Marcy Kaptur

Marcy Kaptur

Marcy Kaptur is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 9th district of Ohio.

Background

Congresswoman Kaptur, of Polish-American heritage with humble, working class roots, mirrors the bootstrap nature of her district. Her family operated a small grocery where her mother worked after serving on the original organizing committee of an auto trade union at the Champion Spark Plug Company.

Congresswoman Kaptur became the first member of her family to attend college, receiving a scholarship for her undergraduate work. Trained as a city and regional planner, she practiced 15 years in Toledo and throughout the country. Appointed as an urban advisor to the Carter White House, she helped maneuver 17 housing and neighborhood revitalization bills through the Congress during those years.

Kaptur is a native of Toledo, Ohio, a member of Little Flower Roman Catholic Church, and a graduate of St. Ursula Academy. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Wisconsin (1968) and a master's in urban planning from the University of Michigan.

JStreet PAC endorsement

In 2024 JStreet PAC endorsed Marcy Kaptur.

NRDC Action

In 2022 the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund endorsed Marcy Kaptur.

Support for the Council on American Islamic Relations

Marcy Kaptur wrote a letter of support to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on the occasion of their 24th anniversary in September 2018.

Our Revolution endorsement

Marcy Kaptur was endorsed by Our Revolution, an organization run by former campaign workers and supporters of former socialist presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Berniecrat

Marcy Kaptur is a Berniecrat, is a term used for those democrats (generally) running for office who have expressed support of former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Ukrainian connection

The Toledo Democrat said she has made at least a dozen trips to Ukraine over the last four decades, and she is co-chairman of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus.

In 2013/14, the country has exploded into demonstrations, triggered by outrage at Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to end negotiations to join the European Union and turn to Russia to help it pay off a crippling debt. Some see the revolutionary movement as a step toward true independence that started when Ukraine broke off from the Soviet Union in 1990.

Miss Kaptur was the co-sponsor of a resolution that passed Wednesday in a House committee calling the Ukraine leadership to a higher standard, and to support rights of assembly. Whether it will come up for a vote in the full House is not known.

In 1973, Miss Kaptur — then a planner for the city of Toledo — and her mother, the former Anastasia Rogowski, drove into Soviet Ukraine, where they found her grandmother’s brother, a former inmate of Stalin’s gulag political prison system for 20 years.

“He was not allowed to travel out of his area because he was viewed as an enemy of the state,” Miss Kaptur said. He was released from the gulag in 1952, but lost his brother to the camps. Her great-uncle’s crime: He had offered aid to a wounded Kulak, a member of the property-owning farming class that was being driven into extinction by Stalin.

They had the only car in the dusty town, and were the only guests in the hotel, which had no curtains but a listening device. They had sent word to relatives that they would be at the hotel if anyone wanted to meet them. They were on their third day with no visitors when they heard activity in the lobby.

Miss Kaptur’s great-uncle Casmierz Swiecicki was a former inmate in Joseph Stalin’s prison system for 20 years. Miss Kaptur’s great-uncle Casmierz Swiecicki was a former inmate in Joseph Stalin’s prison system for 20 years.

“We learned the desk clerk had been denying to the woman visitor that any foreigners were staying in the hotel, despite her repeated attempts to contact us,” Miss Kaptur said.

She said the moment that she finally met her grandmother’s brother, Casmierz Swiecicki, was an emotional one.

“There stood this tall man and I looked at him and gasped because he held his hands the same way that our grandmother did. He looked at my mother and said, ‘are you my sister?’ We just wept,” Miss Kaptur said. They gave him an orange. “That began the moment when we began to unlock the history of what happened,” she said. They met more family members in a return trip two years later.

Andy Fedynsky, resident scholar at the Ukrainian Museum and Archives in Cleveland, said Miss Kaptur has actively supported Ukraine since her first term in 1983. He said that year she played a leadership role in passing a bill to create a commission on the Ukraine famine, which was widely denied.

Miss Kaptur and others worked to get President Obama to include a Ukraine reference in his State of the Union speech last week, which he did. The President said, “In Ukraine, we stand for the principle that all people have the right to express themselves freely and peacefully and to have a say in their country’s future.”

“I have been meeting with Ukrainians on a regular basis. We are planning a trade mission for farmers to bring them to Ohio in February,” Miss Kaptur said.

She has a picture of herself meeting a year and a half ago with one of the opposition leaders when he was in Washington.

She said she was in Ukraine in 2013 while on her way to Poland to be awarded an honorary citizenship — her father’s family was from Poland — when she feared that Ukraine was slipping backward. “I left very, very worried. I saw how much more difficult their life had become. I was deeply worried about what I saw — greater poverty among older women, farmers that I’ve known.”

Congress

While pursuing a doctorate in urban planning and development finance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the local Democratic Party recruited her to run for the U.S. House seat in 1982. Kaptur had been a well-known party activist and volunteer since age 13. Although she was outspent by a 3-to-1 margin, she parlayed her deep roots in the blue-collar neighborhoods of Toledo and the rural areas of the district to pull the national upset of 1982.

Congresswoman Kaptur fought vigorously to win a seat on the House Appropriations Committee . She has risen in seniority and now serves as the senior Democratic woman on the committee.

She has secured appointments to three important subcommittees: Defense, Agriculture, the leading industry in her state; and Transportation/Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Congresswoman Kaptur was also appointed by party leadership to serve on the prestigious House Budget Committee for the 112th Congress.

Kaptur is the first Democratic woman to serve on the Defense subcommittee. During her legislative career, she has also served on the Banking and Veterans Affairs Committees.

DSA connections

Endorsed by DSA

Marcy Kaptur was endorsed by Toledo Ohio's Black Swamp Democratic Socialists of America, during her successful 1984 run for Congress.

Jobs With Peace

Marcy Kaptur told the Toledo Blade of June 10 1983 (page 3), that she had been a consistent supporter of the Jobs With Peace movement, when confronted by about 60 Toledo Jobs With Peace Coalition outside a defense procurement conference she had organized.

The local Jobs With Peace group was led by Black Swamp Democratic Socialists of America activist Glen Boatman. Jobs With Peace was a Democratic Socialists of America project.

El Salvador connection

When El Salvadorean union leader Pedro Cruz, North American representative of the National Federation of El Salvadorean Workers, visited Toledo in May 1990, the vist was sponsored by the Toledo Area Committee on Central America, and City Council member Mike Ferner. Cruz met with an aide to Marcy Kaptur, and prevailed upon local unions to get her to vote for the proposed 50%a cut in military aid to El Salvador, then before Congress. Glen Boatman wrote a letter letter to the Toledo Blade critizing their poor coverage of the tour.

