{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://amo.house.gov/press-release/amo-office-is-open-and-ready-to-serve", "Amo Office is Open and Ready to Serve", "2023-11-16", "2023", "2023-11", "Democrat", "House", "RI", "Gabe Amo", "A000380", "amo.house.gov", "amo", "https://amo.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "Congressman Amo begins first week in Congress speaking on House floor, hiring senior staff, and planning ceremonial swearing-in for Rhode Islanders\n\nPAWTUCKET, RI \u2013 Following his swearing-in on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this week, Congressman Gabe Amo (RI-01) addressed his colleagues, highlighting his inspiration for service to the people of the First Congressional District. Today, Congressman Amo is proud to announce that Dylan Sodaro will serve as Chief of Staff and Kate Michaud as District Director.\n\nDylan Sodaro brings over a decade of Capitol Hill experience to his role as Congressman Amo\u2019s Chief of Staff, having worked for senior members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. of New Jersey (NJ-09) and Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois (IL-05).\n\n\u201cI am eager to welcome Dylan to our office to serve Rhode Island\u2019s First Congressional District,\u201d said Congressman Amo. \u201cHe has both the legislative and management experience to effectively lead our office and deliver results for the District. Having served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Legislative Director for Representative Pascrell, Dylan has a deep understanding of the Congress.\u201d\n\nKate Michaud is serving as the District Director after serving as the Town Manager for the Town of Warren since 2018. Prior to her current role, Kate worked as the Director of Planning and Community Development for the Town of Warren and in municipal government in Tiverton.\n\n\u201cI am excited that Kate is joining our team because she brings over two decades of experience serving communities in the First District,\u201d said Congressman Amo. \u201cKate understands the importance of robust constituent services, delivering federal resources, and coordination between local, state, and federal agencies.\u201d\n\nCongressman Amo's floor remarks as prepared for delivery:\n\nThank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you Representative Magaziner for the warm introduction.\n\nAnd thank you to Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse who, alongside Representative Magaziner and now me, make up our small but very mighty Rhode Island congressional delegation.\n\nAnd of course, to my predecessor, former Representative David Cicilline, I\u2019m grateful for your service to Rhode Island. I look forward to our work together in both of our new roles.\n\nThank you to my family, friends, community leaders, and all those who supported me along the way. And of course, thank you to the people of the First Congressional District and those across Rhode Island, for giving me the opportunity to serve in the People\u2019s House.\n\nI want to tell you a story about Rhode Island. Reverend Mahlon Van Horne was elected to the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1885, making him the first Black person elected to the state legislature. Just think, Reverend Van Horne was elected as a Black man nearly two decades after the end of the Civil War.\n\nIn a 1887 sermon, Reverend Van Horne said,\n\n\"I believe the day is coming, is not far off, when in the commonwealth of Rhode Island, the stomping ground of soul, liberty will become the home of the free and the land of the truly brave. The home of the free, where fair play in all the walks of life will be accorded.\u201d\n\nThose words are top of mind for me today. Reverend Van Horne\u2019s dream, and the dreams of those who have called Rhode Island home across generations, allow me to stand before you all today. While we have not arrived at our final destination in the project of this democracy, I am optimistic.\n\nAs a Rhode Islander, it\u2019s easy for me. After all, our state\u2019s motto is \u201cHope.\u201d\n\nIt is hope that led my parents to come from West Africa \u2013 my dad from Ghana and my mom from Liberia \u2013 to pursue opportunity in the greatest country in the world. And they\u2019ve been driven by hard work throughout: my dad as the owner of a liquor store and my mom as a union nursing home nurse.\n\nBut this is not just my story. It\u2019s a Rhode Island story. It\u2019s an American story.\n\nAnd that shared story is why today, I am proud to be the Representative from Rhode Island\u2019s First Congressional District. What is beautiful about hope is that it cares not about your race, your religion, your gender, or where your ancestors came from.\n\nThis belief has inspired people who arrived in Rhode Island from:\n\nItaly and Ireland,\n\nPortugal and France,\n\nDominican Republic and Haiti and Colombia,\n\nArmenia and yes, countries in West Africa,\n\nAnd so many places in between.\n\nWe must also acknowledge those whose family branches extend from the native tribes of our shores, to the settlers who came for religious freedom, to those who did not choose their journey as enslaved people \u2013 but whose hope persisted nonetheless.\n\nTogether, we must ensure that our great hope for the future is met with profound action.\n\nAction to:\n\nProtect and strengthen retirement security,\n\nSupport our seniors,\n\nCreate economic opportunity and good-paying jobs,\n\nSecure reproductive freedom and keep politics out of the doctor\u2019s office,\n\nEnsure the livability of our planet for our children and their grandchildren,\n\nBan assault weapons and end gun violence,\n\nAnd stand up to the threats facing our democracy.\n\nThis hallowed space, this House floor, is where we have always had to work vigorously towards the promise of our nation\u2019s highest ideals and aspirations.\n\nI cannot wait to work on behalf of the people of the First Congressional District. Everyone from:\n\nWoonsocket to Newport,\n\nEast Providence to Cumberland,\n\nProvidence to Bristol,\n\nAnd of course, the great city of Pawtucket.\n\nThank you for putting your trust in me to bring our Rhode Island values of hard work, grit, determination, resilience in the face of adversity all the way from the Ocean State to the halls of the United States Congress.\n\nRhode Island, I will work for you every single day.\n\nThank you.\n\nMr. Speaker, I yield back.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:01:09Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://amo.house.gov/press-release/amo-office-is-open-and-ready-to-serve"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.708874013274908, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}