Opinion Pieces

The Maternal Mortality Crisis Is Personal. What Will It Take for Us To Act?   A U.S. crisis has been taking women and their babies for too long. It’s time to treat maternal mortality like the emergency that it is. When I was 18, I gave birth to my daughter in a respectable, accredited hospital. However, I left feeling traumatized and violated when a dozen or more male medical… Read more »

Keonsha is Charlottesville Urban Milwaukee Three years ago, I watched with horror the video footage of a right-wing “Unite the Right” protester intentionally slamming his car into a group of people in Charlottesville, VA, violently striking multiple peaceful counter- protesters and killing Heather Heyer. Unite the Right was organized by neo-Nazis, white supremacists, militias,… Read more »

Community Health Centers Need Funding Urban Milwaukee During his 1964 State of the Union Address, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared an unconditional war on poverty. He stated that, “our aim is not only to relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it.” Johnson’s war on poverty sparked the creation of many programs known today, including… Read more »

Congress' tax policies need to help more of us. Take it from a proud welfare queen like me.  NBC News' THINK Section I climbed out of poverty to become a congresswoman, but I didn’t do it alone. Government programs gave me the foundation I needed and intend to expand. You can call me a welfare queen. I proudly wear the crown. To me, a welfare queen is a woman who defies the odds… Read more »

I have been fighting to get on the Ways and Means Committee for 14 years. Here’s why. Milwaukee Community Journal In 1996, I was a Wisconsin state senator and witnessed through tears as the gavel fell the end of welfare as we know it.  I filibustered on the floor until into the next morning. I had my say, but the Republicans had their final say. It was crushing to witness the… Read more »

The Milwaukee Independent Let’s talk about your federal income taxes. Specifically, the more complex tax code you now face and the lack of widespread benefits of the Republican tax cuts that were promised. Republicans continue to claim that the tax law changes benefit all Americans and boost the broader economy. However, the mounting evidence demonstrates the critics were right… Read more »

The Capital Times--On Sept. 13, 2018, my constituent Sylvia got into a devastating car accident on her way to work for the Internal Revenue Service. Read more »

The Hill - A year ago, when Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Cecile Kyenge spoke in Washington at a Capitol Hill event, she emphasized the European Union’s (EU) motto: “united in diversity.” Today we can see just how deeply challenged this principle is – not just among EU member states, but throughout the world. Read more »

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service - Waking up in the middle of the night to three missed calls from Vel Phillips wasn’t an unusual occurrence. If she wanted to talk to you, the time of day sure wasn’t going to stop her. Read more »

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Russia’s war in Ukraine often seems distant and removed. The lack of attention the conflict receives is frankly unsurprising considering our president’s special affinity for Russian President Putin. Read more »