LegiStorm

Monday, December 29, 2014

Carl Levin has spent his career in the Senate fighting for a better future for Michigan and America. He has fought for Michigan manufacturing and the working families who depend on it for their livelihoods, and to make sure that America leads the world in innovation and technology for decades to come. He has fought to make sure we have the strongest military on earth, protecting us from today's threats and preparing us for tomorrow's – all while projecting the values we hold dear. He has fought to ensure that we keep the faith with our troops and their families, and that as the arsenal of democracy, Michigan’s manufacturing and engineering expertise help keep our country secure. He has fought for a government that protects taxpayers and upholds high ethical standards, a government that puts consumers and average families ahead of privileged interests. He has fought to preserve Michigan’s national wonders and cultural heritage, and for a society that honors the Founding Fathers' vision of a nation that recognizes all of us are created equal.

Building an economy that lasts FOSTERING INNOVATION
1992: Authored legislation establishing federal support for the Pentagon's STARBASE program, which connects military volunteers with elementary school students interested in science, math and technology. The program began at Michigan’s Selfridge Air National Guard Base.

Since 2000: Secured more than $1.7 billion in research, development and other funding for advanced vehicle and energy research at Detroit Arsenal in Warren.

2002: Secured $2 million for Detroit’s NextEnergy for a fuel cell demonstration project.

2007[, 2011]: Led efforts to include in the defense authorization act legislation to reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research program, which helps promote innovative solutions from small U.S. companies to meet pressing government needs.

2007: Led development of the American Manufacturing Initiative, a plan to embark on a Manhattan Project-level effort to revitalize American industry.

2009: A leader in the effort to secure $2 billion in grants to manufacturers of advanced battery systems and electric power train components. $1.3 billion in grants eventually went to Michigan companies.

2009: Worked with Senate colleagues to secure additional Recovery Act funding for Department of Energy loan guarantees in the clean energy sector, and to secure $2.3 billion in the Recovery Act for manufacturing tax credits to promote investment in renewable energy, energy storage and other advanced energy technologies.

2009: Worked with Michigan colleagues to secure $12 million for research and conceptual design of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University.

2014: Successfully sought passage of full funding for MSU’s FRIB project, ensuring that construction could begin on schedule.
SUPPORTING THE AUTO INDUSTRY
1990, 1992, 1996, 2002, 2003, 2005: Led bipartisan efforts to prevent radical, overly stringent, and impractical increases in CAFE standards

2007: Led efforts in Congress to develop a structure and appropriate mechanisms for new fuel economy standards for vehicles to lower our dependence on foreign oil and decrease greenhouse gas emissions without harming U.S. manufacturers and auto workers.

2008: Worked with congressional colleagues and the administration to secure funding to provide up to $25 billion in federal loans for manufacturers and suppliers for retooling of manufacturing facilities in the U.S. to produce advanced technology vehicles and their component parts.

2008, 2009: Worked with congressional colleagues and the administration to ensure that the federally supported restructuring of the domestic auto industry preserve U.S. manufacturing jobs, including securing commitments for small-car production in the United States.

2009, 2011: Worked with the Obama administration, the domestic auto industry and workers in 2009 to develop a fair and reasonable single, national standard for vehicle fuel economy. The standards agreed to for 2012-16 will reduce reliance on imported oil, protect the environment, and give automakers the certainty and predictability they need to continue their rebirth.   This agreement also laid the groundwork for agreement in 2011 on a fair and reasonable approach to new fuel economy and greenhouse gas regulations for model years 2017-2025 that will push forward innovations and new technology without sacrificing jobs in the U.S.
FREE AND FAIR TRADE
1984: Secured passage of a sense of the Congress resolution expressing Congress' position that continued Japanese restrictions against U.S. products would result in responsive action by the United States.

1996: Won passage of an amendment to the  Sub-Saharan Africa Free Trade Act linking  labor standards such as child labor, collective bargaining and use of coerced labor to nations’ ability to qualify for enhanced trade benefits.

2000: Helped win passage of the Levin-Moynihan amendment to a bill enhancing trade with the Caribbean that requires consideration of labor standards in member countries before extending to them enhanced trade benefits.

2010: Successfully urged the Obama administration to launch an investigation into China's policies unfairly limiting U.S. exports in the clean-energy sector.

