Dear Friends, 
 

Planned Parenthood Statement Goes Viral With Over 143,000 Views And Over A Half-Million People Reached On Facebook

As you may know, Planned Parenthood, which provides comprehensive reproductive health care and services to millions of women and families across the country, has been targeted to defund it by conservatives since July after an extremist group released a series of heavily-edited videos filled with lies intended to discredit the organization. Recently, I delivered a statement during the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing about Planned Parenthood – denouncing the hypocrisy when it comes to such issues. The video quickly went viral, reaching over a half-million people with more than 143,000 views on Facebook.  This shows a shared desire to address gun violence instead of wasting time frivolously attacking women and organizations like Planned Parenthood.

Over the past month, the Republican House Majority has opened three official investigations – a fourth is in the works with the establishment of a special select committee – and I believe they have spent countless hours in hearings shamelessly attacking Planned Parenthood. There have been 20 votes concerning changes to federal policy that restrict women’s access to health care this year alone. Yet since taking over in 2011, how many hearings do you think the House Majority has held on addressing gun violence in our country?  Answer: ZERO!

What if we spent as much time and effort placing the same restrictions on purchasing guns as we have on restricting access to abortion?

While we devote millions of tax dollars to frivolous investigations aimed at restricting the constitutional rights of women, gun violence continues as an unanswered epidemic in America.  We all remember the victims who were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Most recently, the Oregon mass shooting at Umpqua Community College killed 10 and injured 9 more individuals, taking this year’s total gun deaths to 10,128 people as of October 1st.  Americans are 20-times more likely to be killed by gun violence than people in any other developed country, and although we only have 4.4 percent of the world’s population, 90 percent of all firearm homicides in developed countries happen in the United States. 

 
Bringing Disaster Relief to Lower Manhattan

After Superstorm Sandy, I fought in Congress to secure a $50.5 billion emergency funding package to help New York recover.  In addition to providing millions of dollars in direct aid, food and shelter, the federal funding has gone to build up our resiliency so that the region will be better prepared for future storms. In the past few months, I have been proud to work to bring federal funding to, for example, help restore our parks, to repair damage done to the South Street Seaport Museum, and for hurricane-related repairs to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum complex.  But our work is not yet complete.

Lower Manhattan, which was badly damaged in Superstorm Sandy, is one of the country’s largest central business districts, home to significant regional transportation and infrastructure assets, and one of the fastest growing residential neighborhoods in the City.  Recently, I lent my support to New York City’s application to the National Disaster Resiliency Competition for the Lower Manhattan Protect and Connect project. New York City has pledged $100 million dollars to this $500 million project. Federal investment in downtown’s infrastructure and flood protection is absolutely necessary to keep people and businesses thriving, and I am proud to have helped bring federal resources to increase resiliency and coastal protections in NYC.

Meeting Music Creators at 'Grammy's In My District'

 
Congressman Jerrold Nadler meeting with local music creators from New York City to discuss federal efforts to pass the Fair Play, Fair Pay Act.   

With the music recording industry comprising such a large part of New
York City’s economy, I have been a strong advocate of fair compensation for performers, songwriters and studio professionals. Because of laws written decades ago, radio stations are often able to broadcast content without paying a cent to the musicians, vocalists, and labels that created it.

At a recent “Grammys In My District” event, hosted by the Recording Academy, I met with local music creators to hear how unjust payment practices are impacting their ability to earn a livelihood and to shine a light on the issue. In an effort to bring our laws into the 21st century, I recently introduced the Fair Play, Fair Pay Act to establish a uniform process for setting fair-market royalty rates, create a performance right for artists on terrestrial radio, close the pre-1972 loophole to see that veteran performers receive royalties, and codify royalty payments to music producers.

With the legal changes included in this bill, we will be much closer to fixing an outdated system and ensuring all artists are able to earn a living off of the fruits of their labor.

 
Congressman Nadler on the steps of the Supreme Court Building urging additional transparency of federal appellate court proceedings.

Recently, I joined a group of Democrats and Republicans on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to introduce the bipartisan Eyes on the Courts Act, which would increase the transparency of the federal court system by requiring cameras in all federal appellate courts. In an age when we have nearly a thousand television channels and can stream almost unlimited programming on our smart phones, I find it hard to believe that we do not have similar access to such an important branch of our government.  How is it possible that we can so easily keep up with the Kardashians, but we cannot keep up with the Supreme Court?  The American public is better served when all three branches of our government operate in an open and transparent manner.  It is time for cameras to be allowed in the courtrooms, and the Eyes on the Courts Act would do just that.

Fighting LGBT Discrimination by the TSA

Earlier this month I joined 31 Members of Congress in writing to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to express our concern about how transgender travelers are treated as they pass through airport security screening. As you may know, transgender traveler Shadi Petosky reported that she was detained by the TSA due to a misunderstanding about her gender identity as a trans-woman. We requested that the TSA implement new protocols regarding the use of full-body scanners that do not rely on officers making subjective determinations about a traveler’s gender identity, that they publish detailed guidelines that directly address concerns affecting transgender travelers, and that they ensure that all TSA officers are trained to serve the transgender community. The experiences of passengers like Ms. Petosky demonstrate that more must be done to ensure transgender individuals are able to travel without fear of facing humiliation or degradation at security checkpoints.
 

Sincerely,