The Detroit Lions took the first major step in renewing the chase for a Super Bowl trophy this weekend. The team evaluated the latest crop of draft-eligible college talent at the annual NFL Combine.

Players ran through drills and testing to measure their size, speed and strength, while football executives and media alike tried to get a sense of the NFL hopefuls’ character.

Those examining the players included journalist Justin Rogers, founder of the independent publication the Detroit Football Network, which is dedicated solely to covering the Lions. From the combine site in Indianapolis, Rogers says this is the chance for the Lions to decide who could fill the holes in an already solid Detroit roster.

Listen: Lions prowl for new college talent at NFL Combine

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Justin Rogers, Detroit Football Network: They do have several areas of need, both short and long term. I think probably the most pressing is the defensive line. That really pertains to both the edge rushing position opposite Aiden Hutchinson and the defensive tackle position.

When you look at this draft, the Lions are selecting very late in the first round, 28th overall. That creates a ton of variables in terms of what the teams select ahead of you. And your ability to trade up and trade down is a little bit more fluid and easier, as we saw last year with them trading up for Terrion Arnold.

If I was to speculate at this very early stage before free agency takes place and they modify their roster through that means, I think there’s a real high likelihood they do address the defensive line. But the beauty of selecting so late is having that flexibility to go any number of directions. They really can choose the best player available regardless of position, because of the depth of their overall roster.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: There were so many injuries with the defense in particular last year. Do the Lions need just to add depth to that part of the roster, or do they really need to find some kind of a true star difference-maker?

JR: I think you always are looking for stars. But it’s so much easier said than done. There’s a level of projection within that.

The easier thing to do is add depth with high-quality players that have the potential to develop into starters. You’re not likely to have the guaranteed odds of finding a star-caliber player with the 28th pick.

And you look at the injury situation from last season, in many ways it was completely an anomaly. You don’t have that many injuries typically. You certainly don’t have that many injuries on one side of the ball. I don’t think you want to overreact to that, because that is not a situation that is likely to replicate.

You always want depth in a NFL roster. And I think that’s one of the really great characteristics of their current General Manager Brad Holmes. He understands that and seems to constantly be thinking about being prepared for that. It’s why they were able to sustain their play at such a high level last year. Obviously it didn’t end the way people wanted with the playoff loss. But the team won 15 games despite all those injuries. I think that’s a remarkable feat that’s lost because of the way that their season finished.

QK: You talk about overreacting. There were many people, many experts, saying the Lions had a good shot at a Super Bowl last year. And then they had the horrid loss in the first round of the playoffs. You’ve talked to so many players and people in the front office. Do you think that playoff loss will that change anything in their approach to how they build a roster through the draft or elsewhere?

JR: No, I don’t. I think they look at the way they’ve built thus far. Since the current front office has been in place, this team has gone from 3 wins to 9 wins to 11 wins to 15 wins. They have built in a very successful manner.

It is, I think, sustainable, because a lot of their talent is young. They’re doing a really nice job of locking them up to long-term contracts and keeping that foundation in place.

That playoff loss, it was terrible, it was unexpected, it was disappointing. But if you take the longer view you see finally all those injuries caught up to them. They were missing Aiden Hutchinson, arguably the Defensive Player of the Year, had he stayed healthy. They were missing a starting defensive tackle and a starting cornerback. They lost another starting cornerback in the first couple minutes of that playoff game. They were missing a starting linebacker. I mean, they were just missing starters all over the place. And for as much as they were able to kind of keep it together with duct tape and rubber cement through the course of the year, it did catch up to them.

So now they’re going to come back in 2025 and presumably have most, if not all, of those pieces back healthy. And you just expect it to not fall apart like it did last year. There’s always going to be injuries in football. It’s a violent game, it’s just a natural part of it. But to have them to that degree, it’s unlikely to happen again. So you take what you have, add some pieces to it and try to build continually, as you have through the last four years.

QK: Both Detroit’s offensive and defensive coordinators left for head coaching jobs. Losing even one of those people that run one side or the other of the ball could be a bit rough for a lot of teams. Now, you have two new coordinators coming in. Do you see the team adopting a different kind of scheme or looking for a different kind of player in the draft than the Lions have taken recently?

JR: That’s a really good question. A really big point about this is that Head Coach Dan Campbell, as he was replacing those two coordinators, was maintaining a level of continuity.

