Congresswoman Katherine Clark proudly serves the Fifth District of Massachusetts. She was first elected in a special election in December of 2013. Katherine’s career in public service is driven by her commitment to helping children and families succeed. She is a vocal advocate for ending wage discrimination, protecting women’s health care, access to affordable, high-quality child care, paid family leave, safer schools, and other reforms to address the challenges women and families face. She believes that Congress must work to end the glaring disconnect between the needs of families at home and priorities in Washington.
As a mother, community member, and public servant, I have always believed that public education is the bedrock of our democracy. In 2001, I served in my first-ever elected office as a member of the School Committee in my home town of Melrose. This position was one of the hardest I’ve ever had, but it gave me a profound understanding of the difficult, sometimes competing, decisions faced by policymakers, school administrators, teachers, and parents. I went on to serve as General Counsel for the Massachusetts Office of Child Care Services, and as a member of the Advisory Council for the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care. Each day spent in these positions helped me understand the importance of improving how we educate our nation’s children.
As a member of Congress, I’ve worked to ensure our federal laws better reflect the input and needs of local communities. In 2015, I worked with my colleagues to revise the outdated law known as No Child Left Behind, replacing it with a new federal K-12 policy that provided much-needed flexibility to local educators. I also believe that investments in early education are critical to basic economic fairness in America. That is why I have helped lead the charge to protect and expand access to quality, affordable child care including the Child Care and Development Block Grant, IDEA Preschool grants, and Infants and Families grants. Child care is part of our economic infrastructure; it’s essential for kids, families, and also, our economy.
In partnership with the Biden administration and Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, I’m working to enact policies that will put our students on a path toward sustained success by expanding early education, tackling college affordability, investing in career and technical education, and expanding access to mental health services.
We have a fundamental responsibility to future generations to preserve our environment, conserve our resources, and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Climate change has already had a devastating effect on the safety and health of billions of people worldwide – if we fail to make a change, it will only get worse. Unprecedented climactic events from typhoons and extreme heat, to drought and famine, to rising sea levels and the destruction of delicate marine ecosystems, are warning bells that should call all of us to act before it is too late.
I am proud to have supported a range of important policies designed to combat this growing threat, including the Green New Deal, the Break Free From Plastics Pollution Act, the Clean Power Plan, and increased federal funding for climate research. I am also building partnerships to design smarter, better climate and ocean monitoring technology.
One of the most straightforward investments we can make to support a clean and healthy environment is in renewable energy technology, which is why I support legislation to incentivize the development of alternative energy sources, like offshore wind technology. Simultaneously, we must also stop incentivizing the production of fossil fuels and impose a price on pollution that accurately reflects its cost to society. Future generations depend on our immediate action.
Gun violence has taken too many lives and shattered too many communities. No one should be unsafe in their home, school, or places of worship, and laws ensuring that firearms are sold and used responsibly are an essential part of improving public safety. But instead of taking steps to live up to that responsibility, the gun lobby’s allies in Congress have shut down every attempt to pass critical reform. That is why I helped organize the historic sit-in on the House floor in 2016 with Congressman John Lewis to show the country that we hear their cries, and that we demand action.
But enacting gun safety reform is about more than just preventing another mass shooting – it’s critical to addressing the epidemic of daily violence on our streets. Over half of all gun-related deaths are suicides. Every day, an average of 26 Black Americans are killed by guns and 104 experience non-fatal injuries. At least every other day, a Black person is shot and killed by police. Between 2011 and 2015, Hispanic people experienced a higher rate of violent hate crime victimization than both white and Black people. Since 2013, nearly two-thirds of fatal violence toward transgender and gender-nonconforming people involved a gun. And an average of 50 women a month are shot to death due to intimate partner violence. Gun violence is a pressing health crisis in this country, especially for Black, Latino, and LGBTQ+ Americans, and must be addressed accordingly.
There are a number of common sense measures that we can implement to address gun violence and keep our communities safe. I have cosponsored legislation to strengthen background checks, fight gun trafficking, and increase protections for victims of domestic violence, among other efforts. We must also continue to research gun violence so we can better understand the impact of this epidemic on our country. In fact, my home state of Massachusetts has enacted policies guided by research that resulted in some of the nation’s lowest rates of gun violence.
These policies aren’t controversial – the majority of Americans support common sense measures to make gun laws stricter in the United States. It’s simple: guns should not be in the hands of dangerous people. Families, students, and survivors continue to stand up, and House Democrats will keep fighting to make our country stronger and safer.