2010-2011: Helped press the Obama administration to insist on improved market access for U.S.-made vehicles in U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement, resulting in critical changes to the agreement helping to improve the one-way street for trade in autos between the two nations. 

2011: Helped lead the successful fight for Senate passage of legislation to stop unfair currency manipulation by trading partners that costs American jobs.
FIGHTING FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS
1987: Commissioned a survey showing that when asked how best to reduce the deficit, Americans by a 3-to-1 margin preferred to leave the top tax bracket at 38.5 percent rather than reducing it to 28 percent as proposed.

1991: Introduced Corporate Pay Responsibility Act, increasing transparency of executive compensation and giving shareholders more say in executive pay.

1995: Gained Senate approval of legislation co-sponsored with Senate Majority Leader Dole establishing strong work requirements for welfare recipients.

1995: Successfully fought for a 90-cent increase in the minimum wage.

2003-2009: Co-sponsored and fought for the Employee Free Choice Act, which would have given American workers more freedom to choose to organize and bargain collectively in the workplace.

2001, 2002: Succeeded in a decade-long effort to ending Federal Prison Industries’ monopoly on government contracts, ensuring that private companies can compete for federal contracts.

2011: Championed a seven-point tax reform and deficit reduction plan, focused on ending offshore tax abuse, closing corporate and Wall Street tax loopholes and ending tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans that would increase tax fairness, reduce the deficit by $1 trillion or more over 10 years, and preserve important priorities from national security to education to public health and safety.

2012-2013: Introduced versions of the Cut Unjustified Tax Loopholes Act, or CUT Loopholes Act, which would close unjustified corporate and individual tax loopholes in order to cut the deficit while protecting national security and important domestic programs such as education, law enforcement and public health and safety that American families depend upon.
PROMOTING SMALL BUSINESS
2003: Authored legislation establishing the Small Business Intermediary Lending Pilot Program to help small businesses grow and create jobs. Renewed in 2007.

2010: Helped win enactment of the HIRE Act, which provided new tax incentives to help businesses add workers and provide tax relief for small businesses.

2010: Authored provision of the Small Business Jobs Act creating a $1.5 billion program, modeled after two successful Michigan programs, to support state and local programs that spur small-business lending and help small businesses create jobs. Since the program’s enactment, Michigan has been among the states receiving the most funding.
INFRASTRUCTURE BUILT TO LAST
2007: Secured a 50 percent increase in funding to maintain Great Lakes navigation, including dreging projects, breakwaters and locks.

2007-2009 - Secured statutory language that authorizes the Corps of Engineers to construct a new replacement lock at the Soo Locks at full federal expense; helped secure over $30 million in funding to start construction of this new lock.

2009-2011: Authored legislation allowing private funds to be used as local matching funds to qualify for federal investment in Detroit's M-1 light rail project. Legislation allowed this innovative public-private partnership to bring light rail service to Southeast Michigan to go forward.

2010: Helped secure $200 million in grants to help bring high-speed rail service to Michigan.

2011: Secured passage of legislation expressing the sense of the Senate that funds from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund should be spent as intended on reducing the nation's huge backlog of harbor maintenance projects.
Providing for the common defense MEETING 21st- CENTURY THREATS
2002: Sponsored an alternative to the Iraq war authorization that would have promoted a multilateral approach to disarming Iraq, preferably peacefully, rather than the unilateral, pre-emptive approach that produced a decade-long war that quickly lost public support.

2001-2013: Supported the authorization for the use of military force in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and ensured full funding for our troops in harm’s way in Afghanistan and elsewhere. In trips to Afghanistan, in consultations with military and administration leaders and in Congress, led efforts to build capable Afghan security forces so that Afghan troops could assume responsibility for their nation’s defense.

2004: Authored several amendments in committee and on the Senate floor to strengthen bipartisan reform of the U.S. intelligence community.

2011, 2012: Played a leading role in enactment of powerful new sanctions against Iran's financial sector aimed at pressuring the Iranian regime to give up its nuclear weapons program peacefully.

2014: Led congressional efforts to oppose action that would derail attempts to peacefully resolve the nuclear dispute with Iran.
HONORING OUR TROOPS AND THEIR FAMILIES
2000-2013:  Helped enact legislation to significantly increase the pay and benefits of service members, including pay raises above the Employment Cost Index for most of the decade.