On the defensive side, they promoted Kelvin Sheppard. He’s been here for the duration of this regime the past four years. He was specifically groomed to be this replacement for the last two seasons. So I don’t expect a whole lot of change schematically there. Everybody sees things just a touch different, so there will be some minor tweaks. But in terms of the grand scheme of things, I think it’ll be very similar.

Offensively they did the same thing. They did bring in an outsider in John Morton. But he’s an outsider that had been with Detroit before. He was here in 2022 and that was a really important year, because that was Ben Johnson’s first year as offensive coordinator, when he was implementing and installing and building-out his offensive scheme. John Morton was kind of a background figure then as a senior offensive assistant. But the word is he had a really, really big role in shaping and implementing things, working directly with quarterback Jared Goff. They brought him back to kind of maintain the continuity of the thing. You look at their offense, the pieces that they have, it would be really, really difficult to screw it up. It just would.

And the beauty of it is, they’re not selecting in the top 10, as many people have gotten used to them doing over the years because they’ve been so bad. You don’t need to have that great player staring you in the face at the very top of the draft. You have the ability to sit there and wait. Your first pick is number 28, you are picking kind of in the heart of the middle of the draft, where these so-called experts believe the depth of the draft is. I think there’s a really nice potential for them to get two, possibly three players that can contribute in spots where they could really use some help as soon as next year.

The Trump administration is issuing a “stop work” order to agencies who provide legal help for unaccompanied immigrant children.

That affects about 26,000 kids nationwide, roughly 800 of them in Michigan.

Some critics say the government-funded legal representation makes it more appealing for children to enter the U.S. illegally.

But the nonprofit Michigan Immigrant Rights Center counters that some of the kids were relocated from Afghanistan or simply fled from dangerous situations in other countries.

The center’s Elinor Jordan says these children often have few options when they face an immigration judge. Jordan spoke with WDET about the stop work order and the ripple effect it will have.

Listen: Michigan group says Trump’s ‘Stop all work’ order puts migrant children at risk

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Elinor Jordan, Michigan Immigrant Rights Center: The bottom line is that this will mean children will be forced to represent themselves in court. This program helps these children reunite with caregivers, helps them access legal protection, helps them seek out protections that are available to trafficking survivors and abuse survivors. And because we’re so specialized, we’re able to provide advocates who are not only legal experts in some of these very complex areas of law but also have the ability to provide the services in a child-centered way. Sometimes that means helping a child understand the concept of a country and a border in the first place. Sometimes that means working with them to identify a stuffed animal that might help them remain calm while they’re being cross-examined. Sometimes that means helping them understand different processes by using cartoon characters to help them see what it looks like. These children shouldn’t be left alone to do this for themselves.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: In your view, is that even possible for children to represent themselves? Especially if they are at a very young age?

EJ: Absolutely not. And unlike in criminal court, in immigration court you’re not provided a lawyer if you can’t afford one. This means individuals must represent themselves, even in what the Supreme Court has identified as some of the most complicated areas of law. It’s challenging enough for adults, let alone children.

QK: Are these children being held somewhere? Are they incarcerated, typically, or are they with families?

EJ: There’s a mix of those. The legal protections that are in the Trafficking Victims Protection and Reauthorization Act require that children be held in the least restrictive setting possible. Sometimes part of our advocacy is ensuring that is the case. And there have been times when part of our advocacy is to ensure that children who have been victimized while being held by the government are able to access the protections they need to heal from sexual abuse while in custody. Part of our role is also to help them reunify with the people that make them feel safest. Maybe it’s a parent, maybe it’s a family member or a community member. But the numbers really bear out that children who are represented by an attorney are able to stay engaged in the legal process and pursue the relief that they’re lawfully eligible for. About 94% of represented children attend their immigration court hearings. So this really supports the process going more smoothly.

QK: Are these typically children that have been in the U.S. for a while or people that have come in more recently?

EJ: At times there are children who have been in the United States and experienced abuse, neglect or something similar. The majority of the children have been encountered near a U.S. border and have been unaccompanied, without any parent or legal guardian, and are placed in the care and custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Some of our work has really been instrumental in reuniting separated families. For example, during the child separation crisis in 2018 we were able to reunify all children who were moved into Michigan after being separated from their parents. That includes a child who was only 10 months old, who was actually the youngest child known to be separated from their parents. Being able to reunite them and stand in that breach is such an honor and something that really must continue to prevent some of the cruelest outcomes in this system.

