Congresswoman Renee Ellmers: Responding to the President’s State of the Union Address


Video of the Week:

This week, I had the honor of speaking on behalf of H.R. 7 — as it is conservative legislation that advances the pro-life cause and guarantees that no taxpayer dollars are spent funding abortion. I will continue to

 

 


This week started with a bang, as President Obama attended a joint session of Congress to give his annual State of the Union. This was the seventh time he has addressed the American people and the seventh time we have all had to witness the same empty promises.

The American people spoke very clearly in November— they are ready for us to work together and ready for the political gamesmanship to end. Simply put, the president’s top-down approach to enacting policy isn’t real leadership, and it certainly isn’t what the American people deserve. I hope the president uses the final two years of his presidency to show us that he is capable of putting down his ‘pen and phone’ long enough to reach across the aisle.

Click here to see my full response to his speech. I also had a chance to talk to a reporter later that evening, so I hope you will check out the full interview I gave here.

Also this week, I had the opportunity to introduce a Human Trafficking Bill. This legislation would create a program for nursing and medical schools to educate healthcare professionals so they can recognize signs of human trafficking and intercede early-on. Oftentimes, members of the medical community encounter these individuals while they are still being trafficked; however, by training healthcare professionals and equipping them with the right skills, we are enabling them to identify hallmark signs of abuse and intervene quickly.

I look forward to continuing to work on your priorities, and I want to thank you for the opportunity to be your voice in Washington.


End Trafficking:

To learn more about the legislation I introduced to identify victims of human trafficking, click here or on the picture above.

 


The Need for a Grid Infrastructure:

This week, I joined my colleague Rep. Jerry McNerney from California and we wrote an op-ed discussing the need for an updated electrical grid. A few paragraphs are posted below.Click here to view the op-ed in its entirety.

“Though our grid has served us well, we’ve simply outgrown it. It’s time to modernize the grid so we can better provide reliable, efficient and cheaper electricity while incorporating renewable sources to holistically tackle our 21st century energy needs.

We’ve made some progress over the past few years in modernizing the grid, but much more remains to be done. The Department of Energy has succeeded in working with the private sector to develop and implement new technologies that have improved grid efficiency and reliability. This includes the innovation of synchrophasors, which are devices making our grid “smart” – reporting data about the health of the grid 30 times per second. This allows for computers to manage power in real time and reroute it when necessary in the case of a planned or unplanned power outage. Microgrids are yet another example of this innovation, as they are smaller local grids that can connect to a nationwide grid and also operate independently if needed.”