Debbie Wasserman Schultz has dedicated her public life to serving South Floridians and standing up for justice, equality, and opportunity wherever and whenever it is threatened. As Florida’s first Jewish Congresswoman, she has earned the respect of her colleagues for working tirelessly on behalf of seniors, children, and families for nearly three decades.
First sworn in to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2005, Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz previously served in the Florida House of Representatives and Florida Senate where she originally displayed her philosophy that there is “no task too small, and no goal too big.”
Despite the perception that breast cancer is only something older women need to worry about, young women can, and do, get breast cancer. Sharing this knowledge is critical because young women’s breast cancers are generally more aggressive, are diagnosed at a later stage, and result in lower survival rates. One of the reasons they are diagnosed at a later stage is because many young women don’t think they can get breast cancer - that breast cancer is something that only happens to older women. And even if they do suspect something is wrong, too many physicians dismiss their concerns because they also believe that the woman is too young to have breast cancer.
Additionally, certain ethnic groups, including Ashkenazi Jews and young African American women, have an increased risk of breast cancer. Several years ago, I was a young woman at high risk, but didn’t know it. In late 2007, I heard those terrible words, “you have breast cancer.” And for as much as I knew as an advocate in the fight against breast cancer during two decades as a legislator, there was much I didn’t know.
At the time, I did not know that as an Ashkenazi Jew, I was five times more likely to have the BRCA 1 or BRCA2 gene mutation. I did not know that carriers of the BRCA gene mutations have up to an 85 percent lifetime chance of getting breast cancer and up to a 60 percent chance of getting ovarian cancer. After my diagnosis, I found out that I do have the BRCA2 mutation. I was fortunate that I knew enough about my risks and got the help I needed, but I didn’t find my tumor through luck. I found it through knowledge and awareness.
We can never say it enough: every woman—especially every young woman—must take charge of her health and do what’s right for her. And if we say it loud enough and often enough, there’s no telling how many women we’ll help. That’s why I introduced the Breast Cancer Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young Act, or the EARLY Act, which became law along with the Affordable Care Act in 2010. The EARLY Act focuses on a central tenet: that we must empower young women to understand their bodies and speak up for their health. It creates an education and outreach campaign that highlights the breast cancer risks facing young women 45 and under, and it empowers them with the tools they need to fight this deadly disease. It helps educate and sensitize health care providers about the specific threats and warning signs of breast cancer in younger women that lead to early detection, diagnosis, and survival.
One component of the EARLY Act is an advisory panel – the Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer in Young Women – at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This Advisory Panel is providing guidance to the CDC on developing programs to advance understanding and awareness of breast cancer among young women through prevention research, public and health professional education activities, and emerging prevention strategies. In 2011 the CDC awarded seven funding grants to organizations as part of a broader effort to support breast cancer awareness in young women.
We know that information alone isn’t enough. Young women must also have access to the tools they need to fight this terrible disease. That’s why I introduced and passed the Protecting Access to Lifesaving Screenings Act, or the PALS Act, to help ensure that women get coverage for mammograms starting at age 40.
Looking to the future, I am committed to finding those areas of cancer treatment and awareness that still have such a long way to go, and to working on legislative solutions to fill those voids. When I introduced the EARLY Act, it was a direct result of my own experience with breast cancer. I wanted to make sure that young women facing the same kind of tough decisions that I did would have the support they need.
But as we learn all the time, there is still such a long way to go. More and more young people are getting cancer, and metastasis rates are not going down. That is why I introduced legislation into the Defense Appropriations bill that would create a new task force to study metastatic cancer of all types, focusing on clinical and translational research to extend the lives of patients. This research panel would study stage III and IV of all types of cancer, searching for clues in tumor growth and genetic patterns that different cancers share. When we stop looking at cancer types in silos and focus on what they share, we will make tremendous progress in stopping tumor growth and saving lives!
Beyond metastatic cancer, we need to focus on survivorship issues. Patients in their 20s, 30s, and 40s have a completely different experience than patients in their 50s, 60s, or 70s, and it is vital that we recognize and honor and focus on those differences. For young cancer patients, we should be working to help preserve fertility that is often jeopardized as a result of cancer treatment. It is hard enough to be told you have cancer at a young age – but there’s no reason that treating the disease should prevent young women from having children down the road. And the younger that patients are diagnosed with cancer, the longer they will then have to deal with being survivors, presenting a whole new set of physical and psychosocial challenges.