QK: Your group and all the nonprofits involved were ordered to “stop all work.” But this basically means that they’re freezing the federal funding, right? Are you able to continue on with private funding?

“[The stop all work order puts] us in a very challenging position. It could impact about 80% of our total funding.”

–Elinor Jordan, attorney, Michigan Immigrant Rights Center

EJ: At the moment we are dipping into small reserves of private funding. We are doing our best because we not only have legal obligations but also ethical obligations as attorneys to continue representing our clients. Once we’ve filed paperwork with the court, we can’t simply say, “Oh, I’m not getting paid any longer. I won’t be able to do this.” We will do everything that we possibly can to see that ethical obligation through and uphold the best possible services for our clients. But it does put us in a very challenging position. It could impact about 80% of our total funding.

QK: The Trump administration had charged that the previous Biden administration did not track or protect undocumented children in the U.S, so big changes were necessary to protect migrant children. What’s your view of how this “stop all work” order is going to affect that situation?

EJ: Well, many experts agree that a lawyer is one of the most important protections to avoid children falling through the cracks of the system. We have often intervened to help children who experience abuses while in custody come forward to law enforcement when that occurs. We have often helped address housing needs that come up if they are in a dangerous situation. A lawyer is one of the most critical things to really connect the dots between the various systems that want to prevent abuse of children. Taking away their attorney takes away their voice and allows them to be trafficked, harmed and really intimidated by threats that may or may not have any legal bearing. One of the most common ways that traffickers exert power over their targets is by using fear about the immigration system to intimidate them into silence and prevent them from coming forward to officials. So, taking away a child’s lawyer strengthens the hand of a trafficker.

A group that fought against the Biden administration’s support for Israel is pushing back against President Trump’s recent assertion that the U.S. could take control of Gaza.

Organizers credit the Abandon Biden and Abandon Harris efforts with helping swing the Arab-American vote to Trump.

The chair of the Michigan chapter of the group is Farah Khan. She says Trump’s latest remarks on Gaza are not what he was promoting during the presidential campaign.

Listen: Abandon Harris campaign chair vows to fight Trump plan to take over Gaza

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Farah Khan: When I heard that press conference I was just like, “Oh, my God, I knew that it’s bad, but I didn’t know that it’s going to be this bad this soon.” He should have at least thought it through before saying it. Because he actually won the election by getting all the Muslim votes from the Muslim bloc who voted for him. And then there was a bloc who voted for him out of revenge against Democrats, because they were so disappointed with the Biden-Harris administration. They said, “We don’t want to vote for Biden and we don’t want to vote for Trump. But we will vote for Trump because we want Biden to lose, because we want Harris to lose this bad.” And now it’s like oh, my God, you made all these promises and you are going back on them this soon. You’re showing your true colors right right away.

I knew this was gonna happen. How long and how much more do we have to spend on other people’s wars? I am just disgusted. He said we are going to take over the Gaza Strip and displace those 2 million people to go where? None of the countries want them to begin with. They have been fighting for the past 16 months against this genocide because they don’t want to leave their land. And now we are going to force them out of their land because we want to take ownership of it? This is wrong.

He called the land a symbol of death and destruction. Yes, it is, because we made it into that. I know the Israelis did it but they had the full support of America. Trump always said “America first.” Where is America first in all this? We need to help people uphold their freedom, their right to exist, not destroy them. This is not what America stands for.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: You said you knew that this was going to happen?

FK: Honestly, I did not support Trump. We were going full force against Harris. I knew it would be bad, but I didn’t think that Trump would actually go against his own words. He said he’s going to end war. He’s going to end it by taking the people out of their land? This is absurd. He’s like, “Oh, don’t fight. I’m just going to take them out of their house and you can have the house.” Really? Is this how you end the conflict? My God. We fully reject any notion of ethnic cleansing in Gaza from Trump. Just as powerfully as we organized to defeat Harris, we will do the same to the MAGA Right who decide to foolishly promote ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

QK: You were Chair of the Michigan chapter of the Abandon Harris campaign. As you say, the group said it was leery of the Democratic administration because of its support for Israel. But now you have the Trump administration pushing this move in Gaza which would force out Palestinians, at least it seems on the surface. Do you have any second thoughts now about having pushed the Abandon Harris effort?

