Celebrating Departing Members
Madam Speaker, this is an hour to celebrate Members who are departing this Congress, including myself, and I have some remarks to share. I will also be joined later by the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney), but first we…
Madam Speaker, this is an hour to celebrate Members who are departing this Congress, including myself, and I have some remarks to share. I will also be joined later by the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney), but first we are going to hear from the chairman of the Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch of the Committee on Appropriations of the U.S. House of Representatives, one of our cardinals, a great public servant from the State of Ohio, Representative Tim Ryan.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan).
Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Ryan for his wonderful public service here not only for the people of Ohio, but really for all the people of this country.
What does it mean to run for Congress, to serve in Congress? Why do it?
Personally, I didn't run for Congress until I was 58 years old, after a career as a union organizer, a human rights activist, running Michigan's workforce system, and creating innovative new programs under then-Governor Jennifer Granholm, our Energy Secretary today, and then starting my own statewide clean energy finance market as a green energy entrepreneur. But a Trump Presidency put these priorities, each and every one of them, and indeed our very democracy in grave danger, and I was inspired to run to replace my father after his retirement.
Coming into Congress with the historic freshman class of House Democrats in the 116th Congress, we started in the middle of a record- breaking government shutdown. Our very first action as an office was gathering impacted workers together alongside my Michigan colleagues at the Detroit airport. We had workers reflecting the full range of Federal duties: From transportation professionals to environmental stewards who worked for the EPA.
Gathering this coalition would serve as a model for the work we would do over the next 4 years. When our staff met at UAW Region One a few months later for our first retreat, we would define our priorities, and it was really three overarching priorities for our office: First, raising the standard of living for working people; second, protecting our one precious Earth; and third, fighting for human rights at home and abroad. We have organized our work around these priorities ever since.
Let's start with raising the standard of living for working people. Certainly, making education affordable is a key part of that. After the Speaker appointed me to the Education and Labor Committee, I was honored to be elected vice chair of the committee by my fellow Democrats.
And then Chairman Bobby Scott asked me to lead the America's College Promise Act to provide 2 years of tuition-and-fee-free community college and also 2 years of virtually free study at historically Black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions.
We introduced the bill, and we debated it. But can you imagine how amazing it was when Joe Biden was moving toward the nomination to be the Democratic candidate for President and he adopted my bill, and then he made it part of his Build Back Better plan?
I had the privilege of welcoming First Lady Jill Biden to a community college in my district once and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to two different community colleges to celebrate the inclusion of this bill in the President's Build Back Better plan and fight for its passage. We didn't get it across the finish line due to the intransigence of one person, Joe Manchin, but we are not about to give up until we make free community college and accessibility of HBCUs for everyone a reality.
Probably the biggest area of my advocacy for workers and their families came in labor and employment policy.
I served as a whip to push the Raise the Wage Act through the House, and we fended off efforts to water it down with things like regional minimum wages that would consign poor areas of this country to permanent, structural poverty. We had to fight hard to keep the one fair wage aspect in the bill, to make sure we end subminimum wages for tipped workers, who are mostly women and disproportionately of color.
I helped write the PRO Act and was so honored to play a special role in shepherding it through the Education and Labor Committee and the floor of the House.
I led a small band of labor stalwarts in opposition to Trump's new NAFTA, which is called the USMCA. While I fervently hope the legislation succeeds, and I have worked with the Biden administration to ensure that Mexico and Canada meet their obligations, I fear too much of our trade policy discards the views of workers here at home and also abroad in the name of furthering the interests of multinational corporations. That has to end, and we have to put workers' interests and the planet's interests first.
One core part of my belief about how to be a Congressman is that it is not all about passing legislation and overseeing the administration. When it comes to labor issues, I believe you have got to get out there and support workers' organizing and bargaining campaigns directly. We did this many, many times. Let me give you just a few examples.
We organized a major solidarity action when the UAW struck General Motors, and I walked the picket line regularly and welcomed many colleagues, including Senator Elizabeth Warren.
