congress Michael F. Doyle Contact information

Mike Doyle is currently serving his fourteenth term in Congress representing the 18th District of Pennsylvania, which includes the City of Pittsburgh and 53 other communities in Allegheny County.

His top priorities include creating jobs and revitalizing communities in the 18th District through economic development and high-tech initiatives, reforming health care, providing better public education, and establishing a comprehensive national energy strategy to curb climate change and create green jobs.

Congressman Doyle serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is one of only four exclusive committees in the House. There he sits on the subcommittees on: 1) Energy and 2) Communications and Technology. Congressman Doyle serves as the Chairman of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee.

Congressman Doyle has been working aggressively on the Energy and Commerce Committee to address climate change through the development of new, more energy-efficient technology and alternative and renewable sources of energy. He has also been working hard on the Energy and Commerce Committee to restore Net Neutrality and promote the availability of reliable, affordable, high-speed broadband internet service for all Americans.

Congressman Doyle is a member in the House Democratic Caucus and the founder and co-chair of the Congressional Autism Caucus, also known as the Coalition for Autism Research and Education (C.A.R.E.).

He is also one of the founders and co-chairs of the House Distributed Generation Caucus, which works to promote the widespread adoption of decentralized power generation technology that is both fuel efficient and environmentally friendly and reduces peak demands on our nation’s over-utilized electricity transmission grid – and he is a member of the House Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Caucus, which promotes hydrogen and fuel cells.

Congressman Doyle also co-founded and chairs the House Robotics Caucus, which works to ensure that our nation remains globally competitive in the field of robotics.

Doyle also serves on several other important Caucuses, such as Steel, Human Rights, and the Internet.

He is a member of the Leadership Pittsburgh Alumni Organization, the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), the Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA), and the Penn State Alumni Association.

Doyle is a graduate of Penn State University, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Community Development in 1975. Prior to serving in Congress, Doyle was a small business owner and the Chief of Staff for State Senator Frank Pecora. Doyle and his wife, Susan, reside in Forest Hills and have four children: Michael, David, Kevin, and Alexandra.

CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS

All Americans – regardless of race, religion, disability, gender, or sexual orientation – are guaranteed equal rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I am deeply committed to protecting equal rights and ensuring that all Americans can pursue their dream. Racism, discrimination, bigotry, hate speech, and hate crimes have no place in our country. We must continue to strengthen anti-discrimination laws and level the playing field for everyone.

Racial Justice

Structural racism is built into our society in countless ways. It will take an organized, sustained effort to address systemic and structural racism, but we must. Until we do, our country cannot fully succeed.

Some policies I am focused on in the 117th Congress include:

• Supporting meaningful criminal justice reform, including: an overhaul of mandatory minimums, commuting sentences related to failed drug policies, and changing the cash bail and punitive court fees that punish poverty more than actual crimes,
• Supporting efforts to close gaps in health care, especially as a member of the Black Maternal Health Caucus,
• Targeting federal dollars at the highest-need communities and supporting minority-owned business.

Voting Rights

Voting is the cornerstone of any democracy, but efforts in the U.S. to disenfranchise minority voters have a long history and continue to this day. We should be encouraging every citizen to vote and making it easier for them to do so.

• I’m an original cosponsor of the Voting Rights Advancement Act which would strengthen and restore the protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that were weakened through the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder.
• I’m a cosponsor of the For The People Act, which would require automatic voter registration, online voter registration, and same-day voter registration; expand early voting; simplify absentee voting; prohibit voter purges that kick eligible voters off the rolls; restore voting rights to people with prior felony convictions; end partisan gerrymandering, and prohibit anyone from providing false information about the elections process that thwarts or discourages voting.

LGBTQ+ Rights

Even after marriage equality was recognized in 2015, LGBTQ+ Americans continue to experience pervasive discrimination and violence.

In the 117th Congress, some of the ways I am supporting LGBTQ+ Americans include:

• Supporting legislation, including the Equality Act, to prohibit discrimination in employment, education, credit, federal funding, housing, and public accommodations,
• Opposing the Trump Administration’s decision to ban transgender Americans from serving in our nation’s military,
• Banning the use of Medicaid funding for discredited, harmful conversion therapy tactics.

