I love celebrating Mother’s Day. This year is all the more special as I am so close to having my first child and my own mother will be helping me to bring him or her into our loving family.

In our busy lives, these special days are so important. But this year, with the difficult economy posing challenges for all families, our mothers need more than just attention on Mother's Day. They need a nation that enables them to thrive - creating economic opportunities for women, protecting the health and safety of mothers and children, and supporting the work women do to build strong, successful families.

I’m proud to work on behalf of mothers and families in Congress, and I’d like to share some of our accomplishments with you. The average woman makes just 78 cents for every dollar a man earns. This Congress, we immediately sent a bill to President Obama that he could sign on his first day in office that would give women the right to challenge unfair pay. I’m including just a small report on this and other things I’ve been working on so far.

Women and families deserve this and so much more. When mothers earn their fair share, young children have greater access to quality health care, educational opportunities, and safe communities. By ending the wage gap, we will help ensure that every child can achieve his or her dreams.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can help in any way, and rest assured I will keep working to make sure the federal government is fiscally responsible, accountable, and responsive to you.

Thank you for the opportunity to represent you in Congress.

FOR AMERICA’S MOTHERS

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act: Restores the right of women and other workers to challenge unfair pay in court. Specifically, rectifies the May 2007 Ledbetter v Goodyear Supreme Court decision that overturned precedent and made it much more difficult for workers to pursue pay discrimination claims. Was the first major bill to be signed into law by President Obama.

Budget Conference Agreement: Includes numerous provisions to address the needs and improve the lives of America’s mothers and their families, including providing investments to improve K-12 education; investing in a clean energy economy to launch a sustainable era of job creation; creating a deficit-neutral fund for health care reform that will cut costs and expand coverage; and cutting the deficit by nearly two-thirds by 2013.

The Recovery Act: Includes many provisions to benefit America’s mothers, including providing tax cuts to 95 percent of working families, including millions of female-headed households; investing in additional child care; preventing cutbacks in Medicaid coverage, upon which millions of women and children rely; expanding nutrition assistance available to families; and expanding job opportunities and job training for women.

FOR AMERICA’S GRANDMOTHERS

The Recovery Act: Includes a series of provisions that will benefit seniors, including the following:

• $250 Economic Recovery Payments for Seniors: Provides a $250 payment to millions of America’s seniors, with the payments being sent out to seniors during the month of May.
  
  
• Senior Nutrition Programs: Provides $100 million for senior nutrition programs, including congregate meals and home-delivered meals. Is expected to provide nearly 14 million additional seniors’ meals.
  
  
• Protecting Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries: Extends a program known as the Qualified Individual (QI) program, which assists certain low-income Medicare beneficiaries with their premiums.
  
  

FOR AMERICA’S CHILDREN

Health Care for 11 Million Children: Renews and improves the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) – preserving coverage for 7 million children currently covered by CHIP and extending coverage to 4 million uninsured but eligible children. Was the second major bill to be signed into law by President Obama.

FDA Regulation of Tobacco Products: Has a key aim of reducing underage smoking with such new regulations as 1) banning all remaining tobacco-brand sponsorships of sports and entertainment events; and 2) restricting vending machines to adult-only facilities; and 3) requiring retailers to verify age for all over-the-counter sales.

Budget Conference Agreement: Includes numerous provisions to address the needs of children and youth, including increasing K-12 education funding to raise student achievement; supporting early childhood education; and making college more affordable and accessible.

The Recovery Act: Includes key investments in Head Start and Early Head Start; child support enforcement; nutrition for women, infants, and children; K-12 education; and increasing the maximum Pell Grant.