Washington, D.C. – Congressman Rubén Hinojosa (Texas-15th District) was sworn into office for his seventh term by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol Tuesday which marked the start of the 111th Congress.

“We are beginning a new era of politics here in Washington, one where the needs of the American people will finally come first again,” Hinojosa said of the occasion.

The new session marks Hinojosa’s 13th year as the U.S. Representative for the 15th Congressional District of Texas. “In the coming year, we face difficult challenges, but also enormous opportunities. Our first order of business is to work with President-elect Obama’s team to create a fiscally responsible stimulus plan that will generate and save millions of jobs in the next two years – and make our economy stronger in the long run. I look forward to working with the President-elect and my fellow Members of Congress on an agenda to get Americans and our economy back on track again,” Hinojosa said.

“While this is the worst financial crisis that our nation has seen in a generation, it provides us with the rare chance to build a foundation for a stronger, more competitive nation. By modernizing our infrastructure to create jobs and grow small businesses across America, we can better ensure that the turmoil we have seen in recent months does not happen again. We will strengthen the middle class, not just Wall Street CEOs and special interests in Washington,” continued Hinojosa.

“As a senior member of the Education and Labor Committee, I will continue to fight to make a quality education available to every American student. This session we will work to make sure that we invest in and fully implement the new Higher Education Act. We will look closely at how to improve the No Child Left Behind law so that it results in real academic success for all our students,” Hinojosa concluded.