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Dear Friend,

Home. There is no place like home, especially after the last few intense weeks. From debt ceiling negotiations, messaging bills that are divisive (and accomplish nothing), to a low point of the censure of Adam Schiff. It will be good to be in the district for two weeks. Out and about. Farmer's markets, Fourth of July celebrations and parades, summer festivals, picnics, townhalls, annual events like the NAACP dinner, meetings and just being with friends, listening, talking, strategizing and just being in the communities I know and love.

Last week was busy, I introduced legislation to end price gouging for prescriptions, launched a new caucus to support family caregivers, and met with people from all over. The following is a summary of the highlights of the week.

Ending Price Gouging for Medications
 
Too many hardworking Americans are forced to choose between groceries and prescription medications. This is a choice no one should ever have to make. On Tuesday, I introduced the End Price Gouging for Medications with Senators Merkley and Welch to bring down the price of pharmaceuticals and hold drug companies accountable. For decades, Americans have paid far more for their prescriptions than people in other countries, and we must lower prices here in the U.S. In Michigan we understand that better than most, because we can go across the bridge to Canada and buy our prescriptions for far less. This bill is aimed at helping all Americans be able to afford the medicine they need. 

Energy & Commerce Hearing on Fentanyl

Many – if not all of us – have deeply personal stories of losing loved ones, friends, and constituents to opioids and addiction. With a growing opioid and fentanyl crisis, these stories are becoming distressingly common. I introduced legislation to reauthorize the SUPPORT Act’s lab pilot program to improve coordination between public health laboratories and those operated by law enforcement to better detect fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. This is an issue that requires serious bipartisan attention and I am working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle because we know too many people are dying everyday.

Meeting with Zachary Buckley

Thursday, Zachary Buckley and his family visited me in Washington. Zachary is a 7-year-old Michigander, Detroit Lions fan, and superhero lover. He battles Cerebral Palsy every day, but, in true superhero fashion, it is no match for his resiliency and strength. Zachary receives his care at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. In our meeting, his family explained the amazing experiences they have had with C.S. Mott and reaffirmed the need for Congress to provide support to hospitals that provide lifesaving care to our vulnerable children. We also discussed how imperative Medicaid is in ensuring American families can protect and support their loved ones. 

Equality Act

On Wednesday, the Equality Act was reintroduced in Congress to provide safeguards and protections for the LGBTQI+ community.  Many of my colleagues and I are original cosponsors. It seeks to legally protect individuals from discrimination, applying existing state anti-LGBT discrimination laws nationwide. The Equality Act seeks to incorporate protections against LGBT discrimination into the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

Defective Firearms Protection Act

On Thursday, I introduced legislation that would ensure firearms are protected under the law for safety defects and protect purchasers of these guns from potential harm. The gun industry is the only domestic manufacturer of a consumer product in the United States that is exempt from federal health and safety regulations. As a result, faulty guns that can be fired with the safety still engaged and without anyone pulling the trigger remain on the market. This is dangerous and poses a real risk to public and household safety. We shouldn’t hold firearms to a different standard than any other consumer product. If someone’s gun isn’t working right, the commission should be able to recall it.
 
Recent reporting found more than 100 cases of people who allege their SIG Sauer P320 pistol, one of the most popular handguns in America, has discharged without them touching the trigger. At least 80 of these people, including both civilians and law enforcement officers, sustained injuries in the shootings. The Defective Firearms Protection Act would help prevent such accidents by removing barriers in current law that prevent the CPSC from addressing defective pistols, revolvers, or firearms.

Assisting Caregivers Today Caucus

On Friday I launched the Assisting Caregivers Today Caucus with several of my colleagues in the House and Senate. More than half of Americans over 50 years old will serve as a family caregiver for a period of time, and they need support. This caucus will help educate lawmakers about the depth of the caregiving crisis in America and work toward finding solutions. Nearly 20 million adults in the United States require assistance completing self-care and other daily tasks due to physical, cognitive, developmental, and/or behavioral conditions, and the majority of people who require care would prefer to receive it in their home or another community-based setting. Family, friends, and neighbors make up 53 million caregivers whose economic contribution is valued at $600 billion.

