January 2017 District Update

Happy New Year! Best wishes for a safe, healthy and prosperous 2017!

January 3 marked the first day of the new 115th Congress. And as your representative for the 7th Congressional District, I took the oath of office to affirm that “I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.”

I’m honored to be your representative again and one of my greatest responsibilities is helping the hardworking people of the 7th Congressional District. My staff and I are here to help constituents cut through red tape at federal agencies as well as to provide resources and information about a variety of issues.

Here’s how my staff and I helped the people of the 7th Congressional District in 2016:

·      Hosted 30 events with more than 18,000 attendees

·      Completed 595 constituent services cases

·      Helped secure $550,350 in owed benefits and savings for constituents

·      Advocated for $31.8 million in funds supporting organizations, research and jobs in the 7th Congressional District

·      Answered 49,456 letters, emails and calls

·      Nominated 22 students to U.S. Service Academies

·      Drafted 5 pieces of legislation which became law in the 114th Congress

I’m proud of the services we provide our constituents and I look forward to continuing to serve you.

To be honest, I was disappointed to see the 115th Congress start by House Republicans voting to gut the independent, nonpartisan Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) by placing it under the lawmaker-controlled Committee on Ethics. Fortunately, the numerous calls of outcry by the American people forced House Republicans to rethink their misguided proposal which would have undermined the OCE’s independence by allowing the House to halt investigations and stop anonymous reporting.

My offices in Lakewood and D.C. received more than 50 phone calls in addition to tweets, Facebook comments and emails from constituents voicing their concern about this effort to undermine the current ethics process. I encourage everyone to continue to share their thoughts, concerns and ideas with me and my office by calling (303) 274-7944 or email me.

We are finalizing the schedule of events for 2017 now so please visit my events page to see all upcoming events and ways to register.

Learn more about my activities at www.perlmutter.house.gov or by following me on Facebook (Congressman Ed Perlmutter) and Twitter (@RepPerlmutter).