Together, we can save more of our moms, sisters, grandmothers, daughters and sister-friends. So please, help us get a head start by talking to the women in your life today. We must give more women the power to stand up, the power to speak up and the power to survive.
Featured Grantee Success
The EARLY Act has enabled many organizations to increase their invaluable programming and research to support young patients and survivors.
FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered is using the CDC grant funds to create the new program, eXamining Relevance of Articles for Young Survivors (XRAYS), which translates scientific articles on emerging breast cancer research into language that is understandable and accessible to the public and will help young breast cancer survivors understand how new research affects their lives and health care decisions.
Living Beyond Breast Cancer used CDC grant funds to hold two healthcare provider webinars and one half day in-person healthcare provider symposium in 2015. These programs engaged over 500 healthcare providers. These programs covered topics of fertility, sex and intimacy, anxiety and depression, long-term survivorship and young women living with metastatic breast cancer. Recordings of these programs are available on their website.
In October 2015, Bring Your Brave expanded its repertoire of personal stories of young women facing breast cancer. Those stories were released in two phases:
Throughout my career as a legislator, increasing access to higher education and improving college affordability have been top priorities. I remain as committed to these issues today as when I served as Chair of the Higher Education Committee in the Florida Legislature.
For America to prosper, we must strike the appropriate balance regarding budget cuts and making critical investments in our future. Attempting to balance our budget on the backs of students is neither ethical nor the way for America to remain competitive in a global marketplace. If we expect young people to seek out the training they need to succeed, we must do what we can to make sure these opportunities are accessible and affordable, and that our students will enter the job market free of the burden of unreasonable debt.
I will continue to support robust funding for Pell grants and have supported legislation to provide college students with loans at low rates, including supporting legislation that would allow students to refinance their loans at the same low rates available to new borrowers. These student loans are helping make school affordable for students and their families, and they are part of what I hope will be a comprehensive effort from all stakeholders to keep college costs down.
I will also continue to support access to higher education for DREAMers through legislation to prohibit college and university admissions discrimination against undocumented students.
As Congress continues our work on a secure fiscal future for our nation, I will be working to protect funding and accessibility to these critical investments in America’s students. Allowing our students to graduate with a better education and less debt is the best way to ensure that America remains competitive long into the future.
Everyone should have a fair chance at living the American dream if they work hard and play by the rules. I’m fighting to ensure that our economy works for all Americans. One of my top priorities is creating jobs for the American people and an economy that's built to last. From creating clean energy jobs to helping small businesses expand and thrive right here in America, we can strengthen our economy and ensure Americans have access to jobs that pay living wages and afford a strong quality of life.
The national wealth gap is rising, and it is particularly pronounced for people of color. The income gap between the top 1 percent and bottom 99 percent of wage earners in Florida is one of the worst divides in the nation. There is also a persistent gender pay gap that threatens women’s economic security – on average, women are paid 80 cents for every dollar paid to a man, and this disparity is even greater for women of color. The federal minimum wage has not increased since 2009, and it certainly has not kept pace with inflation. This creates economic uncertainty for many hardworking Americans, even when the economy appears to be booming.
Implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 created a vital and significant foundation for the future of a stronger economy. From assistance to homeowners, to investment in infrastructure, to easing credit for small businesses, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act helped put our economy back on track.
But our economy is only as strong as its impact on Americans across the financial spectrum. I have cosponsored legislation to raise the federal minimum wage and tipped minimum wage to 15 dollars by 2020. And I’m fighting against President Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts of 2017, which doled out enormous, permanent tax cuts for corporations and billionaires with meager, temporary tax cuts for American families. This bill has already increased our national deficit and saddled our national debt, and the consequences will become worse when the individual tax cuts expire.
We need a fair taxation system that supports a growing economy, small business creation, and American families – while ensuring our federal government has adequate funding to support services and infrastructure that make our country work.
Education is not only the right of every child; it is the cornerstone of America’s economic future. It is a simple fact that nations who out-educate us now will out-compete us in the future. Now more than ever, we must commit to our national education system by investing in our public K-12 schools. Congress can help drive innovation and provide the robust resources that give every child the opportunity to receive a high-quality education, regardless of their ZIP code.
