He has shown leadership, vision and determination while working tirelessly for working families and older Americans. Gallego understands that the purpose of the cost-of-living adjustment is to protect the earned Social Security benefits of millions of hard working Americans from the erosion of inflation and that renewed calls such as those by Republicans such as Quico Canseco to privatize Social Security would undermine our most successful social insurance program.

He recognizes fully that Medicare is crucial to the health of older Americans, many of whom cannot afford higher out-of-pocket costs and he appreciates the steps that have already been taken to extend the viability of Medicare to close the "Donut Hole" to provide preventative services without co-pays and deductibles.

Congressman Canseco has frequently voiced his opposition to the DREAM Act and had remained largely silent on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) proposal that would grant work permits to immigrant's students who came to this country as children, graduate from high school and stay out of trouble.  On Sunday, Quico Canseco said the deferred action policy is "unconstitutional."

"It is unconscionable that Congressman Canseco would punish innocent students simply to pander to extremists in his party," said Gallego for Congress spokeswoman Rebecca Acuña, "This is a common sense solution that makes sense for Texas.  Canseco is willing to shatter the hopes and dreams of young people to score political points with the Tea Party.  Quico Canseco is too extreme for this district."

"Pete Gallego voted for the DREAM Act that has already changed the lives of hard working students who want to contribute back to this state," adds Acuña, "In Congress he will push for the federal DREAM Act so that these young people can further contribute to our economy."

Maverick County has always been there for Pete Gallego and as numbers show, we have been and will continue to be a key player in elections of this nature and both Austin and Washington DC are beginning to notice, but we must continue to do our part as a collective community to make an effort to go out to fulfill our civic duty and participate in the democratic process and encourage our families, friends and co-workers to do the same and make our voices heard from the banks of the Rio Grande and from sea to shining sea.  Should all 27,000 of us do so, we will send the best candidate to the US House of Representatives in November.