"NAFTA at seven"

EPI website

The Democratic Socialists of America dominated Economic Policy Institute, convened a conference — May 23, 2001, Cannon House Office Building, U. S. Congress, Washington, D.C. " Read NAFTA at Seven"

Panelists:

• Rep.Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio)
• Jeff Faux, President, Economic Policy Institute
• Robert Scott, Director of International Programs, EPI
• Bruce Campbell, Executive Director, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
• Lisa Fuentes, board member, Washington Office on Latin America, and the Institute for Policy Studies

Skip Roberts connection

Skip Roberts November 26, 2015:

Referendum night- Beating Gov. Kasich's anti-labor initiative. With a favorite congresswoman. — with Marcy Kaptur.

Albright connection

Quinn Albright with Rep. Marcy Kaptur.

Clinton/Pinochet letter

On October 21, 1998, many Members of Congress wrote a letter to President Bill Clinton, urging him to release information to a Spanish judge investigating former Chilean President Pinochet for alleged crimes committed during and after the overthrow of the Marxist Allende government.

Dear Mr. President:

The October 17 arrest of General Augusto Pinochet in London is a good example of how the goals you outlined in your anti-terrorism speech at the United Nations can be put into practice. Indeed, when the rule oflaw is applied to combat international lawlessness,humanity's agenda gains...we call upon you to ensure that the U.S. government provides Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon material related to Pinochet's role in international terrorism -- material and testimony that the U.S. government has thus far withheld.

Signatories included Rep. Marcy Kaptur.

Communist inspired letter to defund Colombian military

Sam Farr had been a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia, and was contacted by the communist dominated Colombia Support Network in 1997. Efforts by Colombia Support Network were instrumental in getting a letter sent to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, with the 19 other members signing on. The January 30, 1998 letter called for the continued suspension of funding to the Colombian military then engaged in a bloody civil war against communist guerillas.

Dear Secretary Albright :

We are writing to express our concern with the worsening human rights situation in Colombia and urge you to take steps to address this matter.

News reports and first-hand accounts indicate that violence in Colombia is escalating, particularly in the country's northern most regions and the southern coca growing regions. Many different groups and individuals have been implicated in the violence, but an increasing number of human rights abuses are being instigated by paramilitary groups --armed civilians who torture, evict, kidnap and murder Colombian civilians.

There is also evidence of links between paramilitaries and local drug lords, who rely on paramilitary groups to undertake violent activities on their behalf. The Peasant Self-Defense Group of Cordoba and Uraba, a paramilitary group lead by Carlos Castano, is considered one of the most powerful paramilitary groups in Colombia. Reports indicate that last yeqar Castano's group killed hundreds, if not more than a thousand, peasants it accused of helping rebels.

As concerned Members of Congress, we urge you to place the issue of human rights and the problem of paramilitary groups in the forefront of your priority list in your dealings with Colombia. We understand that aid to the Colombian army is currently on hold because of human rights concerns and urge you to continue to withhold funding.

Signatories were;Sam Farr, John Porter, Ron Dellums, David Bonior, Marty Meehan, Marcy Kaptur, Scott Klug, James McGovern, Elizabeth Furse, Jim Oberstar, Peter DeFazio, Maurice Hinchey, Gerald Kleczka,John Conyers, Pete Stark, Robert Wexler, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Lane Evans, David Price, Sherrod Brown,

2006 letter to Condoleezza Rice on Colombia

Alleged Colombian Army killings prompted Fellowship of Reconciliation to work with Representative Sam Farr to forge a response that would impact the 17th Brigade, the unit allegedly responsible for the violence against San José de Apartadó and communities throughout northwestern Colombia.

As a result, Reps. Sam Farr and Jim McGovern, wrote a letter to their colleagues in Congress urging them to join in calling on Secretary Condoleezza Rice to cut funding for the Colombian military.

Letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

(Deadline for Congressional representatives to sign: February 22)

We applaud the decision, noted in your certification letter of August 2005, that the US "will not consider providing assistance to the 17th Brigade until all significant human rights allegations involving the unit have been credibly addressed." Because the Brigade is a component of the Colombian Armed Forces' command structure and has been implicated in the above referenced human rights violations, we implore you to abide by both the letter of the law and the spirit of the law by withholding human rights certification for Colombia until the following conditions are met:

Signatories included Marcy Kaptur.

Congressional Progressive Caucus

In 1998 Marcy Kaptur Democrat was listed as a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

As of February 20 2009 Marcy Kaptur was listed as a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Populist Caucus

The Populist Caucus was founded on February 11, 2009 in the United States House of Representatives by Democrat Bruce Braley of Iowa. The caucus originally included 26 other Democrats in the House, including Marcy Kaptur.

Anti NAFTA rally

In November 1993 Jobs with Justice and Cleveland Women Against NAFTA organized an anti NAFTA rally in the Sheet Metal Workers Local 13 Hall in Cleveland. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur gave a "ringing indictment" of NAFTA, and called for intense last minute lobbying to ensure its defeat. "Keep the pressure on" she said "we can win this one".

Reps Sherrod Brown and Eric Fingerhut were also present, and added their voices for the defeat of NAFTA.

Other speakers included Susan Spat from the Canadian Auto Workers, Berta Lujon, president of Mexico's Authentic Federation of Workers and Virginia Aveni of the Ohio Environmental Council.

Anti NAFTA Bill

In 1995 Marcy Kaptur, Peter DeFazio, Nydia Velasquez, Gene Taylor and Bernie Sanders co-sponsored a Bill, to force the US to withdraw from NAFTA within 90 days. The bill was unsuccessful.

Anti US-South Korea FTA briefing

South Korean Assemblymember Kang Ki Kap and Congressmember Marcy Kaptur speaking at the Congressional Press Conference on the Proposed US-Korea Free Trade Agreement

On Wednesday, June 7, 2006, the Institute for Policy Studies allied Korea Policy Institute co-organized, with the Oakland Institute, a press briefing in Congress, sponsored by Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Speakers included Congressman Kucinich, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, Assemblymember Kang Ki Kap of Korea's Democratic Labor Party, Kim Tae Il, the General Secretary of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, Lee Heung Se of the Korean Advanced Farmers Federation, Lee Kang Sil of the Korean Hospital and Medical Workers Union, Chris Townsend of United Electrical Workers, and Kathy Ozer of the National Family Farm Coalition. All spoke of their deep misgivings over the proposed Korea-US FTA.

Clinton/Chile letter

February 24, 2000, 31 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have sent a letter to President Clinton requesting full U.S. cooperation with the Spanish case against former Chilean General Augusto Pinochet, a thorough investigation into the car-bomb assassination of Orlando Letelier and American citizen Ronni Moffitt, and the release of all U.S. documents pertaining to human rights abuses in Chile.

