Friends, 

I hope you enjoyed our Telephone Town Hall on Monday with Dr. Harmon and Dr. Scheurer. It was great to speak with you all, and we will do another town hall soon!

150th Anniversary of Joseph Rainey

Saturday was the 150th Anniversary of the swearing in of Joseph Rainey, the first African American Member of the U.S House of Representatives and one of fourteen Black Representatives elected before the end of the Reconstruction in 1877.

Joseph Rainey was born into slavery in Georgetown in 1832. His father was a barber and used his earnings to buy freedom for himself and his family, including Joseph. Later, during the Civil War, Joseph was drafted by the Confederacy, but he escaped to Bermuda with his wife and started a business. In 1866 he returned to Georgetown, South Carolina where he became the county’s Republican Party Chairman. Just a few years later in 1870, he was elected to Congress where he served until 1879 making him the longest serving African American Member of Congress in the nineteenth century.

Joseph Rainey fought tirelessly for civil rights, education, and economic opportunity for all. He has left behind a legacy that will never be forgotten.

You can learn more about him here.

I also introduced a bill, along with all members of the South Carolina Delegation, to rename the Georgetown Post Office after Joseph Rainey.

Additionally, I co-sponsored a bill with Speaker Pelosi, Leader McCarthy, and Majority Whip Clyburn to name room H150 in the US Capitol after Joseph Rainey. You can read more about this here.

E-QUIP Act

Wednesday I introduced the Energy Efficient Qualified Improvement Property (E-QUIP) Act with Rep. Brad Schneider. 

The E-QUIP Act creates a new tax code category applying to improvements in commercial buildings and multifamily buildings. It would streamline the existing cost recovery patchwork by offering a uniform, straight-line 10-year cost recovery period for "high performance" building systems and equipment.

The E-QUIP Act is an important step to further simplifying the tax code for real estate owners and incentivizing investment in more efficient energy technology. E-QUIP installations will lead to lower energy costs and reduced greenhouse gas emissions while also spurring construction, design, and maintenance jobs.

This will help our country compete, drive down energy prices, and remove barriers so that our country can reach its full energy potential. Most importantly, it will be a positive change that will benefit thousands of South Carolinians.

Covid-19 Relief

I, along with 32 of my colleagues, sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi, Leader McCarthy, Leader McConnell, and Leader Schumer to ask for a bipartisan, bicameral COVID relief package and vote before the end of the 116th Congress. Families and businesses are suffering, and we need to support them.

You can read the letter here.