The Northern Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce will host its monthly Business Before Hours Wednesday, August 20, 2014 at the PGA National Resort & Spa. We are pleased to have Congressman Patrick Murphy as our guest speaker. 

Congressman Patrick E. Murphy represents Florida?s 18th Congressional district, which includes Martin, St. Lucie, and northern Palm Beach counties. He was sworn into Congress at the age of 29, becoming the youngest Member of the 113th Congress. Congressman Murphy currently serves on the prestigious House Committee on Financial Services, where he sits on the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit as well as the Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy.  Additionally, Congressman Murphy sits on the House Committee on Small Business, where he serves as the Ranking Member on the Agriculture, Energy, and Trade Subcommittee.  Congressman Murphy is also a member of the New Democrat Coalition, a group of moderate, pro-business Democrats.

Congressman Murphy was born and raised in Florida, spending most of his childhood in the Florida Keys. Much of his youth was spent on construction sites of his family-owned construction company, Coastal Construction Group (CCG). His family has been in the construction industry for five generations and Congressman Murphy continued in the industry, working as a day laborer through college and most recently, starting his own small business, Coastal Environmental Services, which specializes in disaster relief and cleanup efforts. CCG was named one of the nation?s top ?Green Contractors.? In 2010, Congressman Murphy spent six months working in the Gulf of Mexico to help with cleanup efforts following the BP oil spill.

Before starting Coastal Environmental Services, Congressman Murphy earned his B.S. in business administration from the University of Miami, graduating with dual majors in accounting and finance. After graduating, he went to work as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) for Deloitte and Touche as an auditor of Fortune 500 companies. Congressman Murphy is one of only 10 CPAs currently serving in the House of Representatives.

Given Congressman Murphy?s background as a CPA and operating a small business, he knows firsthand the importance of bringing smart, efficient rules of the road to protect taxpayers from reckless behavior and the need to work together to find new ways to support small business growth, the true backbone of our economy.  Serving on the Small Business Committee, Congressman Murphy will work to promote smarter regulations rather than more regulations and to create a predictable and globally competitive tax code that will help small businesses to spur economic growth through job creation.  Additionally, Congressman Murphy is committed to working with his colleagues on the Financial Services Committee to find real solutions to the housing crisis, with his home state of Florida unfortunately leading the nation in foreclosures.  Through his positions on the Small Business Committee as well as the Financial Services? Subcommittee on Financial Institutions, Congressman Murphy will work to encourage lending to small businesses and entrepreneurs, understanding the important role of capital flow in our economic recovery.

Having lived on the Florida coast his entire life, Congressman Murphy is acutely aware of the importance of the environment and how its health is vital to the economy. One of his top priorities is to protect the Florida shores and Everglades from the dangers of oil drilling. Congressman Murphy is also dedicated to ensuring that programs such as Social Security and Medicare, which made the middle class so strong, are protected for future generations.

Congressman Murphy is committed to working in a bipartisan manner to tackle the challenges currently facing the nation to continue to move the country forward. To that end, he is a co-chair of the No Labels? Problem Solvers Group, which is comprised of House and Senate members dedicated to building trust across the aisle.  Additionally, Congressman Murphy is the co-founder and co-chairman of the United Solutions Caucus, which is a group of 30 like-minded freshman members, both Democrats and Republicans, who are focused on finding long-term, bipartisan solutions to fiscal issues and helping build relationships across party lines. Congressman Murphy understands this bipartisan work is essential to protecting the middle class and the American dream.