Washington ― U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan gathered about 20 Democratic colleagues Wednesday on Capitol Hill to kick off the Heartland Conference in an effort to highlight the input and voting power of the Midwest.
The Ann Arbor Democrat pitched a coalition of lawmakers who she said are united by common issues, values and work ethic, covering a swath of the nation's manufacturing and agricultural sectors, as well as urban cities and small towns, and the home of the Great Lakes.
“The reality is that the heartland is the industrial and agricultural core of the US,” Dingell said.
He estimated that the caucus will number about 40 members and its mission will be to “raise and engage” on issues facing communities in the region, including manufacturing and labor, agriculture, racial equity, rural health care , broadband infrastructures and the environment. He named the upcoming farm bill among the legislation the group will be active on.
“We need to make sure that as we create policy here in Washington, we prioritize the views, values and issues of these communities at home that are too often overlooked, not incorporated into policy consideration before congressional action,” Dingell said. “To be clear, all roads to majorities and to the White House go through America's heartland.”
Many lawmakers who spoke at Wednesday's news conference said the Midwestern states are too often forgotten as a country on the run, rather than the center and “heart” of the nation.
They are seeking more attention from their colleagues and from the House Democratic leadership, whose members have come largely from the East and West coasts, and they want their collective voices to be heard, they said.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, gave the example of the disparity in funding between the Great Lakes Basin and the western states served by the Bureau of Reclamation.
“It has real challenges. When I look at the funding and the bills that have improved many Congresses, I see that organizations like the Bureau of Reclamation are getting billions,” Kaptur said. “This does not apply to our region. And so we must speak louder and louder.”
“We don't have anyone in any leadership position from the heart,” he added later. “That's one of the realities we face over and over and over again.”
Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham and Rashida Tlaib and Shri Thanedar of Detroit attended the launch, along with lawmakers from Illinois, Minnesota and Ohio.
Stevens credited Midwestern lawmakers as key to legislative efforts to renegotiate the North American Timber Trade Agreement, the recent climate bill, and the CHIPS and Science Act that invests billions of dollars in domestic semiconductor manufacturing. The reshaping of NAFTA into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement was signed into law in 2020 by President Donald Trump, the Republican who campaigned to change NAFTA.
“It was the voices from the Midwest that rose up and said we need this and we need it now,” Stevens said of the CHIPS and Science Act. “We were the first drummers.”
Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio said the caucus is about unity, not division within the Democratic caucus.
“I stand with my colleagues who represent this Heartland from the great Midwest, but we stand strong with our Democratic colleagues, whether from the East or the West or the South,” he said.
“It's about recognition, and it's about saying, we've found our niche and we're very comfortable being from the heart. … There is so much to come because of our strength and because of our unity.”
Dingell added that she believes the current Democratic leadership, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and his congressmen (who hail from California and Massachusetts) are “listening to us.”
“I just want to say that Team Heartland will not be quiet,” he said. “It will be effective and everyone here has everyone's back as we fight for the districts we represent.”
mburke@detroitnews.com