Women’s Rights

Women are marching forward to show that their rights cannot be ignored, pushed aside, or debated without their input. I am proud to support legislation that – more than just protecting their equal rights – empowers them to break glass ceilings.

In the 117th Congress, I am supporting women across the country by:

• Demanding equal pay for equal work and supporting legislation that would require employers to prove that any pay disparities in their workplaces exist for job-related reasons alone,
• Advocating for Title X and protecting women’s reproductive health rights, including by repealing the Hyde Amendment,
• Reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and enhancing support for victims of domestic violence, tools for law enforcement, and resources for campus health centers to better identify partner violence and sexual assault,
• Supporting legislation to reopen the ratification process for the Equal Rights Amendment.

CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY, AND ENVIRONMENT

It is clear that climate change is real, it is affecting our communities today, and it will get worse if we do not take aggressive action to cut our greenhouse gas emissions. We are seeing hotter temperatures lead to worse wildfires and draughts, rising sea levels and warmer water cause major flooding and devastation to fishing economies, and more extreme weather events are becoming more common. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is the United Nation’s scientific research body for climate change, has concluded that in order to stave off the worst effects of climate change we must get our economy to net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. This conclusion was the result of thousands of research papers from scientists all over the world. Climate change is truly a global problem, and the United States must be a leader guiding the world to a cleaner energy future and a healthier planet for future generations.

I am working with my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee to have been working with my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee to craft the CLEAN Future Act, legislation that will get us to a 100% clean energy economy by 2050. We have released a draft version of this bill, which addresses most sources of the “greenhouse gases” that are causing climate change, including the 3 biggest sources of emissions in the United States: transportation, the power sector, and industry. Here are the steps I am taking to move us toward a 100% clean economy by 2050.

Power Sector:

• Pushing forward my bill, the Energy Storage Tax Incentive and Deployment Act, to extend the investment tax credit to energy storage, which is key to unlocking the potential of intermittent renewable energy sources like wind and solar,
• Extending tax credits for clean energy sources like wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal,
• Working to support Pennsylvania’s largest producer of clean power, nuclear energy, and to find a solution for safely storing nuclear waste.

Transportation:

• As a member of the Fuel Cell Caucus, I am working to provide strong funding for research programs for promising fuel cell technology, which could be used by heavy duty vehicles,
• Deploying more clean energy vehicles, especially buses so our kids and communities are subject to less air pollution,
• Investing in public transportation, like the proposed Bus Rapid Transit line in Pittsburgh so that we have less traffic and cleaner air.

Industry:

• Funding research that will find the technologies to make our more carbon intense industries cleaner,
• Supporting efforts to research and deploy carbon capture and storage technology as we must find a way to capture and store carbon, even after we stop emitting it,
• Funding programs that would help homeowners and whole cities make their buildings more energy efficient since less energy consumed means not only a cleaner environment but more money in your pocket.

Environment:

Public lands, endangered species, and vulnerable ecosystems all play a vital role in our economy, and in the fight against climate change. We must protect vulnerable habitats and preserve our national treasures. Here are some of the things I am working on in the 117th Congress:

• Protecting public lands, national parks, and monuments from mining and drilling,
• Opposing the expansion of offshore drilling,
• Opposing logging in roadless areas of our national forests,
• Working to permanently reauthorize and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF),
• Protecting endangered species and preserving the planet’s wildlife.

EDUCATION

I believe that education can change lives and make our country a better place. Education creates productive workers who fuel the economy and improve standards of living for everyone. Education is also the engine that drives the U.S. leadership in research, technology, education, health care, and commerce. At the same time, education enables individuals to grow and change their own circumstance.

That’s why I believe that the federal government should be investing heavily in education at all levels, and for all Americans. No American should be denied a high-quality education as a result of financial need or because of where they grew up.

