Politics & Government
County Councilman Rice meets with President Obama
Montgomery County Councilman Craig Rice, D-2nd District, was invited to the White House through the People for the American Way Foundation's Young Elected Officials Network.
Montgomery County Councilman Craig Rice met with President Barack Obama and officials of his administration Friday afternoon to discuss issues confronting state and local governments.
The District 2 Democrat was invited to the White House along with other members of the People For the American Way Foundation’s Young Elected Officials Network.
The organization consists of more than 600 elected officials nationwide.
Find out what's happening in Germantownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“I am hoping that the president will be receptive to the idea that the federal government must do more when it comes to education and transportation funding,” Rice told Germantown Patch before meeting with Obama.
Rice, who joined the Montgomery County Council in December 2010, serves on its Education Committee and its Health and Human Services Committee.
Find out what's happening in Germantownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
He also acknowledged a disagreement with the federal government on immigration policy.
“Instead of a program like ‘Secure Communities’ that does nothing to fix our immigration problem, we need a practical approach to immigration that encourages pathways to citizenship,” Rice said.
Secure Communities refers to a federal program for matching the fingerprints of anyone who gets arrested and fingerprinted by local police with fingerprints on file with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Local police are required to make the fingerprints available to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, most likely leading to deportation of any illegal immigrants who are arrested.
Rice said other issues he wanted to discuss with the president included federal and local partnerships for economic development, mass transit funding and a program for public education using measurable standards called No Child Left Behind.
The meeting with the president Friday afternoon was closed to the news media. Nevertheless, statements from other elected officials who attended showed they had interests similar to those of Rice.
Andrew Gillum, executive director of the Young Elected Officials Network, said in a statement, “President Obama, a successful grassroots leader himself, understands that national movements are built by individual citizens and their elected representatives.”
