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#13thDistrictStrong Week In Review
Dear Neighbor,
I hope you and your family are well. From here at home in #13thDistrictStrong to Washington, D.C., my team and I want to make sure you are staying informed and know that you have a voice in your congressional office. I am committed to elevating our district's needs and your concerns to the House floor.
I hope this weekly recap will provide you and our neighbors insight to our votes for the week, important district highlights, events and more. I am proud to serve as your Member of Congress and want you to know that my team and I are here for you and your family, always.
Please check out updates from the last week below!
DC and District Recap:
Congress Goes Purple
Nearly 108,000 Americans lost their lives to drug overdoses last year. Recovery is possible and no one should be alone in this fight. I'm proud to join my colleagues this month as Congress Goes Purple during during Recovery Month to support our loved ones and community members with substance use and mental health disorders. See below for a list of Narcan resources in Metro Detroit.
Narcan Resources in Metro Detroit
NEXT Distro
Great broad resource for getting free Narcan mailed to your home and free training on how to use it. There are additional resources for syringe exchange programs and harm reduction programs in Michigan as well at this home page.
CARE of Southeastern Michigan
Recovery United program, where CARE of Southeastern Michigan offers naloxone kits and hosts naloxone trainings and support groups on opioid addiction and abuse.
Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network (DWIHN)
DWIHN offers Naloxone trainings, you can schedule a training at the link above.
Families Against Narcotics
Offers free naloxone training to Michigan residents, both in person and virtual.
Community Health Awareness Group (CHAG) Detroit
Provides harm reduction services in Detroit, syringe exchange weekly schedule and informational videos on overdose prevention and Naloxone administration.
One-Time Education Loan Debt Relief
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) will provide up to $20,000 in debt relief to Federal Pell Grant recipients and up to $10,000 in debt relief to non-Pell Grant recipients. Borrowers with loans held by ED are eligible for this relief if their individual income is less than $125,000 (or $250,000 for households). An online form will be available by early October 2022. Learn more about the Education Loan Debt Relief Program HERE.
Notable Votes:
This week Congress voted on the following critical bills:
H.R.8922 – Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act
Many refugees from Southeast Asia had to flee their countries because of war and actions by the United States. These refugees and families should not have to suffer at the hands of our broken immigration system. I am deeply committed to reimagining our country’s approach to immigration. I'm proud to support the Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act.
The Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act will uphold our country’s promise to refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos by limiting the Department of Homeland Security’s ability to remove members from these communities. This legislation will prevent the deportations of these refugees and ensure access to work permits for these vulnerable people.
I voted yes.
H.R.8819 - Worker Safety in Climate Disasters Act
The Worker Safety in Climate Disasters Act would prevent workers from being fired for seeking shelter during disasters and offer paid time off for workers affected by those disasters. The bill will ensure that employees seeking shelter or using PRO during a disaster are not punished by their employers, so they can put their safety first.
I voted yes.
H.Res.46 - Black Women’s Equal Pay Day
This concurrent resolution recognizes the disparity in wages paid to Black women and its impact on women, families, and the nation, and reaffirms Congress' support for ensuring equal pay and closing the gender wage gap.
According to Census Bureau data, Black women working full-time are paid 58 cents for every dollar paid to White, non-Hispanic men. Alarmingly, this is even lower than the 2021 rate of 68 cents per dollar paid to White, non-Hispanic men. As a result of this discrepancy, Black Women’s Equal Pay Day—which marks the day that symbolizes how long into 2022 Black women must work to make what men were paid in 2021. Sadly, as the amount that Black women earned has decreased, Black women are also having to work even further into the year than in 2021. This disparity annually costs Black women $24,110 on average, equaling $964,400 over the course of a 40-year career.
I voted yes.
H.Res.1373 - Honoring the life of Dr. Paul Farmer by recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to adopt a 21st-century global health solidarity strategy and take actions to address past and ongoing harms that undermine the health and well-being of people around the world.
Dr. Paul Farmer pioneered novel community-based strategies for the delivery of high-quality health care in impoverished settings, inspired a paradigmatic shift in global health, including inspiring robust United States leadership to address the global HIV/AIDS epidemic in the early 2000s via the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. This bill seeks to mend our weak health systems that continue to cause millions of people, primarily the global poor, to die tragic and unnecessary deaths.
