Schrader Congressional Update

Statement

Dear Friends --

Happy New Year!

This week, Congress officially began the 114th Congress, and I am looking forward to continuing to serve the people of Oregon's 5th Congressional District. In this new Congress, I'm hopeful that our Congressional leaders feel empowered to end the gridlock and work together to finally get some things done.

For my part, this new Congress is bringing about several changes that will have a real impact on the 5th District. I was recently assigned to serve on the exclusive House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Roughly 70 percent of all legislation in the House of Representatives passes through this Committee. With this new assignment, my tenure on the Small Business, Agriculture, and Budget Committees comes to an end. While I won't be on these committees, I will continue to pay special attention to the issues we've fought for over the years. My new committee assignment gives me the opportunity to influence some of the most important legislation we'll vote on at a very early stage in the process.

In addition to serving on a new committee, I will also continue to serve as a leader of the No Labels Problem Solvers, a large group of Republicans and Democrats who are committed to finding common ground and ending the gridlock in Washington.

We ended 2014 with so many accomplishments for the 5th District and the State of Oregon. In December, by building a broad coalition of support, we successfully passed legislation that keeps the U.S. Coast Guard's search and rescue helicopter in Newport. As a member of the Farm Bill Conference Committee, we passed a farm bill that will reap rewards for Oregon's agriculture for years to come and will save taxpayers an estimated $23 billion. We also broke ground on the Aurora airport tower and passed bipartisan flood insurance reform to prevent unaffordable premium hikes for Oregonians.

These are just some of our accomplishments, and I am confident we can have the same record this year with your help. Please stay in touch if I can help out. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on the work I'm doing, and please forward this message to family and friends and encourage them to subscribe.

I look forward to seeing you around the district and to continuing to serve Oregon for the next two years.

Sincerely,

Kurt Schrader
Member of Congress

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