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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Ted Lieu (33 District of California)

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) joined Congresswoman Laura Friedman (CA-30) and fellow members of the California delegation in urging the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to reverse its decision to not conduct soil testing in areas impacted by the wildfires. Testing the soil for toxic contaminants helps to ensure the safety of residents returning to their communities following the fires. Representatives Lieu, Friedman (CA-30), Barragán (CA-44), Brownley (CA-26), Garcia (CA-42), Rivas (CA-43), Sherman (CA-32), and Whitesides (CA-27) urged FEMA to take measures to ensure that wildfire survivors are not returning to unsafe and toxic environments.

In the letter, the Members write:

Dear Acting Administrator Hamilton,

Thank you for your continued work to support wildfire recovery and clean up throughout greater Los Angeles. As of February 26, FEMA has approved over $78 million in assistance to eligible Los Angeles County residents impacted by the wildfires.1 FEMA’s continued partnership and coordination with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has been critical in recovery efforts.

Additionally, we are grateful for the work of the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s (AQMD) expanded air monitoring efforts in the Eaton and Palisades Fire areas.2 As debris removal may cause hazardous dust and ash to become airborne, robust monitoring for airborne toxins is critical to protecting public health. We urge FEMA to partner with local agencies to conduct additional, comprehensive, region-wide monitoring for airborne toxins that may be disturbed by debris removal or transfer.

While we believe the ongoing efforts to monitor hazards are crucial steps forward, we write to express serious concern with FEMA’s recent decision to not conduct soil testing in fire affected areas following cleanup.3 Follow up soil sampling has been standard procedure after nearly every major wildfire in California for the past two decades. This decision also contradicts the steps taken by FEMA following the devastating fire in Lahaina, where FEMA conducted additional soil testing for toxic contaminants.

Comprehensive soil testing is essential to ensuring the safety of wildfire survivors returning home. During the cleanup of the 2018 Camp fire, which tragically destroyed the town of Paradise in Northern California, soil testing was conducted on nearly 12,500 properties. Of these, more than 4,000 properties still had toxic chemicals in the soil, including lead and arsenic. The residents of greater Los Angeles should be informed of any potential toxins in the soil as they navigate the complicated recovery process. Wildfire survivors deserve to return to safe, toxin-free properties. In order to ensure the health and safety of the residents of the greater Los Angeles area, we are requesting responses to the following questions:

1. What steps has FEMA taken in previous wildfires, like those in Paradise and Lahaina, to ensure the soil is free from toxic contaminants?
2. How can FEMA confirm that removal of 6 inches of topsoil, without further testing, is sufficient to ensure that unsafe levels of toxic chemicals are removed?
3. Has FEMA conducted any preliminary soil testing in fire-impacted areas in the greater Los Angeles area?
4. What factors were considered in FEMA’s decision to not conduct additional soil sampling in the areas impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires? How does this decision compare to previous action taken in California following major wildfires?
5. Did FEMA participate in conversations with local public health agencies before deciding to not conduct additional soil testing?
6. Without FEMA’s assistance, what options do wildfire survivors have to ensure the soil surrounding their properties do not contain deadly contaminants? What is the average cost of this testing?
7. What are the requirements for state, local and individual property owners to be reimbursed for soil testing costs? How does FEMA determine whether results are clearly attributed to fires?

These wildfires have cause heartbreaking loss for thousands of people, and we urgently request a

comprehensive response from FEMA to the above questions. Thank you for your consideration

of this request and we look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Ted Lieu (33 District of California)

WASHINGTON- Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) issued the following statement after Congressman Raúl Grijalva passed away. 

“I join our entire caucus in mourning the loss of a Democratic titan, Raúl Grijalva. A lifelong champion of progressive values, Congressman Grijalva served his community and our country for decades and was an influential leader and a valuable voice among House Democrats. In his roles on the House Natural Resources Committee, including his tenure as Committee Chair, Congressman Grijalva used his influence to advance causes that put environmental justice front and center. He fought to hold oil companies accountable for spills, to act aggressively on climate change and to expand our country’s land conservation efforts, among many other important causes. I join his family, friends, colleagues and constituents in mourning this tremendous loss.”

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Ted Lieu (33 District of California)

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Ted Lieu (33 District of California)

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) issued the following statement after the passing of Congressman Sylvester Turner, U.S. Representative for Texas’s 18th District. 

“I am deeply saddened by the passing of Congressman Sylvester Turner. He was a true public servant. Congressman Turner was an exemplary leader in Houston, and a rising star in Congress. His constituents were lucky to have someone as smart, passionate, and motivated as he was. It is tragic that he was just beginning his Congressional career but Houstonians were the longtime beneficiaries of his decades of service as a Member of the Texas House and then as Mayor of Houston. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and constituents as we mourn this tremendous loss.”

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Ted Lieu (33 District of California)

WASHINGTON – Today, Congress Ted W. Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) announced that his guest for President Donald Trump’s Joint Address to Congress will be Shannon Whaley, Ph.D., Director of Research and Evaluation at PHFE WIC. PHFE WIC, a program of Heluna Health, is the largest nonprofit WIC nutrition network in the United States, serving more than 190,000 low-income individuals each month in Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties. 

