The New Year brings many changes to Washington and to my role as a member of Congress representing the 20^th Congressional District in South Florida.

The American people cast their votes for change on November 7^th.  They voted to move our country in a new direction.  Democrats will serve in the majority in the House, where I serve, as well as in the Senate.

I am pleased to report that I was chosen to serve as a member of the powerful House Committee on Appropriations, and selected to serve as one of only nine Chief Deputy Whips in the Democratic majority, offering me an opportunity to help shape the agenda for Congress in 2007 and 2008.

The House Committee on Appropriations has what is commonly described as "the power of the purse" because it, along with its Senate counterpart, sets the specific expenditures of funds by the government of the United States.  I am looking forward to the opportunities this seat on the Committee on Appropriations will afford me to work on behalf of my constituents in Broward and Miami-Dade counties and the American people. I also look forward to working closely with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Committee Chairman David Obey as we pursue earmark reform and bring broader transparency to the appropriations process.

Throughout 2006 my Democratic colleagues and I laid out commitments that we would fulfill if the American public entrusted us with the majority. Americans called for greater integrity in Washington, and we pledged to make Congress more ethical. Americans called for common-sense proposals to improve the everyday lives of all Americans and we put forward a "Six for '06" agenda that addressed critical economic, health care, and educational concerns of working families.

The first 100 legislative hours of the 110^th Congress, convening the first week of January, you will see a people's Congress, a Congress that will pass legislation to make the American people safer, make our Congress more honest and open, make our economy more fair, and build a better future for all of America's children.

In the first week of the 110^th Congress we adopted an ethics reform package designed to make this the most honest, ethical and open Congress in history.  We will rid the Capitol of the culture of corruption that hung over it for too many years.

This ethics reform package begins to sever the link between lobbyists and legislation, by banning gifts and travel from lobbyists, and ending the abuses connected to privately-funded congressional travel.  The package also brings civility to the legislative debate - committing to a fair and open process for amendments, guaranteeing time to read legislation, and ensuring that the minority can participate in Conference Committees.

During the first 100 hours of the 110^th Congress, we are also going to change the House rules to restore pay-as-you-budgeting, ensuring that, like families' household budgets, we don't spend more than we take in.  This will begin to reverse the record budget deficits that are passing on trillions in debt to our children and grandchildren.  Additionally, we will end the abuse of special-interest earmarks.

In the remainder of the first 100 legislative hours, we will pass the elements of our "Six for '06" agenda to meet the everyday needs of all Americans.  We will make America safer by fully implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 commission; make our economy more fair by raising the minimum wage; make college more affordable by cutting the interest rates on student loans; improve health care by requiring Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices and promoting stem cell research; and take the first step toward achieving energy independence by repealing subsidies to Big Oil and investing the savings in renewable energy.

Furthermore, in last fall's election, nowhere was the call for a New Direction more clear than in the war in Iraq.  In addition to the verdict of the voters, the recent report of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group concluded that the President's Iraq policy must be changed.  The President should implement one of the Study Group's chief recommendations - to change the primary mission of U.S. troops in Iraq from combat to training and support, which would enable the U.S. to begin the redeployment of U.S. forces.   The Study Group has endorsed this proposal and I hope that the President will recognize that he must take America's policy in Iraq in a new direction.

As I look ahead to the promise of 2007, I understand that what Americans have asked their political leaders to do is to place the interests of the country first, ahead of their party, and certainly ahead of special interests.  In the coming year I will work hard to ensure that your call for a New Direction for America is reflected in the legislation we are focusing on in Congress.  The people of South Florida will know that no one in Washington is working harder for them.

Your questions, thoughts, and concerns are important to me.  Please do not hesitate to let me know of any problems or issues you consider significant.  Feel free to contact my offices in Broward at 954-437-3936, in Miami-Dade at 305-936-5724, or in Washington, D.C. at 202-225-7931.  Thank you, and I wish you all the best in 2007.