An Important Week in Washington, Fighting for FL-26

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell
Feb 2 · 3 min read

This week in Washington, I was busy fighting for our community — from unveiling monumental infrastructure framework to advocating for health care and education. Read about my week below:


As a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I helped unveil a new framework, Move Forward Framework, along with my colleagues. This framework consists of a five-year, $760 billion investment that would create an estimated 10 million jobs and addresses some of the country’s most urgent infrastructure needs, such as the massive maintenance backlog, safer street designs, increasing resiliency, and putting the U.S. on a path toward zero carbon pollution from the transportation sector. The Move Forward framework would maintain the Federal role to help communities around the country, like the ones in FL-26, undertake transformative projects.


I also delivered a speech this week on the House floor, introducing the Medical Education for Diverse America Act. This act provides cultural competency and language training to medical students to prepare them to better serve diverse communities, such as ours. My colleagues and I must work to ensure that every person can receive the quality care they deserve.


This week, I reminded Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to work with Congress in creating a clear strategy to restore democracy in Venezuela. I had sent a letter to the Secretary of State expressing my concern over the lack of strategy in helping the people of Venezuela as they face a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis but have received no response. I am prepared to help and fight for the people of Venezuela. In the past, I have helped lead the effort to secure humanitarian aid for Venezuela and extend TPS to Venezuelans.


I also had the opportunity to sit down with the legitimate president of Venezuela, Juan Guaido, and discuss how we can help his country in what is one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time. We must all come together and help Venezuela restore their democracy!


In a hearing on Wednesday, I spoke with Mr. McKinney, who practices Immigration and Naturalization law in North Carolina, about the current state of our immigration court system. We discussed the difficulties undocumented immigrants face when trying to get in contact with their lawyers and how unaccompanied children are not entitled to an attorney. The current immigration system is cruel and ineffective, it must be fixed.


I also discussed the current opioid crisis and the effects it has on our communities in a hearing. I heard recently from a Jackson Memorial toxicologist, who mentioned an especially bad day in the ER when he treated 16 fentanyl overdoses in a single shift. In our community, we have seen an increase in overdoses and these highly addictive substances. I will continue to work with state and local legislatures to help find a solution to this public health crisis.


In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I joined my colleagues in passing the Never Again Education Act, which gives teachers the resources to educate current and future students on the Holocaust. We must teach students about this horrific event that occurred in history, so it does not repeat itself.


Finally, I joined the Florida delegation in an important meeting on minimizing and raising awareness on human trafficking ahead of the Super Bowl LIV in Miami. Miami-Dade ranks №3 in the nation for human trafficking. Traffickers target children as young as 12-years-old.


I am in Congress to protect our community and work for the people. Your concerns are my concerns. I am honored to be fighting for you every day. As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out to my office for help with a federal agency or voicing your concern.

    Debbie Mucarsel-Powell

    Written by

    Mom. Immigrant. 1st Ecuadorian-American in Congress. Fighting for lower health care costs, commonsense gun reform & combat climate change. Proudly serve FL-26

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