Rashida Tlaib

Throughout the pandemic, Rashida has led the fight to get stimulus payments directly into people’s pockets every month. One-time relief payments are not enough. She’s also been calling to end student loan debt and to make college free for all.

Her visionary economic legislation includes plans for a near-universal basic income without increasing public debt. Her proposal also includes creating jobs in a new Emergency Response Corps to check in on unhoused people and others in need. 

Serving on the U.S. House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee, Rashida holds big banks accountable, levels the playing field for credit reporting (which affect people’s ability to get housing, jobs, auto insurance, and more), and keeps pushing for ways to make banking more accessible—especially when it comes to increasing homeownership. 

Throughout Rashida’s life she has joined striking workers and has supported workers’ rights, from the perspective of someone who truly understands what it’s like to struggle financially. When Rashida’s father joined a union, her family was able to get healthcare for the first time. She believes that supporting our workers is at the core of fighting against corporate greed. We all deserve to feel safe at work and make a wage that truly values the work we put in for ourselves and our families.

Rashida is also addressing Michigan’s and the nation’s decline in Black homeownership, which is at the lowest rate in nearly 50 years. Rashida has focused on housing justice and investing in home repair—one of the top issues our campaign has encountered from residents as we checked in about their top priorities in 2021. Homeownership is a vital part of economic stability for families across the nation.

Rashida is also an unwavering advocate for tenants, fighting predatory landlords and lenders side-by-side with grassroots housing justice groups, as well as expanding banking opportunities and access to credit. She’s also challenging Detroit’s discriminatory property tax system that taxes the least expensive homes at six times the rate of the most expensive homes.

For years as a community activist, Rashida has fought for the human right to clean and safe drinking water. It’s one of her top priorities, especially given her district’s struggles with water quality and water access. Thousands of Detroiters have had their access to water shut off, whether because of lead contamination or inability to pay skyrocketing water bills. Meanwhile, Nestle pays pennies to pump millions of gallons of clean water out of Michigan and into CEOs’ pockets.

Rashida’s district also includes one of the most polluted cities in Michigan, where dozens of industrial facilities are poisoning predominantly Black residents. Communities of color have long been on the front lines of environmental injustices, which has led to more chronic health conditions like asthma—that make people even more susceptible to contracting and dying from COVID-19. 

Rashida has seen up-close how corporate polluters dictate our public policy so they can escape accountability. Before serving in Congress, she went up against the Koch brothers and won, forcing them to remove pollutants from Detroit’s riverfront. She’s still taking on corporate polluters and winning, alongside community members most impacted by ongoing pollution.

Helped create a fund totalling $1.1 billion to stop water shutoffs during the pandemic. Also introduced the Water is a Human Right Act to end water shutoffs, reconnect water services for people whose water access has been shut off, and assist low-income families with paying their water bills—with over 70 members of Congress co-sponsoring the bill. 

Created the bipartisan Get the Lead Out Caucus in the House of Representatives to push for urgent action to remove lead pipes. In coordination with local grassroots water rights coalitions, Rashida and her team organized a Get the Lead Out tour of Michigan communities with lead contamination, where members of Congress heard directly from community leaders on the ground.

Passed historic amendments that would provide $23 billion to fully replace dangerous lead pipes, prioritizing communities facing environmental racism and protecting our kids from poisonous exposure.

Passed an amendment putting frontline communities first by remediating toxic PFAS chemicals.

Created a local environmental justice working group made up of community activists.

Held two Congressional hearings on environmental justice in her district: In 2022 and in 2019. The 2019 hearing was held in the most polluted zip code in Michigan: 48217, where dozens of industrial facilities are poisoning predominantly Black residents, who face high rates of asthma, cancer, brain damage, heart and respiratory diseases, miscarriages, and more. 

Coordinated 3 different toxic tours for members of Congress and Michigan’s Attorney General, to listen to people on the ground who are leading the way on the frontlines of social and environmental movements for justice. 

Named Vice Chair of the Subcommittee on Environment within the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

Cosponsored multiple bills to tax Big Oil corporations on their excess profits—and send that money back to the people. It’s time for a windfall profits tax on Big Oil corporations that have been raising prices in order to rake in record-setting profits.

Passed two amendments to increase renewable energy funding and to require the EPA to research the disparate health impacts of fossil fuel emissions.

Introduced the BUILD GREEN Act to build the green economy of the 21st century with good-paying, union jobs. At least 40% of the funding would have to go to projects in “vulnerable and disadvantaged” communities. 

Taken on the Wall Street banks that fund fossil fuel projects, including using House hearings to question CEOs about exploiting communities like hers, and introducing the Fossil Free Finance Act, which would require the Federal Reserve to prohibit banks from financing new or expanded fossil fuel projects after 2022 and all fossil fuel projects after 2030. 

Launched an investigation into corporate polluter Marathon Oil for its role in funding front groups and lobbying to weaken vehicles’ fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards.

Hand-in-hand with local lawmakers and neighborhood residents, Rashida has successfully pushed Michigan’s environmental regulation agency to hold Fiat Chrysler (now merged with Stellantis) accountable for dangerous violations of its air quality permit.   

Passed an amendment to help ensure equitable use of public lands (like national parks and forests) in environmental justice communities—defined as “a community with significant representation of communities of color, low-income communities, or Tribal and indigenous communities, that experiences, or is at risk of experiencing, higher or more adverse human health or environmental effects than other communities.” 

