{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.peters.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-senator-peters-leads-annual-motorcycle-tour-across-michigan", "ICYMI: Senator Peters Leads Annual Motorcycle Tour Across Michigan", "2024-08-28", "2024", "2024-08", "Democrat", "Senate", "MI", "Gary C. Peters", "P000595", "www.peters.senate.gov", "garypeters", "https://www.peters.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "DETROIT, MI \u2013 U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) led his annual motorcycle tour across Michigan this month to hear firsthand from Michiganders and highlight ways he is delivering for Michigan communities. Peters\u2019 \u2018Kalamazoo to the Soo\u2019 tour made stops in Kalamazoo, Wyoming, Traverse City, Sault Ste. Marie, Grayling, and Sanford. In total, Peters rode more than 800 miles across Michigan on this year\u2019s tour, and was joined by veterans, motorcycle safety advocates, union workers, and constituents. Peters is an avid and long-time motorcycle rider who founded the bipartisan Senate Motorcycle Caucus.\n\nWWMT CBS 3 Kalamazoo: Michigan Sen. Peters champions workers\u2019 rights on 800-mile motorcycle tour\n\n\u201cSen. Gary Peters (D-MI) has once again hit the road in his annual Motorcycle Tour across Michigan.\n\n\u201cSpanning about 800 miles, the ride helmed by Peters, an avid motorcyclist, looks to \u2018underscore the need to protect workers\u2019 right to collectively bargain for the wages, benefits and job security they deserve,\u2019 according to organizers.\n\n\u201cStarting at Kalamazoo\u2019s IBEW Local 131 Wednesday morning, Peters met with union workers and retirees to hear their concerns and what the U.S. Senate should be addressing.\n\n\u201c\u2018The ride across Michigan that I do every year allows me to see firsthand what\u2019s happening in communities across the state, how federal investments are making a difference,\u2019 Peters said. \u2018It\u2019s a great opportunity to be out to talk to folks, and as an avid motorcyclist, as I do these meetings across the state, if I have to go from point A to point B, why not do that on a motorcycle,\u2019 Peters said. \u2018I\u2019m blessed to be joined with a lot of other folks who enjoy your motorcycling as well as we travel across the state.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhen asked what it takes to have a strong middle class in Michigan, Peters explained there needs to be a \u2018strong union movement,\u2019 citing that approval ratings for unions are the highest they\u2019ve been since 1965.\n\n\u201c\u2018People understand that being a part of a union is important for wages and benefits, and the ability to retire with dignity, and what we also see is that when unions are successful in their organizing drives, and then their collective bargaining and raise wages, that raises wages for everybody in the community as well,\u2019 Peters said.\n\n\u201cHe continued, \u2018We saw that with the UAW strike. UAW was very successful last year and what happened after the strike, other companies raised their pay because they needed to compete with those higher wages. That\u2019s why unions are so important. That\u2019s why it was important for me to start this tour here and hear directly from these union members who talk about what the union has done for them and their families.\u2019\u201d\n\nWMUK 102.1 FM Kalamazoo: Senator Peters kicks off Michigan motorcycle tour in Kalamazoo\n\n\u201cMichigan Sen. Gary Peters and other riders took off from a Kalamazoo union hall Wednesday morning to begin his ninth annual state motorcycle tour.\n\n\u201cGary Peters rolled up with a posse of cyclists early Wednesday morning. But he wasn\u2019t just there to show off his bike, he was there to talk about unions and other topics he plans to highlight on his Michigan tour.\n\n\u201cPeters calls this year\u2019s ride from Kalamazoo to Sault Sainte Marie the \u2018Zoo to the Soo.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018The ride across Michigan, that I do every year, allows me to see firsthand what\u2019s happening in communities across the state, how federal investments are making a difference, as well as just hearing from folks as to concerns that they have.\u2019\n\n\u201cBefore he began his journey across the mitten, Peters spoke to a crowd at the Kalamazoo Branch of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. During the speech, Peters touched on the topics he planned to address during the tour.\n\n\u201cOne major focus was the importance of unions, which Peters said were key to a strong middle class.\n\n\u201cJonathan Current is with the IBEW. He said Peters\u2019 pro-union message will be especially important for rural areas.\n\n\u201c\u2018If you're a small-town worker, knowing that you have that right and how to how to protect it, that they're representatives out there, like me, who you can come and ask questions to on how to organize and how to hold a vote. That's essential.\u2019\n\n\u201cIn addition to Kalamazoo and Sault Sainte Marie, Peters will stop in Wyoming, Sanford and Traverse City.