2000:  Helped enact legislation authorizing TRICARE for Life, providing heathcare coverage for Medicare-eligible military retirees and their families.

2003:  Helped enact legislation extending TRICARE health care coverage to members of the Guard and Reserves and their families.

2003, 2004, 2008:  Helped enact legislation eliminating an unfair requirement that reduced military retirement pay for disabled retirees. 

2004: Helped enact legislation authorizing reimbursement to troops and their families for purchases of body armor and protective equipment in the face of equipment shortages, and to increase funding for purchase of armored vehicles and protective gear.

2006, 2013:  Helped enact strong consumer protections for service members and their families against predatory lenders.

2007: Played a leading role in enactment of the Wounded Warrior Act, which improved health care and benefits for recovering veterans , expanding research and improving treatment of traumatic brain and eye injury and post-traumatic stress, and streamlined the transition for service members from the military to the Veterans Administration health care systems.

2008:  Helped enact legislation authorizing earlier retirement pay for reservists and national guardsmen who volunteered to serve on active duty in support of the war.

2014: Helped pass legislation to prevent cuts to military retirement benefits.
MICHIGAN, ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY
Since 1990: Secured more than $630 million for more Michigan military construction projects statewide.

1993: Led efforts to charter the Army's National Automotive Center, a Michigan-based hub for innovation in ground vehicle research.

1995: Led successful efforts to reject Pentagon recommendation to close portions of Selfridge Air National Guard Base.

2005: Succeeded in the Base Realignment and Closure process in rejecting the Pentagon’s recommendation to close Kellogg Air National Guard Base, and in adding more than 1,000 new jobs at Detroit Arsenal through establishment of a Joint Center of Excellence for Ground Vehicle Development and Acquisition.

2007: Secured funding for establishment and construction of a new Ground Systems Power and Energy Laboratory at the Detroit arsenal to draw on Michigan engineering expertise in developing advanced energy technologies for military vehicles.

2010: Supported efforts to secure a proposal to build the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship at the Marinette Marine shipyard on the Wisconsin-Michigan border, ensuring jobs for more than 1,000 Michigan workers.

2010: Supported proposal by the University of Michigan and other institutions to create the Navy's Naval Engineering Education Center, designed to increase number of students graduating with degrees in science or engineering and create world-class faculties specializing in naval engineering.

2011: Led efforts to create the Advanced Vehicle Power Technology Alliance, an effort co-led by the Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center in Warren, to better coordinate the ground vehicle research and development efforts of the DOD, Department of Energy, industry and academia, authorized by language Sen. Levin included in the defense authorization act for 2011.

2012: Led efforts to defeat an Air Force proposal to retire Air National Guard aircraft based at Selfridge Air National Guard Base.
FIGHTING PENTAGON WASTE
1981: At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, forced Pentagon officials to acknowledge up to $1 billion in potential additional costs for the B-1 bomber program not previously disclosed to Congress.

1983:  Helped enact legislation establishing an independent Director of Operational Test and Evaluation at the Department of Defense, to ensure that the Pentagon pursues a “fly before you buy” policy for major weapon systems.

1984: Authored legislation approved by the Senate to fight enormous over-payments by the Pentagon for spare parts and tools, such as the $9,600-a-piece cost for a 12-cent Allen wrench.1987: Authored legislation that helped prevent the Reagan administration from implementing its wasteful and destabilizing “Star Wars” space-based missile defense system.

1989: Authored legislation approved by the Senate requiring the maker of the B-2 bomber to forgo profits if the plane was defective.

1990: Led an investigation that discovered an Air Force contract to pay $668,000 each for 173 fax machines, authored legislation directing the Pentagon to use products that are already available, instead of trying to design its own substitutes.

1992-1994:  Led an investigation of wasteful inventory practices at the Department of Defense, including 1,000-year supply of certain parts, authored legislation to introduce more efficient practices and save money by eliminating unnecessary purchases of spare parts. 

1994:  Played a leading role in the enactment of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act, which simplified the government procurement system and helped eliminate wasteful government-unique requirements.

2001, 2002, 2007:  Authored legislation addressing wasteful practices in DOD’s management of its contracts for services, introducing improved competition and better buying practices that have helped save billions of dollars.