When the RWDSU helped Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, organize to join the union, I organized a delegation of Congresspeople to go down there with me, and I went a second time by myself to join current AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler to encourage the workers to keep fighting after they lost their first election, which was marred by many unfair labor practices by the corporation.
I organized almost all of my fellow Harvard alums in the House to support Harvard grad employees when they were campaigning to win a first contract, and that was ultimately successful under pressure from us and many others.
More recently, when Senate cafeteria workers who are members of UNITE HERE Local 23 were fighting for a long overdue, just contract, I got arrested with many of them to push the issue. Happily, Mr. Speaker, they won a good contract soon thereafter.
Just recently, I participated in campaigns to support railroaders who desperately need paid sick days and the demand for full funding for the National Labor Relations Board so it can fulfill its function to support private sector workers' rights to organize and bargain collectively.
I can tell you, I am going to continue not only my own efforts to support workers, but I am going to continue organizing Members of Congress to be involved.
There is so much more we can and must do to lift up working families and help them live dignified lives. We did preserve the pensions of millions of American workers. I am so proud we got that done.
I was proud to fight with my brothers and sisters in the Progressive Caucus to include affordable childcare, universal preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds, paid sick leave for all, and the child tax credit in the House version of Build Back Better. Congress needs to keep fighting to get these things done.
Our team was super active on our second priority as well, protecting our one precious Earth. Let's start with clean air, water, and land. I joined the bipartisan PFAS task force right away, and I passed legislation twice to prevent the harmful incineration of PFAS chemicals, especially on military bases. We have so much more work to do on PFAS, that is for sure. It is truly the DDT of our times, and we have got to deal with it.
Around Christmas of 2019 green ooze began to leak out onto I-696, the interstate highway through my district in the town of Madison Heights. My staff and I led an effort to help ensure the cleanup of toxic waste, in coordination with the EPA and State and local governments, and it was really everybody working together that got it done.
There were many such efforts, but of course my biggest focus was climate change. I supported the original Green New Deal resolution from day one. I remember being out on the lawn when we introduced it. I am one of only 27 Senators and Representatives out of 535, Mr. Speaker, to support all 12 Green New Deal bills. Even more importantly, I helped put meat on the bones personally in several ways.
Senator Elizabeth Warren and I authored the BUILD Green Act to invest $500 billion over 10 years to jump-start the transition to all-electric public vehicles, mass transit, rail, and help modernize the Nation's crumbling infrastructure.
Senator Sherrod Brown and I introduced the American Energy Worker Opportunity Act to support fossil fuel and coal workers and their families impacted by the transition we need to make as soon as possible to clean energy. Simply stated, workers who, over generations, built up wonderful pay and benefit packages; if they work on a pipeline or a refinery or a coal mine, it is not their fault that we have to change, and they shouldn't suffer, and that bill would take care of that issue.
I introduced the EV Freedom Act with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to build a nationwide network of high-speed EV chargers to transform our transportation sector and end our reliance on fossil fuels.
And I am still going, right up to my last days in Congress. Today, this very day, I partnered with the chair of the Speaker's Select Committee on Climate Crisis, Kathy Castor from Tampa, to introduce the CLEANER Buildings Act, my bill, alongside her bill, the LOWER Energy Bills Act. These pieces of legislation will ensure we can meet President Biden's goal to reduce economy-wide emissions and transform our Nation's buildings to be energy efficient and climate resilient.
Mr. Speaker, people count the amount of emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, in different ways, but if you add up the energy we use to heat and cool and light our buildings, it is 42 percent of all the emissions in this country, all the electricity and natural gas. So we really have to deal with that.
These measures are collaborations between my amazing staff and many advocacy groups fighting for environmental justice and to save life on Earth as we know it in a way that actually advances racial and economic justice.
In terms of my priorities, the third is peace and human rights for all people everywhere, and we have been equally active in that area as well.
First, though, let me say that while I have worked super hard on peace, this is probably Congress' and the Democratic Party's greatest weakness. Our business is largely unfinished on these. For example, authorizations for use of military force, or AUMF.