Dear President Clinton,

We would like to take this opportunity to commend your Administration's recent activity concerning the ongoing investigation into former Chilean General Augusto Pinochet's role in the 1976 car bombing of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt in Washington D.C. We also appreciate your efforts to release documents pertaining to human rights abuses in Chile.

Signatories were George Miller (D-CA), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sam Gejdenson (D-CT), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), Jim McGovern (D-MA), John Conyers (D-MI), Barney Frank (D-MA), Pete Stark (D-CA), Henry Waxman (D-CA), Lane Evans (D-IL), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Tim Roemer (D- IN), Howard Berman (D-CA), John Olver (D-MA), Mel Watt (D- NC), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Patsy Mink (D-HI), Marcy Kaptur (D- OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), John Tierney (D-MA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Martin Sabo (D-MN), and Bob Filner (D-CA).

Osama statement

Before launching a military strike against Iraq, Americans should consider their own history to remember how powerful the mix of religion and politics can be, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) said.

“If you think back to our founding as a country, we are a country of revolution,” Miss Kaptur said in an interview March 2003.

She and the Rev. Jim Bacik, pastor of Toledo's Corpus Christi University Parish, spoke at a workshop for local Catholic leaders titled “Preaching and Teaching Peace in the Face of War.”

When America “cast off monarchical Britain” in 1776, it involved the help of many religious people who had fled repression in other countries, the 11-term Toledo congressman said. Among the nontraditional American revolutionaries were the Green Mountain Boys, a patriot militia organized in 1770 in Bennington, Vt., to confront British forces, she said.

“One could say that Osama bin Laden and these non-nation-state fighters with religious purpose are very similar to those kind of atypical revolutionaries that helped to cast off the British crown,” Miss Kaptur said.

Controversial Cuba trip

Rep. Charles Rangel, a frequent critic of the U.S. embargo against Cuba, met with Fidel Castro on a trip to the island in 2002, but only acknowledged that the Cuban government picked up part of the tab when a watchdog group began making recent inquiries.

The New York Democrat changed his travel disclosure form for the April 2002 trip and reimbursed the Cuban government and a New York grocery store owner $1,922 for his son's expenses after the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan group that focuses on open records, raised questions about the trip. House ethics rules permit private sponsors of lawmakers' trips to cover the cost of the member of Congress and one relative -- in Rangel's case, his wife Alma, who also went on the trip.

The government watchdog group, which released an extensive review of congressional travel, noted that congressional travel disclosure forms "are supposed to make the sponsor and purpose of privately funded trips transparent to the public.

But according to the group, Rangel initially listed a group that was conducting a bird study in Cuba at the time, the Minneapolis-based Sian Ka'an Conservation Foundation, as the sponsor of the trip. On an amended form -- filed in April -- Rangel added the Cuban government and grocery owner John Catsimatidis as sponsors.

Rangel's chief of staff, George Dalley, told the center that Rangel and his staff did not know the Cuban government had paid for part of the trip until they were contacted by the group.

The most important thing is that Rangel corrected the mistake he made, Dalley told the group. Calls to the congressman's office were not returned.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat who was also on the trip, said at the time that she and Rangel met with Castro and discussed the case of an American who fought in the Cuban Revolution but was later executed.

Kaptur said at the time that top Cuban officials assured her they would consider returning Yanqui Comandante William Morgan's remains.

His body has not been returned.

Peace Pledge Coalition

In 2007 90 Members of Congress, pledged in an open letter delivered to President Bush: "We will only support appropriating funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq during Fiscal Year 2008 and beyond for the protection and safe redeployment of all our troops out of Iraq before you leave office." The letter was initiated by the Peace Pledge Coalition. The Coalition was led by Tim Carpenter, Progressive Democrats of America, Bob Fertik, Democrats.com Medea Benjamin, CodePink, Bill Fletcher, co-founder of Center for Labor Renewal David Swanson, AfterDowningStreet.org, Democrats.com, Progressive Democrats of America, Kevin Zeese, Voters for Peace, Democracy Rising, Brad Friedman, co-founder of Velvet Revolution, Bill Moyer, Backbone Campaign.

Marcy Kaptur signed the letter.

Peace rally

In 2007 Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur gave a powerful anti-war address at the Oberlin, OH Anti-War Rally. She received a Veterans for Peace shirt from members Michael Kay and Don Carrol.

"Progressive" Cabinet "nominee"

In September 2008, Chicago based socialist journal In These Times asked its editors and writers to suggest their top progressive choices for a potential Obama Cabinet.

We asked that contributors weigh ideological and political considerations, with an eye toward recommending people who have both progressive credentials and at least an arguable chance at being appointed in an Obama White House.

This group of people would represent at once the most progressive, aggressive and practical Cabinet in contemporary history. Of course, it is by no means a definitive list. It is merely one proposal aimed at starting a longer discussion about the very concept of a progressive Cabinet—and why it will be important to a new administration, especially if that administration is serious about change.

David Sirota suggested Marcy Kaptur for US Trade Representative:

Polls show the public overwhelmingly opposes America’s NAFTA-style trade policies, and Obama has committed to reforming those policies as president. Part of doing that means naming a fair-trade voice as his lead trade negotiator — and no voice for trade reform has been more dogged than Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s (D-Ohio).

A 13-term House member, Kaptur serves on the Appropriations Committee — one of Congress’ most powerful panels. As Toledo’s representative, she has seen firsthand the devastation that comes with unfair trade pacts, and has led the fight against every major lobbyist-written deal that has come through Congress — from NAFTA to China PNTR to CAFTA.

That personal connection to the trade issue would serve Kaptur well in international negotiations where compromise too often means selling out the American worker. Similarly, Kaptur’s longtime experience in the House would be critical in powering fair-trade deals through what remains a corporate-dominated Congress.

Presidents of both parties have treated the trade representative position as an ambassadorship to a banana republic, appointing go-along-to-get-along hacks — such as former Clinton campaign chairman Mickey Kantor — who use the department as a taxpayer-funded training program for their post-government career in the corporate whorehouse.

Kaptur would be far different.

"A Critical Look at NAFTA Past, Present and Future"

March 5, 2008 12:00 pm to 8:00 pm, Co-sponsoring organizations: Global Exchange, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Washington Office on Latin America, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Alliance for Responsible Trade, National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Institute for Policy Studies, convened "A Critical Look at NAFTA Past, Present and Future"conference at The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC.

