Looking Toward Tomorrow

On Wednesday, I was thrilled to take a behind-the-scenes look at Square, a remarkable San Francisco-based company that helps Americans hoping to start and run a small business by allowing them to accept credit cards with just one easy application on their smart device. After the tour, I joined with Square employees and merchants for a women’s economic roundtable to learn about the company’s efforts to support women entrepreneurs, students, and employees, and discuss how the private and public sectors can work together on these issues.

Square has a unique understanding of the strength, creativity, and savvy women bring to the business table—and insists on workplace policies that support women and families. And Square’s “Code Camp” initiative will help create a 21st-century workforce by teaching, mentoring, and molding the next generation of coding engineers that will ensure America remains a global leader in technology and innovation.

Unleashing the power of our country’s women is at the core of House Democrats’ economic agenda for women and families: When Women Succeed, America Succeeds.

This agenda stands on three pillars:

When women earn equal pay, we know America’s economy will prosper. When women ensure fairness and balance between work and family, we know American society will thrive. And when all women succeed, we know America succeeds.

For generations, San Francisco has stood on the cutting edge of progress: in economic development, in new technology, in transportation and sustainability. That tradition of leadership continued this week as we poured concrete into the first permanent part of the new Transbay Transit Center, which is scheduled to open in late 2017.

With this Transbay Transit Center, we are setting the cornerstone of a new “Grand Central Station of the West”. We are staying on-track to connect cities and communities throughout the region and across the state. We are opening new doors to public transit options, reducing congestion on our roads, cutting carbon emissions and creating jobs.

This center will be the place where riders can board high-speed trains as part of the development of California’s high-speed rail system. It will bring capital, commuters, and consumers to our city through a system that is that is better, faster, cheaper. Once the Transbay Transit Center is complete, it will bring 11 transit systems together under one roof – meaning more convenience for commuters, more efficiency for workers, and more growth for our city.

Our actions serve as a marker that this entire city – leaders in public service, in labor, and in business – is united behind the success of the Transbay Transit Center. Standing together, these leaders are keeping San Francisco at the forefront of good jobs, a growing economy, and a thriving middle class. Working together, we will keep this city on the cutting edge of progress.

For Jewish families around the world, Rosh Hashanah is a moment of reflection and renewal, joy and prayer, repentance and introspection. With hope for a future of health and happiness, the new year is an opportunity to reiterate the core commitments and values of the Jewish people: to repair the world, and perfect it; to cherish justice, and pursue it; to seek peace, and secure it.

As Jewish households gather to hear the sound of the shofar, to celebrate with loved ones, to dip apples in honey, to rejoice and to pray, let us hope that this Rosh Hashanah will bring a year of peace and security to Israel and her neighbors across the Middle East. Let us hope that this new year ushers in a time of joy, good fortune, and progress for the Jewish community in the United States and around the world. Shana tovah u’metukah – may you have a happy, healthy, sweet new year.