Dear Friends,
I hope you had a fun and safe Fourth of July weekend. I know the weather was a little tricky for the fireworks – and some cities like Decatur and Chamblee postponed their shows – but I trust you spent quality time with friends and family, and had a chance to honor our veterans and military personnel for their service to our country.
JOBS, JOBS, JOBS: The most recent jobs report shows more must be done to create jobs and strengthen our middle class. Many of us in Congress are working for a balanced, bipartisan agreement to reduce the deficit, while creating jobs, strengthening the middle class, and growing our economy.
 To better serve constituents of Georgia's Fourth District, I have redone our comprehensive jobs page on my Web site. We’ve revamped the site to make it easier to navigate and highlight the most helpful Web sites that not only have jobs today, but can help job seekers develop the skills needed to land the jobs of tomorrow. In addition to the best sites, we’ll highlight local job fairs and the best job search advice to ensure you have the information you need to help you, a family member or friend get back in the workforce. For more, visit Hank’s Job Center.
NORCROSS JOBS FAIR: The Norcross First United Methodist Church, Norcross Cooperative Ministries and the Georgia Department of Labor - Gwinnett Career Center -are sponsoring the fifth annual Career Fest Job Fair on Thursday, July 21 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, click HERE.
RAISING THE DEBT CEILING: Washington is focused on the ongoing negotiations over how to go raise the federal debt ceiling to ensure that America does not default on its financial obligations. I believe those who recklessly argue that the solution to our rising public debt lies in a default on our financial obligations are dead wrong.
If Congress fails to raise the debt limit, we will face another financial crisis, undermine economic recovery and destroy jobs, and shake the world’s faith in the United States. Congress should pass a clean debt limit extension – the consequences of default would be too high. It is reckless to play politics with something this important.
PROTECTING THE SAFETY NET: There is no doubt that America’s mounting public debt must be addressed. But fiscal responsibility requires fair reductions in spending, forward-thinking investment in economic growth and tax increases on millionaires, billionaires and Big Oil – not simply Draconian cuts to social programs. To read more of my thoughts on this subject, read my opinion piece in CrossRoadsNews.
 STANDING WITH COPS: I stood by members of law enforcement organizations today to oppose the proposed elimination of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office. Now is not the time to turn our backs on our local law enforcement officers.Since 1995, the COPS program has invested more than $177 million in Georgia law enforcement agencies, which was used to hire more than 2,400 officers and provide more than $24 million in technology upgrades.
In 2009, DeKalb County was awarded more than $3,000,000 to fund 15 officer positions, and Conyers received more than $400,000 to fund three officers. Last October, Hank presented Chief John King of Doraville with a COPS grant of $385,000 to hire two additional officers.
Pictured above: Hank meets with Doraville Police Chief John King in Washington recently.
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE UNEMPLOYED: This week, I'm co-sponsoring the “Fair Employment Opportunity Act of 2011,” which would prohibit employers and employment agencies from discriminating against unemployed job-seekers by refusing to consider them for employment openings.
It fits nicely with a bill I introduced in March, the “Fair Employment Act of 2011,” which also protects against discrimination on the basis of unemployment status. Discrimination against the unemployed – especially the long-term unemployed – in job ads and hiring practices flies in the face of what we stand for as a nation: Equal opportunity for all. Both bills will help us level the playing field and get people back to work. For more, click HERE.
CHINA’S CURRENCY: I proudly signed a petition this week to encourage the immediate consideration of the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act (H.R. 639). This bipartisan job-creating legislation would pressure countries like China to play by the rules of fair trade – providing our government with effective tools to address unfair currency manipulation. This legislation overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives 348-79 last fall and was reintroduced this year. However, the bill has been sitting in the Committee on Ways and Means for over four months without action. Now is the time to act. For more information, click HERE.
CLEAN CITIES INITATIVE: Alternative-fueled vehicles can reduce our dependence on foreign oil now. Back in 2009, the  U.S. Department of Energy awarded a $15 million Recovery Act grant to DeKalb County in partnership with the Clean Cities Atlanta Coalition to construct a Landfill Gas-to-Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) conversion facility at a DeKalb County landfill and then begin fueling county vehicles with the alternative fuel. Part of the project will increase the availability of the alternative fuel by adding five CNG refueling stations and increasing capacity at a sixth station in the metro Atlanta region.