Keynote: From NAFTA then and now toward a U.S. trade agenda that works for people, at home and abroad

• Introduction: Tom Loudon, Alliance for Responsible Trade
• The Honorable Marcy Kaptur, U.S. House of Representatives
• The Honorable Victor Quintana, Deputy of the State of Chihuahua, Mexico
• The Honorable Peter Julian, Member of Parliament, Canada

Socialist financial plan

Sept. 30, 2008, the day after the original bailout compromise went down in flames. The progressive Democrats placed a new plan—the “No BAILOUTS Act” (Bringing Accountability, Increased Liquidity, Oversight, and Upholding Taxpayer Security)—on the table that John Nichols of The Nation says “would impose a securities tax equivalent to one quarter of one percent of profits and empower the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to deal more effectively with bank failures.”

The bill—sponsored by US Reps. Peter DeFazio(D-Ore.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Robert Scott (D-Va.), Elijah Cummings and Donna Edwards (both D-Md.), Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Rush Holt, Jr.,(D NJ) —would change the way securities are valued, applying “an economic value standard to measure the capital of financial institutions,” as opposed to a market standard, an increase in the federal deposit insurance maximum and other accounting measures designed to create breathing room. It also would require the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to purchase certificates that would be repaid.

“What I’m proposing is to use both market discipline and regulatory functions at virtually no cost to taxpayers to unclog the arteries of commerce so banks can begin lending again,’’ DeFazio said, according to The Oregonian.

In a letter introducing the plan, he said that Congress needed to “take swift, uncomplicated steps to ensure the financial markets return to working order. After that, we can work to resolve the housing crisis and pass effective job stimulus.”

Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, said the plan would “restore confidence in the financial markets without writing a blank check to the same Wall Street banks and CEOs who got us into this mess.”

“This is an important, short-term solution that protects taxpayers and their savings accounts,” he added. “To revive the economy over the long-term, we must address rising unemployment, stagnant wages, the healthcare crisis, and a tax system that is tilted in favor of the wealthy.”

DeFazio and the SEIU acknowledge that this is just the first step toward fixing the economy. Once a progressive rescue plan is in place, the Democrats create a rescue plan for homeowners facing foreclosure, enact a public works and green energy stimulus to get people working, fix the nation’s infrastructure and refocus the nation’s economy on sustainable principles.

Capitalism: A Love Story

In 2009, Marcy Kaptur appeared in Michael Moore's film Capitalism: A Love Story.

Supported Lifting the Gaza Blockade

On Jan. 27, 2010, U.S. Representatives Keith Ellison and Jim McDermott led 52 other members of Congress in signing a letter addressed to President Barack Obama, calling for him to use diplomatic pressure to resolve the blockade affecting Gaza. Marcy Kaptur was one of the signatories of the letter. The entire letter together with a complete list of signatories can be read by clicking here.

"Thanks" for Obamacare

Supporters of expanded government-subsidized health care celebrated passage of the health care reform bill with a rally March 29, 2010, to express thanks to U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) who voted for the legislation.

The rally, sponsored by the Jobs with Justice coalition of labor, social justice, and faith groups, drew about 200 people to the parking lot of One Maritime Plaza in downtown Toledo where Miss Kaptur has her offices.

"We won," said Dr. Johnathon Ross, a physician and longstanding advocate for universal health care. "Maybe not the whole loaf, some would argue a quarter, a half. I'm not going to quibble. There's a lot of people who are not going to die, a lot of people who are not going to suffer, a lot of people who are not going to go bankrupt because of what our leadership ... accomplished."

Speakers, who spoke from a podium set up on a flatbed trailer, included a small-business owner, a student, one other doctor, two clergy members, and Doni Miller, executive director of the Neighborhood Health Association.

Detroit rally

Over 10,000 Detroiters marched down Washington Boulevard from the UAW-Ford National Programs Center to Grand Circus Park on Saturday, August 28th 2010, to demand "jobs, peace, and justice". The march was organized by United Auto Workers (UAW) President Bob King and Operation PUSH founder and director Reverend Jesse Jackson. It commemorated the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington.

The dais at Grand Circus Park was "teeming with dignitaries—politicians, clergy of every denomination, and union leaders". Among the elected officials present were Representatives John Conyers, Jr., John Dingell, Maxine Waters, Marcy Kaptur and Senator Debbie Stabenow. Michigan Democratic Party gubernatorial nominee Virg Bernero briefly addressed the audience and committed himself to placing the interests of Main Street over those of Wall Street. Among the union leaders who spoke were UAW President Bob King, newly-elected President of the Service Employees International Union Mary Kay Henry, Farm Laborers Organizing Committee President Baldemar Velasquez, and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 25 President Al Garrett.

"Kill the Bill" rally

In Mid March 2011, at the bandstand in Tappan Square, over 100 members of Oberlin College and the Lorain County community gathered outside in the rain to rally against Senate Bill 5, which would "eliminate all of Ohio public employees’ right to collectively bargain for adequate benefits, fair wages and safe working conditions" . Governor John Kasich and Republicans in the Ohio House and Senate had introduced the bill.

Beginning at 5 p.m. and moderated by Professor of Politics and East Asian Studies Marc Blecher, the rally featured speakers from the College and the Lorain County community, including statements by Senator Sherrod Brown and Lorain County Representative Marcy Kaptur.

“This is a bigger issue than just unions versus governors — it’s a fight for the middle class and a way of life,” Senator Sherrod Brown said in a statement read by Beth Thames, Brown’s deputy state director. “You can blame bad trade deals, irresponsible fiscal policies for Ohio’s financial crisis, but you can not blame public workers for the mess we’re in.”

Kaptur echoed Brown’s sentiments in a statement read by University of Toledo Professor Emeritus and Kendall Resident Michael Kay.

Kaptur concluded, “Any nation that loses labor rights loses democracy. What’s at stake in our nation is more than wages. What’s at stake is liberty.”

Reverend David Hill of First Church in Oberlin began his speech by listing all of the public school teachers he had had, and asked, “What kind of society turns against its school teachers? I’ll tell you what kind of society: One that has lost all sense of the common good, a society more concerned with competition than cooperation.”

Oberlin College Office and Professional Employees Vice President Jackie Fortino addressed the historical importance of collective bargaining.

Other speakers included Oberlin College faculty member Chris Howell, Executive Board of the Oberlin Ohio Education Association member Janet Garrett, Sub-District Director Pat Gallagher of the United Steelworkers of America, Vice President Ron Rimbert of the Oberlin NAACP, President Angie Martinez of United Auto Workers, Reverend Steve Hammond of Peace Community Church in Oberlin, and Bruce Bostick of the United Steelworkers of America Retirees organization.

CPC "Good jobs" tour

On June 27, 2011, Detroit was the second stop of the Congressional Progressive Caucus's "Good Jobs" tour. Reps. Hansen Clarke and John Conyers, D-Mich., joined with Keith Ellison, D-Minn., Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson listening to the "stories and thinking of the people".