I am proud to support federal investments like Head Start, as well as a proposed package of robust funding for our youngest students, including a federal-state partnership to help get more students into pre-K classrooms and extend vital early childhood education opportunities to more families. Additionally, Title I funds provide a critical investment that helps even the playing field for schools that serve low-income families.
As a Floridian and a mother of three students who attended Broward County public schools, I understand that we must continue to ensure that our schools have the funding to retain top-notch teachers and provide our children with the resources they need to succeed. Teachers are our best resource for our kids, and they can and must be brought in as partners as we move our nation’s education policy forward. Teachers must be treated as the professionals they are, and with the respect, resources, and compensation they deserve.
I am committed to working with my colleagues in the House and with the President to provide a high-quality education to all of America’s students, creating a nation prepared for the challenges of the 21st century.
Defending the environment to protect public health, ensure biodiversity and responsible ecosystem management, and safeguard for future generations to enjoy is among my top priorities as a public servant, South Florida resident, and mother of three.
While the Trump Administration pursues an assault on every one of our bedrock environmental statutes and tries to roll back and eliminate dozens of significant, progressive environmental regulations, we simply cannot waver in our fight against climate change and our efforts to safeguard our clean air and water.
In South Florida, we are fortunate to have one of the world’s great wonders in our backyard: the Florida Everglades, our famed River of Grass. Restoring this natural treasure is important not only to protect the water supply for more than 8 million Floridians and to protect biodiversity and endangered species, but also because I believe as a mother that we must leave this world better than we found it.
As a senior member of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, I use my unique position to advocate for South Florida and Everglades restoration, take bold action on climate change and renewable energy, and improve the quality of our air and water. It is imperative, now more than ever, that we adequately fund ecosystem restoration and clean energy initiatives as Florida deals with the full effects of our global climate crisis.
During the last congressional session in the 115th Congress, through my work on the subcommittee, I helped secure $3.3 billion to protect our natural wetlands and clean drinking water. Additionally, I led the appropriations request to support the Florida Everglades, and the funds will be used to help restore the water flow for the Everglades, protect tourism-related jobs, and ensure the quality of South Florida’s drinking water supply.
When the Trump Administration announced its reckless decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, I worked with locally elected Broward County officials to adopt a 100% Clean Energy Pledge. I am also working with my colleagues in the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) to pass the Climate Action Now Act, which would keep the United States in the Paris Agreement.
Finally, I have also worked side-by-side with my Democrat and Republican colleagues in the Florida delegation to protect Florida’s coasts and do something about harmful algal blooms. Using my seat on the Appropriations Committee, I worked with my Florida colleagues to secure funding for harmful algal bloom research in last year’s appropriations package. Harmful algal blooms and red tide are environmental, public health, and economic disasters that require much more research and investment, to both better understand and counteract.
Protecting South Florida’s ecosystems, from our internationally renowned beaches to the Everglades, is a fundamental responsibility that I do not take lightly. We must continue to work to make certain we have proper safeguards to protect the environment—using, not ignoring, settled science—to protect our people and our planet.
Big environmental issues like climate change are affecting us here and now. Our children and grandchildren did not create these problems. We cannot in good conscience leave it up to them to solve on their own.
In South Florida, foreign policy is domestic policy. More than 1 in 3 residents in Florida’s 23rd district are first-generation immigrants, and additional residents have familial histories of immigration and family ties abroad. Many of these members of our community are deeply connected to the economic, political, and social conditions in other countries.
South Florida has the largest concentration of Venezuelans in the United States, some of whom came to the United States to flee violence and hardship at the hands of the Maduro regime. Members of my community have shared many first-hand stories of brutal repression and the humanitarian crisis taking place in the country. I have used legislative tools to express profound concern and urge immediate reform regarding the ongoing political, economic, social, and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. I support legislation addressing human rights in Venezuela and U.S. efforts to support the restoration of legitimate democracy in the country.
Our nation’s foreign policy is an important tool to support human rights, civil liberties and free elections, and American strategic interests worldwide. I have continuously fought to protect the human rights and prosperity of our international neighbors and partners, and to promote peace and democracy worldwide.