In the 117th Congress, I am working to ensure access to high-quality education by:

• Supporting budget proposals which increase funding for public education and student loan programs,
• Supporting programs which help children from working families to receive a comprehensive education from a young age, including 21st Century Community Learning Centers and Head Start,
• Opposing vouchers which take funding from public schools to send students to private institutions,
• Enhancing and fully funding Title I Grants for Local Educational Agencies,
• Supporting the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Special Olympics,
• Continuing to offer robust student loan and debt forgiveness programs, including Pell Grants, the Federal TRIO programs, and GREAR UP – and fixing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program,
• Supporting Career and Technical Education to ensure students are prepared for employment in high-skill, high-demand jobs that don’t require a four-year college degree.

Pittsburgh is a testament to the power of education to revitalize a community. It is a hub for higher education and knowledge-based industries that are producing significant economic growth, but there are still gaps in educational opportunities that we need to address. I will continue to support education at all ages so that every American can reach their potential.

FOREIGN POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY

In our increasingly interconnected world, the foreign policies carried out by the U.S. Government have an impact on all of us - either directly or indirectly. Our country faces a number of serious foreign policy problems – not the least of which is terrorism. I strongly believe that a thoughtful U.S. foreign policy can save countless American lives – and that it can improve our standard of living.

In the 117th Congress, I’m calling for a strong, smart approach to foreign policy by:

• Pursuing a foreign policy that seeks to bring peace to volatile parts of the globe like the Middle East and Africa and curb the spread of weapons of mass destruction,
• Supporting humanitarian assistance for desperately poor parts of the world and the victims of war and natural disasters,
• Promoting democracy and human rights around the world,
• Continuing to use military force only as a last resort. A policy of consistently promoting such values will benefit our country substantially in the long run.

The most effective means of achieving these goals are usually diplomatic, not military, and involve the US government working with other countries to achieve our international and national security goals.

GUN VIOLENCE

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, more than 36,000 Americans are killed by guns each year, an average of 100 per day. Our region isn’t immune to this terrible trend; the deadly attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh makes that all too clear.

Such a high number of deaths and injuries isn’t inevitable. I firmly believe that there are policies that the federal government can adopt to reduce the number of gun deaths committed in our country each year, and I am working actively in Congress to have them enacted into law.

In the 117th Congress, I am working to end gun violence by pushing for legislation that:

• Enacts universal background checks and closes dangerous loopholes in current law; I am a cosponsor of H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Check Act, and H.R. 1446, the Enhanced Background Check Act, and I voted for both bills when they were considered by the House on March 11, 2021.
• Bans assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, armor-piercing bullets, and other military-grade weapons; I am a cosponsor of H.R. 1808, a bill to ban the sale, transfer, manufacture, and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines
• Prohibits domestic abusers from owning or buying firearms, including non-married partners who are convicted of abuse or stalking.
• Ends the ban on Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducting research on gun violence; I am a cosponsor of H.R. 825, legislation that would end the ban on research on gun-related violence at the CDC.

As a member of the Gun Violence Prevent Task Force, I believe that these are commonsense steps to combat gun violence. I am passionate about ending the epidemic of gun violence in our country, and I believe that all of us in Congress have a responsibility to prevent more of these terrible tragedies from happening.

HEALTH CARE

I believe that all Americans should have access to affordable, high-quality care. As a senior Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, I have spent years in Congress working to make health care in the United States better, more affordable, and accessible to all Americans.

In the 116th Congress, some of the ways that I am working to improve health care for all Americans include:

• Opposing the Trump Administration’s efforts to sabotage the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,
• Supporting legislation to lower the costs of prescription drugs by allowing Medicare to negotiate directly with drug companies to lower the prices its beneficiaries pay (and people enrolled in private insurance plans as well); and bringing generic drugs to market faster,
• Cosponsoring legislation to expand access to Medicare public options, including Medicare For All, which would provide all Americans with a basic health insurance plan that covers medically necessary care,
• As co-chair of the Autism Caucus, continuing my advocacy for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD),
• Supporting legislation to stop surprise medical billing,
• Supporting legislation to increase access to mental health services in all phases of life,
• Helping individuals, communities, and states who continue to battle with substance use disorder and the opioid epidemic,
• Supporting women’s health including reproductive health care,
• Increasing federal funding for research at the NIH, NSF, CDC, and FDA
• Fully funding health programs in the federal budget.

