This week marks 100 days since Democrats’ historic takeover of the House of Representatives. In the last three months, we’ve made incredible progress on the promises we made to the American people: to fight hard for everyday families and fight back against the Trump administration’s dangerous, xenophobic agenda.
We started by fighting to re-open and fund the government while denying the president money for his ineffective border wall. Trump’s fixation on a useless wall led us to the Trump Shutdown — the longest government shutdown in American history. I was proud to sit on the Conference Committee for Homeland Security that negotiated the bill to fund our federal agencies and pay our federal workers.
Since then, House Democrats have been hard at work on our progressive, forward-looking For the People agenda. We passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act, which protects voting rights, gets big money out of politics, and cleans up corruption in Washington. We passed the bipartisan Background Check Act of 2019 that mandates common-sense background checks for nearly all gun sales, as well as the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would ensure that America’s working women earn equal pay for equal work. We also passed the Violence against Women Act. And on Wednesday, we passed the Save the Internet Act, which restores net neutrality and ensures a free and open internet for everyone, including in lower income communities.
At the same time, we are holding the Trump administration accountable and restoring checks and balances on a White House that proves more corrupt by the day. House committees are conducting multiple investigations into this administration — and we’re demanding the release of the full Mueller report. The American people deserve to know the details about their president’s connection to foreign interference in our elections, and we deserve it now.
But this is just the beginning.
We are boldly pressing ahead on legislation to end discrimination against LGBTQ Americans create a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and TPS recipients, and end rampant voter suppression around the country, which we know is targeted disproportionately at communities of color.
The Trump administration would have it another way.
In the past month alone, the president has pushed policies that attack the very essence of who we are as Americans. The administration now proposes a budget that slashes funding for essential basic needs programs like Medicare, Social Security, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; and escalated attacks on the Affordable Care Act, leaving millions of Americans in danger of losing health care.
Then, just last week, the president fired the Homeland Security Secretary for not being tough enough on immigrants seeking asylum in America. This is the same secretary that spearheaded, executed, and lied about the administration’s abhorrent family separation policy — yet that wasn’t enough for this president.
While under Republican control, Congress served as a rubber stamp on the worst instincts of this administration. During those first two years, Republicans in Congress and the White House supported billionaires and corporations at the expense of everyday Americans. All that ended when, with your help, Democrats took back the House with an agenda for the American people.
The Trump administration is working hard to undercut much of the hard-won progress we have achieved together. But House Democrats and I are continuing to fight for you. We’re hard at work on reducing prescription drug costs for seniors and families, raising wages for American workers, fighting for racial and economic justice, and ensuring that government works for the people.
There’s more work to be done. We must still tackle climate change, expand access to health care and ensure a living wage for all workers. I am proud to be a co-sponsor of legislation like the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and The Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour and take a major step toward ensuring that all workers earn a living wage. All of these bills reflect policy ideas I have supported my entire career. As we look ahead to the challenges we face together, I am excited to work with my colleagues to deliver on an agenda that will uplift all Americans.
We are in this fight for the long haul, and it won’t always be easy. But I know we can achieve the America we all believe in if we do it together.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee represents the 13th Congressional District, serving Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda and adjacent communities.
