Jan's Plans & Pans - July 12, 2024

I enjoyed my time being home in the district for the 4th of July, and I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday! I’ve been busy in Washington this past week, refreshed after a long holiday weekend at home in Illinois!

On Tuesday, my Innovation, Data, and Commerce subcommittee held a hearing in Washington where we heard from the full set of five commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The Federal Trade Commission is one of the most important agencies whose mission is to protect consumers from abuse and deceptive practices. They have an impressive record, including eliminating junk fees, lowering prices of lifesaving drugs like EpiPens, and banning non-competes which block the freedom of workers to change jobs and stifles wage growth. However, the Republicans have proposed devastating cuts of more than 8.5% to the FTC’s budget. Undermining the agency’s capabilities would be catastrophic for consumers, allowing fraud and monopolies to spread. This cannot happen; we must fully fund the FTC to ensure that they can keep doing their important work.  

In addition to protecting the financial safety of Americans, I’ve been fighting for their physical safety as well. I wrote a letter with Representative Sean Casten and Representative Jerry Nadler, urging the Department of Justice to enforce the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Everyone must be able to safely access reproductive healthcare clinics, which primarily serve women and low-income Americans. With access to this care already slashed by the rogue, extremist Supreme Court Justices, we can’t afford to have pregnant people further deterred by threats of violence at clinics. It is imperative to the health of millions of Americans that the law is enforced. 

I also sent a letter with Senator Elizabeth Warren regarding quality healthcare for seniors. We wrote to two of the largest trade associations representing the nursing home industry — the American Health Care Association (AHCA) and LeadingAge — slamming them for opposing minimum nurse staffing requirements in nursing homes. Such requirements are crucial to holding nursing homes accountable and ensuring safe and high-quality care for the nearly 1.2 million residents living in Medicare and Medicaid-certified long-term care facilities. This rule is good for nurses and seniors and it needs to be implemented without interference.  

I was also happy to meet with Breast Cancer Prevention Partner’s Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a group of leaders of clean-beauty companies. We discussed the dangerous ingredients in personal and beauty products and the long-overdue regulations on these products, including my Safer Beauty Bill Package. This suite of bills would ban toxic chemicals linked to hormone disruption, cancer, and other health problems, as well as require full ingredient transparency on cosmetics. This is an issue relevant to everyone, but especially to women of color and salon workers, who are among the most highly exposed to these toxic chemicals. These bills must be passed now!

I’m looking forward to returning to the district next week to hear from constituents. There’s nothing like summer in Chicago; 24 white-sand beaches and no sharks! I hope you all are staying cool.  

Sincerely, 

My district office helped a constituent obtain a travel document to visit family during an emergency:

“We want to express enormous gratitude for all the support provided by Rep. Schakowsky and her team. We were in a very complicated situation with the loss of a family member, and they gave us their help to obtain a permit to travel to support our family in such a painful moment.

"We were in a moment of great sadness as a family, and we wanted to be close to them. We thought this was going to take a long time, but thanks to the help and concern of Rep. Schakowsky's office, it only took one week to be reunited with my family. We will be forever grateful for all the help provided.”

Michael & Geraldine

Passport Renewal

Remember to check your passport validity before booking any summer travel plans! Current processing times for passports are: 6-8 weeks for routine and 2-3 weeks for expedited. These times are subject to change and are posted on the Dept. of State Website.  Please apply well in advance of your travel date – if your travel date is sooner than the current processing times, you may not get your passport in time for travel.

Please remember that emergency in-person appointments at the Chicago Passport Agency are intended for emergencies and availability is not guaranteed unless it is a life or death emergency! These appointments are not and have never been intended for routine renewal. If you have upcoming travel you should NOT plan on receiving an appointment at the Chicago Passport Agency. Passport renewals are intended to go through the mail. 

Did you know that many countries require your passport to be valid for several months beyond your date of travel? Depending on your destination, validity requirements can vary from 3 to 6 months beyond the date of travel! You can check the requirements for your destination on the Dept. of State Website under "International Travel" and "Country Information".

If you have planned travel and have a pending application that may not arrive on time, or if you need an emergency appointment at the Chicago Passport Agency, the Constituent Advocates in my District Office are happy to help! Please call the office at 773-506-7100, or you can open a case with my office online.