Medicare and Medicaid

Medicare and Medicaid help to provide much-needed financial security and dignity to more than 100 million Americans. Seniors, individuals with disabilities, and working families rely on these programs to access the health care services they need. No American should have to choose between bankruptcy and medical treatment.

In the 116th Congress, I am acting to protecting Medicare and Medicaid by:

• Opposing the Trump Administration’s budget proposals which include cuts to these crucial programs,
• Strengthening and expanding the Medicare program, including new benefits and lower costs,
• Protecting Medicaid Expansion; fighting against states that try to restrict access to Medicaid; and pushing for Medicaid to cover more services including post-natal care for women and home and community-based services for individuals with disabilities.

I will continue to protect the progress we have made in securing access to health care for millions of Americans and support bills that would provide better, more affordable coverage for all Americans.

IMMIGRATION

I believe that the United States has been made great by immigrants and I am proud of our history of welcoming those pursuing better lives. Nevertheless, I know that our immigration system is in desperate need of compassionate, comprehensive reform.

In the 117th Congress, I am working to:

• Protect Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA), Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) beneficiaries by making them eligible for conditional permanent resident status,
• Establish humanitarian standards for the treatment of migrants and asylum-seekers at detention centers,
• Ensuring that employers aren’t gaming the system and ignoring qualified American workers.

I was opposed to the Trump Administration’s misguided and oftentimes cruel immigration policies, and I will be working with the Biden-Harris Administration to reverse:

• Building a wall along our southern border, a misguided approach to national security,
• The Trump Administration’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy, which detains and presses criminal charges against migrants and asylum-seekers at the border;
• The Trump Administration’s family separation policy, which inflicts lasting harm on children,
• The reduction in refugee admissions for those fleeing terror and violence in their home countries.

Democrats and Republicans must come together and work towards a fair solution to our immigration challenges.

JOBS AND THE ECONOMY

Creating jobs and revitalizing Pittsburgh’s economy has been my top priority throughout my service in Congress. I have worked to promote economic growth and job creation across the nation – and especially in southwestern Pennsylvania.

I have secured federal funding for a number of local research and development initiatives - including Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab, the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Institute, the National Robotics Engineering Consortium, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, the National Center for Defense Robotics, the Energy Innovation Center, and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center - all of which have helped transform the region into a job-creating high-tech hub.

In the 117th Congress, I’m working to create a sustainable workforce and boost our economy by:

• Supporting trade policies that would create new jobs in the United States – and opposed trade agreements that would ship US jobs overseas,
• Supporting federal programs that help our economy grow and create jobs – like increased funding to repair and modernize our nation’s crumbling infrastructure and build clean energy facilities,
• Supporting federal education and job-training programs that prepare students for the more complicated and skill-oriented jobs of the future,
• Advocating for more federal funding for scientific and medical research and the development of new technologies,
• Promoting the adoption of advanced manufacturing technology in Pittsburgh and around the country.

I will continue fighting in the House to provide more federal support for such efforts.

LOCAL ISSUES

I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, and I’ve lived here all my life. I love this region, and I’m working in Congress to make life for everyone in our region better and more prosperous.

Much of my work in Congress focuses on legislation addressing national issues – and of course, any legislation enacted by Congress affects the people of Southwestern Pennsylvania along with the rest of the country. Please see below for more information about how I’ve been working to support our region specifically.

SAFETY NET PROGRAMS

Income inequality is at an all-time high across the country. With stagnant wages and federal policies slanted in favor of the wealthiest Americans, working Americans are putting in the hours and failing to see increased opportunities for themselves or their children. I am advocating for programs that are there to provide help when families need it.

