Congressman Fattah Advocates for Broad Agenda In Busy Week of Appearances

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA) is undertaking an ambitious schedule of speeches, meetings and other appearances in three cities this week that highlight much of his legislative agenda for 2012.

In the spotlight: The Congressman's leadership on manufacturing, innovation and organized labor, cooperatives, space entrepreneurship, community college job training and higher education preparation for low-income students, as well as youth mentoring as a crime-fighting strategy.

Congressman Fattah, from Philadelphia, is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee and the lead Democratic appropriator on its Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and related agencies. In those assignments he oversees funding for the Department of Commerce manufacturing programs and cooperative aid, NASA, NOAA, neuroscience and scientific research through the National Science Foundation, and mentoring programs funded by the Department of Justice. Fattah has throughout his career been a nationally recognized leader for education reform, community colleges, higher education and equal opportunity for low-income students. 

Here are highlights for the week:

CO-OPS: Fattah addresses the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission's program on "cooperative solutions" Tuesday in Philadelphia. He recently introduced the National Cooperative Development Act to authorize $25 million a year through 2016 for the Commerce Department for the nation's burgeoning and job-creating cooperatives.

EDUCATION: Fattah delivered a breakfast address in New York City Monday to officials of 154 GEAR-UP programs nationwide. He is the architect of Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), enacted in 1998 and hailed as the nation's most successful readiness program to prepare low-income students as young as sixth graders for the rigor and challenges of higher education. About 12 million students have benefited from GEAR UP and its $3 billion in federal resources guiding them on a course to the college education they never considered possible.

SPACE: In Washington on Wednesday, Fattah will deliver remarks at a panel on Minority Space Enterprises at the Federal Aviation Administration's Commercial Space Transportation Conference. He will also join NASA Administrator Charles Bolden at the National Space Club. 

LABOR: Fattah will also be joining Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and other Members on Wednesday in Casey's Washington office advocating for United Steel Workers Union employees at refineries in the Philadelphia area threatened with closure.

He will also speak Wednesday before the American Federation of Government Employees' 2012 Annual Legislative Conference Breakfast, at the invitation of AFGE members in Pennsylvania and Delaware.

COMMUNITY COLLEGES: Fattah will address the presidents, trustees, administrators and students of the Community College National Legislative Summit on Wednesday. Each year, the summit brings together over 1,000 community college leaders to Washington to discuss issues related to strengthening communities through education and economic and workforce development.

On Thursday, he'll be part of a Roundtable discussion with Senator Chris Coons (D-Delaware) about college preparation, access, and completion. Coons' American Dream Accounts outlines partnerships that leverage the power of the Internet to combine college savings with the engagement of high-impact mentoring, career guidance, and focus towards higher education.

MINORITY ENTERPRISE: Fattah meets Tuesday with representatives of the Black Economic Council, the Latino Business Chamber of Greater Los Angeles and the National Asian American Coalition on a broad range of issues affecting the black community, including declining benefits of the federal safety net.

MENTORING:  The Congressman will meet Thursday with Jim Clark, President and CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Coverage is invited for Congressman Fattah's public appearances throughout the week. Contact [email protected] or [email protected] for details.

SOURCE Office of Congressman Chaka Fattah