FK: Absolutely not. They are the trend-setters, this is their legacy. I have not 1% of regret for that. I would do it again if I had to. And we are going to organize powerfully against the Trump administration if they continue on this path. We told them the Muslim voting bloc actually made sure of your victory. Now you are betraying them, just as the Biden and Harris administration betrayed them, just like the Democrats have been betraying them. You know, who do we go to? We were pushing the third-party concept during the election as well. Why can we not promote good people who are not morally bankrupt to be our leaders?

The Trump administration’s 30-day pause before levying tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico granted a kind of temporary reprieve to Michigan’s auto industry and other businesses.

During the recent campaign, President Trump vowed to help automakers by taxing products made outside the U.S. But some Michigan lawmakers question that approach.

Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens previously served as chief of staff for President Obama’s U.S. Auto Rescue Tax Force. She says she worries whether tariffs will produce the effect Trump says they will.

Listen: Congresswoman Haley Stevens warns that Trump tariffs could crash U.S. auto industry

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Haley Stevens: One of the concerns that we have, and it’s a big one, is does this strengthen the Michigan manufacturing and automotive base? There’s a considerable amount of what we broadly call trade. But it’s imports and exports between the supply chain that exists with our auto industry into Mexico and Canada we’re concerned about.

A lot of times in Michigan we see the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. We can see it as we’re driving down the road in downtown Detroit, if you’re down there for work or a concert or a sports game. People are coming over from Canada to work here, a lot of people here married Canadians and a lot of people have Canadian family. So there’s kind of that personal connection that we have.

But then there’s also the reality of the hundreds of billions of dollars that come from exchanging parts and components. And many here live and breathe the auto industry, are employed by the auto industry or working their tails off at plants and innovating and putting things together.

Plus, it’s not like the Ford Motor Company, for example, just exists as a singular entity that puts together the cars. They have to do long term purchase arrangements. They’re working with thousands of suppliers, many who are in Michigan and the industrial Midwest, and then some who are over the border in Canada.

We lived through the time when there were some massive disruptions to our supply chain because of COVID-19 and we paid a price. Remember all those cars sitting on lots because we couldn’t get microchips?

We’ve got unbelievable employment right now in the state of Michigan, it’s not that people are out of jobs or anything along those lines. But one thing that is so necessary in the auto industry is that they need certainty. They cannot just out of the blue change course because of how these production lines work, how the shipments work, and so on. The General Motors and the Fords of the world and our friends over at Stellantis, they’re looking way down the road. It’s the year 2025, but I guarantee you they’re already talking about models they’re going to make in 2030.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: Some experts said they were worried, if these tariffs would go through at some point, about the potential effect on the economy. Whether it would raise the prices of products, even those made in the U.S., that have to have some parts from Canada. Or companies who use workers from there and might have to make job cuts. Do you think those are realistic possibilities, or do you think that’s being overblown?

HS: Well, President Trump put tariffs in place during his first administration, certainly not on Canada and Mexico but on China. We do need to be tough on China and President Biden kept those tariffs. But according to the Cato Institute, we saw inflation even before COVID hit, we saw prices starting to pick up. So the companies do end up passing the costs down to the consumer.

Now there’s some talk that they would collect those tariffs and use that to pay down our debt and deficit. I’m not totally sure how that would operate, but I know that’s being discussed. That could be interesting, in part because America does have a large amount of debt and we want to be a strong and secure country.

I’ve been working here in Congress for over six years and I know the debt issues preceded my time in the U.S. House and I would like to see them tackled. But what I don’t want to see is the Michigan taxpayer pay more for a car. Cars are already really expensive. I want our automakers to be as competitive as possible. I want the good work and talent that runs through our state to be able to compete and kick butt anywhere in the world.

QK: Trump often seems to operate with this type of style. He’ll sound tough at the beginning and then he backs off and will try to reach some type of a deal. Now they have this pause after he first announced the tariffs. Do you think this is proving to be an effective type of style?

HS: Time will tell. It’s certainly really chaotic. I will say I’m getting a lot of messages from analysts and people I respect and trust in the automotive space, either asking for advice or declaring that we could see plant closures. There’s absolutely a lot of chaos and confusion. And there’s questions on another front of the Trump administration, with regard to what Elon Musk is doing.