To help take the next steps, Clean Cities Atlanta is holding a workshop on July 27 about the fleet conversion to alternative fuels: “Advancing the Choice: Fleets and Alternative Fuels.” For more information on the meeting, click HERE. To join Clean Cities Atlanta’s Facebook page, click HERE.
CLEAN BUSES: Speaking of reducing our dependence on oil and cleaning the environment, congratulations to the Center for Transportation and the Environment based here in the Fourth District on receiving a $2.8 million Department of Transportation grant to move our National Fuel Cell Bus Program forward. For more, click HERE.
COLOMBIA FREE TRADE: In the past two years, more than 65 workers and unionists in Colombia have been murdered by paramilitary forces while trying to protect their right to organize. These same forces have also contributed to the displacement of more than 5 million people, many of whom are Afro-Colombians. Colombia now has the sad distinction of having the largest population of displaced people in the world.
That’s why I sent a letter to President Barack Obama last week opposing U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). We must provide stronger labor and human rights protections for Colombian workers – particularly for the rights of Colombia’s African descendants and its indigenous people. Violence against workers, activists and advocates of human and labor rights must stop. We can’t turn a blind eye to these abuses. It is only right and fitting that we get this right – before the FTA is ratified.
For more, click HERE. To read the letter, click HERE.
 WAR CRIMES IN NUBA: In South Kordofan, Sudan, the Nuba people are fleeing their homes in the tens of thousands as the Sudanese Armed Forces conduct a brutal military assault on their homeland. There are widespread reports that Sudanese forces are bombing, shelling, and executing civilians. I spoke out against the violence from the House floor last week. I wrote a blog on “Enough,” a Web site dedicated to ending genocide and crimes against humanity. To read the blog and watch the video, click HERE.
INTERN HONORS: I’m proud to announce that one of our summer interns, Mr. Dereke Clements, has been selected as a recipient of the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education. Dereke will be studying at Université Angers in France this fall. He was chosen for one of the over 960 awards out of 2,500 applications. Dereke is fluent in French and a student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
 FACE TIME ON FACEBOOK: Please stop by my Facebook page. Friending me on Facebook is also a great way to keep track of upcoming events and news from D.C. and the District.
As always, I appreciate your time and comments. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to represent you in Congress. You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook.
Thanks,
 | July 12, 2011 
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About This E-Newsletter
This is an informational e-mail sent to residents of Georgia's Fourth Congressional District. If you would prefer not to receive future mailings, please click the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of this page. This mailing was prepared and sent at taxpayer expense.
My Staff Arthur D. Sidney, Chief of Staff
Kathy Register, District Director
District
Shy Armstrong
Peter Butts
Katie Dailey
Betty Dixon
Eric C. Hubbard
Ray Khalfani
Andy Phelan
Carole Mumford
Dori Scales
Paulette Suggs Washington, D.C.
Scott Goldstein
Jocelyn Griffin
Glenn Miles
Jonathan Ossoff
Mark Perkins
Ebony Simpson
Oliver Spurgeon, III
Sascha Thompson
Marybeth Williams |
To better serve constituents of Georgia's Fourth District, I have redone our comprehensive jobs page on my Web site. We’ve revamped the site to make it easier to navigate and highlight the most helpful Web sites that not only have jobs today, but can help job seekers develop the skills needed to land the jobs of tomorrow. In addition to the best sites, we’ll highlight local job fairs and the best job search advice to ensure you have the information you need to help you, a family member or friend get back in the workforce. For more, visit 
STANDING WITH COPS: I stood by members of law enforcement organizations today to oppose the proposed elimination of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office. Now is not the time to turn our backs on our local law enforcement officers.Since 1995, the COPS program has invested more than $177 million in Georgia law enforcement agencies, which was used to hire more than 2,400 officers and provide more than $24 million in technology upgrades. 
U.S. Department of Energy awarded a $15 million Recovery Act grant to DeKalb County in partnership with the Clean Cities Atlanta Coalition to construct a Landfill Gas-to-Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) conversion facility at a DeKalb County landfill and then begin fueling county vehicles with the alternative fuel. Part of the project will increase the availability of the alternative fuel by adding five CNG refueling stations and increasing capacity at a sixth station in the metro Atlanta region. 
FACE TIME ON FACEBOOK: Please stop by 
