I always appreciate the opportunity to meet with members of our community to hear your concerns, and on Monday, January 8th, I will be hosting a New Year’s Meet and Greet at Harper College (Building A, 1200 W. Algonquin Road, Palatine, IL 60067) from 6:00pm-7:30pm. You can RSVP to attend here, and I hope to see you there.
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Congressman Krishnamoorthi greets neighbors and constituents at a 2023 Meet and Greet. (Click the image above to RSVP to the 2024 event in Palatine.)
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This week, I joined with State Senator Ram Villivalam to write in the Chicago Sun Times about avoiding the fiscal cliff that awaits the Chicago transit system in the absence of effective government action. When the remaining federal pandemic relief funding for public transit runs out in 2025, Chicago’s regional mass transit agencies – CTA, Metra, and Pace – will face a combined annual budget shortfall of $730 million. This fiscal cliff comes as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as remote work trends it has expedited, which have radically reduced ridership and thus revenue to the agencies.
For example, while CTA ridership has recently increased, ridership is only 53% of pre-pandemic levels as overall transit use in our region has similarly been cut in half since 2019. In the absence of major action, services could be dramatically cut, harming commuters and other residents of our region. To prevent major service reductions, regional authorities, the state of Illinois and federal agencies must work together to close the budget shortfall and ensure the continued operation of our region’s mass transit. You can read more about the upcoming fiscal cliff and what needs to be done to avoid it in my Op-ed here.
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Earlier this month, with public trust in Congress falling to the lowest levels ever recorded, I joined my colleagues in voting to expel former Rep. George Santos for his litany of lies and alleged crimes. While that is a step toward addressing the loss of public trust in Congress, far more action is needed. One of the most immediate and significant steps we can take is to ban Members of Congress from trading stocks while in office to ensure legislators put their constituents ahead of their portfolios. That is why in May I introduced my bipartisan and bicameral Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act which would ban Members of Congress and their spouses and dependents from owning, selling, and trading individual stocks. Despite opposition from some Members of Congress, three-quarters of voters support prohibiting members of Congress from trading stocks while serving in office, and that support crosses party lines as 70 percent of Democrats, 78 percent of Republicans, and 80 percent of independents favor a stock trading ban. I discussed the urgent need to strengthen congressional ethics through the ETHICS Act earlier this month in an op-ed I wrote with Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Noah Bookbinder, President of the government ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). You can read the article here.
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On Monday, January 8th, I will be hosting a panel discussion at Harper College at 1:00 pm on fighting hiring discrimination against people without four-year degrees who are still otherwise qualified for the job. We need to ensure that workers skilled through training and experience, rather than a bachelor's degree, receive fair consideration in hiring. While automation and other technical advances in hiring have made application screening easier for employers, they have also significantly contributed to the trend of unfairly discriminating against those without four-year degrees by requiring degrees for jobs that previously did not demand them.
To address this problem, I partnered with Republican Congressman John James in October to introduce the Opportunity to Compete Act, bipartisan legislation that would open the door for qualified workers without a bachelor’s degree, who have acquired relevant skills through other means such as apprenticeships and previous job experience.
You can RSVP for this discussion by clicking here.
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On January 20th, my office will host its first passport fair in collaboration with Schaumburg Township. This event provides an opportunity for everyone in need of a new passport, whether for renewal or as a first-time applicant, to complete their application with expert assistance for any questions. The fair will take place at 1 Illinois Boulevard in Hoffman Estates from 9 am to 1 pm. You can also find necessary forms and additional information on the State Department’s website by clicking here.
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The best way to stay up to date on these issues beyond our newsletter is through my social media accounts, which I update multiple times each day. You can follow my Twitter (X) here, my Facebook page here, my Instagram here, and my Threads here. Thank you for staying engaged in our community.
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