I support @NancyPelosi to be Speaker of the 116th Congress. She is the strongest leader to unite our caucus and help us accomplish the twin tasks of providing strong and fair Congressional oversight and passing positive legislation that shows the way towards a more just America.
I appreciate her historic role as a breaker of glass ceilings. I remember clearly what an effective Speaker she was in the past. I am grateful to her for coming to #MI09 and indeed crisscrossing the nation to help raise the funds needed to take back the majority.
However, my vote is about the future, not the past. In my judgment, Nancy Pelosi is the steely, patient and strategic leader we need to take maximum advantage of our precious opportunity to turn our great nation in a healthier and more inspiring direction.
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For the past several months, I’ve been deeply concerned about Israel’s war in Gaza, thinking about what I can say or do, as an American, as a Jew, as a former Congressman. But one thing is crystal clear: the war must end.
I was deeply involved in the US solidarity movement against apartheid in South Africa. Forty years ago this month, I helped confront the trustees of Williams College and launch a hunger strike to demand divestment.
Last weekend, I visited an exhibit on Nelson Mandela at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, the heart of our Arab-American community. When I left the immersive galleries honoring Mandela and emerged into the bright main hall of the museum, I sat down on a bench and wept.
Allowing Republicans or other outsiders to use dark money to determine the outcome of Democratic primaries is a sure way to destroy the Democratic Party. And that is true for any party.
Let us choose our own candidates to put up against Republicans in each November election – without outside interference! And let us live up to our values.
Today, my uncle, @SenCarlLevin passed away. Wherever I went in Michigan, from Copper Harbor to Monroe, I would run into people who would say, "I don’t always agree with Senator Levin, but I support him anyway because he is so genuine, he tells it straight and he follows through."
Carl Levin personified integrity and the notion of putting the public good above self-interest.
As he walked about the Capitol in a rumpled suit, almost always with a plain white shirt and pedestrian tie, carrying bulging files with the occasional paper flying away, Carl was the very picture of sober purpose and rectitude.
We have just reached the grim milestone of 200,000 precious lives lost to this pandemic. This week also marks the beginning of early voting in MI. While Trump is not responsible for COVID-19, he is responsible for the worst failure of executive leadership in modern history.
Starting on 9/24, MI has our opportunity to decide the fate of a president who admitted to knowing how deadly this virus was and willfully choosing to downplay it, at the expense of the lives of 200,000 fellow Americans, and the livelihoods of nearly 14 million more.
While Trump has ignored our calls for full use of the Defense Production Act, nationwide testing and contact tracing, and a new stimulus package that actually meets the needs of struggling Americans, he cannot ignore our votes.
The loss of Ruth Bader Ginsburg has left so many of us without words. Justice Ginsburg was a pioneer in the women’s rights movement. Her landmark opinions advanced the rights of women, immigrants, and disabled people and moved our imperfect nation closer to achieving equality.
As the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court, she was a trailblazer who changed the face of our nation’s highest legal body. She was one of the most brilliant legal minds our country has ever seen.
But Ruth Ginsburg was so much more. She was a role model and an icon for a generation of young women who learned from her fiery dissents and sharp humor that women deserved to be heard, respected, and represented in the highest level of our nation’s judiciary.
What a slap in the face to the nearly 7,000 Michigan families who have lost a loved one to COVID-19 for Trump to break the law, gather a large group with no social distancing, and scream at our Governor to "Open up your state."
Compare this with @JoeBiden’s visit: he’s not just demonstrating leadership in his words, but with his actions and adherence to health guidelines, modeling what a safe event should look like during a pandemic that has infected over 6 million Americans.
Most importantly, Biden’s demonstrating that this moment calls for less yelling and more listening. Knowing Michigan has lost over 57,000 manufacturing jobs under Trump, Biden came and met with union workers in manufacturing across the region.