I have supported legislation to advance global food security, end violence against children, support democratic growth and governance, extend nuclear prevention, and deliver humanitarian and economic aid.
Gun violence is a public health crisis. Floridians, like far too many Americans, have had to deal with the scourge of senseless gun violence time and again. We’ve mourned over Pulse, the shooting at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport, and the tragedy in Parkland. Meanwhile, firearms claim victims nearly every day in communities that too often fail to capture headlines. The epidemic of senseless gun violence must come to an end. No single law can ever prevent all these tragedies, but we need a sustained, collaborative effort to seriously reduce gun violence.
We should start by closing all the background check loopholes that allow dangerous people to evade the law and purchase deadly firearms. I was proud to work with Fred Guttenberg to introduce legislation named in honor of his daughter, Jaime, that would close those same loopholes for illegal purchases of ammunition. It requires more than a gun to take an innocent life; it also takes bullets. We need to do everything we can to keep both out of the wrong hands.
We must also push to get weapons of war off our streets. That means banning the sale of assault weapons and firearms with high capacity magazines.
Finally, we need to give the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the authority and adequate funding to study the gun violence epidemic as a public health crisis.
Gun tragedies have taken lives on our streets, in our communities, and at our airports, churches, and schools. I have met with many victims’ families and I intend to honor their loved ones with action. I will not be intimidated by the NRA or anyone else who makes the mistake of standing in our way. Protecting the lives of our families, friends, and neighbors is simply too important.
I am proud that I was a part of the first time in American history we passed a comprehensive health care reform bill to ensure all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care, while having the added benefit of significantly reducing long-term health care costs.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) became law on March 23, 2010. This law was a critical step toward ensuring that all Americans, including millions of Floridians, have access to quality, affordable health care.
Nationwide, data from the CDC shows that well over 20 million previously uninsured Americans have gained health coverage since the ACA became law.
The ACA greatly reduced the rate of uninsured in our state by making health care more affordable for Floridians through health care subsidies and reduced costs. An estimated 1.3 million Floridians qualify for financial assistance to purchase health insurance through the ACA and, according to HHS, 84 percent of Floridians with a marketplace plan could select a plan for $100 or less per month, with 75 percent being able to choose plans under $50 per month. The percentage of uninsured Floridians has dropped from 21% in 2010 to 13% in 2017.
Overall, in 2019, nearly 1.8 million Floridians chose a marketplace plan according to the Kaiser Family Foundation – the highest total of any state in the country, a number that has steadily increased as the ACA expanded access to and affordability of health care for everyday Floridians. In 2018, 94% of Floridians enrolled in the marketplace received advanced premium tax credits.
The ACA is also providing more expansive and affordable coverage for the people who often need it the most which ultimately benefits all of us. Women can no longer be charged higher premiums just for being a woman, Americans with pre-existing conditions can no longer be dropped from insurance plans, and the Medicare Part D "donut hole" is closing, providing immediate relief to South Floridian seniors who were at risk of falling into this coverage gap.
The numbers speak for themselves — there is demand for affordable health care and thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more and more Floridians are finding that they now have access to quality coverage. That is why efforts to repeal or defund the ACA are not productive in working toward quality, more affordable healthcare for all Americans. I am committed to working in a bipartisan fashion to continue making meaningful improvements to our health care system based on facts and real-life impact, not political rhetoric.
All immigrants deserve to be treated with dignity – in our communities and under the law. President Trump’s hateful family separation policy and cruel immigration policies have created deep-seeded fear and harm in our country, including in Florida’s 23rd district.
Members of my community represent a diverse background of immigration experiences, and many have experienced prejudice and discrimination due to their immigration status or home country of origin. In a political environment with rising xenophobic rhetoric and policy, I remain committed to fixing our immigration system. This includes providing a pathway to citizenship, fair treatment under the law, and extending protections for DREAMers, Temporary Protected Status holders, and refugees.
There is significant harm to repair in our country when it comes to ensuring that immigrants are treated with dignity, and I am committed to addressing that harm while also proactively advancing immigration reforms that offer new solutions.
I have sponsored and co-sponsored legislation to protect DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and TPS recipients; prevent information sharing between Department of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services that impedes the sponsorship of unaccompanied migrant youth; protect immigrants from legal exploitation; reunited separated families; provide protections for detained immigrants; and prohibit discrimination in higher education against undocumented students.
