Monday, February 25, 2013
The Minnesota congressman was on a humanitarian trip to discuss the status of Somali refugees and U.S. remittances with the new Somali government.
U.S. Congressman Keith Ellison (DFL-MN) recently returned from a humanitarian trip to eastern Africa. The 5th District representative visited Mogadishu, Somalia and Nairobi, Kenya last week to discuss the status of Somali refugees in the region as well as U.S. remittances. Ellison was the first member of Congress to visit Somalia in nearly three years, on the heels of the U.S. government recognizing the Somali government earlier this year. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, leaders of the new Somali government, the Mayor of Mogadishu, the Somali Chamber of Commerce, the director of the American Refugee Committee and several Somali-Americans from Minneapolis met with Ellison in Mogadishu. From there, Ellison traveled to Kenya to visit …
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
The Fifth District congressman also departed for a visit to Somalia and proposed a solution to the Asian Carp invasion.
As Democrats spar with Republicans in Washington D.C. over solutions to the nation's debt, and the nation frets over looming mandatory cuts to the federal budget, Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) and 107 other lawmakers pressured President Barack Obama to refuse cuts to national social safety-net programs. According to Salon.com , Ellison and members of the all-Democratic Congressional Progressive Caucus issued a letter opposing any reduction in entitlement benefits. The effort was lead by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), although Ellison co-chairs the caucus. The liberal lawmakers are particularly concerned that Democratic leaders will agree to changes in how Social Security benefits are indexed to inflation through a procedure known as the "…
Monday, February 4, 2013
The Fifth District representative also lauded official recognition of the new government in Somalia.
Immigration reform should guarantee same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexual couples, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison said last week. Ellison's statement came in response to President Obama's reform proposal, which does include equal rights for both kinds of families. But extending protections to gay couples is proving politically dicey, according to the Washington Post, and isn't part of a bipartisan Senate plan. Here is Ellison's Jan. 29, 2013 statement in full: “America was founded on the idea of liberty and justice for all. Just like today’s immigrants, our founders came to America to escape oppression and ensure opportunity for their children. It’s long past due our laws live up to our values. The President today laid out a vision for…
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
The 5th District representative liked the speech’s comments on income equality, gay rights and other issues.
Fifth District Rep. Keith Ellison is praising the progressive values he heard in President Barack Obama’s second inaugural address. “As the co-chair of the Progressive Caucus, it is my considered opinion that this was a progressive speech,” Ellison said Monday on The Ed Show. “It was a speech that any progressive could say, ‘That’s what I’m talking about.’ I found myself spontaneously cheering in the middle of the speech. It was the kind of speech that just made me feel really good because it combined our common humanity, combined our need for economic fairness, combined the idea that better days our coming if we will step up to meet them.” Ellison particularly noted the president’s focus on income inequality, programs like Social …
Friday, February 17, 2012
Rep. Keith Ellison and Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken are seeking a balance between helping Somalia and preventing terrorism.
Rep. Keith Ellison and Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken are working with the U.S. Treasury to find a way for Somali-Americans to send money to Somalia without facilitating transfers to terrorist groups. In a conference call Thursday, Ellison noted that money Somali immigrants send to their famine-stricken homeland dwarfs foreign aid from the federal government. “Really no degree of foreign aid can replace the remittances that they’re sending back to their families every day,” Ellison said, estimating that they total well in excess of $100 million annually. “Remittances are a primary way to keep Somalia afloat.” By contrast, the U.S. Agency for International Development reports that it provided $47 million to the country in fiscal year …
Monday, November 14, 2011
The second cultural competency workshop led by the Richfield Community Council and Joint Community Police Partnership was held at Hope Presbyterian Church Thursday.
A crowd of around 70 Richfield and other area citizens silently listened Thursday to Abdimalik Mohamed Askar tell his story of growing up in a refugee camp in Kenya, unable to return to his homeland of Somalia due to the ongoing civil war that has so far killed between 350,000 and one million people since 1991. Explaining the plight of many Somalis who are now living in Minnesota, many of whom are known by their head coverings and modest clothing, Askar said that in a refugee camp you loose everything, leaving only your belief in God intact. “The only thing you go back to is religion,” he recalled from his time in the refugee camp. While his mother and friends went to a separate refugee camp in Ethiopia, Askar was brought as a young …
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mike savick
11:48 am on Tuesday, April 9, 2013
War zones are hardly vacation areas, but if you think so I can give you the locations of US Military recruiters. more ›