Unfortunately, many of these programs have been underfunded and targeted for even more cuts. Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump Administration showed little enthusiams for programs that support the most vulnerable people in our society, like the elderly, the disabled, veterans, children, and working families who can barely make ends meet.

In the 117th Congress, I’m working to ensure that these programs help all of the Americans who need it, including:

• Food assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP),
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), which provide relief to these families,
• The HOME Investment Partnerships Program to help local agencies address their most pressing housing challenges,
• Healthy Start, to support pregnant women and infants, and Head Start to help families with health, nutrition, and education needs.

SOCIAL SECURITY AND RETIREMENT

Every American should be able to enjoy retirement and live healthy, fulfilling lives without worrying about making ends meet.

Social Security is the single largest source of income for people aged 65 and older, and I am dedicated to protecting it and ensuring its survival. Working Americans have paid into Social Security their whole lives, and Congress needs to ensure that the program can meet the demands of a growing population of older Americans who are living longer.

In the 117th Congress, I am supporting Social Security by:

• Cosponsoring the Social Security 2100 Act, which would raise benefits, increase the cost-of-living adjustments, cut taxes for the middle-class, and ensure that Social Security remains solvent,
• Cosponsoring legislation to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) to make sure that people get the full amount due to them,

I will continue to advocate for the future of Social Security, ensuring that this vital program continues to be there to support all Americans.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE INTERNET

As the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, I am very active on issues involving Internet, radio, television, cable, and other telecommunications-related topics. Throughout my time in Congress, I have been especially interested in ensuring that federal policies in this sector truly promote competition and innovation in telecommunications services – and that those polices provide the greatest possible benefit to consumers through newer and better services and lower prices.

I am pleased that my legislation to provide consumers with the resources they need to avoid robocalls was included in S. 151, the TRACED Act, which was signed into law on December 30, 2019.

As I continue to advocate for consumer protections in the 117th Congress, I am calling for changes to our telecommunication policy such as:

• Restoring Net Neutrality by passing my bill, the Save the Internet Act, which would prevent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from blocking, throttling, or charging more for internet access,
• Providing consumers with the resources they need to avoid robocalls by passing my bill, the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act,
• Promoting more efficient sharing of the radio-magnetic spectrum assigned for federal use by passing my bill, the Studying How to Harness Airwave Resources Efficiently (SHARE) Act.
• Detecting cybersecurity supply chain vulnerabilities by passing my bill, the Network Security Information Sharing Act,
• Promoting the deployment of broadband for consumers and businesses in rural, suburban, and urban areas,
• Protecting consumer privacy online.

I am deeply committed to maintaining the Internet as an open platform for competition and innovation. I will continue to lead on these issues.

VETERANS

We can never adequately express our gratitude to our nation’s veterans, but the least we can do is fulfill the commitments we made to them to provide health care and other services they need – and which they earned with their sacrifices for our country.

Just as it is the duty of every member of our armed forces to protect the freedoms and ideals of our country, it is our duty to uphold the promises that we made to our veterans.

I learned first-hand about veterans and their post-service needs from my father – who came back from World War II with a 100 percent service-connected disability. Consequently, since I was elected to Congress, I have worked to do right by our nation’s veterans.

In the 117th Congress, I am working to support our veterans by:

• Strengthening the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide prompt and effective health care services to all our veterans at its facilities, through telehealth, and in local communities;
• Ensuring that veterans with service-connected injuries receive their full benefits by supporting legislation to change current law which prevents veterans from receiving their full disability pay and retirement pay at the same time;
• Increasing job opportunities for veterans with on-the-job training;
• Providing incentives for small businesses to hire unemployed veterans;
• ensuring fairness for veteran-owned small businesses in federal contracts;
• Expanding relief, homeownership opportunities, and refinancing options for veterans;
• Providing overdue disability benefits to more than 150,000 veterans and survivors for exposure to Agent Orange and other harmful herbicides.

Brave men and women have placed themselves in the face of danger to protect our freedoms and liberties. I believe our government must ensure our veterans have access to the healthcare, disability, housing, and other services they deserve.