The Serrano Report, Vol. VII, #4

On Capitol Hill

Serrano met Thursday with SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro to talk about the agency’s efforts to regulate the nation’s securities markets. Serrano’s Appropriations Subcommittee oversees the annual funding of the SEC, and has boosted the regulator’s staff in recent years to help prevent another financial crisis or further Bernie Madoff type scams.

Serrano Earns 100% Rating from Leading Environmental Group

Today, Congressman Serrano discussed the honor of receiving a 100% rating from the League of Conservation Voters for his voting record in 2009:

I am pleased that my voting record over the past year closely follows my convictions on the environment,” said Serrano. “In the past, I often heard that an elected official from the Bronx should worry about things other than the environment, like crime and poverty. I disagreed. I believe that we should focus on every issue that affects people’s quality of life, from crime to poverty to the environment and beyond. When we give up on the environment for people in our community, we are agreeing with the notion that we deserve less. That’s not true.

The restoration of the Bronx River has been a huge environmental justice victory for the Bronx. More than a decade ago I began to fund an effort to clean up and bring back the Bronx River, which at the time was a mess. I believed then as I do now that the people of the Bronx deserved better than they were getting. Fast forward to today and we have a river that is beautiful and clean, and home to wildlife. Our community can use and enjoy its parks and green spaces. It is a treasure. But none of this would have happened if we had agreed that people in the Bronx had to focus on other things and shouldn’t dream about a clean river with green spaces.

We continue to work on the Bronx River, as we continue also to fight against air pollution across our borough. We know that our high asthma rates are related to dirty air. We are working diligently on this problem, using methods such as helping to spur investments in alternative fuels, reducing truck idling, and increasing green transportation options. We know that our air in the Bronx is just as valuable as the air anywhere else in the nation.  With the solutions we are pursuing, we move ever closer to a day when our air is clean and our asthma rates are lower.  That day cannot come too quickly.

In the Bronx

Serrano Reflects on Black History Month

February is National Black History month and as the month draws to a close, Congressman Serrano reflected upon the important role of African Americans in American History and the work still to be done on equality and civil rights:

The contributions African Americans have and continue to make to our nation are by now so ingrained into our daily lives that they often go unrecognized, which is why Black History Month is always a special time for our nation.  It’s a moment when we take time to stop and reflect on the steps forward we’ve taken as a direct result of our African American brothers and sisters. Our nation is so much richer for the role they have played in our history and continue to play in the present.

We often think and speak about civil rights as being our nation’s great “unfinished work.”  The historic act of elevating an African American to the office of President of the United States was a remarkable moment in our history as a nation, and a breakthrough in the century’s long struggle for equality for African Americans.  And though we are living and witnessing history being made every day, we must not become complacent in combating racism when it rears its ugly head, or tackling many of the social injustices that disproportionally impact African Americans in this country. 

Like so many, I am immensely proud of the moment in which we’re living, the task for us now is not to lose sight of all the work that remains to be done. I commend our nation and people for all that has been done, and recommit myself to continue the task of fighting for equality for all races.

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