HAGERSTOWN — Maryland’s newest congressman, Democrat John Delaney, took his House seat Thursday with a pledge to make restoring U.S. competitiveness his top priority.
Delaney’s swearing-in ended 20 years of Republican representation in the state’s 6th Congressional District. It leaves 1st District Rep. Andy Harris as the lone Republican in the state’s congressional delegation.
Delaney, a commercial banking entrepreneur from Potomac, said the tax package Congress passed this week was less sweeping than the combination of spending cuts and tax increases he would have preferred to address the federal deficit.
“I think we’ve set ourselves up for another short-term time frame, which I think is very unsettling for the private sector,” Delaney said. “The thing the private sector wants more than anything is some sense of certainty — and we’re not delivering certainty.”
Delaney has advocated lower corporate taxes and the elimination of certain deductions and loopholes. And he said Medicare should be tweaked to make it more efficient.
Delaney said the December slaying of 20 schoolchildren and six educators in Newtown, Conn., highlights a need for tighter restrictions on “military-style” guns and ammunition, and assurances that prospective gun owners undergo thorough background checks.
“People have a right to have guns, they have a right to have guns to hunt and for their Second Amendment rights,” Delaney said. But he said government must ensure that “people who have track records of criminal behavior or violence don’t end up with guns.”
Delaney defeated 10-term incumbent Roscoe Bartlett in November after Maryland’s ruling Democrats redrew the district’s boundaries to make it more competitive. The redistricting added part of left-leaning Montgomery County to a district encompassing conservative Western Maryland.
Delaney sits on the House Financial Services Committee.
Local News
Related Photos
-
JOHN DELANEY
Delaney, state’s newest congressman, takes office
Says restoring U.S. competitiveness is his top priority
- Local News
-
-
Problem resurfaces
-
Mineral County commissioners keep ambulance authority bylaws
The Mineral County Commission voted down a proposed change to the county ambulance authority bylaws that would have allowed the ambulances to expand nonemergency transports.
-
Family has strong ties to local YMCA
Vickie Murray Aman has been working at the Riverside YMCA for the past 44 years. She is the matriarch of a family who has had a longstanding relationship with the local Y.
-
Fisherman comes in seventh place, pockets $16,000
A bad fourth day at the Walmart FLW bass tournament at Lake Eufaula on Sunday dropped former Frostburg resident J.T. Kenney from second to seventh place, though the Palm Bay, Fla., resident pocketed $16,000 for that finish.
-
New septic system rules will tax county health department
New state laws on septic systems will require increased on-site work for Allegany County Health Department staff and could lead to an eventual increase in septic system inspection fees, department officials said last week.
-
Heritage Days harmony
-
Family has long connection to local YMCA Matriarch hopes to keep tradition in family
Vickie Murray Aman has been working at the Riverside YMCA for the past 44 years. She is the matriarch of a family who has had a longstanding relationship with the local Y.
-
Upset at Pimlico
-
County plans to regulate piercings and change rules for tattoo parlors
While Allegany County regulates tattoos, it does not currently regulate body piercings, but the county health department is planning to change that situation soon.
Legitimate tattoo and piercing shops are cooperating in the update, county health officials have said. -
The Big One: Preparing for major mid-America earthquake
It’s a bleak scenario. A massive earthquake along the New Madrid fault kills or injures 60,000 people in Tennessee. A quarter of a million people are homeless. The Memphis airport — the country’s biggest air terminal for packages — goes off-line. Major oil and gas pipelines across Tennessee rupture, causing shortages in the Northeast.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Commuters Face Delays After Conn. Train Accident
RAW: TV Staff Take Cover From Tornado
Raw: Swarm of Tornadoes Slams Plains
Tornadoes, Storms Strike Midwest
'Babyland': Camp Lejeune's Toxic Legacy?
Raw: Heavy Tornado Damage in Shawnee, Okla
AP CEO: Records Seizure 'Unconstitutional'
Raw: Tornadoes Spotted in Kansas
Obama Exhorts Good Deeds by Morehouse Graduates
Winning Powerball Ticket Sold in Florida
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
Raw: Texas Gov. Flies Over Tornado Damage
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