WIC is a special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which provides health foods at no-cost to families and caretakers of babies and young children who are nutritionally vulnerable. WIC also benefits farmers by encouraging participants to enjoy fresh, unprepared, locally grown fruits and vegetables. Nearly 80 percent of families served by WIC also benefit from healthcare coverage provided through Medicaid. 

“Shannon and her colleagues offer vital services at PHFE WIC that help meet the nutritional and health needs of vulnerable women and young children throughout our community,” Rep. Lieu said. “WIC relies on federal funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide healthy and nutritious foods to babies, toddlers, and their mothers. The vast majority of WIC beneficiaries also receive Medicaid. Together, WIC and Medicaid help to ensure the baseline needs of these vulnerable populations are met. Shannon’s work underscores how important federal funding is in helping to make our community nourished and healthy. Indiscriminate cuts to Medicaid and other vital federal funding will have a devastating impact on those in need of help, including the people that PHFE WIC serves. I am pleased that Shannon is joining me for the Joint Address so that we can uplift the stories of WIC recipients and underscore how vital federal funding is.”

About Dr. Whaley: 

Shannon E. Whaley, Ph.D.,is the Director of Research and Evaluation for PHFE WIC, a program of Heluna Health.  PHFE WIC is the largest local agency WIC program in the nation, serving over 190,000 women, infants, and children every month with healthy food, nutrition education, breastfeeding support and linkages to health care. Dr. Whaley’s expertise is in the planning, development and evaluation of programs designed to optimize the healthy development of children and families served by WIC. During her 26 years with WIC, her work has spanned a broad range of topics including childhood nutrition and obesity, promotion of early literacy for low-income children, and the impacts of nutrition education, breastfeeding support and the WIC food package on WIC participants. Her research team demonstrated that for every $1 invested in WIC, taxpayers save $2.48 in later health care expenditures, and her current work is focused on documenting the positive impacts of the important efficiencies brought to the WIC program during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Dr. Whaley served on the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Committee to Review the WIC Food Packages (2014-2017) and continues to focus on how WIC services positively impact not only the health outcomes of the women, infants and children served by the program, but the economic stability of surrounding communities.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Joe Courtney (2nd District of Connecticut)

David Axe’s comment piece on the Aukus security agreement published recently was inaccurate in several respects. I welcome the chance to offer a more accurate account of this extraordinary security agreement. 

Last March, when the three heads of government from the US, Australia, and the UK gathered at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego California, they laid out the “Optimal Pathway” to execute Aukus’ goal: strengthen deterrence from Chinese coercion in the Indo-Pacific by accelerated strategic technology sharing amongst the three nations. The centerpiece of this arrangement is the commitment to share nuclear propulsion technology for the Australian Navy’s submarine fleet, which needs recapitalisation. For the US and UK, this amounts to the first such enterprise since 1958, when the US Congress modified its ban on nuclear technology transfer, known as the McMahon Act, to enable the British Navy to build its nuclear-powered submarines. 

Axe was correct to note that under the Optimal Pathway, the first Australian built submarines won’t launch until the late 2040s, based on that nation’s underdeveloped submarine industrial base, particularly in the domain of nuclear power. All three countries explicitly recognize that given the age and condition of Australia’s Collins-class submarines, there needs to be a plan to provide Australia with new submarine capability until it is able to build its own boats. 

Here’s where Axe loses the thread. 

He incorrectly claims that US Virginia-class nuclear subs will be “based” in Australia starting in 2027 as part of the bridge. Wrong. Both US Virginia and British Astute-class submarines will begin regular rotations to Perth, Australia starting in 2024. They will not be “based” there or homeported there, but rather will be doing regular, persistent joint patrols there as part of a new Submarine Force West. The difference is not semantic. These allied submarines are not replacements for the Collins vessels, rather they are a significant undersea force multiplier to the Indo-Pacific region.

Next, Axe got it wrong on the next phase of Aukus, namely the transfer of US Virginia subs to Australia in the early 2030s. He strangely characterized the transfer as a “lease” and, even worse, a “giveaway” which is false. The Optimal Pathway was very clear that the transfer will be a purchase by Canberra, in which the legal title for the submarines will be conveyed to the Australian Navy. These subs will in fact replace decommissioned Collinssubmarines and will operate under Australian command and control as part of its own sovereign fleet not subject to any ownership interest (i.e., lease) by the United States. 

Mr Axe might dismiss these two points as mere technicalities, but they display a pattern that undermines the credibility of his third claim, namely that the Aukus transfer of Virginia submarines will result in a zero-sum loss of submarines for the US Navy. 