\n\n\u201c\u2018I always say, if I have to go from point A to point B, why not do that on a motorcycle,\u2019 Peters said.\u201d\n\nWXMI FOX 17 Grand Rapids: Senator Peters embarks on 2024 motorcycle tour around Michigan\n\n\u201cSen. Gary Peters set off on his annual motorcycle tour around Michigan Wednesday. He is expected to ride around 800 miles this week.\n\n\u201cThe tour began in Kalamazoo, and the National Guard\u2019s Grand Valley Armory was one of his first stops. Peters raised close to $26 million last year to help the National Guard Bureau modernize its armories throughout the state. The goal is to ensure their facilities are equipped to support female National Guard members.\n\n\u201c\u2018Back when these facilities were designed, women were not part of the National Guard,\u2019 says Peters. \u2018Now they represent nearly 20 percent, and in order to retain members as well as to recruit women into the service, it\u2019s important to make sure that they have facilities that are equal to everyone else who is in the building.\u2019\u201d\n\nClick HERE to watch more.\n\nWPBN NBC 7&4 Traverse City: Senator Peters visits Traverse City to see progress of FishPass Project\n\n\u201cSenator Gary Peters was on day two of his annual motorcycle tour Thursday, and he made a stop in Traverse City to see the progress of the FishPass Project.\n\n\u201cThe project will replace the Union Street Dam and reconnect the Boardman River to Grand Traverse Bay. Once it's complete, FishPass will sort and pass desirable fish through the dam and keep invasive species out.\n\n\u201cSenator Peters highlighted the benefits the project will have on the Great Lakes\u2019 ecology and fisheries.\n\n\u201c\u2018Right now, you\u2019re seeing the economic development of this construction and dollars coming in. But in the long run, to make sure that the Boardman River continues to be vibrant and healthy is just a tremendous value,\u2019 Senator Peters said.\n\n\u201c\u2018This is also going to be a research place for scientists to understand Great Lakes fisheries and it's going to be a learning place where students and others can come and visitors can come to see and learn more about the Great Lakes,\u2019 Senator Peters said.\n\n\u201cSenator Peters has secured $6.4 million in funding for the project.\u201d\n\nClick HERE to watch more.\n\nWLUC NBC 6 Marquette: Senator Gary Peters visits Soo Locks as new lock project continues\n\n\u201cU.S. Senator Gary Peters visited Sault Ste. Marie Thursday afternoon as part of his annual motorcycle tour of the state.\n\n\u201cPeters arrived in Sault Ste. Marie around 2:30 p.m., joined by 25 other riders.\n\n\u201cThis is Peters\u2019 ninth year for his annual state-wide motorcycle tour. He visited the Soo Locks for a tour and update on the $3.2 billion project that would build a new Soo Lock. Peters, who is on the Senate Appropriations Committee, helped secure $450 million for that project.\n\n\u201cIf the budget is approved, the project can then begin phase three. Peters says there\u2019s a strong chance the funding will come through.\n\n\u201c\u2018I was able to insert it into the appropriations language, certainly there was some give and take behind the scenes but, we basically put it in the package and it was passed unanimously out of committee, so that bodes very well for us to get it through the Senate as well as to get it through the House and get it signed into law,\u2019 Sen. Gary Peters, (D) Michigan, said.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen trying to get funding for the Soo Locks project, Senator Peters explained there was a study done by the Department of Homeland Security that showed if the locks were shut down for any reason, it could negatively impact the entire U.S. economy.\n\n\u201c\u2018They did a study to look at what the impact would be if for some reason the Locks were shut down, perhaps a terrorist attack or some other event that shut it down, what would that mean for the whole economy, and as a result of that study, they said within a matter of two or three months the U.S. economy would be severely impacted and shortly thereafter you could actually see the economy go into a recession,\u2019 Peters said.\u201d\n\n\u201cPeters began this year\u2019s statewide tour in Kalamazoo.\u201d\n\nClick HERE to watch more.\n\nSoo Leader: Sen. Gary Peters tours the Soo Locks expansion project\n\n\u201cSen. Gary Peters (D) visited the Soo Locks Thursday as part of his 9th annual motorcycle trip across Michigan.\n\n\u201cHe was joined with around two-dozen other riders, including veterans, union workers, motorcycle safety advocates and constituents. The tour around the state started Wednesday in Kalamazoo and took him to Sault Ste. Marie Thursday afternoon.\n\n\u201cPeters, who is on the Senate Appropriations Committee, helped secure $450 million for the Soo Locks expansion project in the fiscal year 2025 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act.\n\n\u201cIf passed into law, the funding should allow the Army Corps to award construction for Phase III.