Consumer Protection
For my entire career, I have worked to advance reproductive freedom. I will always remember the horrifying story of my friend’s back-alley abortion pre-Roe v. Wade. Roe was not the beginning of women having abortions, it was the end of women dying from abortions.
Last week, the Arizona Supreme Court gave the go-ahead to enforce an antiquated law that bans nearly all abortions in the state. This cruel ban was first enacted in 1864—more than 150 years ago, before Arizona was even a state and well before women had secured the right to vote.
This week was a big week in the House of Representatives! Thanks to the passage of the National Security Supplemental package, Congress took a major step towards giving our allies the assistance they need, standing up to global aggressors and bad actors like Russia, Iran, and Hamas, and getting desperately needed aid to civilians around the globe.
On Friday, the Supreme Court granted the Department of Justice’s emergency stay application in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, preventing a lower court decision from going into effect that would have put women’s health at risk and undermined FDA’s medical judgment. For now, Mifepristone, which is used in 54% of all abortions, remains safe, legal, and available. But let me make it clear – the battle is not over. I will continue to fight and advocate for bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom.
I started out the week with Senator Dick Durbin and Attorney General Kwame Raoul speaking to University of Illinois Chicago law students about my legislation to stop illegal robocalls. Some constituents I have spoken with said they receive half a dozen or more calls per hour. These intrusive calls must end.
This week, I talk about Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation to the Supreme Court. I also talk about our hearing with gas and oil executives, and my new bill to push #BigPharma to be transparent about what they spend on research and development.
We need commonsense gun safety legislation to address America’s gun violence epidemic. Last week, I joined Vice President Kamala Harris, Moms Demand Action, and other gun safety advocates at Everytown for Gun Safety’s annual conference to demand greater action on gun control. Gun safety laws are vital to saving lives in our community and nationwide, and I am so thankful to the advocates in my district who are helping lead the charge. The conference took place the same day that Illinois’ Supreme Court upheld our ban on the sale of assault weapons. I am proud of my home state.
History was made in Washington this week when President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act. This law makes the largest-ever federal investment in addressing the threat of climate change, lowers prescription drug costs, and implements commonsense measures to make wealthy individuals and corporations finally pay their fair share in taxes. Furthermore, small businesses and families making under $400,000 will not have to pay a penny more in taxes.
Last week, Republican chaos resulted in an early start to the August work period, leaving 11 appropriations bills to be discussed when we get back to Washington next month. To pass the budget on time, all these bills must be signed into law by the end of September. Unfortunately, many of my Republican colleagues would rather facilitate a government shutdown than support pragmatic policies in these must-pass bills.
As a longtime consumer advocate, I have worked very closely with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which is tasked with keeping the public safe from consumer products that pose an unreasonable risk of injury or death. In addition to its own work, the CPSC relies on online marketplaces, like Meta, to keep consumers safe by preventing the posting for sale of products that are known to be dangerous.
In an increasingly digitized world, protecting consumers must be a top priority. Last month, I spoke at the White House to help launch the U.S. Cybersecurity Labeling Program for Consumer Technology, a crucial initiative that will protect Americans from cyberattacks by creating a safety label for devices that meet government cybersecurity standards. This label, the Cyber Trust Mark, will help consumers make informed purchasing decisions and incentivize manufacturers to meet higher cybersecurity standards, thus making our country more secure.