Bill Keating proudly represents Massachusetts’s 9th District. As the Chairman of Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment Subcommittee on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, he is a Congressional authority on terrorism and national security. As a resident of Cape Cod, he knows firsthand the urgency of providing communities with coastal resiliency resources and protecting environmental conservation efforts.
From our historic agricultural traditions of fishing and cranberries to the region’s role as a hub of emerging industries, such as clean energy initiatives and bio-tech, Southeast Massachusetts has great opportunity for economic growth. Bill believes that the most effective and efficient way to create jobs and grow our local workforce while stimulating long-term economic growth is to invest directly in these industries, businesses, and public sector opportunities that support our regional economy.
Bill supported passage of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which was signed into law in 2014. This law includes key provisions of the Workforce Investment Act, which would improve the nation’s workforce investment infrastructure, focusing on finding workers jobs and careers through strategic partnerships with in-demand sector employers, community colleges, labor organizations, and non-profits.
He is also committed to promoting and establishing training programs in emerging technologies for high school and college-age students, as well as focusing on the renewal of American manufacturing and innovation—in our region and around the country. Instead of tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, Bill has advocated for policies that reward companies that create jobs here in Massachusetts.
Bill is working to get Americans back to work through cosponsoring the National Infrastructure Development Bank Act— which would fund and create a bank that would direct public and private dollars toward infrastructure projects of national or regional significance.
He is a strong supporter of the Export-Import Bank, an independent, non-political, self-sustaining agency that has been running for the past 81 years to help finance the export of American goods and services. In our district, $90 million in exports were supported by the Bank. For one local cranberry business, the Export-Import Bank financed over $6 million in 2015 to enable them to sell their cranberries and cranberry products to Europe, Canada, Mexico, South America, and Asia. With nearly 60 other export credit agencies around the world trying to win jobs for their own countries, the Export-Import Bank helps level the playing field for American businesses and ensures that U.S. companies never lose out on a sale because of attractive financing from foreign governments.
Hand-in-hand with ensuring we have good jobs available and a skilled workforce to fill them is the need to make sure workers are earning a decent wage and able to support their families. Bill voted in favor of all attempts to extend unemployment insurance and supports raising the minimum wage to $10.10. He believes that if we pay workers appropriately for an honest day’s work, our economy will flourish.
Locally, Bill has secured millions in grant funding for workforce development, advanced manufacturing, and STEM education programs, including the largest grant that Cape Cod Community College has received, and over $1 million for YouthBuild’s alternative education program. He has also provided millions in community development funding – helping to build strong communities throughout Cape Cod, the South Shore, and South Coast.
Bill continues to look forward to opportunities to expand our regional economy. Some initiatives he supports include South Coast Rail, expansion of the marine sciences industry, and engaging with academic institutions to train students for jobs of the future.