11.27.17 – Rep Jim McGovern joins us on air

November 27th, 2017 – Jim McGovern

             

On our second show we were so please to welcome Congressman James McGovern to the show.

Rep McGovern can be found at LGBTQ events throughout the State.  His support for Human Rights and the LGBTQ community has been consistent and vocal.

Congressman Jim McGovern was born in Worcester on November 20, 1959 and grew up
around the corner from his current home on Burncoat Street. Growing up in Worcester
taught Jim a lot about the value of hard work and giving back to his community.
Jim helped stock shelves at McGovern’s Package Store, a small business owned by his family
since 1937. He attended Burncoat Elementary School and then Worcester Academy.
By seventh grade, Jim knew he wanted to make a difference. He volunteered on the 1972
presidential campaign of Senator George McGovern – no relation – and held signs and knocked
doors for the Senator’s anti- war campaign.

Later, he managed Senator McGovern’s second presidential campaign in Massachusetts,
delivering his 1984 nominating speech during the Democratic National Convention in San
Francisco.

Jim attended The American University in Washington, D.C. where he earned both his
bachelor’s degree in History (‘81) and his Master’s Degree in Public Administration (‘84). He
worked his way through college as an intern in the office of Senator George McGovern.
Jim worked for Massachusetts Congressman John Joseph Moakley (D-South Boston) from
1982 until 1996, serving as a staff assistant, press secretary, and legislative director.
In 1989, Congressman Moakley asked Jim to be the lead staffer in the investigation of the
murders of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador. He exposed
that the murders were committed by the U.S. – backed Salvadoran military, leading to a major
shift in U.S. foreign policy. After Jim’s discovery, future military aid from the U.S. was
contingent on improved human rights and a negotiated peace in El Salvador.

It was while working in Moakley’s office that Jim met his wife, Lisa Murray McGovern, who
was an aide to Congressman Gerry Studds (D-MA). The McGoverns married in 1989 and have
two children, Patrick and Molly.Jim was elected to the House of Representatives in 1996, and through his work in Washington

and at home in Massachusetts, he has been a voice for the most vulnerable and a strong
advocate for working families. In 2001, Jim was appointed to a seat on the powerful House Rules Committee, “the traffic cop of Congress” which sets the terms for debate on most
legislation.

During his time in Congress, Jim’s top priority has always been his constituents back
home. He has been an advocate for making college more affordable, and authored a bill to
increase Pell Grant funding. To protect open space for future generations to enjoy and enhance
recreational community spaces in urban and suburban neighborhoods, Jim successfully fought
to defend the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which provides grants to preserve open
space.

Jim authored legislation to give tax credits to employers who pay the salaries of National Guard
members and Reservists called to active duty. And when the Supreme Court handed down
its flawed Citizen’s United decision to allow unlimited amounts of money in politics, Jim
introduced several Constitutional Amendments to overturn the court’s decision.

Jim is co-chair of the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, which investigates
international human rights abuses and recommends how the U.S. should foster respect for
democratic values abroad. In this role, he has held a spotlight to egregious international human
rights violations that would have otherwise have gone largely unnoticed.

In 2012, Jim authored the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which allows the
President to punish foreign officials who the U.S. identifies as corrupt or human rights abusers.
The bill was passed by the Senate later that year and signed into law by President Obama.
As a leading advocate in Congress for peace, Jim has repeatedly called attention to the
lack of Congressional oversight and approval of America’s wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and
Syria. Throughout his career, Jim has been a voice for reallocating defense spending towards
domestic priorities like education, infrastructure, and supporting our veterans and seniors.
One of Jim’s greatest passions is ending hunger at home and abroad. He is the founder and cochair
of the House Hunger Caucus and Ranking Member on the House Subcommittee on
Nutrition, where he advocates tirelessly for funding programs that help working families,
children, and the elderly put food on the table when times are tough.

He also authored the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition
Program to provide school-based meals for millions of children in some of the world’s poorest
countries.

Jim’s work on behalf of Massachusetts and the nation has a proven record of success and he is
proud to represent Massachusetts’ Second Congressional District in Washington, D.C.

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