In their brief remarks, the leaders issued a call to redirect money from wars, Wall Street and the rich to a rebuilding of America.

Jackson said war spending is "breaking our cities." He was seconded by Clarke who said the money we're spending in Afghanistan is ours, "it should come back to us."

Kaptor said we need to tax the financial giants asking, "Why can't we tax hedge funds like we do the corner bakery?"

Ellison emphasized that unity is required to win, saying being angry will not bring jobs but banding together, speaking together, and fighting together can. "We will use our strength in numbers to fight corporate greed," he said.

Conyers said we are "getting ready" to re-elect President Obama but we need the President to get behind job creating legislation like the Humphrey Hawkins jobs bill he has introduced.

"We are going to Washington to tell him we want him to lead in the fight for jobs. We will tell him we are ready to help," said Conyers.

Council of Canadians connection

In late June 2011, Stuart Trew, Trade campaigner for the radical Council of Canadians spent two days in Washington, D.C. for meetings with U.S. allies and other organizations on the Beyond the Border perimeter deal. He was there with John Foster representing Common Frontiers. Together they met with the Institute for Policy Studies, Center for Economic Policy Research, Hudson Institute, AFL-CIO, a staffer in Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur’s office, Friends of the Earth (U.S.), the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, and the Global Trade Watch team at Public Citizen. Separately, John Foster met with the Can-Am Business Council, Canadian embassy staff and a staffer in Senator Sherrod Brown’s office. Trew met with the American Civil Liberties Union and Privacy International - U.S.

The Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First

Marcy Kaptur is on the list of Congressional Representatives who have participated in hearings/briefings since 1998, with the very radical Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First, founded by Frances Moore Lappe (Democratic Socialists of America, Institute for Policy Studies) and Joseph Collins (Institute for Policy Studies), authors of the book "Food First".

PDA contact

In 2013 Progressive Democrats of America assigned activists to deliver their material to almost every US Congressman and several Senators. Laura Hampton, was assigned as contact for Rep. Kaptur. In June it was Dennis Slotnic.

Lifting travel ban on Cuba

A May 03, 2013 Press release from the radical controlled and Institute for Policy Studies affiliated Latin America Working Group's Cuba Team stated:

Due to your action/emails/phone calls we have 59 signatures from House representatives urging President Obama to support travel to Cuba by granting general licenses for ALL current categories of travel.

By eliminating the laborious license application process, especially for people-to-people groups, that is managed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the majority of the bureaucratic red tape that holds up licensable travel to Cuba would disappear and actually facilitate what the President wanted to see in 2011, liberalized travel regulations.

Signatories included Rep. Kaptur.

Poverty Tour 2.0

Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary, kick off "The Poverty Tour 2.0: A Call to Conscience" in Cleveland, OH.

The co-hosts of the nationally syndicated public radio program Smiley & West, from Public Radio International (PRI), hit the road September 12-15 2012 to host six town hall events that are FREE and open to the public.

"The Poverty Tour 2.0," sponsored in part by AARP Foundation and HuffPost Live, will visit the key battleground states of Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Florida. In addition, one town hall event will be held in the state of Delaware. Smiley and West intend to push the moderators of the upcoming presidential debates to ask the candidates about America's poverty problem, and to urge legislators to support public policy and implement programs that will alleviate poverty.

"These new Census numbers will underscore what we've been saying for a long time — poverty is the new American norm," said Smiley. "The time is now to force poverty on the agenda; our leaders can't simply continue to be quiet on this issue."

Confirmed guests include: Peter Edelman, former member of the Clinton administration and co-founder of the Children's Defense Fund; Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers; Ralph Nader, consumer advocate and former presidential candidate; Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH); Congresswoman Marcia Fudge (D-OH); Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA); Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH); and Jill Stein, Green Party USA candidate for president. All presidential and vice presidential candidates have been invited to participate.

"We're putting the spotlight on our precious fellow citizens who don't have access to a decent job, decent housing, and decent healthcare," said West. "We want to hear solutions that can be duplicated and adapted in communities across the country."

Highlights from the first stop on The Poverty Tour 2.0 in Cleveland, OH with Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Cleveland City Councilman Brian Cummins, Justice for Janitors organizers Laurie Couch and Sandra Ellington, Chris Cooper from Kent State University’s Ohio Employee Ownership Center, Green Clean Co-op worker-owner Mary Vel Vera, and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein.

Hispanic support

In January 2012 a group of local Hispanics threw their support behind U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) Wednesday in her primary election contest against U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D., Cleveland).

Miss Kaptur and Mr. Kucinich, along with Graham Veysey, a Cleveland video entrepreneur, were competing in the March 6 primary for the Democratic nomination to represent the new 9th Congressional District.

Lucas County Auditor Anita Lopez, Toledo City Councilman Adam Martinez, and former Toledo City Council President Louis Escobar said Miss Kaptur's support and behind-the-scenes advice helped them win election.

Speakers lauded Miss Kaptur as a friend of the Spanish-speaking community over her 29 years in Congress.

Baldemar Velasquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, recalled that Miss Kaptur went to Mexico to seek justice on behalf of a FLOC staffer who was assassinated.

"You don't find too many elected officials who go that extra mile to rally for the people at the bottom," Mr. Velasquez said.

Virginia Ortega, a longtime Hispanic activist who joined the group at the Sofia Quintero Art and Cultural Center on Broadway in South Toledo, said "immigration is a small, small part of the issues surrounding the Latino community."

Ms. Ortega said Latinos continued to be the victims of "systemic discrimination" and said Miss Kaptur has set an example by making it a point to hire Hispanic staffers.

Flip flop on "Dream Act"

US Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur originally voted against the DREAM Act in 2010. In 2012 the long-time legislator is co-sponsoring the latest version of the bill that would give the Latino children of undocumented immigrants a second chance to stay in the U.S. to pursue an education.

The political turnabout may have resulted from a long conversation Rep. Kaptur (D-Toledo) had in early August in Washington, D.C. with Baldemar Velasquez, president and founder of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and a long-time congressional colleague, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Chicago).

“We’re on a bill that would essentially secure the executive order that’s already signed,” said Rep. Kaptur, a reference to an order signed by President Barack Obama on June 15, 2012, which allows those who entered the country as children whose parents or caretakers were without documentation (or overstayed their visas) to remain and work without fear of deportation for at least two years.

Ms. Kaptur received heavy criticism from northern Ohio Latinos during the March primary race, which pitted her against long-time Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Cleveland). Ms. Kaptur voted against a 2010 version of the DREAM Act, while Kucinich supported it. At the time, Ms. Kaptur pointed out that “every group should be treated fairly,” and “no one should be given special privilege and no one should be singled out and targeted.”