I will continue to fight for justice and equality for all immigrants in South Florida.
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I am a staunch supporter of the State of Israel and her citizens’ right to live in peace and security. Since Israel’s independence in 1948, the United States and Israel have shared a special relationship based on our shared values of personal freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. Israel has blossomed from desert sands into a shining example of economic progress and cultural diversity – all while under the threat of attack from hostile neighbors. |
I understand the need to invest in a 21st century military to maintain our conventional advantage while increasing our capacity to defeat the threats of tomorrow. By balancing the different elements of national power, we will not continue to push the burden onto our military alone, nor leave dormant any aspect of the full arsenal of American capability when it comes to keeping the people of America safe.
The United States of America has the finest military in the world and our country's greatest national security asset is the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States. When we do send our men and women into harm's way, we must ensure that our defense and military policies reflect their sacrifice, ensuring that our troops have the resources, support and equipment they need to protect themselves and fulfill their mission. When our troops return home, we must provide them with top notch medical treatment, support for their families and opportunities for education and workforce advancement.
As the Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, I have had the opportunity to tour military bases around our state, and to hear directly from military leadership about the challenges and needs facing our troops. There is an immediate need to invest in military housing for our servicemembers and their families, and to protect them from neglectful private contractors.
The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee is the only subcommittee in Congress that makes policy and provides funding for the entire life cycle of an individual’s service, from their time in the military and after they leave the service and join the ranks of veterans. I am fiercely determined to ensure that our servicemembers get the resources and support they need.
We should use our troops wisely, and deploy them in new regions only as a last resort. Military action that endangers our troops and wreaks havoc on our economy must be initiated only after all diplomatic options have been exhausted, when it serves a compelling national interest or is used to defend one of our allies, and when there is a clear plan for success, including an exit strategy.
Another critical part of enhancing our military readiness is ensuring that we have the best and brightest soldiers and translators on our battlefields and in our command centers, which is why I supported and voted for the repeal of the military’s discriminatory ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ military policy, and have consistently opposed President Trump’s transphobic ban on transgender Americans serving in the U.S. military. This ban not only violates our nation’s core values of equal protection, but it is ultimately counterproductive to our national security.
We must recognize that America’s strength and influence abroad begins with the steps we take at home. We must grow our economy and put Americans back to work. We must educate our children, ensuring they are able to compete in a time when knowledge is capital and the marketplace is global. We must pursue a strategy of national renewal with American innovation as the foundation of American power.
I use my position as a senior appropriator on the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee to support a national energy strategy that promotes and facilitates a rapid transition to clean, renewable, domestic sources of energy that will fuel an economy that is sustainable, while protecting our environment and promoting our national security. I believe it is critical that we use smart, forward-thinking energy policy to address the climate crisis and prevent the worst consequences of climate change by dramatically reducing our emissions of greenhouse gases.
While we address climate change and continue our national transition to renewable sources of energy, we must protect our precious coastlines from the threat of offshore oil and gas drilling. Throughout my legislative career, I have consistently led the fight against any expansion of drilling off the coast of Florida. As the explosion at BP’s Deepwater Horizon and the subsequent oil spill have shown us, offshore drilling could easily bring oil slicks to Florida’s coasts, and even penetrate the Florida Everglades, an ecosystem that is still in recovery. Oil spills threaten our state’s vulnerable coastal ecosystems, which are home to some of our most precious and diverse wildlife. And now more than ever, we need to be pushing for the expansion of clean and renewable energy sources, not taking steps backward to open more areas for fossil fuel development and extraction.
I continue to oppose efforts to expand offshore oil and gas exploration, including proposing a permanent ban on oil and gas drilling around Florida’s coasts, while working to ensure that we can adequately and rapidly respond when spills do inevitably occur.
America's servicemembers should be able to count on the full and unwavering support of their government. We have about 20 million service members living across our country, with more than 1.5 million here in Florida – the 3rd highest in the country, including more than 25,000 veterans in my own Congressional district. It is our duty as Americans to ensure that these veterans have easy access to the benefits and services they so rightly deserve, including comprehensive health services, employment and educational opportunities, and support for their families.
As the Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, I am working every day to secure funding and support for our veterans.
