Eighth Congressional District Candidate Forum at George Mason ... >
May 5, 2014 - Former Lt. Governor and former Ambassador to Switzerland Don Beyer

Opening Statement
...Growing up, I was taught that we were each put on Earth to build something larger than ourselves and to serve others.  That's why you're here tonight and that's why I'm honored to be a candidate for the U.S. Congress.

We face significant challenges today.  Sixteen million American children live in poverty, ten million adults are out of work, and more than 16-percent of our youth are unemployed.  The gap between the rich and poor, income inequality, is growing worse every year.  And this is why I want to go to Congress, to fight for these families.

First, we strengthen education.  Universal pre-K, let's make college more affordable for all.  And good education can not just be the privilege for the elite but available for every child in Virginia and in the United States.

Fighting for our families also means resisting each and every attempt to repeal the president's health care law.  Republicans want to ignore all the progress we've made with the Affordable Care Act.  The want to ignore the eight million people who signed up for private insurance.  They want to ignore the five million people now with health care under the expanded Medicaid.  And I have a simple message for the Republicans who want to repeal Obamacare.  We won't let you. 

We need to make sure our schools and our communities are safe with commonsense gun laws that keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the dangerously mentally ill.  You know the public is overwhelmingly for this, but we have found that the NRA and the other gun lobbies have held us back again and again.  Well I've taken on the NRA before and I'll take them on again.  And let me tell you this.  We will win.

We have to address the growing threat of climate change.  The ten hotest years on record have all happened since 1998.  Right now plants and animals are going extinct at a rate we haven't seen in 60 million years.  And that's why I will fight for a progressive national carbon tax, the single best solution to address the control of greenhouse gases.

Now these are just a few of the tough challenges we face, and I have a proven record of taking on difficult problems and getting things done.  As Lt. Governor, I worked to bring real change to the lives of families in poverty, and I fought repeated attempts to undermine a woman's right to choose.  I've grown a business right here in Northern Virginia, created jobs, invested deeply in our community.  And I was proud when President Obama asked me to lead his transtion team at the Department of Commerce and later to serve overseas for four years as his ambassador.

We're all Democrats here, and I respect my colleagues greatly, but we bring different strengths to the race.  As a businessman, lieutenant governor and ambassador I have a proven record, the ideas and energy to hit the ground running.  Thank you very much.
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