The FLOC founder and president, speaking by phone from the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte where he is a first-time delegate, stated the conversation in the nation’s capital was wide-ranging, but centered on immigration-related issues.

“That was a great conversation. Gutiérrez is very insightful on these issues, understanding the Puerto Rican labor issues,” said Velásquez. “He’s been on board with this stuff for quite some time so it was a good round-robin conversation.”

At the same time, the head of the migrant farmworkers’ union took partial blame and even some responsibility for Rep. Kaptur’s viewpoint on the DREAM Act.

“To me, it’s just a question of evolving people’s thinking, and a lot of times it has to do with people not having enough or correct information. It’s really on us, the advocates, to get people, to convince them to be on our side on stuff and I think that’s the case with this situation,” said Velásquez. “I know Marcy’s heart and her heart is in a right and good place with labor and minorities and it’s just a question of getting the right information into her hands over a period of time.”

According to FLOC’s leader, Ms. Kaptur now fully understands the impact of the DREAM Act as it relates to immigration as a whole and his group’s quest to obtain amnesty for undocumented migrant farm workers and others.

“So, to me, the DREAM Act deals with a segment of a population that has been deeply exploited-- and that’s where we need to focus attention,” said Rep. Kaptur. “I’ve fought for that my entire career.”

Tobacco fields delegation

Tefere Gebre, Baldemar Velasquez, Ian Lavery, Marcy Kaptur

A July 2014 fact-finding delegation that included a congresswoman from Ohio and two members of the British Parliament visited North Carolina tobacco fields to examine human rights conditions.

The state AFL-CIO said the delegation that includes Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur met in Dudley. Accompanying her was Parliament members Ian Lavery and James Sheridan and a staffer Ray Rogers for North Carolina Rep. G.K. Butterfield, Farm Labor Organizing Committee, President Baldemar Velasquez, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre and several AFL-CIO Union Summer interns.

They were examining human rights conditions in the supply chain of British and American tobacco manufacturers. The delegation visited labor camps both Saturday and Sunday before meeting Sunday afternoon with farm workers and their supporters at Pullen Baptist Church in Raleigh.

The visit is part of an effort by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, which is working for farmworkers' rights to negotiate collectively without fear of retaliation.

"America’s New Harvest of Shame"

Marcy Kaptur FLOC

Kaptur wrote an article for The Nation, about her North Carolina experience "America’s New Harvest of Shame".

All Americans should ask themselves as they eat strawberries, bananas and apples, order chicken nuggets or smoke cigarettes—whose hands worked to process the crops and livestock that lay at the basis of the best fed and indulged nation in the world? Where do the agricultural workers live, and under what conditions do they labor?

The picture for those workers is not pretty. On July 26 and 27, 2014, I toured and witnessed unjust human suffering hidden amongst the tobacco fields of eastern North Carolina, I traveled with Baldemar Velasquez, who has dedicated his entire life to exposing and bettering the subservient conditions of America’s farm workers.

Mr. Velàsquez’s efforts began thirty-five years ago, when, as a young Mexican-American, he organized a union among farm workers of Northwest Ohio’s tomato fields, who toiled under deplorable conditions. The target then was Campbell’s Soup, which had refused to engage the Ohio farm workers in dialogue and even employed strikebreakers. It took nearly a decade of activity, but Velàsquez’ Farm Labor Organizing Committee celebrated victory in 1986 with the signing of a three-year labor contract covering 800 farm workers.

He now takes the fight for social justice to R.J. Reynolds and British American Tobacco (BAT, which owns 42 percent of Reynolds). The battlegrounds are North Carolina’s tobacco fields.

Mr. Velàsquez and FLOC are appealing to elected officials, religious organizations, community groups and others of good will to pressure Reynolds and BAT to infuse their supply chains with human decency by insisting growers stop the raw practices of labor trafficking, pay workers a decent wage, and provide humane living conditions and basic human rights.

During my visit, I found workers who labor eleven hours a day under grueling conditions at high season for $7.25 an hour. As many as twelve men sleep jammed inside ramshackle, dilapidated trailers or barracks. There is no hot water, no decent laundry facilities, no air-conditioning, substandard electrical and gas wiring, and flush toilets are a luxury. I saw injured workers, including one man who had lost part of his index finger in a work accident, who lacked basic protections and health care. I heard women testify of the sexual abuse they face to secure work and pay, but still they and their children live in squalor in the richest nation in the world.

My counterparts in the British Parliament, Ian Lavery and Jim Sheridan, were also shocked by what they described as human rights violations. Mr. Lavery said rapists and murderers have it better in prison than many of the tobacco workers in Carolina. Both he and Mr. Sheridan broke down in tears more than once at what they witnessed.

As my compatriots emphasized, these workers are making only small requests: to establish a guest worker program to end the human trafficking, to end the squalor workers now live in because of poverty wages and to ensure channels of redress without fear of retaliation. We came away with the realization that Americans and the world will not tolerate this level of injustice; they will work to correct it, but these injustices must be brought to light through awareness.

The three of us came away from North Carolina with a renewed commitment to social justice, just as people of conscience responded in the 1960s when Cesar Chavez rallied the nation and the world to support the grape workers in California. As Mr. Velàsquez and FLOC stir the conscience of the Americas, we must stand with them to demand social justice on behalf of some of the most unjustly treated people in our society.

We’ve been down this road before. We must make sure that the tobacco fields of North Carolina are not the scene of America’s latest “harvest of shame.”

Defending Putin on the Ukraine

House Ukraine Caucus Co-Chairwoman Marcy Kaptur said in march 2014, that while she is concerned about the potential for bloodshed in Ukraine, she understood Russian military action.

On Saturday, Russia effectively invaded the ethnically diverse Crimean region of Ukraine. The Russian Parliament also granted Russian President Vladimir Putin the authority to use military action in the country.

“If I was President Putin, I would have worried with the collapse of the Party of Regions, about peace in the Crimea … I understand Russia’s military posture. The United States has never been invaded the way Russia has,” Kaptur said in an interview with BuzzFeed.

Kaptur — a Democratic congresswoman from Ohio and progressive champion — argues ethnic tensions in Crimea drove Putin to take drastic action.

“It was not unexpected. I view, and I’m sure the Russians do, [Crimea] as their rear flank … [and] we seem to be in between leaders right now,” Kaptur said, explaining that the collapse of Ukraine’s government last week has led to upheaval throughout the country, including Crimea, where the Party of Regions had maintained peace between Tartars, ethnic Russians, and other groups in Crimea. “The Party of Regions kept it civil … some group had to step in to mediate that, and at the moment it appears to be Russian troops,” the Ohio Democrat said.

