Dear friend, The House wrapped up another week of important votes, including legislation to protect marriage equality and the right to access contraception. We also passed a critical government funding package that contains money I fought to include for nine projects here in San Diego. Earlier today, the U.S. Forest Service announced emergency actions to protect the giant sequoias. I am encouraged to see the Biden Administration's actions and thank them for meeting with us to learn more about the Save Our Sequoias Act. This action by the Forest Service is an important and critical step in the right direction. Now we need to go further and pass the bipartisan Save Our Sequoias (SOS) Act. My full response to these latest actions can be found here. Below is another update on the work my staff and I have done recently to serve you.
This Week's Casework Success Story Graciela reached out to my office earlier this month for help with her Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) account. TSP is a retirement savings and investment plan for federal employees and members of the uniformed services. Graciela had requested a loan through this retirement account, but it had not been disbursed due to an inaccurate beneficiary/marital status. After reaching out to the TSP congressional liaison, my staff was able to facilitate a correction on her TSP account, adjust her marital status, and get her the $30,000 loan for which she had been waiting.
Fighting for Our Nation's Small Businesses This week, I also attended the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices program for Small Business Advocacy Day. Nearly 2,500 small business owners from across the country attended and I was able to engage with many small business leaders from California and San Diego. Small businesses are the backbones of our communities and I will keep fighting for their success in Congress.
Increasing Collaboration and Innovation for Carbon Capture and Removal On Wednesday, I participated in the Department of Energy's Carbon Negative Shot Summit. The Carbon Negative Shot is the Department's call for innovation in carbon dioxide removal technology to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and durably store it. This summit convened Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), Sen. Bill Cassidy (LA), industry innovators, environmental and climate justice organizations, labor unions, academia, and many more in order to increase collaboration to advance deployment of commercially viable, and sustainable carbon dioxide removal in the U.S.
Strengthening U.S.- European Relations on Energy and Climate On Thursday, I met with Nicolae ?tefanu?a, Vice-Chair of the European Parliament Delegation for relations with the United States. MEP ?tefanu?a is also Member of the European Parliament Committees on Budget and Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. We spoke about the importance of carbon border adjustments, my proposal with Sen. Chris Coons introduced last year, and America's collaboration with the European Union on energy, climate and security.
If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or need assistance with a federal agency, reach out to us through our website or by calling the district office at 858-455-5550. To stay updated on my work throughout the week, you can also follow my social media accounts by clicking on the icons below. |