Introduced two bills to divest federal workers’ pensions from the fossil fuel industry.

Cosponsored a bill directing President Biden to declare a climate emergency.

Sent public letters to Marathon Oil from the House Committee on Oversight and Reform to hold them accountable to toxic output.

Introduced the Petroleum Coke Transparency and Public Health Act with Senator Gary Peters to ensure public health, air, and water is protected.

Sent public letters to Nestle to hold the corporation accountable for their continued profiting off of our public water.

Led Congress members in opposing COVID bailouts for the fossil fuel industry.

Fundraised for local groups like the Eden Park Community Project, which is advocating for residents and fighting for environmental justice—including demanding that the Marathon Oil refinery pay for air quality monitors for the area. Eden Park aims to create much-needed green space and gardens, which would not only bring beauty to the community, but also serve as a buffer to mitigate air pollution.

Endorsed by environmental groups in multiple elections, including in 2022 by Clean Water Action, Friends of the Earth Action, League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, Michigan League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club (National & Michigan chapter), and Sunrise Movement.

Rashida Tlaib knows that healthcare is a human right. But our country’s broken healthcare system prioritizes profits over people, forcing millions of U.S. residents into crippling debt just to afford the care they need. 

Research shows that 90% of bankruptcies are due to extreme medical debt. Thousands of Americans die each year just because they can’t afford healthcare. And now the pandemic has made this crisis even more urgent. In addition, the pandemic has exposed even more clearly how racially unjust our healthcare system is. 

Long neglected by our government, Black people in America have borne the brunt of the pandemic’s health and economic crises. Black Americans are three times more likely than white Americans to be hospitalized and twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than white Americans. These disparities in healthcare show up over and over, including the rise in Black infant and mortality rates. Rashida is fighting against this unjust status quo.

Rashida is not afraid to go toe-to-toe with billionaire bullies, including health insurance and Big Pharma CEOs who want to keep profiting off our pain, our illnesses, and our deaths. She’s pushing for reproductive justice and to end medical debt. 

Voted for and helped pass bills in the House to ensure reproductive healthcare access across the country, including protecting abortion providers and securing abortion rights, including the right to travel across states to receive abortion care.

Continues to advocate to get rid of the Hyde Amendment, which denies abortion coverage to people already more likely to be systematically underserved by our health system and struggling to make ends meet, including women of color, young people, transgender people, and non-binary people. 

Fundraised for abortion care funds across the country as attacks on reproductive rights are growing—including local fund the Reclaim MI WIN Fund, which is the only abortion fund in Southeastern Michigan.

Joined the Black Maternal Health Caucus in Congress and co-sponsored the Black Health Momnibus Act of 2021. Founded the Mamas’ Caucus in Congress in partnership with Mothering Justice to center and advocate for mothers of color and their families. Mothers of color face unjust maternal and infant health disparities along with economic disparities, and are leaders in the fight for reproductive justice and policies such as affordable childcare and paid leave.

Co-sponsored the Medicare For All Act of 2021 (and previous versions), and co-led a virtual rally to unveil the legislation. 

Passed bills that prevent medically necessary debt from being listed on credit reports, and which reduce time negative credit and stays on a credit report from 7 years to 4 years. No one chooses to get sick, and undergoing a medically necessary procedure should never haunt someone financially. Nearly 1 in 5 adults have one or more medical debt collections listed on their credit report, which means they may be denied housing, transportation, or other necessities because of a sudden health crisis or visit to the emergency room. Medical debt is also a leading cause of personal bankruptcy in our country.

Pushed to expand Medicare coverage and lower prescription drug prices in the Build Back Better Act. 

Advocates for the rights of trans and nonbinary people to receive medically necessarily gender-affirming healthcare.

Introduced the Health Equity and Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Community Inclusion Act of 2022, which will help ensure the experiences and needs of the MENA community are reflected in the federal government’s focus on public health.

For years, Rashida Tlaib has been fighting alongside Black activists pushing for justice. And while in Congress, she’s solidifying movement demands into policy change. 

She’s introduced bold bills that will reverse decades of discriminatory policies, help close the racial wealth gap, end mass incarceration, and address racist policing and surveillance.

Rashida understands that ending systemic racism is also about investing in Black and brown communities who’ve struggled from chronic disinvestment. She’s been working alongside grassroots groups to build a true justice system—where everyone feels safe and has the opportunity to thrive.

Since racism is part of all of our institutions, Rashida is focused on addressing it in every policy—including bills to increase affordable housing, lift people out of poverty, bring about environmental justice, end the modern-day redlining of the auto insurance industry, and more.

As a child of immigrants, Rashida is also pushing for a more just and humane immigration process in our country. She has advocated to defund ICE and to hold the Department of Homeland Security (which includes ICE) accountable for its mistreatment and abuse of migrants.

As a lawyer at the nonprofit Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice, Rashida protected civil rights. And since becoming a Congressperson, she’s joined the Equality Caucus and has pushed for all legislation to take into account the experiences and needs of the LGBTQI+ community. 

Ongoing discrimination impacts LGBTQI+ people in so many areas of life, including getting a job, finding a place to live, getting served in stores, and more. As Black trans women are murdered and targeted for violence, and as more and more states are targeting transgender youth, it’s especially crucial that we come together in support of trans people and trans rights.

Rashida will not stop fighting for everyone, of all genders and sexualities, to have the protection and freedom to thrive that we all deserve. 

Rashida is committed to building a society where every person can live openly as their authentic selves, surrounded by safety and love.