We owe our veterans nothing less than the highest quality health care, delivered in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, there are too many disturbing cases of substandard care at VA nursing homes, and the rate of veteran suicide reveals that the VA’s efforts on mental health are inadequate. I am working to ensure the leadership of Veterans Affairs addresses these key issues for our veterans’ health and wellbeing. I am also deeply opposed to efforts to privatize VA care, and, as Chair of the Subcommittee, continue to hold VA leadership accountable on their stated commitment not to privatize these critical services.
To protect the ability of veterans to access all the benefits they deserve, I support legislation aimed at making it easier for veterans to verify their service and qualify for educational assistance, as well as policies to increase veteran Cost of Living Adjustments and retirement and disability pay. Benefits that allow our veterans to pursue continued education, retire with financial security, and support physical and mental health are sacred and I will continue to fight for them.
Women and men serve with equal commitment in the military, and we need parity when it comes to access and gender-specific care options at the VA. Funding for gender-specific healthcare for women has remained stagnant at around $500 million over the past few years, yet women are the fastest-growing veteran group – they make up about 9 percent of the current veteran population, and are estimated to make up 15 percent by 2035.
More resources need to be invested to increase women veterans’ access to care. Women should be able to walk into any VA facility and receive a basic standard of care. Every single VA facility should be equipped to allow women veterans to receive care from women doctors or access gender-specific care programs for women.
In addition to providing VA benefits, we must also support our veterans’ successful integration back into the workforce. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports veteran unemployment and homelessness are dropping, partially due to strong initiatives led by the Obama Administration to address these issues, but we know that one unemployed veteran is too many.
I believe we have a duty to protect and provide for every American who serves, and I pledge to always honor their service, sacrifices and their dedication to our nation.
One of my top priorities in Congress is to make sure we change our laws to advance justice and equity for women. I have worked consistently to improve the health, safety, and economic empowerment of women and their families.
Women's Health
The health and safety of women and girls will always be a priority for me. That is why one of the legislative achievements of which I am proudest is the Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young (EARLY) Act.
After being diagnosed with breast cancer at age 41, I wanted to ensure that all young women would have the knowledge, resources and support necessary to make informed decisions about their own breast health. Under the EARLY Act, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is implementing a national education campaign about the threat that breast cancer poses to young women of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The EARLY Act was enacted into law in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act and recently reauthorized in 2014.
The EARLY Act was just one of many Affordable Care Act provisions which promote the health of women and their families. The ACA makes it possible for women to get preventive care services such as mammograms, new baby care and well-child visits, with no out-of-pocket costs. It also protects women against being charged a higher premium just for being a woman.
Reproductive Choice
When it comes to weighing personal medical decisions, I trust women to make their own decisions about what is best for their bodies and their families. To that end, I will continue to be a staunch advocate for a woman’s right to access all legal, safe resources for planning her family.
The Supreme Court has upheld legal assertions that decisions regarding a woman’s body should be kept between her and her doctor. I will always defend this right, including access to abortion services, for women here at home and around the world as a principle tenet of women’s comprehensive health.
Violence Against Women
Additionally, we cannot truly promote the health of women without working to prevent and end violence against women and girls. Domestic violence, rape, trafficking, and assault of women are not private issues to be kept in the shadows – they are unacceptable violations of basic human rights. In addition to always supporting a fully-funded, inclusive Violence Against Women Act, I am proud that two of my bills challenging violence against women – the Rape Survivor Child Custody Act and the Trafficking Awareness Training for Healthcare Act of 2015 – have been signed into law. The Rape Survivor Child Custody Act encourages states to allow a woman to terminate the parental rights of a rapist, and the Trafficking Awareness Training for Healthcare Act develops best practices for health care professionals to identify and respond to victims of human trafficking.
I will always fight for policies that allow women and their families to remain healthy and free from violence.
Women’s Economic Agenda
We must commit to creating workplaces that are fair, inclusive, and family-friendly.
I am proud to cosponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would help ensure all employees receive equal pay for equal work, and to support the creation of a national paid leave program to guarantee paid leave. I also support legislation to address sexual harassment in the workplace, because all women should feel safe at their place of employment.
As a working mother, I am proud to fight for these policies. There is no excuse for our persistent gender pay gap, or for parents to have to choose between caring for their children or being able to put food on the table.
