In the News
“Reintegration should not stop at the airport,” Stevens said, describing Whelan’s experience returning home without a place to live or his former job after five and a half years of lost earnings.
“This is a very solid piece of legislation that brings some dignity to the people who I believe are American heroes.”
Stevens said the goal is to establish “a transparent and objective formula” recognizing the economic consequences of wrongful detention, including time taken away from a person’s career and livelihood.
“When an American is wrongfully detained abroad, we do everything we can to bring them home. Our responsibility cannot end the moment they step back on American soil,” Stevens said.
Whelan said former hostages often return home having lost their income, health insurance, employment, transportation and housing.
“Providing compensation to former hostages is a step in the right direction in supporting their positive and productive reintegration,” Whelan said.
Whelan called the legislation “a huge step forward” in ensuring wrongfully detained Americans receive support after returning home.
“For people like me who have come home after five-and-a-half years, we really don’t have very much. House is gone. Cars are gone. Employment’s gone. No health insurance,” Whelan told CNN.
Stevens said the legislation would ensure Americans who endure wrongful detention have resources to “regain their footing, reunite with their communities, and rebuild their lives.”
By Todd Spangler
U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens is asking the Trump administration to address backlogs in businesses' requests for refunds of import tariffs they paid on levies which were later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In an interview with WJR's Kevin Dietz, Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens blasted President Donald Trump's handling of the war with Iran, accusing the administration of dragging the United States into another Middle East conflict without congressional approval, without briefing lawmakers, and without a clear strategy.
“The bill refunds the estimated tariff revenue collected from these illegal tariffs through direct payments.”
“The goal is for meaningful relief from higher costs that families have been forced to pay over the last year as a result of Trump’s chaos.”
“I think this is owed to the American people and to the people of Michigan.”
Michigan Congress member Haley Stevens is introducing legislation Thursday that would direct the Treasury Department to send rebate checks of up to $1,700 to eligible households to offset the estimated $231 billion Americans paid because of President Donald Trump's tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
While some businesses have received tariff refunds, American families who absorbed higher prices on everything from groceries to manufacturing inputs have received nothing, the release said.
“Yet again, we see this administration abusing power, going way too far in terms of the federal grants-making process. Here in Michigan, we have countless organizations, nonprofits, schools, heck, even sometimes places of worship that are going through the federal grants-making process. “
“They want to say if it doesn’t fit their political purposes, they can stop the federal grant. And it opens up to clawing back money or charging enterprises who have received federal grants from years ago.”
Members of Congress have introduced a resolution, a legislation they say is gonna prevent the politicization of the federal grant process. Joining us live now is Representative Haley Stevens, one of the Members of Congress to introduce the act.
“We’ve seen some continued overreaches from the current administration, particularly out of the Office of Management and Budget. They put together a pretty aggressive, what we call rulemaking, around federal grants that are gonna really impact, what’s really gonna impact Michigan.”