At some point, we all get sick and need to see a doctor. That’s why quality, affordable health care must be available to all Americans regardless of race, gender, health status, or economic circumstance.
In 2010, based on our success in Massachusetts, Congress passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In the years since, the ACA has made important strides in providing healthcare to all Americans; millions of young adults have gained healthcare through their parents’ insurance and three million seniors have received a discount on their prescription drugs.
For over a decade, we have fought to protect the ACA and attempts to undermine protections for those with pre-existing conditions, cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and threats to defund Planned Parenthood. Under President Biden, now is the time to strengthen and expand health care for all people. This is why I’m a proud cosponsor of the Medicare for All Act. We can’t go back to the days when simply being a woman was a pre-existing condition, or when health insurance companies could cancel your coverage when you got sick. I’m committed to fighting for equal access to healthcare. I’ve stood up to the Republicans’ attempts to bully Planned Parenthood, fought to make sure we don’t go backward on pre-existing conditions, and used my position on the Appropriations Committee to increase funding for the NIH.
I was proud to introduce and pass the first bill ever to provide grant funding specifically for Postpartum Depression. I’ve worked with members from across the country to address the maternal mortality crisis and to make sure that mothers, regardless of race, creed, or income, have access to the vital services. I’ve also worked to pass a variety of bills dedicated to fighting the opioid crisis, including increased loan forgiveness to providers, increased attention on newborns suffering from addiction, and preventing abuse through e-prescription technology.
I will keep fighting to expand and protect affordable, quality health care because in this country and around the world, health care should be a right, not a privilege.
We need an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. We all benefit when we reward hard work, provide families with economic security, and make long-term investments in our workforce.
To achieve these goals, I have championed proposals like the Fair Minimum Wage Act, to raise the federal minimum wage, the Healthy Families Act, to guarantee paid sick leave, and the Paycheck Fairness Act, to ensure that workers get equal pay for equal work. I also believe it is critical that working families are able to access quality child care. That is why I introduced the 21st Century Child Care Investment Act, which will help families afford high-quality childcare through refundable tax credit programs. I have also worked closely with employers and unions to ensure that we continue to support the process of collective bargaining for better wages, conditions, and benefits, a vital part of the story of American labor.
As a member of the Appropriations Committee serving on the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, I work to ensure that our federal investments have a direct impact at home and on our economy, like by supporting job training initiatives, improving education, and funding research by the National Institutes of Health.
As a nation, we made a promise to our seniors: if you pay into the system, the services to which you contribute will be available to help you when you retire. I believe we have a moral obligation to keep this promise. And that system is working: today, almost two-thirds of seniors count on Social Security for most of their income and another one-third for the entirety of it. Equally fundamental to the financial protection of seniors is Medicare, which provides access to health care for 49 million Americans annually.
That's why we need to invest more in Social Security. I support a robust plan that would increase Social Security benefits by two percent, create a minimum benefit at twenty-five percent over the poverty line to ensure seniors have the resource they need to live with dignity, and increase inflation adjustments by using the national Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E), which more accurately measures senior spending on essential items.
It is the job of Congress to ensure these benefits are sustainable and ready to support older Americans upon retirement. As your member of Congress, I will fight for those rights.
Our nation and Massachusetts have been in the grips of an opioid addiction crisis for years. Since coming to Congress, I have been committed to addressing the epidemic by ensuring access to treatment, improving health care provider education, supporting prevention efforts, and reducing the stigma that surrounds people struggling with addiction in the justice system and elsewhere.
In 2015, President Obama signed my Protecting our Infants Act into law, which was the first federal legislation designed to help newborns suffering from opioid exposure. Now, because of this law, we have the first government report on how to prevent and treat neonatal abstinence syndrome. As part of the 2016 Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), I successfully advocated for the inclusion of youth substance use disorders specialists on a pain management task force, recognizing that when addiction begins at a young age, it has a distinct and far-reaching impact on everything from brain development to education and social skills.
In 2018, two of my bills addressing two different sides of the opioid crisis were signed into law. The first addresses the shortage of addiction treatment professionals by providing up to $250,000 of student loan repayment per participant who works in a dedicated substance use treatment role in an area of high need for up to 6 years. The other will expand the use of electronic prescribing of controlled substances under Medicare Part D and ensure that we have the tools necessary to reduce doctor shopping and fraud.
