It was a year of federal progress, but there’s still work to do, according to U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, D-12.

Congress in 2015 passed more than one bill with potential to have a positive lasting impact, according to Adams. A number of important issues also await Congress in 2016, she said.

Adams talked to the Salisbury Post this week about 2015 in Congress and looked ahead to the coming year on Capitol Hill. Recapping 2015, Adams talked about a replacement bill for No Child Left Behind, the Keystone XL Pipeline, a trade deal for Pacific Rim countries and the nation’s budget. She also talked about her favorite pick for president, a Democrat.

“I certainly won’t be voting for Donald Trump,” Adams said. “I’m hoping that we can keep some sanity in government. I will be voting for the Democrats’ nominee, and I suspect that is going to be Hillary Clinton.”

Looking ahead to 2016

All members of the U.S. House will be up for re-election in 2016, but Adams said it’s going to be an interesting, busy year in national politics.

In previewing the coming year, she started by focusing on voting rights. Adams said she’s worried about how mandatory voter identification requirements — all voters must present government-issued ID starting in 2016 — might affect the elections. An earlier-than-normal party primary election also poses potential to negatively affect voters, she said.

“I think it’s important for people to understand that this election is closer than it may appear,” she said. “We’re about 70 days out and then there’s a vote. I don’t know if people have grasped that yet. It’s going to take a lot of work to get people educated about what they need to do and when they need to do it.”

Adams said Congress needs to take some sort of action on voting rights and gun control, which President Barack Obama on Tuesday addressed without Congress’ approval by introducing an executive order.

“I think we have come some distance in my one year, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Adams said.

No Child Left Behind replacement

Late in 2015, Congress passed a bill called the Every Student Succeeds Act. The bill passed by a wide margin in the U.S. House.

In a year-in-review email sent to constituents, Adams pointed out a provision in the bill that funds school programs aimed at teaching how to deal with dating and relationship violence. When she talked broadly about the bill in an interview with the Salisbury Post, Adams said it would give the most vulnerable students a chance to succeed.

An increase in local control over curriculum, instead of national mandates, is a part of the bill that’s been heralded by many members of the U.S. House. Adams said local teachers and school system staff often know the most about students’ needs.

“We had that same debate (over local control) in the N.C. House when I was there, and I do think that the people who are on the ground with the children in the school system have a pretty good idea of what’s best,” she said. “I’ve never believed that one size fits all, but I think we have to have a general agreement about what every child needs to know.”

Budget and spending 

For the first time in years, Congress passed a budget on time in 2015. It also passed a transportation bill for the first time in a decade and an omnibus spending bill.

Adams said she hopes the on-time budget sets an example for future sessions of Congress and called short-term funding measures “not even practical.”

“If you don’t have at least some long-term objectives and money, then you can’t really even plan projects,” Adams said. We have to sit down and make sure that we look at long term solutions and some of the problems that we have in our nation to be able to not only look at funding needed but restore some that has been missing for a while.”

Adams said she hopes Congress’ effectiveness in passing a budget and transportation bill also shows America that America’s governing body can work out disagreements.

What if someone asked you what Congress did in 2015?

One final question Adams answered focused on what she’d say to a passerby about Congress’ work in the prior year.

“I would say to them that congress has been very busy trying to make sure we created a budget that addressed the needs of people of all walks of life and all income levels,” she said. “I’d say that Congress was ultimately looking out for the working people.”

She said the federal budget includes a number of programs for veterans and current members of the military.

Adams said Congress tried to bring “some common ground to governance” in 2015.

Contact reporter Josh Bergeron at 704-797-4246.