\n\n\u201c\u2018This is clearly a national security, national economic security issue,\u2019 Peters said. \u2018They did a study to look at what the impact would be if for some reason the Locks were shut down, perhaps a terrorist attack or some other event that shut it down, what would that mean for the whole economy, and as a result of that study, they said within a matter of two or three months the U.S. economy would be severely impacted, and shortly thereafter you could actually see the economy go into a recession.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018It\u2019s why we need the redundancies in the Locks and why we need to make sure these Locks are able to operate efficiently and know that the country is relying on them doing that.\u2019\n\n\u201cPeters said that legislatures understand the importance of getting the funding to finish the project.\n\n\u201c\u2018I was able to insert it into the appropriations language, certainly there was some give and take behind the scenes but, we basically put it in the package and it was passed unanimously out of committee, so that bodes very well for us to get it through the senate as well as to get it through the house and get it signed into law,\u2019 Peters said.\u201d\n\nWNEM CBS 5 Flint: Motorcycle tour promotes Sen. Gary Peters\u2019 natural disaster bill\n\n\u201cSen. Gary Peters rolled into Sanford Friday afternoon, Aug. 9, in style on his motorcycle along with a host of other riders right beside him.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s another year of Kalamazoo to the Soo and this year, Peters is also promoting a special bill that would see a simpler process for people to sign up for federal disaster assistance.\n\n\u201cWhat better place to stop than a community still trying to recover after a massive flood, caused by the Edenville and Sanford Dam failures, four years ago.\n\n\u201c\u2018Shows that they\u2019re paying attention to us, because I keep raising my hand and saying small towns need more help with this whole process,\u2019 said Dolores Porte, the Village of Stanford president.\n\n\u201cPeters ending his cross-state motorcycle tour in Sanford on Friday, highlighting a bipartisan bill that could help those affected by natural disasters \u2013 a bill that could pique the interest of many in the Sanford community.\n\n\u201c\u2018Imagine yourself a homeowner, you just had your house destroyed, you need help from FEMA and other agencies, the last thing you want to be doing at that time is filling out a whole bunch of, sometimes, complicated questionnaires,\u2019 Peters said.\n\n\u201c\u2018That application process is grueling,\u201d said Porte. \u2018If you say FEMA to anyone, that\u2019s what they talk about is how horrible the application process is.\u2019\n\n\u201cA process that Peters is pushing to streamline. He\u2019s promoting his Disaster Assistance Simplification Act.\n\n\u201cIt would establish a universal application process across all agencies, speeding up how soon resources could get to victims of natural disasters.\n\n\u201c\u2018Right now, there are a number of federal agencies that can be there to help someone, and yet every single agency requires you to fill out an application,\u2019 Peters said.\n\n\u201cThe President of the Midland Business Alliance, Tony Stamas, said a bill like this could really make the difference for small communities trying to rebuild.\n\n\u201c\u2018Whether it\u2019s an individual, whether it\u2019s businesses, whether it\u2019s organizations, having that assistance and having it in timely manner is just really critical,\u2019 said Stamas.\n\n\u201cFour years removed from the flood that devastated several communities in mid-Michigan, supporters of Peters\u2019 bill are optimistic about its chances being signed into law.\n\n\u201c\u2018We\u2019ve got a bill that\u2019s passed out of committee, it\u2019s gotten passed out of the Senate, and we\u2019re hoping to get it signed by the President as soon as we can,\u2019 Peters said.\u201d\n\nClick HERE to watch more.\n\nWJRT ABC 12 Flint: Senator Gary Peters stops in Sanford to highlight disaster relief bill\n\n\u201cPeters started his ride in Kalamazoo, then made stops in Wyoming, Traverse City and Sault Saint Marie before concluding his tour in mid-Michigan.\n\n\u201cWhile at Sanford Village Park, he talked about the need to pass the bipartisan Disaster Assistance Simplification Act of 2023, of which he is a sponsor.\n\n\u201cHe said it would help improve the process of applying for federal disaster aid to support communities suffering from floods and storms.\n\n\u201cSanford and nearby communities were devastated by dam breaks and catastrophic flooding in 2020.\u201d\n\nClick HERE to watch more.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:36:13Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.peters.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-senator-peters-leads-annual-motorcycle-tour-across-michigan"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6661742702126503, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}