QK: What kind of advice do you give them when they ask?

HS: There’s a lot of pressure on Democrats right now to stand up and stop things from happening. That’s going to take some creativity and craftiness of approach, as well as a little bit of the long-term from the legislative standpoint. Sometimes we’ve all got to remember, don’t bury your head in the sand. I have to remind myself of this, because I’ll see these headlines come out about stuff I’m working on and they’re so dramatic. They’re just click bait or trigger bait, designed to trigger you. And it’s not healthy to be constantly in a state of panic, because you’re not in control. But we are in control of our destiny, our future, the grand dialogue of democracy. I’m not giving up and neither should anyone who is nervous right now.

An advocacy group says immigrants in Michigan can take steps to keep themselves from being deported if they plan for the possibility ahead of time.

The Trump administration is conducting a series of raids nationwide, following the president’s campaign pledge to launch a massive effort to deport undocumented immigrants.

That concerns the head of the metro Detroit-based Arab-American Civil Rights League, Nabih Ayad.

He tells WDET that the speed with which federal agents are carrying out the deportations stacks the odds against even immigrants who are in the process of becoming U.S. citizens.

Listen: Nabih Ayad of Arab American Civil Rights League urges immigrants to be proactive, ‘know your rights’

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Nabih Ayad: What protection they have is very little, because the section of the law that the government is using most likely is going to be the expedited removal statute. Basically, they can arrest you, detain you, put you on a plane and get you out of here literally within days. And that’s very dangerous because the officer that’s arresting these individuals does not know the background, does not know the law to a certain degree, does not know if that person has a pending application of some kind of relief. There may be an asylum claim that he or she may be eligible to apply for.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: What do you suggest a person in those kinds of situations should try to do?

NA: They should call our hotline, possibly even before something is happening. Just to know what their rights are, to make sure that they understand they have certain protections under our U.S. Constitution. They may have relief, for instance, if they came to this country and like a lot of individuals, they are afraid to return because they’ll be persecuted or tortured because of their political opinion, background, religion. They can have protections there. They can go ahead and stop the expedited removal and send them through normal removal proceedings where they can adjudicate their application.

Another one is maybe they’re married to a United States citizen, or their wife is about to get citizenship, say, next month, maybe she can apply for them. That could protect them. Maybe they have some litigation pending that could actually allow them to stay here under the expedited removal statute. There’s a number of different forms that possibly are available to them.

QK: It sounds as if things would be happening at such a rapid speed. Is it possible for somebody to take some of the steps you’re talking about while, perhaps, an agent is trying to hustle them out of the country?

NA: That’s the thing, once they arrest you, it’s going to be pretty hard for you to exercise those rights if you don’t know where to call, or the family is not aware who to call. Because it happens so fast, that’s the danger of it. If we step into federal court, it’s going to take us as attorneys a couple days to draw up the complaint for an injunction to stop the government from removing this individual. So it’s always better to act proactive as opposed to post-active.

QK: You are also suggesting that people should carry around with them some identification and other documents?

NA: Absolutely, especially in these circumstances. If you’re not a green card holder, a United States citizen, absolutely have every type of documentation you have to show that you have roots in this community for a number of years. I would ask something that shows at least two to three years, the more years, the better.

QK: Why would that matter that they have roots here?

NA: Because the expedite removal statute, technically, is only to be applied for individuals that just recently came in. Now, if I arrest you as an immigration custom enforcement officer and I don’t know you, I just see that you have no documentation, I can just say you came in last week or two weeks ago. And I can arrest you and put you on a plane, get rid of you. But if I see documentation showing that you’ve been here for a number of years, then the laws are different. Then they have to put you through normal removal process with an immigration court in charge. Which allows you to remain here for a number of years while you litigate that process.

It’s been roughly a week since President Donald Trump officially took office.

And a Michigan Congresswoman is outlining how the new administration could affect her constituents.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell delivered her annual address on the state of her 6^th Congressional District, which includes all of Washtenaw County, part of Wayne County and communities in Monroe and Oakland Counties.

Dingell told WDET there are numerous concerns in the area, and she believes she can work across the political aisle to address them.