By continuing to listen to experts and families dealing with this terrible disease up close, I am doing everything I can to get us past this crisis.
Nothing is more fundamental to our democracy than equal voting rights. Unfortunately, through voter suppression laws and unregulated political campaign spending, the voices and votes of the American people have become diluted.
A new era of Jim Crow policies are being implemented in state legislatures across the country, limiting access to the ballot box. Corporations are able to buy political influence. And, as has long been true in America, these anti-democracy initiatives hurt communities of color the most.
We must pass reforms that will help strengthen voting rights across our country. We must reinstall the voting protections dismantled by the Supreme Court to ensure that every voice is heard and every vote is counted. We must strengthen our ethics laws to ensure elected officials are representing the American people first and foremost, end Congressional gerrymandering, and modernize our voting laws to make it easier to register and cast a ballot. In the United States, it should be easy to vote, and hard to buy elections.
From affordable housing to bike lanes to the T, how we choose to improve and develop our communities reflects our values. Reliable roads and affordable housing are key components to making economic prosperity a possibility for everyone. Throughout our country and in Massachusetts, our infrastructure is becoming increasingly strained by traffic and rising housing prices make this out of reach for too many.
While there is no silver bullet solution to addressing the needs of our communities, one thing is abundantly clear: we must invest in our infrastructure. That means a sustained commitment to repairing and replacing our existing roads and bridges, expanding the reach of our transit systems, and increasing our efforts to develop affordable housing.
This is why projects like the Green Line Extension are so important. It connects communities with mass transit, it reduces our carbon footprint, and it helps bring workers closer to their jobs.
Achieving these goals is the reason I choose to serve on the Appropriations Committee responsible for overseeing the federal government’s investment in transportation, housing, and community development. I have used this position to push Congress to invest more resources into helping families achieve the dream of homeownership, to help create a first-of-its-kind program to house homeless victims of domestic violence, and to help secure funding to build more rail service in Greater Boston.
Every day, millions of Americans use the internet to enrich their lives, engage with their communities, and do their jobs. While most online interactions are positive, the sad reality is that for far too many Americans, having an online presence means being subjected to harassment, stalking, and even sexual abuse. In recent years, the internet has become an easy way for abusers to stalk victims of domestic violence and prey on vulnerable children.
According to a study by the Pew Research Center, 41% of Americans have been personally subjected to harassing behavior online, and an even larger share, 66%, have witnessed these behaviors directed at others. For far too many Americans, the online harassment is extreme, including abuse like ‘sextortion,’ ‘swatting,’ or ‘doxxing.’ Women are targeted with sexually explicit messages and threats 27 times more than men. And for women of color and LGBTQ women, the rate is even higher.
One increasingly common form of online abuse involves perpetrators threatening to expose private or sensitive material, often including nude images, unless victims produce sexual materials, engage in sexual activity, or pay the abuser money. The Department of Justice recently declared this form of online sexual exploitation, known as ‘sextortion,’ to be “by far the most significantly growing threat to children.” From self-mutilation to suicide, the consequences of sextortion for traumatized victims can be devastating. According to a 2015 FBI analysis of 43 sextortion cases involving child victims, at least two victims committed suicide and at least 10 more attempted suicide. In addition, a growing number of abusers use ‘swatting’ attacks, where they report fake emergency situations in an attempt to provoke an emergency law enforcement response aimed at frightening their victims, causing property damage, or inflicting physical harm. While some attacks have been reported to cost local law enforcement agencies as much as $100,000, the most serious cost of these attacks is the danger they pose to emergency responders, innocent victims, and their families. Other abusers ‘dox’ their victims by publishing their personally identifiable information with the intent to subject them to the constant fear of being attacked everywhere they go — online, on their cellphones, at work, and in their homes.
That's why I am working to update the federal code to address these crimes that are happening every day online. I also included an amendment in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act to establish a grant program to train state and local law enforcement to prevent, enforce, and prosecute crimes carried out online. It also creates a national resource center to study online crimes and requires the FBI to update the Uniform Crime Reports and the National Incident-Based Reporting System to include cybercrimes. In addition, we need to hold companies accountable for facilitating online crimes through a lack of policies, policing, and transparency. By drawing attention to these issues, we are protecting the safety of online users.
We are a nation of immigrants, and the immigrant story is the American story. The rich diversity of cultures, backgrounds, and experiences make our nation stronger. Immigrants make up the fabric of our communities, the backbone of our economy, and are at the forefront of innovation.