Under this narrative, he asserts that the sale of the US submarines will cause harm to America’s Navy which, today, is below its ideal fleet size. He also cites a low COVID-level production rate of 1.2 submarines per year as further proof that Aukus will aggravate a shortfall in the US undersea fleet. This superficial claim ignores the fact that submarine manufacturing – like all manufacturing across the globe – did suffer a downturn in production caused by the pandemic’s workforce and supply chain disruption from 2019-2022. If he looked closer, however, he would see that in 2022, two Virginia-class submarines were commissioned, USS Oregon and USS Montana; and, in 2023, two more, USS Rickover and USS New Jersey, are slated for commissioning as well.

On top of that, the USS Iowa and USS Massachusetts were christened in 2023 which is the prelude for full launch. New hiring at the primary submarine shipyards in Southern New England and Virginia is brisk and the US Congress has approved historic levels of funding for job training and supply chain development to expand the capacity of the US submarine industrial base, drawing on talent and companies from across the country. In addition, one of the key components of the Aukus plan Axe failed to mention is Australia’s commitment to invest $3 billion into the United States industrial base to further grow production. This funding will also provide a pathway to “skill up” Australian shipbuilders which the country will need so it can take on the highly specialized stewardship of nuclear-powered submarine production. 

So, what does all this mean? Will Aukus demand too much from America’s Navy and its industrial base as Mr Axe suggests? Or will it instead be a force multiplier to ensure credible, persistent deterrence in the Indo-Pacific that benefits all three naval forces? I think a closer examination of not just where the Aukus nations are today in 2023, but rather where the Aukus Optimal Pathway plans to go (and already is going) in the next decade emphatically affirms the latter. 

Representative Courtney serves as the Ranking Member of the US House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, Co-Chair of the ‘Friends of Australia Caucus’, and Co-Chair of the ‘Aukus Working Group’

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Joe Courtney (2nd District of Connecticut)

Telephone Town Hall

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Mon, 06/27/2022 – 12:37

Summary
Join Rep. Courtney & Connecticut’s Attorney General William Tong for a live telephone town hall on Wednesday, February 12, 2025 at 7:15PM.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Earl L Buddy Carter (GA-01)

Headline: Carter introduces bill removing regulatory barriers to broadband deployment

Carter introduces bill removing regulatory barriers to broadband deployment

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Earl L Buddy Carter (GA-01)

Headline: Carter among most effective lawmakers 10 years in a row

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-GA) was recognized by the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) for “exceeding expectations” in the 118th Congress, continuing his career-long streak and ranking among the top 10 most consistently effective members of Congress.

According to CEL, scores are “based on the combination of fifteen metrics capturing the bills that each member of Congress sponsors, how far they move through the lawmaking process, and how substantial their policy proposals are.” Lawmakers “exceed expectations” when they outperform the benchmark by 50% or more.

“I am humbled to be recognized by the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) as one of the most consistently effective members of Congress. Throughout my time in Washington, I’ve prioritized building bipartisan coalitions to achieve meaningful policy wins for the people of the First Congressional District of Georgia, and the results speak for themselves,” said Rep. Carter. “There’s a lot of good work being done in D.C. that never makes headlines, and I appreciate CEL for highlighting these critical efforts.”

“Our analysis found that Representative Carter ranked as having one of the longest streaks of ‘exceeding expectations’ over consecutive congresses in the entire House. We congratulate the Representative for his hard work and setting an example for promoting the importance of effective lawmaking,” said Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman, Co-Directors of the Center for Effective Lawmaking.

View lawmaker scores here.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Earl L Buddy Carter (GA-01)

Headline: Carter leads bill reversing Biden’s jobs-killing air quality standards

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-GA) today introduced a bill reversing the Biden-Harris Administration’s unnecessary, jobs-killing rule setting overly restrictive National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM 2.5).

Original cosponsors include: Reps. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), August Pfluger (R-TX), and Randy Weber (R-TX).

This bill will return the acceptable PM 2.5 standards to 12 micrograms per cubic meter, the standard previously set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and deemed protective of public health. Since its implementation in 1980, total emissions of criteria air pollutants dropped 73 percent.

“The Biden Administration’s irresponsible and unnecessary PM 2.5 standard will make it almost impossible to build in the United States. This includes the construction of new semiconductor manufacturing facilities, allowing international competitors with more practical environmental standards to outpace us,” said Rep. Carter. “America has the best environmental standards and wonderful economic potential. We must maintain both by rolling back this burdensome, unnecessary Green New Deal rule.”

“The Biden Administration’s NAAQS Rule was part of their assault on America’s industries and economy,” said Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Doug LaMalfa (CA-01). “This decision hit farmers, foresters, and manufacturers the hardest, threatening to dole out punishments despite the new air quality standards being completely infeasible. I’d like to thank Representative Carter for leading this important legislation to nullify the rule. It’s time to undo the damage from the Biden Administration’s war on rural economies and restore common sense.”

“The PM 2.5 standard is yet another example of the Biden administration’s overreaching and unnecessary regulations that have imposed unworkable standards on builders and developers. These kinds of mandates not only drive-up costs but also delay critical projects that our communities rely on. I’m proud to support this legislation as we work to unleash American production and strengthen our economy,” said Rep. August Pfluger (TX-11). 

Read full bill text here.

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