Listen: Debbie Dingell on reaching across the aisle, priorities for her district

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell: I think there are very important issues that matter to Downriver communities. Trying to lower prices for everyday families, trying to bring jobs back, protect jobs, keep the auto industry and the steel industry strong. We have to do a lot to rebuild the steel industry. We’re working with the Environmental Protection Agency, the state and the county on clean-up projects. I think that Downriver communities are hidden jewels of the state of Michigan. There is no place more beautiful. I’m very proud of the fact that one of the last actions of the Biden administration was to bring $73 million to Trenton for a railroad project. You know that railroads are critical for transporting the supplies and the materials that are used in the plants that provide jobs Downriver. But those trains can block intersections for a very long time. This particular intersection that is going to be fixed with an overpass is a main thoroughfare to hospitals, a main thoroughfare if there is some kind of emergency. (The late former Michigan Congressman) John Dingell started trying to get this fixed.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: It’s only been the first week of the new administration. But what effect do you think the Trump administration is going to have on your district or on all of metro Detroit, for that matter?

DD: I have made it very clear when it will help the people of my district and the people of the state of Michigan. I’m going to reach across the aisle. I’m going to work to protect jobs, bring down prices, bring supply chains back home, keep a strong auto industry and diversify our industries, But if he’s going to do something that hurts the people of my district or Michigan, I am prepared to stand up and be strong against it. There were a lot of things happening last week. And I think many people’s heads are spinning as we try to understand all of the executive orders that he signed. What disappointed me the most, though, was the fact that there were people that attacked law enforcement officers, that law enforcement officers died on Jan. 6, that they were tasered, that they were almost shot, they were brutally bashed in the head, and that the men who did this were forgiven. That sets a tone for this country that I don’t think is OK. So I hope that we can all work together to tone it down, that we will not say that violence is OK in any circumstance. And I hope that’s not a message that we’re sending across the country.

QK: You were in the Capitol on Jan. 6, correct?

DD: I was. I remember that day very, very clearly. People came that day to kill the Vice President of the United States. They came to do harm to our Speaker of the House. It was so important that I attend President Trump’s inaugural. It shows people that in a democracy the majority speaks, we elect a new president and there’s a peaceful transfer of power between one administration and the next. It is the backbone of our democracy. We have to protect our democracy. What happened on Jan. 6 is that people came to do harm to our democracy, people that were sentenced and convicted of extreme violence. It bothers me that they were pardoned.

QK: Among the flurry of the executive orders that President Trump enacted are some that would help make good on his vow to deport undocumented immigrants. And Congress has passed the Laken Riley Act now, where undocumented people can be detained or deported if they committed theft, as well as some other offenses. What’s your view of what the president’s been doing in this area, and how do you see it impacting immigrants in the metro region?

DD: First of all, we need comprehensive immigration reform. We’ve needed it through Republican presidents and Democratic presidents. And quite frankly, there was a bill that Republicans and Democrats worked together on in the U.S. Senate last year that got stopped simply because Republicans didn’t want there to be a “win” on immigration. Nobody wants to keep anyone in the U.S. that’s a danger to our national security, someone who’s responsible for criminal activities. But we also need to protect due process, that’s one of the fundamental principles in our U.S. Constitution, too. So as we navigate our way through some of the things that are being done, I’ve had prosecutors call and warn me that people who are actually victims of domestic abuse can have their abuser use these laws against them. I just want due process. One of the fundamental principles of our Constitution is due process and that we protect the rights of people.

QK: There’s been some questions about just how well congressional Democrats could work with the new GOP leadership. You’ve already been involved in a couple of bipartisan pieces of legislation, relaunching the house cancer caucus and reintroducing the Take It Down Act concerning deep fake sexual images. It’s only been a week, but how’s the working relationship been with your Republican colleagues?

DD: I have a lot of friends on the other side of the aisle. We’re going to see where all this goes. The first major test is going to be when the budget expires on March 14. The four corners of the appropriation committees, the chairs and the ranking minorities in the House and Senate, have met to begin to discuss potential numbers and potential solutions. I am not going to give billionaires tax cuts. I will not support it and at the same time cut Medicare, Social Security or Medicaid for so many people, for my seniors, for the disabled, for those that need health care. So we’re going to have to see what the next few weeks bring. But there are a lot of issues where there is common ground. I respect my colleagues in the Michigan Congressional delegation. We have a good working relationship, so we’ll see what the next few weeks bring.

QK: You think Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security truly could be at risk this time?

DD: We have seen the memos with plans to significantly cut these programs.