The long wait times for family and employment-based immigration hinders our economic growth and productivity, and must be fixed. Congress has a responsibility to the millions who have called this country home yet lack a pathway to citizenship. Dreamers and DACA recipients were brought to this country as young children and know no other home. Individuals with Temporary Protected Status, many who have lived here for decades and have deep roots in our communities, deserve permanent protections. They are American in every way but a piece of paper.
Our immigration system should be fair, just, and treat those seeking refuge with humanity. Barring entry, separating children and families, and sending those fleeing violence back to violence is against everything I believe in.
It is long past time for Congress to act and I am committed to moving us forward to bring relief to the millions of immigrants caught up in our broken system.
Child care is fundamental to our families and our economy. The U.S. child care industry supports more than $99 billion in total economic activity. In addition to its valuable role in our economy, access to child care enables parents to provide for their families and women to enter and stay in the workforce. Child care is also central to the development and future success of our children. Simply put, child care is essential.
But despite the vital role it plays in our communities and economy, child care in the U.S. has long been underfunded and undervalued, and this has only been exacerbated by the pandemic.
Now, the child care sector is at a breaking point, and we cannot afford to let it fall through the cracks. As a member of the Appropriations Committee, my focus is expanding funding to ensure all families have access to quality, affordable child care through the Child Care Development Block Grant and the Head Start program.
My bill, the Child Care is Infrastructure Act, is a comprehensive child care package that makes critical investments in child care facilities and the early education workforce, which will in turn lower costs for families.
Just like roads and bridges, child care is fundamental infrastructure to our economy. We must finally start treating it that way - for our kids, families and our economy.
The House of Representatives divides its work among over twenty permanent and standing committees. Normally, before a piece of legislation is considered by the House it has been reviewed by at least one of the committees and a report is issued by that committee describing the legislation and indicating (on section-by-section basis) how the proposed statute changes existing statutes. Congress divides its work among over two hundred committees and subcommittees, each of which issue regular reports on its activities.
After a bill is introduced on the House or Senate floor, it is referred to the committee of jurisdiction (i.e., the committee charged with reviewing measures in the area of law or policy with which the bill is concerned). The committee of referral most often sends the measure to its specialized subcommittee(s) for study, hearings, revisions and approval.
For most bills, the committee or subcommittee fails to take further action on the referred bill, effectively "killing" the measure at this point. (Occasionally, a committee will report a measure "unfavorably," with explicit recommendations against its passage, or it will report a bill "without recommendation," which has the same effect as an unfavorable report.)
If the bill passes the subcommittee with a favorable vote, it is sent back to the full committee for further consideration, hearings, amendment and vote.
The U.S. Code is the official compilation of the current Federal statutes of a general and permanent nature. The Code is arranged according to subject matter under 50 subject headings ('titles'). The Code sets out the current status of the laws, incorporating all amendments into the text. Prior to being added to the U.S. Code, individual laws are published in pamphlet form as "slip laws" which are later collected together in chronological order (not in subject order) as the Statutes at Large.
The Congressional Record is the official transcript of the proceedings and debates of the U.S. Congress. A searchable version of the full text of the Congressional Record is published the day after each meeting of the House or Senate. Learn more about the Congressional Record. A summary of what is currently happening on the Floor of the House is available as the debate occurs. You can also view the current House Schedule.
A roll call vote records how each Member of the House voted, but only a minority of bills receive a roll call vote. Learn more about compiling a Member voting record and how to read the roll call information.
The House Rules and Precedents are the official documents that spell out the process by which legislation is considered by the House and its committees; as well as specifying the authority of the officers and committees of the House. Several collections of material explaining the rules and precedents are available through the House Rules Committee in their "Rules & Manuals" section.
Various schedules of upcoming House activities are available. House Floor Procedings are prepared by the Clerk of the House and there is a House of Representatives Schedule listed on House.gov. The Democratic Whip's office also compiles a Daily Whip, Nightly Whip and Weekly Whip as well as an annual House Calendar.
Before a proposed piece of legislation can be considered by the House of Representatives, it must first be sponsored by a Member of Congress (either a Member of the House or a Member of the Senate). Members of Congress who are not the primary sponsor of a piece of legislation may express their strong support for the legislation by becoming a co-sponsor of that legislation. Learn more about the legislation that I sponsored or co-sponsored.