I support an energy policy that promotes clean, renewable, domestic sources of energy that will fuel an economy that is sustainable, while protecting our environment and promoting our national security. I believe it is critical that energy policy works to prevent the worst effects of climate change by dramatically reducing our emissions of greenhouse gases over the next several decades.
Reliance on foreign-imported fossil fuels leaves us vulnerable to economic disruption by foreign nations wishing to influence U.S. foreign policy. We can no longer afford to ignore the fact that we import the majority of our petroleum, often from countries that do not share our democratic principles. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, we are the world’s third largest producer of petroleum at 8.5 million barrels a day, but we consume 19.5 million barrels a day, which is nearly 25% of the world’s consumption. Unfortunately, we sit on only about 3% of the world’s proven reserves, so no matter what extremes we go to in exploring for oil domestically, we simply cannot drill our way out of this problem. And as we know, going to those extremes can have devastating consequences.
While we address climate change and move to renewable sources of energy, we must protect our coastlines from the threat of offshore oil drilling. Throughout my legislative career, I have consistently stood in opposition to the expansion of drilling off the coast of Florida. As the explosion at BP’s Deepwater Horizon and the subsequent oil spill has shown us, offshore drilling could easily bring oil slicks to Florida’s western and eastern coasts, and even penetrate the Florida Everglades. Oil spills threaten our state’s vulnerable coastal ecosystems, which are home to some of our most precious and diverse wildlife. Fortunately, Florida was mostly spared the worst effects of the BP oil spill, but we may not be so lucky next time. I will continue to oppose efforts to expand offshore oil and gas exploration, while working to ensure we can adequately and rapidly respond when spills do occur.
Expanded offshore drilling not only threatens Florida’s ecosystem and economy, but contributes nothing to weaning our nation of dependence on foreign fossil fuels. Drilling in the Eastern Gulf would potentially increase domestic production by a mere five percent, an increase to the world supply of less than one percent. Adding a fraction of a percent to the global oil supply will not lower gas prices and ignores the critical need to develop alternative energy supplies that finally break our addiction to fossil fuels.
The government belongs to the American people. The long neglect of meaningful House oversight on our nation’s most serious problems in recent years ended in 2019, when Democrats took the House majority and control over its committees.
I was honored to be appointed to the Committee on Oversight and Reform for the 116th Congress. This Committee is the main investigative committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. It has authority to investigate the subjects within the Committee’s legislative jurisdiction as well as "any matter" within the jurisdiction of the other standing House Committees.
As a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, I am committed to ensuring government transparency for all Americans, and to holding the Trump administration accountable.
Everyone should have a fair chance at living the American dream if they work hard and play by the rules. I’m fighting to ensure that our economy works for all Americans. One of my top priorities is creating jobs for the American people and an economy that's built to last. From creating clean energy jobs to helping small businesses expand and thrive right here in America, we can strengthen our economy and ensure Americans have access to jobs that pay living wages and afford a strong quality of life.
The national wealth gap is rising, and it is particularly pronounced for people of color. The income gap between the top 1 percent and bottom 99 percent of wage earners in Florida is one of the worst divides in the nation. There is also a persistent gender pay gap that threatens women’s economic security – on average, women are paid 80 cents for every dollar paid to a man, and this disparity is even greater for women of color. The federal minimum wage has not increased since 2009, and it certainly has not kept pace with inflation. This creates economic uncertainty for many hardworking Americans, even when the economy appears to be booming.
Implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 created a vital and significant foundation for the future of a stronger economy. From assistance to homeowners, to investment in infrastructure, to easing credit for small businesses, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act helped put our economy back on track.
But our economy is only as strong as its impact on Americans across the financial spectrum. I have cosponsored legislation to raise the federal minimum wage and tipped minimum wage to 15 dollars by 2020. And I’m fighting against President Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts of 2017, which doled out enormous, permanent tax cuts for corporations and billionaires with meager, temporary tax cuts for American families. This bill has already increased our national deficit and saddled our national debt, and the consequences will become worse when the individual tax cuts expire.
We need a fair taxation system that supports a growing economy, small business creation, and American families – while ensuring our federal government has adequate funding to support services and infrastructure that make our country work.