The mood is shifting

At the end of May I tried to get into a Congress, Coffee & Conversation event hosted by my US Representative Rashida Tlaib. So many came to the event I couldn’t get in. I wrote about that experience here.

Today I tried again. This time it was a morning event, held in a good sized room in a community center of a nearby suburb. I wanted to make sure I got in, so I was there at 9:40 for a 10:00 event. And I did get in – other than Tlaib’s own staff I was the first one there. Eventually just over 20 people showed up in a room that could handle three times that.

Tlaib took over the district that John Conyers held for over 50 years. Conyers had an office or two. Tlaib has Service Centers. She asked us to call her when we have problems at any level of government. She and her team will work to get it resolved (and not say “you need to call this number”). She said she does this because she wants to help. One service center has a social worker on staff to help with issues. Several of her siblings work in non-profits who can help those in need. She also does it because it helps her understand what issues citizens actually have. For example, if citizens complain about the high cost of insulin she knows to hold hearings and introduce bills aimed at getting drug companies to change their pricing policies. She knows the power of stories and that these stories can help convince her colleagues.

Tlaib is the daughter of Palestinian immigrants (she’s been accused of loving Palestine more than America). She is also Muslim, though doesn’t wear a scarf. When people accuse her of a Muslim takeover in Congress (get real, folks, the number of Muslims in Congress is now two), she says her district is 5% Muslim. It was the black and white people who elected her and who she represents.

Before opening the floor for questions Tlaib talked about issues that are big for her. She talked a bit about pollution (one zip code in her district is the most polluted in Michigan) and health care. She’s on the Finance Committee, so she works on insurance issues. She’s trying to ban the practice of insurance companies using credit scores to calculate premiums. What the insurance companies say implies being poor increases the likelihood of fraud, an idea she rejects.

She is also on the Oversight Committee. She and her colleagues are frustrated because the nasty guy administration is so opaque. But she is pushing back against those who think they’re above the law. As for impeachment, more people on the committee are leaning towards it. Her biggest reason for impeachment is that international lobbyists stay at Trump Tower when they come to Washington, and usually drop tens of thousands of dollars.

Tlaib no longer refers incidents and cases to the Department of Justice. She sees they no longer work for the citizens of the country, to protect the little guy from the big guy. Now the DoJ appears to have only on client – the nasty guy.

When Tlaib took questions from the floor, the one that got the biggest discussion was about immigration. People are horrified about what his happening at the border, as is Tlaib. They were also horrified to learn one of those detention centers for children is here in Michigan. Tlaib and her committee issued a subpoena to get the names of the children in this Michigan center. Their request was ignored.

After questions the official event was over, though Tlaib said she would talk to those who needed help. She talked to a few people each for several minutes. I stuck around because I had one more question to ask. When she finally got to me she told her staff to call her 11:30 appointment to say she would be late – it was 11:45. My question was: How is it going trying to convince your colleagues about the need for impeachment? She said with so many subpoenas being ignored the mood is shifting toward impeachment. She tells her colleagues we can’t wait for the 2020 elections. We must act now. We can't let this guy set a precedent that future presidents can follow.