By Kyle Davidson, Michigan Advance
Continuing a long running tradition, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) gave her maiden speech on the Senate Floor on Wednesday, using her first formal remarks to the chamber to lay out her plan to deliver for Michigan’s middle class.
“Michigan is where my family achieved that very American dream. My great grandfather, at 13 years old, came through Ellis Island, not speaking English.
He ended up starting a meat company, moved to Michigan and built that business and built an iconic hot dog that Michiganders have enjoyed for 60 years,” Slotkin said.
However, too many families are falling out of the middle class and too many are not able to make it into that group, Slotkin said, noting that Michigan’s factories, farms and small businesses used to serve as a pathway to the middle class.
“Over the years, I’ve watched younger generations of those same families live a very different story. Parents can’t provide for their kids what was provided to them. That fishing cabin up north, that dad had, the son can’t have. A trip to Disneyland? Can’t do it. Across Michigan, there are so many families who feel like hard work doesn’t seem to be enough anymore,” Slotkin said.
Over the past 40 years the middle class has shrunk, Slotkin said, noting she’s personally witnessed what happens when people feel like they cannot get ahead.
“They feel anger, they feel shame, they lose their dignity, and they look for something or someone to blame. In a multi-racial, multi-ethnic experiment in democracy, people end up blaming people who don’t look like them or speak like them or pray like them,” Slotkin said.
In order to understand the anger and polarization in our politics, all you have to do is understand the shrinking middle class, Slotkin said.
In order to revive the middle class, the government needs to get back to the basics, Slotkin said.
“These basics are jobs that pay you enough to save every month, healthcare, you can actually afford a home you can call your own, schools that prepare our kids for the workforce, energy to power our lives, an environment we can pass on to our kids and safety and security from fear. That is it,” Slotkin said.
Looking to jobs, there needs to be job creation for Michigan’s middle class in order to create the jobs of the future, she said, noting that artificial intelligence has the potential to change our economy more than the internet did.
“Productivity will go up, jobs will be gained, but jobs will also be lost, maybe not Michigan jobs at first, entry level college jobs like paralegals or accountants are probably first on the list. But change is coming, and we need to be ready,” Slotkin said.
Part of that readiness means supporting small businesses, Slotkin said. It also means bringing industries and supply chains back from overseas, Slotkin said, arguing that foreign nations should not get a veto on the nation’s economic security.
“Finally, let us say it very clearly, we need an immigration system that actually works and is key to our economy. Immigrants are critical for our labor shortages in our factories, in our hospitals, in our firms. More than that, we are a nation of immigrants,” Slotkin said, calling for an immigration plan that brings legal, vetted immigrants into the country and border policy that “makes sense.”
Looking to health care, Slotkin said there are few things in her mind as broken as the American health care system.
“Every American deserves access to health care they can afford regardless of your job, regardless of your income or your age. So I support a nationwide public insurance plan, at a reasonable price, for every American,” she said.
Additionally, in every part of the American health care system, we need to be able to negotiate the cost of drugs, Slotkin said, speaking out against the influence of corporate money in politics.
Looking to housing, Slotkin noted that the U.S. Senate, today, could declare a housing state of emergency, calling for Michigan to be the ground zero in responding to the need for 4 million units of housing across the nation.
America needs to make sure schools are actually preparing kids for the future, Slotkin said, calling for an overhaul of federal job training programs.
Additionally she warned that without a plan on energy now, Americans could be seeing rolling blackouts and brownouts in a decade.
She called for an all of the above energy plan, criticizing conservative politicians for opposing certain energy sources – like solar and wind – because they are “woke.”
Michiganders have also been tasked with the stewardship of the Great Lakes, Slotkin stressed, before noting the tangible impacts of climate change on the state.
“Michiganders understand that extreme weather is real. It is here. They feel it in their pocketbooks. We have to mitigate it. We have to accept it, and we have to be ready to prepare ourselves when we have these crazy ice storms, these crazy once in a generation tornadoes,” Slotkin said.
When looking at national security, Slotkin called out China, arguing the U.S. cannot let that country control our national debt, and that the U.S. must maintain a dominant presence across the globe to compete with China.
While the U.S. is in the midst of an extremely divided period, Slotkin said Michiganders know how to survive bad times by rallying together, helping one another and getting back into the fight.
“As elected leaders and certainly as a senator, I have a responsibility to chart the path through the dark tunnel and into the light, not by just complaining and whinging that it’s all bad, but by charting a strategy from beginning to end on how we get through this moment.…It is my job as that next generation of leader to change the course of this place and this country and I commit to you: I will not let you down,” she said.
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jon King for questions: info@michiganadvance.com.
