During the PAC luncheon on Friday, attendees had the opportunity to hear the powerful words of Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
Jeffries stressed the importance of organized labor for working families. He shared his personal story of how growing up, his family was able to help put him through higher education with assistance from their union.
“My mother borrowed against her union negotiated pension to make sure I was able to come out of college debt-free,“ said Jeffries. “You never have to worry about whether Hakeem Jeffries is going to stand up for you because organized labor has always stood up for me.”
As our nation is going through difficult times, Jeffries talked about how his community has repeatedly asked him if he misses former President Barack Obama. “I pause and respond with ‘Is that a trick question?’” said Jeffries.
“During the eight years of Obama, we gained more than 14 million private sector jobs. When he came into office the unemployment rate was at 10 percent, when he left it was five percent. More than 20 million uninsured individuals now have affordable health care because of Obama. And Americans didn’t have to worry about being discriminated against. So, of course I miss Barack Obama.”
Congressman Jeffries also took the opportunity to talk about President Trump’s Cabinet. “We’re trying to bring the country forward and they’re turning the clock back. We want to bring people together, but they’re tearing us apart. We’re fighting for the working families and middle class and they’re fighting for the wealthy. We’re fighting for the public interest, they’re fighting for the special interest.
“We’re trying to stand up for the people,” he said, and emphasized how he will continue to work on lowering healthcare costs, — including prescription drugs — clean up corruption, and improve roads and public transportation. He also focused on improving public education. “We’re going to fight to make sure that every single child has access to a first rate public education and that we treat every educator and principal with the dignity and respect that you deserve.”
Jeffries stressed the importance of unity, specifically over the course of the last 18 months. “We stuck together and stopped them for repealing the Affordable Care Act. We stuck together and Trump Care was defeated. We stuck together and stopped him from building a ridiculous border wall. We stuck together and Michael Flynn was forced to resign in disgrace. We stuck together and sanctuary cities are alive and well. We stuck together and Doug Jones is the Senator of Alabama,” said Jeffries.
“If we continue to stick together over the next few months,” he concluded, “we’re going to restore some sanity in our democracy and take back the House of Representatives in November.”