Price filed for re-election

Rep. David Price, D-N.C., who represents North Carolina’s 4th District, filed for re-election to Congress on Monday, Feb. 13, and issued the following statement:
“Today I filed for re-election in the Fourth Congressional District
“For the last four years, it has been my great honor to stand with President Obama to take on some of the greatest challenges of our generation. Together, we have reformed the health insurance system, reined in the excesses of Wall Street, expanded access to higher education through student loan reforms and—most importantly—begun a recovery that has seen the economy create 3.2 million new jobs. These are major accomplishments, but we still have unfinished business. This election is a make-or-break moment for our middle class and those trying to reach it.
“I am running to continue the fight for what’s right: to put Americans back to work, to build a sustainable fiscal future and to make the investments necessary for renewed prosperity and expanded opportunity for all—not just the wealthy few. The federal budget must reflect both our nation’s commitment to working people and common sense. We can protect special tax treatment for millionaires and billionaires, or we can invest in renewing our middle class, but we cannot do both—and we shouldn’t. As a matter of fundamental fairness, millionaires and billionaires should not pay a lower effective tax rate than middle class Americans, or students, or seniors. These policies don’t create jobs; they exacerbate income inequality.
“That’s why expanding access to education has been one of my top priorities in Congress. Public education is the bedrock of our democracy and our economy. It is the means by which people from all walks of life are able to help their children achieve the American dream, and we must continue to invest in it. I’ve authored laws that make interest on college loan payments tax deductible, bolster the capacity of community colleges to offer 21st-century workforce training and help ensure every classroom has a trained, highly-qualified teacher. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I also fought for Recovery Act funding to prevent massive teacher layoffs in North Carolina. We must roll back the penny-wise and pound foolish cuts the Republican House has made to key education programs.
“The Tea Party Congress has not shared these priorities. In fact, Republicans in Congress don’t appear to be terribly concerned about doing what’s best for the country. If they were, why would they manufacture crises like the debt ceiling fiasco and threaten shutdowns that only further threaten our economic recovery? They’ve put party and political advantage ahead of everything else to the detriment of all. That is not what representative government is all about.
“My goal is to provide the most effective representation I can for the people of the Fourth District. That means knowing your views and concerns on the issues before Congress and working hard to address them on Capitol Hill. For the last six months, I’ve been traveling the redrawn Fourth to get to know folks in the new areas of the district—like Burlington, Lillington and Fayetteville—and to reconnect with old friends in parts of Raleigh and Chatham County that are rejoining the district. I am heartened by the warm reception I’ve gotten, and I am determined to use the coming campaign to reach out widely, exchange good ideas and chart a course that enables North Carolina and our country to realize their full potential.”
Rep. Price is seeking his 13th term in Congress. He is the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security and a member of the House Democracy Assistance Commission. A Morehead Scholar, Price graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill and then earned a bachelor’s degree in divinity and a Ph.D. in political science from Yale. He was a Senate aide, a political science and public policy professor at Yale and Duke, and Chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party before entering Congress in 1986.