I voted yes.
S. 1098– Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act
This bills allows two borrowers, who had previously received a joint consolidation loan for their federal student loan debt, to submit a joint application to the Department of Education to sever their consolidated loan into two separate loans.
Permits one borrower to submit a separate application in the event that the individual is experiencing domestic or economic abuse from the other individual borrower or is unable to reasonably reach or access the loan information of the other borrower.
I voted yes.
H.R. 8873– Presidential Election Reform Act
The Presidential Election Reform Act (PERA) will reform the Electoral Count Act to ensure that Congress counts the votes as required by the Constitution, including by ensuring that Congress receives a single accurate electoral certificate from each state, requiring that States select electors in accordance with state law existing as of the date of the election, providing a federal judicial remedy in the event that a state governor refuses to certify the lawful result of a presidential election, and in other ways. The reforms do not benefit either political party. PERA will help ensure the events of January 6, 2021, are not repeated at future counts.
I voted yes.
H.R. 8542– Mental Health Justice Act of 2022
The bill creates an HHS grant program for states, Tribes, and local governments to hire, train, and dispatch mental health professionals when responding to 911 calls due to a mental health crisis and support connecting these people into appropriate care rather than incarceration.
I voted yes.
H.R. 4118 – Break the Cycle of Violence Act
The bill would authorize federal grants to communities for evidence-based community violence intervention and prevention programs designed to interrupt cycles of violence. It would create an Office of Community Violence Intervention at the Department of HHS to implement these programs and create a grant program at the Department of Labor to provide job training and work opportunities for youth in communities impacted by violence.
I voted yes.
H.R. 6448 – Invest and Protect Act of 2022
I determined that this bill would not keep our communities safe, and that the other public safety bills under consideration were better uses of resources that invested in alternatives to over-policing and over-incarceration. There were inadequate guardrails and protections to ensure that money given to police departments would be used appropriately, and this bill was opposed by major national civil rights groups.
I voted no.
H.R. 5768 – VICTIM Act of 2022
The bill would establish a grant program at the Department of Justice (DOJ) to help State, Tribal, and local law enforcement agencies improve their clearance rates for homicides and non-fatal shootings. The resources could also be used to help police address the needs of victims and their family members. This bill responds to the declining percentage of murder cases being solved by law enforcement agencies across the country by giving additional tools to help law enforcement agencies solve crimes.
I voted yes.
Our Statements and Letters:
Congresswoman Tlaib Statement on Public Safety & Policing Bills
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-13) released the following statement regarding the public safety and policing bills the U.S. House of Representatives voted on this Thursday:
“Every community across the United States deserves to be a safe one. This is why I’m proud to have voted to invest in mental health and proven community violence interventions that keep our communities safe today. The Break the Cycle of Violence Act will equip violence intervention and prevention specialists, counselors, and other professionals with resources and tools needed to address trauma and harm at its root. The Mental Health Justice Act will create a grant program to provide resources for mental health first responders units, so that we can stop treating mental illness as a crime.
“Public safety means that every person in our community has what they need to have a good quality of life and to thrive. This means fully funded public education where students and teachers have what they need in the classroom. This means well-paying union jobs where families do not have to worry about not making enough money to cover this month’s rent. This means robust physical and mental health resources that address the harm and trauma many of our neighbors have had to endure.
“Unfortunately, instead of acting to actually make communities safer and bring true public safety, a bill that would not hold police departments accountable for abuses of power, discriminatory actions, and illegal uses of force was moved to the House floor without input from communities impacted directly or even the customary committee hearing. I could not support moving the Invest to Protect Act without adequate guardrails and oversight like policies that we passed in the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. To truly tackle the root causes of crime and have safe communities for everyone, we must go beyond the tried-and-failed tactics of over-policing and over-criminalization. Our constituents deserve for us to work together to deliver a good quality of life for all and I urge my colleagues to focus on doing just that.
“These bill cannot be the end of us fighting for true public safety. I hope that we will not stop fighting until every community feels safe.”
Be sure to stay tuned every week to receive our #13thDistrictStrong weekly recap.
Always in service,
Rashida Tlaib
Member of Congress
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