page_title: Pramila Jayapal
section_title: Tenure
hierarchical_section_title: Pramila Jayapal / U.S. House of Representatives / Tenure
caption_attribution_description: English: US Rep. Pramila Jayapal
context_page_description: Pramila Jayapal is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for Washington's 7th congressional district since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, her district includes most of Seattle as well as suburban areas of King County. Jayapal previously represented the 37th legislative district in the Washington State Senate from 2015 to 2017. She is the first Indian-American woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district's first female member of Congress, she is also the first Asian American to represent the State of Washington at the federal level.
  Before entering electoral politics, Jayapal was a Seattle-based civil rights activist, serving until 2012 as the executive director of OneAmerica, a pro-immigrant advocacy group. Jayapal founded the organization, originally called Hate Free Zone, following the September 11 attacks. The organization successfully sued the Bush Administration's Immigration and Naturalization Services to prevent the deportation of over 4,000 Somalis. Described by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as "a rising star in the Democratic caucus", Jayapal has been Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus since 2019.
context_section_description: Jayapal is a co-sponsor of legislation intended to make public colleges and universities tuition-free for most families and to significantly reduce student debt. She and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) introduced the Trump Transparency Package, a series of bills aimed at promoting transparency and eliminating conflicts of interest in the Trump White House. Jayapal and her fellow co-chairs of the United for Climate and Environmental Justice Task Force also introduced a package of environmental justice bills to fight the impact of climate change on frontline communities. Jayapal is a supporter of universal healthcare and co-sponsor of Expanded and Improved Medicare For All Act. On April 16, 2018, Jayapal joined Justice Democrats.
  During the inauguration of President Donald Trump, Jayapal met with constituents in her congressional district instead of attending the ceremony. The Nation called her "a leader of the resistance," quoting Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi calling Jayapal "a rising star in the Democratic caucus." In September, Rep. Don Young (R-AK) apologized to Jayapal after calling her "young lady" in an exchange that went viral. Jayapal has described facing sexism from colleagues in Congress.
  Jayapal voted against a House resolution condemning the U.N. Security Council resolution on Israeli settlements built on the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank. In July 2019, Jayapal voted against a House resolution condemning the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement targeting Israel. The resolution passed 398–17.
  On April 25, 2018, 57 members of the House of Representatives, including Jayapal, released a condemnation of Holocaust distortion in Ukraine and Poland. They criticized Poland's new Holocaust law, which would criminalize accusing Poles of complicity in the Holocaust, and Ukraine's 2015 memory laws glorifying Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and its pro-Nazi leaders, such as Roman Shukhevych.
  In February 2019, Jayapal sponsored and introduced the Medicare for All Act of 2019 along with more than 100 co-sponsors. The bill would create a publicly-financed comprehensive, universal and guaranteed health care insurance system for every resident of the U.S. The bill represented the continuation of the long-term campaign by progressives in the U.S. Congress to introduce a system of guaranteed health care 
  In April 2019, after the House passed the resolution withdrawing American support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Jayapal was one of nine lawmakers to sign a letter to President Trump requesting a meeting with him and urging him to sign "Senate Joint Resolution 7, which invokes the War Powers Act of 1973 to end unauthorized US military participation in the Saudi-led coalition's armed conflict against Yemen's Houthi forces, initiated in 2015 by the Obama administration." They asserted the "Saudi-led coalition's imposition of an air-land-and-sea blockade as part of its war against Yemen’s Houthis has continued to prevent the unimpeded distribution of these vital commodities, contributing to the suffering and death of vast numbers of civilians throughout the country" and that Trump's approval of the resolution through his signing would give a "powerful signal to the Saudi-led coalition to bring the four-year-old war to a close".
  In June 2019, Jayapal became the first South Asian American woman to preside over the House.
  In December 2019, Jayapal introduced a bill in US Congress to urge India to lift curbs on communications in Kashmir. These curbs were introduced as part of revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019. Later in December 2019, the Foreign Minister of India cancelled the meeting with US lawmakers citing inclusion of Jayapal on the invitee list. The bill has seen no movement since its introduction in US Congress.
  On January 20, 2020, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jayapal officially announced her endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders for President of the United States in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries.
  Jayapal supports decreasing U.S. military spending. Jay
caption: Jayapal's freshman portrait
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