{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140223121949/http://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/sen-brown-introduces-jay-williams-at-hearing-urges-senate-to-confirm-him-for-administration-post", "Sen. Brown Introduces Jay Williams at Hearing, Urges Senate to Confirm him for Administration Post", "2013-12-17", "2013", "2013-12", "Democrat", "House", "OH", "Sherrod Brown", "B000944", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Tuesday, December 17, 2013\n            \n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) introduced Mahoning Valley native and former Youngstown mayor Jay Williams at a confirmation hearing of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW). Williams was nominated by the Administration for the post of Assistant Secretary for Economic Development at the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) but first awaits confirmation from the U.S. Senate.\nBrown\u2019s prepared remarks can be read in their entirety below:\nSenator Brown\u2019s Prepared Remarks for EPW Confirmation Hearing for Jay Williams as Assistant Secretary for Economic Development at the U.S. Dept of Commerce\nDecember 17, 2013\nThank you, Chairman Boxer, for your leadership of this Committee \u2013 and for ensuring this confirmation hearing receives the orderly process it deserves.\nI am honored to introduce Jay Williams \u2013 a devoted family man, a distinguished advocate, and committed public servant. My congratulations to Jay and his family \u2013 his wife Sonja, his mother, Mary, and his son, Ethan \u2013 who are with him here today.\nI have had the pleasure of working with Jay over the past few years, first when he became mayor of Youngstown, Ohio in 2006.\nJay took the helm of a hard-hit city just a couple years before the recession hit. You could say the recession hit Youngstown years earlier than it hit a lot of other places. \nWhere others might run from those challenges, Jay runs towards them.\nHe worked with the city\u2019s businesses, unions, and educators to put the city on a path towards economic renewal. \nIn 2011, Jay was instrumental in bringing Youngstown\u2019s steel industry full circle, helping to secure a new $650 million steel plant on the shores of the Mahoning River, where smoke stacks of past plants once stood. In fact, he even travelled to Vallourec Steel\u2019s headquarters in Paris to negotiate with the corporation\u2019s owners to help bring this project to Ohio.\nJust a few years after Jay became mayor, we saw how some elected officials were betting against the American auto industry.\nThey wanted our auto industry to go bankrupt.\nJay Williams was not one of them.\nBorn and raised on Youngstown\u2019s East Side, he knows manufacturing is in the Mahoning Valley\u2019s blood. \nJay was just 6 years old on \u201cBlack Monday\u201d \u2013 the day Youngstown Sheet and Tube closed \u2013 leaving an entire region hemorrhaging thousands of jobs. He was born into a generation whose parents didn\u2019t have careers connected to the steel industry. \nHe knows the economic impact the auto industry and manufacturing have not only on places like Youngstown, Morain, and Toledo \u2013 but across Ohio and the country \u2013 especially when those jobs are lost. And he knows the work it takes to rebuild the affected communities and to create good-paying jobs for future generations.\nI was proud to work alongside Jay to keep Youngstown\u2019s auto industry alive. Today, the General Motors Lordstown plant is operating three shifts and produces the best-selling Chevy Cruze.\nFollowing the auto rescue, President Obama asked Jay to build on his good work in Youngstown, and help communities across the nation take the next steps toward a brighter future. \nSince being appointed as the Director of the Office of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers at the Department of Labor (DOL), Jay has done an outstanding job working with federal agencies and local officials on environmental clean-up at former GM plants, and directing much-needed resources to struggling auto communities.\u00a0 \nAnd his economic experience doesn\u2019t stop with manufacturing. \nThe Youngstown Business Incubator has attracted software start-ups from San Francisco and is leading the way in turning the Mahoning Valley into a high-tech hub.\nJay pushed to expand educational opportunities in the Valley \u2013 from a stronger Science, Technology, Engineering and Math or STEM School at Youngstown State University and establishing a community college branch campus in the Valley with Eastern Gateway Community College.\nAnd, his Youngstown 2010 plan has caught the attention of cities across the country with its work to \u201cright-size\u201d the city by repurposing vacant lots and cleaning up blight.\nJay\u2019s work sparked Youngstown\u2019s renaissance, and that\u2019s led to the beginning of Ohio\u2019s comeback as an economic leader. \nJay understands the importance of manufacturing and appreciates the challenges facing auto communities and their many workers. He knows the real-world implications of unemployment, and that shuttered factories are not just statistics in a far-off community.\nWe need more officials in the Commerce Department who understand its decisions affect the lives of everyday Americans.\nI know that his perspective as a child of Youngstown and public servant serves Jay well. I applaud President Obama for nominating Jay, and I believe that he will serve our nation well as the Commerce Department\u2019s next Assistant Secretary for Economic Development.\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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://web.archive.org/web/20140223121949/http://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/sen-brown-introduces-jay-williams-at-hearing-urges-senate-to-confirm-him-for-administration-post"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4857801143079996, "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"}