The Constitution says this body, the Congress, the Article I body, is responsible for deciding when to send our young people into harm's way, and then the President is the Commander in Chief. We have fallen down in this duty, and we are still falling down.
We are relying on decades-old authorizations for use of military force. We ought to have the guts to end every one of them and work with the administration when we need a new one to put it into place. Every time we do it, it should have a sunset so that we force ourselves to make the hard decisions about war and peace.
Secondly, nuclear nonproliferation. I don't need to talk long about this. Almost nothing is happening. We are down to having one agreement with Russia left. We are really nowhere with China. We have an increasing number of nuclear states. We are, hopefully, battling hard to keep Iran from joining them. But we need to get back to the business that was really bipartisan.
Who can forget Ronald Reagan taking on ending the use of nuclear weapons? So we have really got a long way to go there.
Also, Mr. Speaker, reducing military spending. My goodness. Just the increase in the Pentagon budget that we passed through this House in the NDAA recently, the other day, just the increase above what the Pentagon asked
for that Congress stuffed in there would have paid for my whole America's College Promise Act, plus some other big needs of the American people. I am for the U.S. absolutely being the strongest military in the world, but we shouldn't be spending more than the next 8 to 10 countries combined.
We have got to have a diplomacy first, a peace first, a human rights first foreign policy and take care of the needs of our people and the poor and working people around the world.
As a lifelong human rights advocate, I feel I can say that we had more success in the human rights area. Although, the situation is certainly dire in so many parts of the world. Let me mention just a few highlights.
The House passed my bipartisan resolution condemning the coup in Burma, and we have continued oversight of the very troubling human rights situation there, as well as the inspiring efforts of the Burmese people to resist repression.
Indeed, my first foreign trip as a Congressman was to Bangladesh to visit Rohingya refugees just over the border from Burma there.
I have been a vocal advocate for human rights in places like India, which is in danger of becoming a Hindu nationalist state rather than a secular democracy; the world's largest democracy.
I am a lover of Hinduism, a lover of Jainism, Buddhism, other religions that were born in India, but we need to protect the rights of all people there, whether they are Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Jains--whatever.
I have been active about human rights in Egypt, where thousands of political prisoners languish in jail. Israel and Palestine have been a particular focus of mine. I am proud to have written the Two-State Solution Act, the most forward-leaning U.S. bill in many years to try to hold Israeli and Palestinian leaders alike accountable to take steps to advance a two-state solution.
Now, with a far-right government filled with troubling racist and homophobic leaders taking over in Israel, all of us who love that country's democratic ideals and seek justice for Palestinians as well will have to redouble our efforts. Perhaps my biggest focus in this area has been Haiti.
I founded the first House Haiti Caucus in Congress in decades and recruited three dynamic Congresswomen who represent large Haitian- American constituencies to co-chair with me: Val Demings of Florida, Yvette Clarke of New York, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
With the support of our great Committee on Foreign Affairs chairman, Greg Meeks, we greatly increased Congressional oversight of U.S. policy on Haiti, including two standalone hearings with witnesses representing diverse perspectives and a Department of Homeland Security review of its policies after the humanitarian disaster in Del Rio.
We have pointed out that the status quo is untenable, and we have demanded inclusion of the breadth of Haitian civil society in dealing with the ongoing crisis there.
Whether on our three overarching priority areas that I have just discussed or other vital matters, like reducing the epidemic of gun violence, one thing I want to emphasize is that working in Congress is all about teamwork. We have got a tremendous amount done in these last 4 years, and it is all due to an amazing team of individuals who brought tremendous idealism, passion, professionalism, hard work, and love to make life better for working families.
I am going to share the names of everyone who has worked on Team Levin these last 4 years. Let's start with the District Office in alphabetical order: Jenny Byer; Robert Charara; Will Cochran; Eleanor Gamalski; Jolie Habashy; Walt Herzig; Zeenath Hussain; Dan Klein; Kyle Pollet; Lauren Schandevel; Amairris Simmons; Justin Walters; Sean Wolski; America Yahya; Stephanie Yaldo-Sheena.
