As the 118th session of the House of Representatives began on the 3rd, the four representatives produced by the Korean community vowed to actively engage in parliamentary activities in the new year.
Representatives Michelle Park Steel (45th District), Young Kim (40th District), Marilyn Strickland (10th District of Washington), and Andy Kim (3rd District of New Jersey) wrapped up their first session in Washington, D.C. Andy Kim will serve a third term this time, while all other representatives are re-elected.
Andy Kim told local voters last week that he had achieved a total of 430 joint bills, 34 single bills and 84 joint bills through last session’s report. In particular, it reported results that 5,634 complaints were handled and a total of $30 million was provided to the district.
At the same time, Kim said, “We have been breathing with residents through a total of 58 town hall meetings over the past two years as promised,” adding, “We will focus on legislative activities to help small businesses receive SBA loans more smoothly and reduce the burden of medical expenses.”
Steel believes that high taxes and threats from China are the biggest challenges for the people of the country and its constituencies, and plans to put her capabilities into the session.
At the same time, Steel says she will help develop related technologies such as “Telehealth” where medical staff and patients can communicate organically so that all citizens can use health programs.
She said, “We attracted a total of $19 million to the district in the last session and solved 3102 out of 3,438 complaints,” adding, “We jointly proposed 216 bills and 23 bills alone to Congress.”
Steel, who has been working at caucus meetings related to Korea and China, has also heralded the activities of transportation, infrastructure, education and labor committees this term.
Young Kim recently sent a message welcoming the National Tax Service’s move to delay taxing online transactions such as Venmo. It is analyzed that it is meaningful to help small businesses and individuals suffering from inflation.
Kim’s side said it has received a total of 3,500 complaints over the past two years and returned a total budget of $17 million to taxpayers in the district. At the same time, 29 bills were proposed alone, and 10 of them were introduced into law.
Kim is currently co-chair of the Korea-U.S. Congressional Union and the Korea Research Group, which is expected to take active steps in making communicative exchanges with South Korea. The focus is whether they will be able to present solutions to intertwined challenges such as electric vehicle support and North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
Marilyn Strickland plans to serve on the Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Defense as she did in the last session. She was also elected Whip of the Congressional Black Caucus. Hakeem Jeffries (New York), a member of the Caucus, was elected as the new Democratic Party floor leader amid a significant increase in the number of black elections in this session.
Choi In Seong
