First posted on Instagram
Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed has named his top three priorities for his first term in the U.S. Senate: ending the war, scrapping President Donald Trump's tariffs and trade conflict with Canada, and stopping Medicaid cuts he warns could severely damage America's healthcare system.
On the war, El-Sayed says he would pursue a congressional War Powers Resolution to end the war in Iran, which he has called illegal and immoral. At a press conference on November 1, he said the United States is paying for a war it should not be fighting — in tax dollars, and in the price of gas and groceries — and argued that American foreign policy should be oriented around peace, with military assistance aligned with international law.
On trade, El-Sayed wants to end the tariff war on Canada, Michigan's neighbor and largest trading partner. The tariffs have cost Michigan an estimated $23 billion since January 2025, according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. His Republican rival, former Representative Mike Rogers, also raised concerns about the tariffs with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during the campaign and said he would support efforts to override the president on tariffs if it came to that.
On healthcare, El-Sayed warns that Medicaid cuts would be a "nuclear bomb" in America's healthcare system. He has called the Republican tax-and-spending law the single biggest transfer of money from the poor to the rich in American history, and says Medicare for All — the first bill he would co-sponsor in Congress — is the only way to fix a broken healthcare system. More than 130,000 Michiganders lost state Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage, and health premiums soared, after congressional Republicans refused to extend tax credits that helped millions of Americans buy insurance.
The debate around his agenda is familiar. Supporters say the changes would protect taxpayers, healthcare access and congressional authority, while critics say ending the war and reversing tariffs could undermine national security or economic policy, and that Medicaid reforms are needed to control government spending.
El-Sayed, 42, a physician and former Detroit health director and Wayne County director of health, human and veteran services, defeated Rogers on November 3 to win the open Senate seat of retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters, taking 51.8 percent of the vote to Rogers' 46.2 percent. He takes office in January.