created by Republicans that provide incentives to move jobs overseas.
In Congress, I sponsored legislation to move our economy forward, create jobs and invest in small business:
·The Life Sciences Jobs and Investment Act provides tax incentives for U.S. small and mid-sized businesses to invest in life sciences research and development, creating jobs here in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
·The GREEN JOBS Act encourages the next generation of biofuels by making available tax credits for new refineries to provide energy from biofuel.
·The Support Working Parents Act provides tax credits to middle class families with young children to better enable parents to get back to work by making child care more affordable. This legislation is supported by the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
Fiscal Responsibility
As Vice Chair of the Budget Committee, and a member of the Ways and Means Committee, I am dedicated to meeting our budgetary challenges by fulfilling our obligations and ensuring we make smart investments to create future economic growth.
Congress must be fiscally responsible, move toward a balanced budget, and pay for what it spends. I strongly supported reinstating statutory pay-go legislation in 2007 -- an essential step in the process of restoring the principles of fiscal discipline and responsible budgeting that lapsed during the last Republican Congress.
Sustainability
I have introduced several pieces of legislation to make communities more livable and sustainable, including the Green Communities Act, which would help local governments to green their communities to promote economic development and address clean water concerns.
I spearheaded legislation to modernize the federal rehabilitation tax credit, which helps developers renovated and reuse historic properties – many of which are right here in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
I am also leading the fight in Congress to preserve open space for future generations by fighting for tax incentives for land owners who wish to donate their land to that purpose.
Israel
My mother fled Austria to escape the Nazis, and emigrated alone at age 16 to the United States. Her experience led me to a deep understanding of the importance of Israel. Israel stands not only as a safe haven for Jews and a strong voice on behalf of the Jewish people, but also as a nation surrounded by intolerance that nevertheless remains unwavering in her commitment to democracy, civil liberties, religious freedom and equal opportunity.
The United States and Israel have a special and important strategic relationship, which I have worked continuously in Congress to maintain and strengthen. We must also continue to work to protect Israel from those who wish to do her harm -- including Iran. This May, I spoke on the floor in support legislation to further enable Israel to defend itself from airborne rocket attacks. And, we must continue our financial support and grow our trade relationship with Israel.
Here at home, I have consistently led efforts to fight hate and discrimination in our communities and to assist survivors. In Congress and as a State Senator, I co-sponsored legislation to provide federal grants for Holocaust education programs. For those efforts, I have been honored by the Women of Reform Judaism, Hadassah, the Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition, Jewish Women International and the National Jewish Democratic Coalition with the 2006 Golda Meir Award.
I am a proud member of the Board of the National Jewish Democratic Council, AIPAC, the Joint Action Committee, the American Jewish Committee, the National Action Political Committee and the Germantown Jewish Centre.
International
Although I am mostly known for my work on domestic issues, such as health care, what you may not know is that I’ve taken on several major international efforts.
I am the founder and Co-chair of the Congressional Georgia Caucus where I work to strengthen bilateral ties with this strong emerging democracy. Georgia is of great geo-political importance to the United States, and I have worked to strengthen those ties.
My work with Georgia is an outgrowth of my service on the House Democracy Assistance Commission, where I have directly participated in the critical work of promoting and supporting the development of democratic institutions in emerging democracies around the world such as East Timor, Liberia and Ukraine.
