Welcome to Dracut, my hometown, and welcome to the Fifth Congressional District. I’m Jim Ogonowski. I am here with my family. This is my wife, Kathy, my son Charlie, and my daughter, Catherine.

I stand here, in front of the home where I grew up and next to the memorial honoring my brother, to formally announce that I am running for Congress in the Fifth District of Massachusetts.

I do so with the same sense of honor that I felt when I first entered the Air Force 28 years ago. I do so with the same determination that first brought the Ogonowski family to America.

For over 100 years, we have called Dracut our home.

It all began in 1904 when a widow and her four children left their homeland in Eastern Europe to begin their pursuit of the American dream. For nearly two weeks they sailed across the Atlantic and, like so many before them, they greeted Ellis Island with great hope and optimism.

After settling in the Merrimack valley, her oldest son, just a few years out of his teens, started a church on High Street in Lowell. After a few years, the youngest, my grandfather, settled on the family farm in Dracut, a farm which my uncle still proudly calls his home.

I was born in Lowell, the fourth of five children. My dad, after serving in the Army Air Corps, returned to Dracut. He purchased the farm behind me, and worked it as a second job so that he could send his five children to college.

I attended UMass Lowell, following my older brother John’s footstep by joining the Air Force ROTC. For him, being in ROTC during the Vietnam War in 1968 was not an easy thing to do. But for him, it was the right thing to do. Tragically, John’s pursuit of the American Dream ended on Sept 11th.

For the past 28 years, I have had the honor and privilege to serve our country in the Air Force. Every day I take pride in knowing that I have played a part in securing freedom around the world. Service to country has been a family tradition. My father and all my uncles, my brother and my sister all served in the service. I am proud that the family tradition lives on as my son Charlie, a sophomore at the University of Lowell, is also in ROTC and he too will one day be a military officer.

As you can see, we have strong roots in the Fifth District. And that is why I am here today. This has always been my home. This is where I have raised my children and hope that they too will raise their children. I am a candidate for Congress because I want to make this district a better place to live.

I want to restore people’s confidence in Government. We can do better. We have done better. We must do better. Congress is broken. It’s simply not doing a good job. It has become too partisan. They are too concerned whether an idea is a Republican idea or a Democrat idea. The question they should ask is: Is it right for America? Congress has a responsibility to serve the people who elected them, and the constitution of the United States which they have sworn to uphold.

We have real problems that need real solutions, no more political infighting. We need bold leaders who are not afraid to make tough choices. We need someone of character and courage. Andrew Jackson once said, “One man with courage makes him a majority.”

We start with the tax code. Our current tax system is unfair to working families. They work and work to get ahead, sometimes working two or three jobs just to make ends meet. When they get their paycheck, much of it is lost to taxes.

The tax code needs to be overhauled and replace it with something that is fair, equitable and simple. This will give working families the break they deserve.

Simply overhauling the tax code is not enough. Next we need to end wasteful government spending. No more bridges to nowhere. No more earmarks. No more pet projects. This goes for the Republicans in Congress too. It’s our money and Congress should spend it efficiently so that we will be ready to meet the demands of the changing world.

But we need to remember that we also live in a dangerous world. 9/11 forever changed us. It’s the day we lost our innocence. For me, it’s the day I lost my older brother. We have some tough choices to make and I am prepared to make them. During this campaign, we will spend a lot of time talking about the war in Iraq.

But we face other challenges that threaten our American way of life. We can no longer be held hostage to foreign regimes who control vast amounts of the oil reserves.

Everyone feels the pinch of higher fuel prices. From increased prices in the store, to higher home heating and gas prices, it has a great impact on the family budget. It is time for Congress to act.

First, we need to expand the use of ethanol and other oil alternatives. Ethanol is showing great hope to help my fellow farmers of the Midwest. It has a lot of potential to help ease the fuel burden, but in reality it's only going to be a small part of the energy solution. Next, we need to rapidly expand our research and development of renewable energy sources. In addition to research, we need to offer incentives for businesses and homeowners who use renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.

But it is not enough to just find new sources of energy; we must find new clean sources of energy. America should be the leader in this effort. As the grandson of immigrant farmers, the son of a farmer and a farmer myself, I value our environment.

A responsible energy policy, combined with sound environmental policy, is the future of American growth and prosperity.

This campaign will be about ideas and it will be about the future. This campaign will be about the hard working men and women who get out of bed every day in pursuit of providing for their families, just as our ancestors did. It’s about our friends and neighbors who come home late after working a second job so that their children too can realize the American Dream.

This is going to be a tough race. It’s going to be a hard race. But the future of our country is at stake. I am willing to fight this fight and together we will win. Too many people sit on the sidelines and hope for better. Ask anyone who knows me: I am not one of those people.

We need to change the way government does business. It’s time that we make it work for us again. Some will tell you that this is not the way Washington works. That it simply can’t be done. I say to them: That is exactly the problem with Washington, and that is why you should send Jim Ogonowski to Congress. This is our district. This is our government. And we are going to take it back.

Thank you for being here today.