Editor's note: Click the "LISTEN" button above to hear the full-length conversation. This interview was recorded on Dec. 23, 2024.
Today marks U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee's (D-Flint) final day as a member of Congress.
He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 12 years, most recently serving the cities of Midland, Bay City, Saginaw and Flint as part of Michigan's 8th Congressional District. He did not seek re-election last year following a cancer scare.
Kildee told WCMU he's proud of his accomplishments in Washington. He worked on laws that capped the price of insulin for seniors on Medicare and helped bring manufacturing jobs to Saginaw and Bay counties.
He also helped form a Congressional task force to fight child labor abuses and advocated for stricter regulations on toxic forever chemicals known as PFAS by creating the Congressional PFAS Task Force with U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA).
But he said the moment that stands out the most was when he helped secure $170 million in federal aid to replace lead pipes in the city of Flint during the water crisis.
"I had to deliver for a community that was really in trouble," Kildee told WCMU. "I had both the Democratic leader and the Speaker of the House of Representatives on speed dial to get that deal done, and I knew then why I was in Congress. And I was really happy to be able to come home having delivered that."
During Kildee's final interview with WCMU as a member of Congress, he spoke with News Director Rick Brewer about being a lame duck, how Washington works from the inside, the future of the Democratic party and political discourse in America.
"It's like the whole country is standing in the lobby of a movie theatre trying to have a conversation about the movie that we just saw, and it's not making sense," Kildee said. "They're at odds with one another. It's because they don't realize it was at a multi-plex. We all saw a different movie."
Former Democratic State Senator Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City) will succeed Kildee to represent Flint and the Tri-Cities in the U.S. House of Representatives after defeating Republican Paul Junge in the November general election.
Kildee is set to become the new president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint.