“I don’t know what other choices there were … it’s one of those situations where things got out of control quickly.”

Recognized Karen Krause

In 2013, Kaptur recognized the work of Ohio activist Karen Krause.

KAPTUR of ohio in the house of representatives Tuesday, July 30, 2013 Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a woman of remarkable achievement, Karen Krause, of Toledo Ohio. This weekend I was privileged to join Karen as a 2013 honoree of Progress Ohio, from which she received the Barbara Klass Sokol Award. The award is given to a person who embodies the Columbus, Ohio activist's ``high level of energy, humanitarianism, love of the arts, concern for the environment; who cared deeply about good government and spent a great deal of time and effort working to get good people elected at the state and local level, who was a champion for a fair and just society for all. Though this description is of the activist herself, it could just as easily have been written in describing Karen Krause, a woman who has spent her life defining public service.

ARA Social Security birthday

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, NCPSSM Intern Sarah Whitney and OARA Secretary Sam Burnett in Toledo for celebration, August 2010.

OARA endorsement

Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans endorsed Marcy Kaptur in 2012.

ARA Medicare birthday

Alliance for Retired Americans Medicare Birthday on Capitol Hill, July 30, 2014.

ARA PAF endorsement, 2014

The Alliance for Retired Americans Political Action Fund endorsed Marcy Kaptur in 2014.

Congressional Letter for Neutrality, 2014 Salvadoran Elections

On Monday December 16, 2014 Reps. Juan Vargas (D-CA), Mike Honda (D-CA) and Mark Pocan (D-WI) sent a letter to Sec. of State John Kerry – signed by 51 Members of Congress – calling for a public statement of neutrality by the State Department before the first round of El Salvador’s presidential elections on February 2, 2014.

The letter, , highlighted several “important steps” that the current government has taken to “strengthen its democratic system and expand the right to vote to all citizens,” including those living outside of the country, who will be voting by absentee ballot for the first time in February. Since the election of Mauricio Funes, the first President from the Marxist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) party, the government has increased the number of polling places four-fold to increase accessibility, especially in rural areas.

“We’re glad to see so many Members of Congress expressing respect for the right of the Salvadoran people to determine their own future. That’s an attitude that’s sorely lacking in much of the US’ policy in Central America, especially with regard to economic policy,” said Alexis Stoumbelis, Executive Director for the pro-communist Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), in Washington, DC, which has observed every post-war election in El Salvador, starting in 1994.

Signatories included Rep. Marcy Kaptur..

SOAR rally

The White House Commission on Aging (WHCA) was set up, funded, under the ERISA Act in 1974, part of the Older Americans Act. It meets only once a decade in D.C. to set government policy on seniors/retirement security, and is supposed to be non-partisan in its approach. For 40 years, the WHCA did just that, with both main national political parties generally cooperating in this task. All that has now ended!

The Republican Party has openly declared war on retirees. As soon as they achieved a majority in congress they defunded the WHCA, refused to continue to support the Older Americans Act and every GOP candidate running for top office has announced that they'll support cuts in Social Security. Legislation attacking Social Security and pensions was the first thing passed by that majority. Many Democrats haven't been much better, looking for some type of 'grand bargain' to cut retiree security.

In this difficult situation, the Obama administration held hearings of the WHCA at various locations across the nation in 2015. While receiving little media coverage, regional hearings were held in Tampa, Phoenix, Seattle, Cleveland (Apr. 27) & Boston.

For a wide coalition of retirees, unions and supporters of retiree security, this was just not acceptable and it was felt that there needed to be a public event, alongside the WHCA Cleveland hearing, to assure that those impacted by government/corporate policies are actually held. The United Steelworkers, their retiree organization, SOAR (Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees), the Ohio AFL-CIO, Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), the Cleveland Union Retiree Council & Senior Voice, a retiree based coalition in Cleveland), and others came together and have called a rally for 1:00 on 4/27 at the Old Stone Church in that city, on Public Square, just a block from where the WHCA hearings are being held.

"We need to make sure that we are seen, and heard," stated Cleveland SOAR President Jim Reed. "We earned our pensions, they aren't anyone's 'entitlements.' Those pensions, and Social Security, support our families and the communities we live in. They are our lifeline and we intend to stand up and defend them."

Sen. Sherrod Brown, congress reps Marcy Kaptur & Marcia Fudge are scheduled to speak at the rally. The main speaker is to be Fred Redmond, USW Vice President. Todd Smith, local union musician, is providing entertainment and the coalition is videoing stories from retirees and others. Senior Voice is providing speakers on how policies have affect people in that community.

"Ohio ARA has to be part of this coalition, so that we can help raise, to the public's attention, how congress has helped corporations destroy retiree security for people in Ohio and elsewhere. Pensions, Social Security, are the only way retirees can life, pay medical bills, provide for their families and this idea of some that stealing from widows and retirees to enrich the wealthiest in our nation is just plain wrong! We need real retiree security again for all, not tax cuts and bailouts for billionaires!"

According to Bruce Bostick, the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans organized the rally.

SOAR District board member Bruce Bostick closed out the 19th Annual SOAR district conference he was convening, urging attendees "to jump on a bus" to get to the rally.

Cleveland Jobs with Justice award

Cleveland Jobs with Justice 18th Annual Spring Celebration were held May 2015 at the DoubleTree Downtown.

Baldemar Velasquez, Founder and President of Farm Labor Organizing Committee, was keynote speaker.

Award winners were:

Louis Stokes Award: US Representative Marcy Kaptur

George Smilnak Legacy Award: Maria Wilkinson

Rev. Bob Strommen Activist Award: Jose Mendiola

All of the award winners also received Special Recognition from US Senator Sherrod Brown.

COOL vote

August 2015, National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson called the recent vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to repeal Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) a “disappointing, knee-jerk overreaction” and urged the U.S. Senate to continue its thoughtful handling of the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute. Johnson also noted that NFU will work with Congress on a clear path forward that will both resolve the WTO dispute and continue to provide consumers with accurate information about the origin of their food. “The House leadership is not interested in any reasonable solutions and blocked all amendments.” Johnson noted that in past disputes, WTO members found ways to work together to arrive at a resolution that worked for all parties. “Unfortunately, today’s action by the U.S. House of Representatives does not work towards a resolution that maintains the integrity of COOL and satisfies WTO obligations. “We call upon the U.S. Senate to avoid the rush to judgment demonstrated by the House today and work with COOL supporters on a viable alternative that will finally bring this long process to closure,” he said. Johnson said family farmers and ranchers across the country appreciated the work of: Reps. Collin Peterson, D-Minnesota; Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut; Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts; Chellie Pingree, D-Maine; Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio; Rick Nolan, D-Minnesota; Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky; Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon; Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas; and others who stood strong for COOL and the right to know the origin of our food. “We greatly appreciate their continued willingness to stand up for America’s consumers and farm families,” said Johnson.

