A union organizer, human rights activist, workforce policy expert and green energy entrepreneur, Congressman Andy Levin has spent his career fighting for an equitable and inclusive future for all people. He’s bringing that fight to Congress as the proud representative for Michigan’s 9th District.
Andy has been advocating for working families since the 1980s, when he organized hundreds of health care workers for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). After working with Haitian immigrant workers, Andy co-founded an organization to assist immigrants with challenges posed by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
A path to the middle class starts with high quality education and job training. My America's College Promise Act was inspired by the outstanding institutions of Macomb and Oakland Community Colleges in Michigan's Ninth District. I worked with both colleges during my time as Chief Workforce Officer for the State of Michigan, helping underemployed Michiganders go back to school to earn degrees or certificates leading to in-demand jobs during the Great Recession. The America's College Promise Act would provide two years of free community college for everyone so they can do just that. I fought hard for and won the inclusion of the America's College Promise Act in the College Affordability Act, the landmark legislation that would overhaul the higher education system and lower the cost of college for students and families.
I believe education should take place in the workplace as well as the classroom. I worked closely with my colleagues on the Education and Labor Committee to update and reauthorize the National Apprenticeship Act, which would invest more than $3.5 billion over 5 years in expanding opportunities and access to apprenticeships, one of the United States' longest and most successful workforce development programs. The National Apprenticeship Act contains my STANDARDS Act, which streamlines standards for apprenticeships so that all workers receive best-in-class training on their way to good-paying careers. I also contributed an amendment to the bill to ensure organizations that speak for workers and apprentices are at the table when federal funds are used for creating new programs or expanding existing programs.
Fixing our education system will require more than making college affordable for our children. Millions of Americans today are paying off crippling amounts of student loan debt. Reducing and reforming student loan debt is vital to both the health of the economy and the well-being of current and future students. As a member of the Education and Labor Committee, I introduced and cosponsored meaningful legislation that addresses the student loan crisis.
The College Affordability Act, which I voted to pass, eases the burden of student loans by making existing student loans cheaper and easier to pay off. I also voted to pass President Biden's American Rescue Plan Act, which provides nearly $130 billion to help schools take the steps recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ensure students and educators can return to the classroom safely. The bill also provides nearly $40 billion for institutions of higher education that are struggling to make up for lost revenue following campus closures and $39 billion in assistance to child care providers to stabilize the child care system.
In addition to this work, I have supported legislation that would send billions of dollars to schools serving low-income communities, provide badly needed funding to upgrade school infrastructure through the Rebuild America's Schools Act and lift up our nation's libraries, which are a crucial resource for students and communities, through the Library Stabilization Fund Act.