Meeting with Charlotte Woodward
Thursday, I met with Charlotte Woodward, the namesake of the Charlotte Woodward Organ Transplant Discrimination Act that I introduced with my Republican colleague Rep. Kat Cammack. Charlotte is a 30-year-old with Down syndrome who received a lifesaving heart transplant in 2012. Her experience was rare, since individuals living with disabilities often experience discrimination during the organ transplant process – there are troubling stories of many dying waiting for transplants. Charlotte uses her successful transplant story to exemplify that individuals with disabilities can lead long, healthy, and dignified lives after receiving organ transplants, and she advocates for other persons with disabilities to receive equal access to similar opportunities.  
 
Individuals with Down syndrome and other disabilities are often not prioritized for transplants due to unfounded assumptions about their quality of life and misconceptions about their ability to comply with post-operative care. Organ transplant centers operate their own evaluation to determine which patients to accept and submit to the national waiting list. Some of these policies consider a disability, which they believe is a “contradiction to organ transplant.” Although the ADA technically prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability, organ transplant discrimination has not been formally litigated. Our bill would uphold and clarify the rights established in the ADA to explicitly prohibit an entity from determining an individual is ineligible to receive a transplant (or advance through the many steps of the transplant process) based solely on the fact that the individual has a disability

Michigan's Auto Industry

Living in Michigan, the auto industry remains an important part of our economy. There are many things happening in Washington that impact its success right now. At the beginning of the week, I joined some members of the select committee on China at meetings with auto companies and suppliers about many issues. A win with colleagues on both sides of the aisle on autonomous Vehicle legislation. And I am having numerous meetings with the Administration, environmentalists, unions, companies, suppliers, consumers on EV’s, future CAFE standards, trade and a myriad of very critical issues. 

I raised the complexity of these issues in a hearing this week with EPA. Every major automotive company in the United States and around the globe is in a race to manufacture and ship greater and greater numbers of clean vehicles, including hybrids, battery electric vehicles, and hydrogen/fuel cell vehicles.
 
A transformational shift to electrification is well underway. And with 30 percent of U.S. carbon pollution stemming from the transportation sector, we need to accelerate this transition. We face many challenges though in making this real. If we are to successfully make the needed transition to electrification, we need to do so in a comprehensive way and build on all the meaningful bills from last Congress—and we need to do it together in a bipartisan way.
 
Democrats have already made major, historic investments in our economic future through the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, that enable and will inspire the clean energy transition, including boosting the deployment of a nationwide network of charging stations to support electric vehicles, tax credits to bring down the cost of EVs for consumers, and additional incentives to support manufacturing and retooling of clean vehicles and battery components, which will also help bring down costs. Combined with the CHIPS and Science Act we are strengthening our domestic clean supply chains to meet this moment and will help keep the United States a global leader, create new jobs, and cut costs for families. 

But there is much more work ahead of us. Consumers need to be able to afford them, and we have to build out the infrastructure as well as invest in further R&D. I want the jobs to be Americans jobs at a fair wage

Weekends in MI-06

Saturdays are my favorite days at home. I get around, I am at the farmer markets and they are thriving. Strawberries, cherries, rhubarb and much more is in. The Ann Arbor market had a line for strawberries I had never seen before. The March to remember, the 60th anniversary of Dr. King's first “I Have a Dream" speech in Detroit and rally, touch a Truck in Brownston, Teddy Bear picnic, Pride celebrations, Trenton Summerfest and Belleville Lakefest, Fort Street Cruise, Kite Festival in Pittsfield, Ypsi tour of three museums and ice cream sundaes to celebrate, Ann Arbor Jaycees Summer Carnival just to name some. This is summer in Michigan and you cannot find any better place in this country.