2007:  Helped enact legislation addressing abusive and wasteful practices in wartime contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

2007:  Helped enact legislation to improve financial management at the Pentagon by establishing Chief Management Officers for the Department of Defense and each of the military departments.

2009: Played a leading role in passage of defense authorization legislation that terminated several unnecessary or wasteful programs, including the F-22 fighter, dubious missile defense programs and two expensive helicopter programs.

2009: Authored and secured passage of the Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act, which addresses systemic problems leading to exploding costs and poor performance in major weapons programs.

2011: Led an Armed Services Committee investigation that discovered a troubling pattern of counterfeit electronic parts in key weapons systems, most of which were traced to China. Authored and successfully fought for legislation requiring tighter inspections and vigilance by the military and contractors to stem the flow of counterfeit parts that threatened key systems and harmed U.S. companies and workers.

2011: Part of a bipartisan effort that questioned the strategic and financial soundness of massively expensive plans to reorient the basing of U.S. forces in the Pacific and helped to enact legislation postponing spending until the plans can be reviewed and validated.
A DEFENSE WORTHY OF OUR VALUES
1985: After traveling to the Philippines, was one of a handful of senators who called on the Reagan administration to withdraw its support for Ferdinand Marcos, calling the move the best way to potect U.S. Military interests in the Philippines.

1990: Led efforts to send a bipartisan letter, signed by 73 senators, to Secretary of State Baker opposing any reduction of aid to Israel or Egypt as harmful to Middle East peace and to maintaining U.S. Alliances.

2005: Fought successfully for enactment of legislation by Sen. John McCain to prohibit cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody.

2008-2009: Led an 18-month investigation into treatment of detainees held in U.S. custody that uncovered how techniques designed to prepare U.S. troops for potential torture and abuse in enemy captivity were used on detainees, a plan approved by senior officials that violated standards dictating humane treatment in interrogations that regularly produced inaccurate intelligence.

2009:  Authored legislation that re-wrote the Military Commissions Act to ensure that coerced testimony could not be used in military commission trials of detainees.

2009: Led Armed Services Committee investigation that found some U.S.-funded private security contractors had funneled taxpayer dollars to Afghan warlords and criminals and to Taliban and anti-coalition groups.

2013-2014: Supported passage of legislation that reformed the military’s handling of sexual assault cases. 
Making government work FIGHTING FOR ETHICAL, EFFECTIVE GOVERNMENT
1979: Chaired a Senate subcommittee hearing on Congress' failure to adhere by the same anti-discrimination and worker protections it imposed on other employers, one of the first congressional examinations of the subject.

1987: Fought Reagan administration efforts to gut the law providing for appointment of an independent counsel in cases of possible executive branch wrongdoing.

1988: Helped fashion landmark legislation that for the first time established effective rules restricting lobbying by former members of Congress or top staff.

1988: Authored and won passage of legislation establishing the Office of Government Ethics as an independent agency and strengthening its authority to oversee ethics compliance.

1989:  Authored and won passage of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989, which ended the practice of Members of Congress accepting lavish honoraria for public speaking engagements.

1989-1991: Led a Governmental Affairs oversight subcommittee investigation that found lobbying disclosure rules were so full of holes that only a fraction of lobbying spending by six major defense contractors was disclosed.

1995: Authored and won passage of legislation to reform and strengthen lobbying disclosure laws,  enact meaningful ethics reform by curbing gifts to senators or staff, and ensure public disclosure of efforts by paid lobbyists to influence policy..

2010: Supported Wall Street reform legislation that eliminated the Office of Thrift Supervision, a federal financial regulatory agency whose lax and conflict-ridden oversight of Washington Mutual Bank, revealed by Sen. Levin’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, enabled the reckless mortgage lending that sparked the financial crisis.

2012:  Helped secure passage and drafted provisions of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act to ensure that members of Congress and their staff are prohibited from abusing their positions for their own financial gain.

2013: Led a bipartisan effort that crafted a historic reform of Senate rules and procedures to rein in abuse of the filibuster.
ROOTING OUT WASTE AND PROTECTING TAXPAYERS
1984:  Co-authored and helped win enactment of the Competition in Contracting Act, which has saved billions of dollars by substantially increasing the level of competition for government contracts. 

