In the News
In 2021, Congress passed the landmark American Rescue Plan signed into law by President Joe Biden. Among other policies, the bill dramatically expanded the Child Tax Credit to up to $3,600 for children under 6 and $3,000 for children between the ages of 6 and 17. These payments represented the biggest anti-poverty initiatives in a generation. As a result of the expanded Child Tax Credit, survival checks during the pandemic and expanded unemployment assistance, child poverty hit a historic low in 2021.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden was winding up for a speech at a Minnesota clean energy facility when he spotted a lawmaker in the crowd whom he wanted to recognize.
“I want to thank you for being here,” Biden said, gesturing toward Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar during his recent visit. “You never stop working to level the playing field for everybody.”
Twenty years ago today, the United States brought to the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the first of the nearly 800 Muslim men and boys it would eventually hold captive there. In that sense, January 11 is an anniversary. I prefer not to characterize it that way, though, because any word that can sometimes be synonymous with celebration should never be used to describe these last two decades of lawlessness and cruelty at Guantánamo Bay detention camp.
Today is a day to reflect, and to act.
When President Joe Biden announced in the spring his plans for "once-in-a-generation investments in our nation's future," he said that "it is not enough to restore where we were prior to the pandemic. We need to build a stronger economy that does not leave anyone behind -- we need to build back better."
As I heard the news out of Afghanistan—the families scrambling to get on American planes, or the thousands of requests for assistance pouring into my office—I was taken instantly back to my childhood. I remembered sitting in a refugee camp in Kenya when I was about 10 years old and overhearing my father and grandfather discuss how we were going to get out. "Only in America can you ultimately become an American," my grandfather said. "Everywhere else we will always feel like a guest."
WASHINGTON — As Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., seeks to become a major voice on U.S. foreign policy, she is looking to make sanctions one of her hallmark issues.
Earlier this month, Omar, one of the members of “the Squad,” was named vice chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, providing her with a platform to oversee legislation on foreign military deployments, aid and diplomatic policy.
We've watched as they've lightened and retouched images of celebrities of color, from Beyoncé to Priyanka Chopra to Kerry Washington to
As I sat in my Capitol Hill office two weeks ago, watching a violent mob storm the symbol and seat of our democracy, I was reminded of my distant past. As a child, I saw my birth country of Somalia descend from relative stability into civil war, overnight. The spaces where people felt most secure—their homes and workplaces—suddenly became battlegrounds, torn by gunfights and bombings. Violent targeting of political leaders—once unheard-of—became commonplace.
This month, we begin the transition away from a Trump era and toward a new presidency based on peace and cooperation. There is no area where this renewed vision is needed more than foreign policy. Trump has taunted, mocked, and burned bridges with our allies, while simultaneously cozying up to some of the most brutal dictatorial regimes around the world—especially those in the oil-rich Middle East. The damage done by the Trump administration runs deep, and it will take hard work and a clear understanding of the extent of the damage to fix it.
When I first came to this country as a refugee at the age of 12, I was horrified by the number of people I saw experiencing homelessness on the streets of New York City. I remember turning to my father one day as we drove through the city and saying, "This is not the America you told us about." "Hush child," my father replied. "We will get to that America." The America I'd dreamed of—the one my father had imagined back in Somalia—not only guaranteed equal protection under the law, but provided everyone the opportunity to live with dignity, to thrive.