4Hs + Labor

Healthcare

• I co-chair the Black Maternal Health Caucus, which has over 100 members. The Caucus has secured over $200 million in new maternal health funding.

• We are re-introducing the Momnibus Act soon, a package of 13 bills that would comprehensively address the Black maternal health crisis in this country.

• My Stillbirth Prevention Act passed into law last Congress, unanimously in the Senate and with a vote if 408 to 3 in the House. It expands funding for stillbirth prevention and research.

• I re-introduced the Real Education and Access for Healthy Youth Act (REAHYA), which provides funding for comprehensive sex education. The bill aims to prevent STIs, unintended pregnancies, sexual abuse, and dating violence.

• I am restarting the COPD Caucus in the House. I will be working to secure new research funding for earlier diagnosis and better treatment of COPD.

• I hosted a Healthcare Matters webinar with over 300 attendees to discuss how recent actions in Congress will affect my constituents’ healthcare.

Housing

• As a former member of the Financial Services Committee, my LIFELINE bill passed into law/was adopted by the Treasury Department in 2023. This granted over $8 billion to developers to construct/build affordable housing increasing the supply available to our residents.

• Introduced the American Neighborhoods Protection Act to defend our families against predatory corporations to improve family home ownership opportunities.

• Secured millions of dollars through community project funding for affordable housing developments across the Charlotte area. This includes housing for our senior residents who have paid their dues to our country.

• I am continuing to work on legislation that would increase the housing supply and provide more opportunities for homeownership. I’m considering ideas such as using our religious organizations to expand the housing supply, ensuring that marginalized groups like those with disabilities have equal access to housing, amongst other things.

Hunger

• I serve as a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee.

• • Right now, critical nutrition programs are under attack. That is why I have introduced the Closing the Meal Gap Act, which raises the baseline benefit for all SNAP households and allocating more funds to those with large medical and housing expenses.
• With the One Big Ugly Bill, I am working hard to mitigate the harmful effects of the cuts to SNAP for North Carolina as we try to pass a Farm Bill.
  • And, during the shutdown, I prioritized programs, like SNAP and WIC, to ensure they had continued funding to stay afloat and serve families.
• And we can’t talk about food without talking about Farmers, especially our small and mid-sized, and family farms.

• • Which is why I lead the Capital for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Act to address financial challenges for new farmers and ranchers.
  • And committed to protecting remaining Black farmers from losing their land with my Justice for Black Farmers Act, which would provide land grants to create a new generation of Black farmers and restore the land base that has been lost.
• And after pressure I placed on the administration, USDA restored scholarships they had initially cut from the 1890s Scholars Program.
• For the past decade, I have hosted the Adams Hunger Initiative, addressing the food crisis impacting areas of North Carolina’s 12th District.
  • The Initiative works to promote public- private partnerships, create dialogues between elected officials and key stakeholders, draft legislation aimed at addressing hunger and food insecurity, and promote and protect critical food programs and food banks.

Higher Education

• I serve as a senior member of Education and workforce Committee, and Ranking Member of the House Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee.
• In 2019, we signed into law my FUTURES Act, which  permanently guarantees $255 million a year for HBCUs and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) to serve over eight million students of color, preparing them for careers in our STEM professions.
• In 2020, we signed into law my HBCUs Partners Act, which requires every administration and the federal agencies it manages to plan and coordinate their efforts to strategically engage with and invest in HBCUs.

• My IGNITE legislation builds on these successes by focusing on the infrastructure for our HBCUs.
• Back in 2019, I was visiting some of the campuses and talking directly with our HBCU leaders across the country, and one thing was certain: our campuses need modernization.
  • Even today, buildings are aging. Roofs are leaking. Labs are outdated. And deferred maintenance is a serious concern.
  • And our students, who already face so many barriers, are the ones paying the price.
• So we got to work. And we wrote the IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act to change that.
  • The bill was first introduced as a bipartisan, bicameral bill in 2022. It was developed in close collaboration with our 1890 institutions, HBCU leaders, advocates, and students.
• And I’m proud to say that parts of the bill were included in the 2023 Build Back Better omnibus spending bill signed into law by former President Biden. This included a $45M dollar investment to support real projects on our campuses.
  • But we need more. So, here’s where we are today.
• The Bipartisan HBCU Caucus which I co-chair alongside Rep. French Hill, Senator Tim Scott, and Senator Chris Coons, is working together to reignite the flame and reintroduce this bill and make these investments permanent.

 Labor

• Given my position on the Education and Workforce committee, I am directly involved in shaping policy for our nation’s workers.
• I have been committed to increasing the minimum wage, expanding access to apprenticeships, protecting worker safety, and defending their right to collective bargaining.

• This past July, I reintroduced my Black Women’s Equal Pay Resolution to recognize the ongoing, severe racial and gender wage gap Black women face in the United States.

• And I am fighting to ensure that the Trump Administration understands federal law that all furloughed federal employees receive backpay once the government shutdown ends.
• North Carolina has 140,000 federal employees, including 7,000 in the 12th District, and they should not be used as bargaining chips.