And here in the Washington, D.C. office:
Abbas Alawieh; Mez Araya; Taryn Brown; Don Chen; Erica Fein; Ben Gerstein; Julia Kalusniak; Courtney Laudick; Austin Laufersweiler; MaryGrace Menner; Ven Neralla; Colton Puckett; Catherine Rowland; Jamari Torrence; Alex Schmitt; Sabrina Steel; Derrick Utley; Janae Washington, who is sitting here with me now; and Jacob Wilson.
And what did we get done, this amazing group of people?
In the 116th Congress, speaking of legislation, we introduced 59 pieces of legislation: 22 bills, 30 amendments, and 7 resolutions.
We passed 40 pieces of legislation through the House of Representatives: 10 bills and 30 amendments.
And we got 6 pieces of legislation all the way through the process and signed into law by that previous President.
In the 117th Congress, as of earlier this week, we introduced 50 pieces of legislation: 32 bills, 13 amendments, and 5 resolutions. And we are introducing three more pieces of legislation yet this week, one of which I mentioned.
We passed 21 pieces of legislation through the House so far: 6 bills, 2 resolutions, and 13 amendments; and we saw three pieces of legislation signed into law.
Mr. Speaker, we are still hoping for two more: Renaming the post offices in Bloomfield Township and Hazel Park, two Michigan communities in my district.
Passing legislation is just one part of our work. Serving all of our constituents, regardless of their political views or their circumstances, is another big part.
The bottom line, being a good Member of Congress is about taking care of people, whether their problems relate to immigration, Social Security, veteran benefits--whatever. And rather than get into numbers here, let me focus on just a few stories.
We led a bipartisan push to prevent the deportation of Iraqi nationals, and we secured the return of Jimmy Aldaoud's remains to the U.S. after he was deported, and he died of diabetic shock just weeks later. That man had never set foot in Iraq, he spoke no Arabic. He was obviously American. I won't go into all the upset about that, but his tragic story helped awaken society to these senseless deportations.
Together, we helped our residents navigate a once-in-a-century pandemic. We worked with State partners to help constituents obtain expanded pandemic unemployment benefits that this House created, and we worked with the State Department to help constituents stuck overseas during the early global COVID shutdown. We helped them make it home. And we helped countless small businesses, of course, obtain PPE and the EIDL loans.
We fought successfully for the release of a Black high school student who was put in juvenile detention for not completing her homework, Mr. Speaker, during remote learning; put in, essentially, jail for young people.
Remember the story of Grace, as she was called? It made national news. And the fact that it happened speaks to structural racism in educational and criminal justice systems. And the need to fight it both case-by-case, like we did with Grace, and systemically to end it as a future of our country.
We helped a Royal Oak couple overcome incredible odds to be able to complete their fertility treatment overseas during the height of the pandemic.
Just last month, my wife Mary and I visited with this wonderful couple and the son who was born as a result of these efforts, who is today a healthy toddler.
And what to say about the case of Danny Fenster, a journalist who attended the same high school as me who was held as a political prisoner for 5\1/2\ months in the horrible, insane prison in Burma.
His incredibly tenacious family and I were in constant contact, and I spoke to ambassadors across the globe working to bring him home.
My staff and I were so honored to join the family to welcome him home to the U.S. when he touched down in New York, and to follow his continued advocacy for press freedom in Burma and everywhere. And today, he is a journalism fellow at one of our most prestigious universities.
One of the things I think is most important for an effective Congressional operation is breaking down barriers and creating great collaboration between the D.C. and district offices. It is not that easy.
Let me share a few stories that illustrate why I think this is so important. In a virtual outreach event with sexual assault survivors and advocates, we met Carmen Wargel of Royal Oak and heard about significant problems for survivors seeking to prosecute those who abused them.
Because of that activity in the district, we authored an amendment that passed the House in the Violence Against Women Act to promote better outcomes and care through vertical integration in prosecution of sexual assault.
