Rep. Joe Kennedy III says millennial voters will be the defining factor in this year’s midterm elections.
“Regardless of whatever your political leanings are, you got to make your voice heard,” the Democrat from Massachusetts told Cheddar. “Waiting for a politician to try and come around and court you? That's not the way any of this should go. Go out there and demand their voice. Go out there and organize, activate, and demand that you get heard.”
Kennedy, a 37-year-old political scion, delivered the Democratic response to this year’s State of the Union. Some of his speeches have gone viral, and he has amassed more than a million followers across social media platforms.
The congressman says he empathizes with young adults who don’t yet understand how political policies may affect them or don’t act because they’ve “got a lot on their plate.”
But in the same breath he insists millennials go out and vote, warning that future concerns ranging from student loans to the deficit to climate change will all “fall on their shoulders.”
The daunting task of paying back astronomical student loans may soon be less taxing, California Congressman Scott Peters tells told Cheddar Tuesday. Rep. Peters (D-Calif.) has received 99 co-sponsors on his bipartisan Employer Participation in Repayment Act, which would allow employers to contribute to their employees' student loan payments, tax-free.
The shocking rise in teen vaping is a public health crisis that the FDA has been slow to address, according to a nationally recognized cardiologist. Dr. Kevin Campbell, who is also CEO of Pace Mate, a digital cardiac monitoring service, said the recent study from the CDC that linked vaping to a spike in teen tobacco use shows that more serious steps need to be take. The first step? Get rid of the flavored nicotine "pods," which Campbell said are acting as a gateway for teenage beginner vapers to get hooked on nicotine.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2019.
There's a dearth of research to back up the abundance of miraculous health claims tied to CBD ー but that won't stop celebrities from endorsing it. CBD, or cannabidiol, is a component of cannabis or hemp with little to no psychotropic effects. It is purported to have an array of applications to treat everything from epilepsy to anxiety, pain, depression, and sleeplessness. When Congress and President Trump signed the latest version of the Farm Bill into effect, they also legalized hemp, and thereby CBD derived from hemp.
President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are reportedly considering a meeting at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Resort in March to resume trade talks. But whether or not any major developments will result is a toss-up, former State Department Senior Advisor Christian Whiton told Cheddar.
As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Quigley, a Democrat representing Illinois' 5th district ー who worked as a criminal defense attorney before his election to Congress ー said he's focused on the president's finances and foreign investments, like the Trump Tower Moscow project, and how that may have influenced the Trump campaign in 2016.
New York City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer is owning his status as one of the so-called "job killers" trying to chase Amazon out of Queens. "We should fight for jobs, but we should fight for jobs on our terms, consistent with our values," said Van Bramer, who represents New York's 26th district, which includes the Queens neighborhoods of Long Island City, Astoria, Sunnyside, and Woodside.
Sen. Kamala Harris, weeks into her campaign for president, not only acknowledged that she has smoked pot, but said she isn't opposed to federal legalization of marijuana. "I think it gives a lot of people joy and we need more joy," Harris said, laughing, during an interview on the influential hip-hop radio show The Breakfast Club Monday morning.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Feb. 11, 2019.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