Condemning Criticism of Islam legislation

On December 17, 2015, Rep. Don Beyer, Jr. introduced legislation condemning "violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States." The legislation is based on unsourced claims that there is a "rise of hateful and anti-Muslim speech, violence, and cultural ignorance," and a "disproportionate targeting" of "Muslim women who wear hijabs, headscarves, or other religious articles of clothing...because of their religious clothing, articles, or observances." The resolution, H.Res.569 - Condemning violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States

The legislation was cosponsored by Rep. Michael Honda, Rep. Keith Ellison, Rep. Joseph Crowley, Rep. Andre Carson, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Rep. Betty McCollum, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Rep. Dan Kildee, Rep. Loretta Sanchez, Rep. Charles Rangel, Rep. Scott Peters, Rep. Brad Ashford, Rep. Alan Grayson, Rep. Mark Takai, Rep. Brian Higgins, Rep. William Keating, Rep. Raul Grijalva, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Rep. G.K. Butterfield, Rep. Gerry Connolly, Rep. Ruben Gallego, Rep. Cheri Bustos, Rep. John Delaney, Rep. Kathy Castor, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Rep. Michael Quigley, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, Rep. Robin Kelly, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Rep. Gregory Meeks, Rep. Grace Meng, Rep. Al Green, Rep. Katherine Clark, Rep. Adam Schiff, Rep. Alcee Hastings, Rep. Sam Farr, Rep. Frank Pallone, Rep. Jim McDermott, Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Donna Edwards, Rep. Robert Brady, Rep. Frederica Wilson, Rep. Michael Doyle, Rep. Albio Sires, Rep. Suzan DelBene, Rep. Judy Chu, Rep. Jared Polis, Rep. David Loebsack, Rep. Bill Pascrell, Rep. Debbie Dingell, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Rep. Steve Cohen, Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, Rep. John Yarmuth, Rep. Niki Tsongas, Rep. Jim Langevin, Rep. Mark Pocan, Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Rep. Mark Takano, Rep. Tim Ryan, Rep. Jose Serrano, Rep. Hank Johnson, Rep. Paul Tonko, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Rep. Lois Capps, Rep. David Price, Rep. Doris Matsui, Rep. Gwen Moore, Rep. Denny Heck, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Rep. John Carney, Rep. Xavier Becerra, Rep. Eric Swalwell, Rep. John B. Larson, Rep. Dina Titus, Rep. Peter Welch, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Rep. Jim Himes, Rep. Matt Cartwright.

Praising CAIR

“I know I join all gathered in acknowledging CAIR’s tireless efforts to defend civil liberties and empower individuals.”- Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) (August 2014) .

“CAIR’s work in the state of Ohio and across the nation is much appreciated.”

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) (October 2017).

Letter on US-Mexico security Co-operation

From Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice;

Urgent alert from our friends at CISPES- Los Angeles Chapter : "The US plans to expand cooperation between Mexico and the United States to unfairly and inhumanely target Central American migrants and asylum seekers at the upcoming "Conference on Prosperity and Security in Central America".

We asked Representative Alan Lowenthal of Long Beach to author a letter to Secretary Tillerson calling for to put the human rights of Central Americans and all migrants and refugees front and center, and he's circulating a letter now. To have the biggest impact possible we need as many Members of Congress as possible to sign this letter!

Call or email your representative today and ask them to join Mr. Lowenthal as a co-signer.

Representative Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) led 37 Members of Congress, including top Democrats from the Armed Forces, Judiciary and Appropriations committees, in sending a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to raise red flags about “suggestions that the United States deepen security collaboration with Mexico along its southern border [with Guatemala] due to evidence that Mexico’s Southern Border Program has led to wide-spread human rights violations and abuses against migrants and asylum-seekers.”

Signers: Don Beyer (D-VA), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Mike Capuano (D-MA), Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Judy Chu (D-CA), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), John Conyers (D-MI), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Dwight Evans (D-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Alcee Hastings (D-FL), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-Washington, DC), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Barbara Lee (D-CA) , Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Betty McCollum (D-MN), James McGovern (D-MA), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Jose Serrano (D-NY), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Adam Smith (D-WA), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Maxine Waters (D-CA), John Yarmuth (D-KY).

Staff

The following are past and present staff:

• Elizabeth Adray
• Julia Andrews
• Chris Arroyo
• Ursula GBarrera
• Michael Beckerman
• Rebeca Bell
• Michael Berman (Mike)
• Katherine Bibish (Katie)
• Emily Boening
• John Brodtke
• Okeysha Brooks-Coley (Keysha)
• Brookes Colyton Brown
• Sarah Buxton
• Kathleen Byrne (Kate)
• Rebecca Cornell (Becky)
• Mary Cronin
• Kimberly Terese Danes
• Newsha Moraveji Dau
• Nicole De Freidas
• Robert Dempsey
• Reenal Doshi
• Morad Elmi
• Nathan Facey
• Elizabeth Ferranti
• Daniel Foote (Dan)
• Steven Dean Fought (Steve)
• Jennifer Goedke
• J. William Goold (Bill)
• Karen Harris
• Paula Hicks-Hudson
• Olwen Huxley
• Elisia Kanipe
• Matthew Ari Kaplan (Matt)
• Steve Katich
• Christine Kontra
• Deborah Koolbeck (Deb)
• Andre Kravchenko
• Darlene Langenderfer
• Christa Lanning
• John Latini
• Jennifer Lowe-Davis
• Sarah Lyon-Hill
• Andrea Martin
• Jonathan Mondelli
• Theresa Morris-Ramos
• Mark Murray
• Mihir Nandkeolyar
• Julie Little Nickson
• Peter Norman(Pete)
• Norma Olsen
• Sarah O'Neil
• Sarah Perz
• Lindsay Potts
• Jessica Roach
• Tara Ronay
• Susan Rowe (Sue)
• Jane Ruvolo
• Richard Shordt (Rich)
• Sandy Smith
• Jacob Smith
• Michael Snavely
• Luke Squire
• Ryan Steyer
• Roger Szemraj
• Francis Szollosi
• Kathryn Anne Thornton
• Joshua Thurston
• Terrence Traster
• Krisztina Ujvagi
• Jonathan Wiggins
• Shad Williams
• George Wilson
• Britt Wiseman
• Curtis Young

External links

• Kaptur's website with the House of Representatives

References

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