Politics

Puts Forth Plan to Provide Domestic Manufacturing and Foreign Export Assistance for American-Made Products

By Mara Lee

WASHINGTON, D.C.(OBSNews.com) – Today, Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento) introduced the Clean Energy Technology Manufacturing and Export Assistance Act of 2010 to boost the competiveness of U.S. clean technology industry in the U.S. and international marketplace. This will have an enormous impact on the Sacramento region, and help further the region’s progress toward becoming a clean-tech capital. The bill is co-sponsored by leading Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, including House Commerce Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush (D-IL), Chairman Emeritus John D. Dingell (D-MI), and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA).

Currently, our nation’s clean tech industry is lagging behind many of its international competitors, particularly in exports abroad. According to a U.S. Senate Report released in January 2010, the U.S. clean technology industry exported about $7.7 billion in products and services last year compared to China’s $22.7 billion and Germany’s $19.6 billion increases in exports. Moreover, the Department of Energy has found that the increase in exports of green technology could reach $40 billion per year and could create more than 750,000 jobs by 2020.

NARAL ProChoice California Hosts Candidate Forum in San Francisco

By Patrick McGilvray

SAN FRANCISCO (OBSNews.com) - On April 10 in San Francisco several panels of candidates vying for the offices of Governor, Attorney General, and Insurance Coommissioner in Caifornia addressed a crowd of about 300 at the Forum for Choice 2010, and event convened for the first time by NARAL ProChoice California (ProChoiceCalifornia.org).

The candidates were interviewed about their views on abortion rights as well as a full range of issues relating to reproductive health issues relevant to women in California. In addition to the panel discussions, the candidates all were interviewed on camera by OBSNews and these videos are all embedded below.*

Former California Governor and former Mayor of Oakland Jerry Brown, the Democratic Party candidate for Governor in 2010 was the only candidate in his race to attend as both Republican candidates, Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman, declined their invitations.

The candidates in the race for Insurance Commissioner included:

By Mara Lee

WASHINGTON, D.C. (OBSNews.com) - Today, Congresswoman Doris O. Matsui (D – Sacramento) commemorated the 40th annual Earth Day by joining citizens around the world in addressing the need for all of us to make small changes in our daily tasks to reduce our impact on the environment. Rep. Matsui also called upon her colleagues in Congress to continue efforts to enact clean energy legislation that will create fair-wage jobs in America, strengthen our national security, and help preserve the air we breathe and the water we drink.

“Each year, Earth Day offers us an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made toward protecting our environment and the work that we still need to do,” said Rep. Matsui. “This year, we have an historic opportunity to take action to limit the harmful effects of climate change, and create the clean energy economy of the future. And there is no reason why America shouldn’t be at the forefront of this new economy, and Sacramento shouldn’t lead that effort.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. (OBSNews.com) - Today, Congresswoman Doris Matsui (CA–05) recognized the importance of Equal Pay Day, a day designed to mark the ongoing struggle of attaining equal pay for female workers across America by releasing the following statement:

“Each year, Equal Pay Day highlights the continuing presence of pay discrimination in the workplace. With the passage of the Equal Pay Act by President John F. Kennedy in 1963, millions of working women looked to a day when women could earn a wage equal to that of men. Nearly five decades later, women continue to make only 77 cents for every dollar made by their male counterparts, and its slow improvement highlights the ongoing struggle for equality in the workplace.