1987-1988: Led investigation of Wedtech Corporation, which revealed White House intervention in contracts awarded to an unqualified business that used the funds to enrich its owners.

1988:  Led investigation of improper use of inside information to obtain federal contracts, helped enact the Procurement Integrity Act to address the problem.

1988-1989: Introduced and won passage of the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, landmark legislation which for the first time offered government employees protection from retaliation when they expose waste, fraud or abuse.

2003: Led a year-long investigation into abusive tax shelters designed and marketed by banks, accountants, lawyers and investment advisers, concluding with a 125-page report showing how such shelters cost honest taxpayers billions of dollars.

2003-2012: Conducted a series of investigations and issued detailed reports on how U.S. multinational corporations and individuals took advantage of offshore secrecy laws, tax loopholes and tax haven jurisdictions to avoid hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes, increasing the deficit and the tax burden on working families and businesses. Introduced a series of bills to crack down on offshore tax secrecy and corporate loopholes.

2003: Won Senate adoption of Levin-Reid amendment to prohibit federal contracts for companies that re-incorporate from the United States to a tax haven for the purpose of avoiding U.S. taxes.

2008: Released data showing that companies taking advantage of the stock-option loophole had claimed  tax deductions for $61 billion in expenses not reflected in their accounting statements. Use of this stock-option loophole amounts to a taxpayer subsidy of lucrative executive compensation through stock options.

2012: Helped secure enactment of legislation to strengthen the Whistleblower Protection Act.

2012-2013: Held a series of hearings and issued reports on how three multinational companies – Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and Apple – used a series of questionable loopholes to avoid millions of dollars in taxes.

2013: Led an Armed Services investigation into millions of dollars in questionable spending on overseas military bases.

2013: Introduced legislation to eliminate corporate tax loopholes that would prevent more than $220 billion in tax avoidance.

2014: Held a hearing and issued a report on how a Swiss bank had allowed thousands of U.S. customers to avoid paying U.S. taxes, raising the tax burden on American families and businesses.

2014: Introduced legislation to prohibit corporate “inversions” – the practice of companies shifting their tax address overseas to avoid U.S. taxes – and to prohibit federal contracts for inverted corporations.
OPPOSING DICTATORS AND INTERNATIONAL CRIMINALS
2001: Authored anti-money laundering provisions in the Uniting and Strengthening America Act that combat use of the U.S. financial system for illicit transactions that enable terrorism, money laundering, drug trafficking and international organized crime.

2004: Helped lead an investigation of the United Nations Oil-For-Food Program that outlined corruption and mismanagement undermining UN sanctions against Saddam Hussein's regime.

2004: Led an investigation that found U.S. banks and regulators failed to stop transactions enabling money laundering, corruption and misconduct by foreign dictators.
Keeping families safe, healthy and prosperous PROTECTING CONSUMERS
2006-2009: In a series of hearings, exposes abusive practices by credit card companies including deceptive marketing, excessive fees and penalties, retroactive interest rate hikes and penalties for bills that consumers paid on time. In response to those findings, a number of credit card companies voluntarily reformed their practices, and a number of Levin anti-abuse provisions were included in the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act signed into law in 2009.

2008: Wins passage of legislation eliminating the “Enron loophole,” which exempted many commodity trades from federal regulation, allowing excessive speculation that increased the price of food and energy for American consumers.

2010: Strongly supported passage of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, authoring key provisions of the legislation. Helped author and secure passage of Merkley-Levin provisions to protect consumers by restricting risky financial bets that endanger the stability of taxpayer-insured institutions and of the economy, and to prohibit the kinds of conflicts of interest in financial markets that helped bring about the financial crisis.

2014: Held hearing and issued report exposing how conflicts of interest in U.S. stock markets meant profits for financial institutions at the expense of investors – including pension funds and university endowments.
EXPOSING CORPORATE WRONGDOING
2002: Led Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in the most extensive probe ever conducted of Enron, exposing the collapsed energy company’s enormous fraud, conflicts of interest, tax evasion and excessive speculation that led to the companies collapse and did tremendous damage to shareholders and workers.

