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In fewer than four months, Southern Sudan will hold a referendum on independence, which was guaranteed by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The C.P.A. ended Africas bloodiest civil war, a war which took almost 2 million lives and displaced 4 millionyet the risk of descending into war again seems all too real.

Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) reminded service members whose service was extended under stop loss orders in Iraq and Afghanistan that they have until October 21, 2010 to apply for retroactive pay. Troops eligible for retroactive pay will receive $500 a month for each month their service was extended. The Department of Defense estimates that 145,400 troops are eligible. However, only 58,000 claims have been paid out thus far.

Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) announced that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is awarding Maryland with a $115.2 million Recovery Act Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grant to the Maryland Department of Information Technology for its One Maryland Broadband Network (OMBN) project.

Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) was honored by the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation with the Defender of Democracy award. Hoyer accepted the award at their Congressional Leadership Awards Lunch.

Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) released a statement today after passage of the Rural Energy Savings Program Act (H.R. 4785).

Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) released the following statement on POW/MIA Recognition Day, which is observed on the third Friday in September.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) delivered remarks this afternoon at the MLK Memorial Project Foundation Congressional Leadership Awards Lunch, where he received the Defender of Democracy award.

Saint Paul wrote: 'We fix our eyes not on things that are seen, but on things unseen; for what is seen passes away, but what is unseen endures.' As long as we live, each September we will mark an anniversary of loss: of the day we saw monuments of our power and pride turn to dust; of the day so many we loved were taken from us in an instant; a day of fear and anger that is becoming, with time, a day of remembrance and resolve.