Less than 48 hours after being sworn into office, Rep. Brown supported passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, bringing jobs to Northeast Ohio, improving public transportation, delivering clean water to families, and expanding access to high-speed internet
Brown supported passage of the Build Back Better Act, and has repeatedly called for its passage in the Senate, specifically noting the importance of an extension of the Child Tax Credit for families in her district
Brown has introduced two new bills to improve access to school meals for students and enroll more veterans in preventative health programs through the VA
Brown has cosponsored more than 50 bills, including legislation to protect Ohio workers against unfair trade practices, raise the minimum wage, give Medicare the ability to negotiate prescription drug prices, and strengthen and protect social security for generations to come
Brown has a perfect voting record since entering Congress; she has yet to miss a single vote of the more than 100 that have been taken since she was sworn in last November
Brown is an active member of the Congressional Black Caucus, the New Democrats Coalition, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
Less than 48 hours after being sworn in last November, Rep. Brown voted for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. In the House, the bill needed support from House Republicans because it was opposed by a small group of Progressive lawmakers.
Two weeks later, Rep. Brown was invited to the White House as President Biden signed the bill into law, securing the largest investment in roads, bridges, airports, safe drinking water, and broadband networks in generations.
Through this law, Rep. Brown has brought record funding back to Ohio, including $1.8 billion to upgrade roads, nearly $100 million for bridges, $71 million to replace lead pipes, $11 million for Cleveland Hopkins Airport.
Yet the funding announced to date is just the beginning of the historic investments that will be coming to our communities. The bipartisan infrastructure law also makes the largest investment in public transportation in our state’s history, improve the accessibility and affordability of broadband networks, and clean up former energy and industrial sites predominantly located in Black neighborhoods.
Introduced Legislation
Smaller Class Sizes for Students and Educators Act – Establishes a new program to help schools reduce class sizes in K-3 grades to 18 students per class
Afterschool Meals Act – Expands access to healthy foods after the school day allowing schools to provide students with afterschool meals through the National School Lunch Program
More Opportunities for Veterans to Exercise Act – Enables the VA to expand access to preventative health fitness programs for veterans
Select Cosponsored Legislation
Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act – Secures the right of public employees to organize and collectively bargain
Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust – Expands benefits for current and future Social Security beneficiaries and strengthens the Social Security system for generations to come
Israel Relations Normalization Act – builds upon the Abraham Accords, the peace and normalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, by stating that U.S. policy is to strengthen and expand these normalization agreements.
CROWN Act – bans hair discrimination at the federal level
Raise the Wage Act – raises the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 by 2025
Assault Weapons Ban – bans the sale, transfer, manufacture and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines
FAMILY Act – provides workers with up to 12 weeks of financial support during a family or medical leave from work
IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act – invests in Historically Black Colleges and Universities to rectify over a century of systemic neglect
Access to Birth Control Act — guarantee patients’ timely access to birth control at the pharmacy
Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act — authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to negotiate drug prices
EACH Act — Repeals the discriminatory Hyde Amendment, which disproportionately affects low-income women and women of color.
R. 40 – Establishes a commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act
Eliminating Global Market Distortions to Protect American Jobs Act — strengthens U.S. trade remedy laws and ensure they remain effective tools to fight back against unfair trade practices and protect American workers.
Key Votes
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – invests billions in new investments in America’s roads and bridges, water infrastructure, resilience, internet, and more (signed into law by President Biden on November 23, 2021)
Build Back Better Act – lowers the cost of health care premiums and prescription drug prices, extends the Child Tax Credit, provides for universal Pre-K for all 3- and 4-year-olds, invests in addressing the climate crisis, includes the largest investment in affordable housing in history, raises the maximum Pell Grant
Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act – restores the protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, ends partisan gerrymandering, and expands access to the ballot box by instituting automatic voter registration and expanding vote-by-mail and early voting opportunities
Protecting Our Democracy Act – strengthens America’s democratic institutions against future presidents, regardless of political party, who seek to abuse the power of their office for corrupt purposes
Synthetic Opioid Danger Awareness Act – directs the CDC to conduct a public education campaign that raises public awareness of the dangers of synthetic opioids and explains the services available with respect to opioid treatment.
Hire Veteran Health Heroes Act – promotes VA hiring of veterans as health workers (signed into law by President Biden on November 30, 2021)
Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act – creates a new grant program to research cutting-edge therapies for ALS patients (signed into law by President Biden on December 23, 2021)
Protecting Moms Who Served Act – implements a VA maternity care program (signed into law by President Biden on November 30, 2021)
Colonel John M. McHugh Tuition Fairness for Survivors Act – expands in-state tuition to family members of servicepeople who died in active duty (signed into law by President Biden on November 30, 2021)
Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act – allows local school districts participating in the Impact Aid Program to use previously reported student headcounts on their applications for the 2022-2023 school year, ensuring they do not need to recalculate federally connected students due to the prolonged uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic (signed into law by President Biden on January 21, 2022)
1031 – requires a study on disparities associated with race and ethnicity regarding benefits administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (signed into law by President Biden on November 30, 2021)
Commitment to Bipartisanship
Brown has demonstrated a commitment to working across the aisle when her values and objectives overlap with Republican Members of Congress
The first bill Rep. Brown introduced in Congress was supported on a bipartisan basis: the MOVE Act, addressing veteran access to fitness programs, was introduced along with Reps. Collin Allred (D-TX ), Dave Joyce (R-OH), and Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH)
The Infrastructure Law was supported on a bipartisan basis in both the House and the Senate. In Ohio, Senator Rob Portman played a critical role in negotiating the bill, and Rocky River Rep. Anthony Gonzalez supported the bill in the House
Progressive Bona Fides
Brown is an active member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
Progressive Punch ranks her as one of the most progressive members of the House of Representatives, based on her voting record to date
Rep. Brown is a cosponsor of more than half of the CPC’s flagship bills, including the Assault Weapons Ban, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals, the EACH Woman Act, the Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act, the Raise the Wage Act, and the Resolution Establishing the United States Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation.
