If you are a Rhode Island resident and you served in the military and looking for work, there's a job fair today:
http://news.providencejournal.com/...
A military job fair and roundtable discussion on military employment will be held Friday at the Rhode Island Convention Center. Sen. Jack Reed, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and Cranston Mayor Allan Fung will host the fair and engage in the discussion.
The event opens at 10:30 a.m. on the fifth floor of the Convention Center. The fair runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The fair is free, and open to servicemen and women, veterans and families. - Providence Journal, 4/25/13
Sorry to get this out late, just found this today. You need to preregister which I'm sure you could still do. Call 401-680-8570 or visit www.providenceri.com and click on Jobs Now, in the upper right-hand corner.
In other military related news, Reed and his colleagues in the Senate are working on getting troops better American made shoes:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/...
U.S. law requires that all clothing, boots and dress shoes for new military recruits be American-made. However, one of the exceptions under the so-called Berry Amendment, which was originally passed in 1941, is athletic footwear. The estimated 225,000 new military recruits every year, instead, receive a cash allowance to buy their own sneakers with no requirement on where the shoes were made. The Pentagon program is valued at $15 million a year.
This program puts the training of U.S. troops at risk, says Matt LeBretton, the director of public affairs for American shoemaker New Balance, one of 13 companies urging President Obama and lawmakers to back a change to the Berry Amendment. He argues that an insufficient shoe could either increase the possibility for a training injury or lead to hamper troop fitness.
Sequestration, it would seem, is not the only thing that could affect military readiness.
“It only makes sense to have a shoe that’s designed for the rigors of training,” LeBretton said. “And they’re not doing that today.”
But it’s not just for the military’s sake that this new law passes. With many of these proposals, it’s also about economics. Supporting American manufacturing boosts the economic and promotes hiring, LeBretton argues.
“We believe that as a company that making things in the United States matters, and it should matter,” LeBretton said. “A lot of people, from the president on down to through congressional leaders and rank-and-file members, say the same thing.”
New Balance is one of the only remaining companies that make their shoes in the U.S. Other American companies like Nike and Vans produce their shoes overseas. Thirty-eight different companies go into producing New Balance shoes. A $500,000 contract for a 40-person company, he said, could go a long way.
A bipartisan mix of 15 senators is putting their support behind this change. They include Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Jack Reed, D-R.I., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C, Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Roy Blunt, R-Mo., John Boozman, R-Ark., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Mo Cowan, D-Mass., Bob Casey, D-Penn., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
The letter to the president was authored by Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King, which makes sense, considering that a majority of New Balance’s manufacturing employees are located in their state. LeBretton estimates 200 new manufacturing jobs could be created if this were to go through. - National Journal, 4/25/13
If you'd like to get more information about this, contact Reed's office for more details:
(202) 224-4642
Here's some info on Reed's military background:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Reed graduated from La Salle Academy and the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1971. Following graduation, he spent several years in active duty military service. Reed earned an Army Ranger tab and was a paratrooper. He served as an Army Ranger and paratrooper in the 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division where he was a Platoon Leader, Company Commander, and Battalion Staff Officer.
Reed attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he received a Masters of Public Policy. He returned to West Point in 1978 as an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Sciences. He left active duty in 1979 after earning the rank of Captain. However, he would remain a member of the United States Army Reserve until 1991.
Reed serves on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies. With the chairman, Senator Tim Johnson (D. SD), retiring, Reed is next in line to become the new chairman:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Sen. Jack Reed, Rhode Island's senior U.S. senator, may be in line for not one, but two prestigious committee chairmanships after the 2014 election.
Sen. Carl Levin, a long-serving Michigan Democrat who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, announced last week he won't seek reelection.
Sen. Timothy Johnson, a South Dakota Democrat who chairs the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, is also rumored to be considering retirement.
Assuming both chairmen retire and Democrats retain control of the Senate, both committees would need new leadership after the 2014 election.
Reed is the second-ranking Democrat on both and likely next in line for either chairmanship. - Providence Journal, 3/11/13
By the way, with Senator Max Baucus (D. MT) retiring, Reed is now the 9th most senior Senator:
http://blogs.wpri.com/...
U.S. Sen. Max Baucus of Montana on Tuesday became the sixth Senate Democrat to announce he will retire rather than seek re-election next year. All but one of those six lawmakers – New Jersey’s Frank Lautenberg – have served in the Senate longer than Reed, who was first elected in 1996.
The departures of those five – Baucus, Carl Levin, Tom Harkin, Jack Rockefeller and Tim Johnson – will vault Reed from 14th to 9th on the list of the U.S. Senate’s most senior Democrats. Of course, that assumes Reed himself will win re-election next year – about as safe an assumption as there is in politics. - WPRI 12, 4/23/13
Reed's colleague, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D. RI) said that seniority is a key aspect to being an effective Senator:
http://blogs.wpri.com/...
Seniority, which you can’t do much about – it is what it is – but as time goes by you need to be ramping it up the match your seniority.
Very hard work, and I demand that of my staff as well – you can outwork other offices, you can have the report prepared in advance because you know where the public is going to be.
Gradually building enough expertise on an issue so when the discussion comes and you have something to say, people say, “Oh, this is an issue that Whitehouse has put a lot of work into and I’ve heard him before on this – he has credibility with me – I trust him.” You don’t completely cede your vote to another senator, but you trust people more on some things than you do on others, and you trust some people more than you do on others because you’ve seen them put the work in. -WPRI 12, 1/2/13