John,

In the richest country in the world, nobody should have to go without basic life necessities.

It is an outrage that millions of Americans struggle to access water, sanitation, electricity, heating, cooling, public transit, and broadband communications.

As we’ve seen recently in Detroit, Jackson, and Puerto Rico, utility companies treat these life-sustaining needs as commodities, continually raising rates without investing in necessary infrastructure and cutting off families who cannot afford to pay.

That’s why I’m proud to stand with my colleagues Representatives Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman to recognize that it is a human right to access affordable, reliable, and safe utilities.

We’ve introduced the Resolution Recognizing the Human Rights to Utilities, which calls on lawmakers to stop utilities from shutting off these essential public services.

Please sign on as a grassroots co-sponsor of our new resolution if you agree: We all deserve affordable, reliable, safe utilities.

In metro Detroit last month, more than a quarter of a million DTE customers lost power for four days. Even though we have some of the highest electricity rates in the nation (and DTE wants to raise rates even more), DTE’s services are considered to be among the most unreliable.

We see this again and again in Black, brown, Indigenous and low-income communities, where utilities are less likely to invest in infrastructure upgrades or reliable services, and where people already bear the brunt of pollution and fossil-fueled disasters.  

It’s time to change the conversation around what we all deserve, take the profit motive out of providing the basics of a good life, and give every resident the opportunity to thrive.

Basic human needs should not be treated as commodities for profit.

Please sign on as a grassroots co-sponsor of our new resolution if you agree: access to affordable, reliable, safe utilities is a human right.

In solidarity,

Rashida