Jamin Raskin

Throughout Jamie's decade in public office, he has championed animal rights and animal welfare.  As a State Senator, Jamie worked closely with his friends at the Humane Society to work for strong policies of animal protection. For more details on Jamie's record of fighting for animal protection. 

As “one of America’s most ardent advocates for democracy” (The Nation) Jamie is a champion of sweeping campaign finance reform, a powerful defender of voting rights, and a passionate critic of Citizens United and the Roberts Court’s systematic deregulation of big money in politics. 

I support efforts to provide relief to the millions of Americans struggling with student loan debt, including HR 2186, HR 770, HR 2648, and HR 1070. Also, as Representative of tens of thousands of dedicated public servants, I am working to defend and strengthen the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.  We need to make aggressive progress towards the goal of debt-free college for all.

We must reorganize the federal government to effectively confront this civilizational crisis. I support policies to transition to a green economy, invest in clean energy technologies and help fossil fuel industry workers retrain for new jobs. My colleagues and I are also working on a plan to revitalize America’s ailing infrastructure in a way that advances our urgent environmental goals.  The increasingly focused policy and community response to the coronavirus—led from the bottom-up by states and counties over the dangerous negligence of the Trump Administration and by the House of Representatives in Washington—will be a model for national unity and organizing against climate chaos. Climate change isn't just an issue, it's the entire context within which we must make our public policy decisions.

I support a universal background check; a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines; and barring violently dangerous people from possessing or purchasing firearms; and will not rest until we hold the gun industry accountable for its role in deadly firearm-involved violence. I worked and voted to pass several bills out of the Judiciary Committee including HR 8, HR 1186, HR 1236 & HR 2708.  We need to end America’s status as an outlier and outlaw country when it comes to public safety and firearms.

I have consistently fought to defend the ACA and the lifesaving coverage it provides to millions of individuals with preexisting conditions. It has been under unremitting legislative and courtroom attack by the GOP. While we work to protect the ACA, I strongly support moving towards a single-payer universal healthcare system that does not exclude anyone and saves hundreds of billions of dollars spent on insurance bureaucracy.

We need to end the cruel and inhumane treatment of children and families at our border and stop funding the president’s dangerous and profligate border wall; restore protections for refugees and asylum seekers; and pass HR 6, the Dream and Promise Act, to provide a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers and families that have lived here for years due to disaster or conflict in their home countries.  Then we need to move to comprehensive immigration reform.

On the Judiciary and Oversight Committees I’m working to expand voting rights; protect freedom of religion while stopping the new argument that businesses have a religious right to discriminate against LGBTQ Americans; protect equal employment rights; stop sexual harassment; and include the disabled. We need strong laws to block violations of civil rights and civil liberties of the people.