2010-2011: Held a series of hearing and produced an in-depth, 600-page report on the causes of the financial crisis, outlining how reckless mortgage lending, shoddy regulatory oversight, conflict of interest in credit ratings and abuses by investment banks helped combined to cause the worst recession in generations. Hearings helped establish a factual basis for the need to pass the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

2013: Issued a bipartisan report on how top executives at JPMorgan Chase recklessly disregarded risk limits in placing bets that resulted in billions of dollars in losses, raising questions about whether Wall Street learned the lessons of the financial crisis.
PROMOTING SAFE AND HEALTHY FAMILIES
1996: Authored and won passage of legislation steering $500 million over six years to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

2000, 2006: Authored and helped win passage of bipartisan legislation that made treatment for heroin addiction available to more patients.

2007: Helped secure passage of legislation to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research to help find life-saving cures and treatments for deadly and debilitating medical conditions.

2007: Authored and won passage of legislation clearing the way for thousands of live-saving organ transplants by eliminating a decades-old hurdle in federal law that prevented “paired” organ donations.

2014: Held a Washington, D.C., forum exploring how medical treatment could help fight the epidemic of heroin and opioid addiction.
Preserving natural and cultural treasures FIGHTING FOR CLEAN AIR, WATER AND LAND
Since 2000: Secured more than $70 million in funding to combat invasive species such as Asian carp and sea lamprey.

Since 2000: Secured more than $700 million in funding for Great Lakes environmental and infrastructure projects.

2006: Helped secure Senate passage of legislation to stop importation of Canadian waste without screening for chemical, nuclear, biological and radiological weapons threats. Passage helped pressure the Ontario government to agree to stop shipments of municipally managed waste by 2010.

2007: Secured passage of legislation strengthening defenses against migration of harmful Asian carp into the Great Lakes.

2007 – Secured an authorization of $35 million for a statewide environmental infrastructure project to correct combined sewer overflows (CSOs) in Michigan. 

2008 – Helped lead an effort to pass the Great Lakes Compact and the Great Lakes Legacy Act, legislation critical to conserving and restoring the Great Lakes.  Senator Levin continues to press for legislation to restore the Great Lakes by pressing for passage of the Great Lakes Ecosystem Protection Act.

2009: Helped secure $475 in funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

2010: Authored and secured passage of the Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act, which prohibited importation of bighead Asian carp without a permit.

2011: Secured passage of legislation authorizing emergency measures to prevent invasive species from migrating from the Mississippi River basin to the Great Lakes.

2013: Led a bipartisan group of Great Lakes senators introducing the Great Lakes Ecological and Economic Protection Act, which would formally authorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
PRESERVING MICHIGAN’S NATURAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGE
Since 2000: Secured more than $18 million in funding for Detroit River waterfront restoration.

Since 2000: Secured more than $30 million in funding for Michigan federal parklands.

Since 2000: Secured millions of dollars in funding to preserve and improve the Detroit River waterfront

1992: Won passage of the Keweenaw National Historical Park Establishment Act, setting up the Upper Peninsula tribute to Michigan's Copper Country heritage.

2000: Won Senate passage of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, authored with Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, to aid the transfer of historic lighthouses, which are no longer being used for their original purpose, from the government to nonprofit historical organizations.

2006-2009: Introduced and eventually secured passage of legislation including the River Raisin battlefield, site of an important battle of the War of 1812, in the National Park System.

2012: Won Senate passage of legislation designating thousands of acres of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore as protected wilderness.

2014: Introduced legislation, built on the success of Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, clearing the way for additional marine sanctuaries in the Great Lakes.
Building an America for all Americans
1984: Secured passage of a “sense of the Senate” resolution calling for an end to the practice of “redlining,” determining a consumers credit-worthiness based on their neighborhood, a practice that leads to racial and other forms of discrimination in mortgage lending.

1994: Co-sponsored the Employee Non-Discrimination Act, which would bar discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation.

2009: Secured passage of the Matthew Sheppard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, offering protections against crime motivate by color, religion, disability, gender or sexual orientation.

2010: Fought for inclusion of language repealing “don't ask, don't tell” policy in the National Defense Authorization Act for 2011, holding a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in which the nation's top military office called for repeal, and later fought successfully for passage of stand-alone legislation repealing the policy, ensuring that no American must serve their nation while concealing part of their identity or in fear of being kicked out because of who they love.

2011: Co-sponsored the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal law that prevents federal recognition of same-sex marriages.

All official press releases from Former Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)