Okay, let me put this straight. I had never heard of virtual integration in prosecution. I am a lawyer. I know what virtual integration is in business. I had never heard of it.
When we put together what had happened to this person--I think she had five different prosecutors on her case, one after the other--it was because of our discussions with constituents in the district that we wrote legislation that passed the House.
Another big deal for us was introducing a resolution recognizing Abortion Provider Appreciation Day. It was the first time this had ever been done in Congressional history. But we didn't just do this in D.C. It was inspired by abortion care providers at home in the district, and we marked it with an event at the Northland Family Planning Clinic with Renee and Lara Chelian in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
Certainly, our Community Project Funding projects are another great example of D.C.-district collaboration. We worked with community leaders to put forward projects for Federal funding in line with our shared priorities; nearly $28 million when you combine fiscal years 2022 and 2023. In March of this year, 2022, all 10 of our projects for the fiscal year were signed into law by President Joe Biden.
To give just a few examples of this, we are providing 3.5 million gallons of additional storage at the Chapaton Retention Basin to reduce combined sewage overflows, alleviate residential basement flooding during heavy rain events, and improve the water quality of Lake St. Clair, which serves as a source of drinking water for much of Southeast Michigan.
We are creating a community space to serve as a heating and cooling center for residents of Hazel Park and neighboring Ferndale, a gallery for local artists, and a location for job fairs and educational seminars.
We are establishing an Individual Development Account program at Macomb Community College for workforce development and certification courses, offering direct services to individuals to enhance employment opportunities and regional prosperity.
We have done a lot, and I am so proud of all that this team has accomplished, and especially the way we have done it, not just working hard but supporting each other. Building the beloved community from the inside out, even as we fight for justice in our local communities and in far-flung areas all across this planet.
So I suppose there is no better place to conclude than one of our signal achievements: Passing a resolution to allow the staff of this very House of Representatives to organize unions and bargain collectively.
Amazingly, Congress passed legislation in 1995 to apply Federal employment regulations including collective bargaining to Capitol Hill. But when they implemented the legislation in 1996 the next year, they included the Capitol Police and the Library of Congress and the Architect of the Capitol, and so forth. But they left out the people who work with us most directly--our own staff in the district offices, in our D.C. offices, and on our committees.
That was 26 years ago, and that wrong was never corrected until this year when House employees came to introduce a resolution to extend these basic rights of democracy to our staff, and together, we passed it through this House of Representatives.
I was so moved when my own staff were the very first to organize a union with a Congressional Workers Union, and now they are the very first to bargain a contract.
Mr. Speaker, already 14 offices have voted to unionize with CWU, so the precedent is set, and I believe more offices will organize and more contracts will be bargained in the 118th Congress.
That is why I came to Congress, to expand human rights, to expand the voice and power of workers and justice for their families, whether they are in the halls of Congress or on farms or in factories or offices across this land and beyond our shores.
I don't believe in the great person theory of history, Mr. Speaker. This has never been about me as a person or a leader. It is about building a team that wants to fight for justice. It is about partnering with activists doing the same. It is about learning from each other, falling down, and getting up to fight on another day.
I am so grateful to the people of Michigan's Ninth District for giving me the opportunity to serve you in this way. I have learned so much from you in our union halls, our veterans' lodges, our school buildings, and our workplaces.
As I leave Congress, I believe just as strongly as I did when I started helping workers organize unions with SEIU in 1983, that it is for the working people to set the direction of this country. That is our hope to tackle climate change. That is our hope to create a world of racial and economic justice. Onward we go.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney), one of my amazing colleagues, the chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and a fearless champion for New Yorkers and Americans from all over this country.
Representative Maloney, your account is overflowing with the work of justice that you did for the people of New York and, indeed, the American people. We all know it, so thank you so much.
That was quite an honor.
That sounds right to me.
It was a big honor to be arrested with you.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my wife, Mary Freeman, and my kids, Koby, Saul, Ben, and Molly.
It has been a real honor to serve in this body, and I promise to keep the fire under your feet to do the work of justice.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.