U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes opens up about her hopes for new session of Congress
As she embarks on an already-turbulent start to her second term in a closely divided Congress, U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes says her goals in public service haven't changed — she'll always focus on helping everyday people.
"The well connected and wealthy, they'll be fine," said Sykes, D-Akron, "but I'm constantly fighting for people who are struggling, who don't have anything."
In an interview Wednesday at the Beacon Journal, Sykes said a constant refrain she heard from voters throughout her past two campaigns was concern about how to stay afloat financially in the face of rising costs. And she has reintroduced a bill, the Lower Your Taxes Act, that aims to address those anxieties.
The legislation would expand access to two tax credits: the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Credit.
Her bill "reinstates the Child Tax Credit we saw during COVID, with direct funding going to individuals that helped eliminate child poverty by almost half when it was fully instituted. It was money that parents could use and decide how they wanted
to use the resources," she said. "These were direct dollars going to them to either help pay rent, help pay for energy costs, school supplies, prescription drugs — whatever it was they needed for that family."
She called Congress' failure to reinstate that funding "devastating."
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is "the most effective antipoverty program that this country has seen. Sykes said. "It encourages work and allows people who work to get a tax credit for it."
The bill removes the EITC's age limit so that people can begin receiving the credit at 18 instead of 25. It also allows those older than 65 to access the credit.
The act would raise taxes on corporations to pay for the measure because, she said, those corporations shouldn't be paying lower taxes than firefighters and teachers.
She said elected officials opposing that funding measure would have to decide who they work for: the wealthy and well connected, or their constituents.
Sykes also spoke about how she planned to address other issues facing the 13th Congressional District, which includes all of Summit County and parts of Portage and Stark counties.
Emilia Sykes seeks to give aspiring homeowners leg up in housing crunch
One of the biggest issues fueling the housing crisis in Akron is lack of supply, said Sykes. She explained how the housing market crash of 2007-2008 fueled the current housing shortage.
"Essentially, because banks were so afraid to lend because of so many bankruptcies, they stopped lending," she said. Because banks wouldn't take the risk, developers couldn't build.
It's a problem "20 years in the making," she said, and to solve it requires lenders willing to take risks on developers, as well as developers willing to do the work and government efforts she's supported to boost those projects.
Sykes said she's particularly concerned with companies buying housing stock and turning it into rentals, disrupting one of the major ways that people build generational wealth. She said that there was a bill introduced last cycle aimed at stopping predatory practices like those that she's working to introduce again.
Congresswoman remains hopeful for a new approach to policing
In the aftermath of the Jayland Walker's death at the hands of the Akron Police Department, Sykes called on the United States Department of Justice to come to Akron to conduct a patterns and practices investigation into the department.
She said she was frustrated that the department did not move quickly to act on her request under former President Joe Biden. Even through President Donald Trump has outlined plans to curtail a host of DOJ functions, she said such an investigation might still be a good idea — but it's too soon to know how the new administration would receive it.
"We'll reach out to them and ask them what resources they have available," she said, adding that she believes everyone, residents and officers, wants to walk away unscathed from interactions with each other.
Sykes said she's "somewhat" familiar with Akron Mayor Shammas Malik's proposed use-of-force review that is being considered by City Council. She said she's supportive of Malik's efforts, and is ready to help where she can.
"I think the use of force is a good place to start, but I think that it is going to require a much more comprehensive, deeper dive to mend and build those relationships," said Sykes.
She said she'd work to reintroduce a bill that would shift funding from the DOJ into deescalation training in police departments nationwide.
Immigration policy, raids are creating chaos, Sykes says
Sykes said the country's current problem with immigration is a result of a decades-long failure for anyone to adequately address the issue.
Trump killed a bipartisan border bill and then ran on the issue, she said.
The recent, highly publicized Immigration and Custom
s Enforcement raids won't solve the problem, she said. It will take an act of Congress.
She said people should be concerned about the raids because, "just like we saw with the funding freeze, this is all very chaotic. I don't know if the administration even knows how they're carrying things out, how they're targeting people; we don't know, so people should be concerned."
Sykes said her office will be sharing "Know Your Rights" tip sheets in several different languages with her constituents.
Sykes says threats to cut project funding would hurt Akron
Though the order was rescinded less than 24 hours after it was to have taken effect, Trump's executive order freezing the disbursement of federal grants cast a shadow of uncertainty on several projects in Akron, including the Innerbelt revitalization project and Polymer Industry Cluster.
Sykes said any move to interfere with federal funds already allocated by Congress would be especially hurtful for the Innerbelt transformation plan, which aims to restore community pride and opportunity in a once-vibrant and primarily Black section of the city where home and business owners were cleared out to make way for a now-decommissioned section of the downtown freeway.
And putting a halt on Polymer Industry Cluster funds would stifle economic opportunities and punish employers that have already expanded their workforces in anticipation of increased support, she said.
Community engagement is congresswoman's 'aggressive' focus
Sykes said she held a telephone town hall Tuesday about the Social Security Fairness Act that was well attended. These calls are something she said she tries to do every other month.
A team assembled by Sykes also holds Congress in Our Community sessions that constituents can attend and fill out casework, taking the required documents to them so they don't have to go downtown or muddle through online.
Sykes said social media is a big way she engages with constituents, as are town halls held around the district and school programs, like her Girls in STEAM program.
She said she's working "very aggressively" to visit the entire district and show people that she's there to help.
"We're working very aggressively to be in all corners of the community so people see that we are here, that we are here to help
At a recent trip to an elementary school to answer kids' questions, Sykes said they asked her how she could make life better for people through reduced grocery costs and how she can make sure people have a place to live.
"I think that so many people are just focused on the wrong things in this job," she said, "and when I have a bunch of fourth and fifth graders asking me lower costs for their family — they didn't ask me for toys, they didn't ask me how they can get to Disneyland; they wanted food, housing, stability and to care for their communities, and that's our focus, that's my focus.
"I'm going to put my attention there," Sykes said. "that's where my attention will always be, and whatever role allows me to do that I will seek it if it makes sense."
By: Derek Kreider
Source: Akron Beacon Journal