Dear friend,

On Thursday, New York officially became the 12th state in the nation to enact Clean Slate – legislation that I’ve been championing in Congress that gives justice-involved individuals who have served their time for low-level nonviolent drug offenses and paid their debt to society a clean slate and a second chance. Our legislation does this on the federal level and has received bipartisan support from legislators and advocacy groups on both sides of the aisle. After the Clean Slate Act was introduced on the federal level, Delaware joined the movement in 2021 and passed it into state law.

I was proud to include Clean Slate as part of my Jobs Agenda that I unveiled earlier this year. More than one in three adults have some form of a criminal record, keeping them from participating in many facets of everyday life as nearly nine in ten employers, four in five landlords, and three in five colleges utilize background checks to screen applicants. Excluding these individuals from participating in our economy has an estimated economic impact of $78 billion to $87 billion in lost gross domestic product. I will continue to advocate for this legislation at the federal level that helps remove barriers to finding employment, securing housing, and accessing education for justice-involved individuals across the country.

This Week in Washington

Averting a Government Shutdown - For Now

On Tuesday, in a 336-95 vote, the House passed a two-step continuing resolution that will fund parts of the government — including the Agriculture, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs departments — through January 19, 2024. It extends funding for the Department of Defense and other remaining parts of the government through February 2, 2024. We do not know what the impact of this will be.

While I’m pleased that this continuing resolution avoided steep and harmful cuts and kept the government open - avoiding a catastrophic self-inflicted shutdown - the reality remains that there’s much work to be done. There are pressing international and domestic priorities that must be addressed in addition to passing our normal appropriations bills. Our only path forward is a bipartisan one, and it’s my sincere hope our Republican colleagues will come together and work in good faith to deliver for the American people.

Delawareans in DC

I was so glad to meet with several Delawareans who were in Washington this week, including students from Career and Technical Education programs in our state and members of Horizon Farm Credit, where we talked about the importance of robust funding for job training and workforce preparedness and passing a strong Farm Bill reauthorization respectively.

This Week in Delaware

Celebrating 2 Years of the Historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

On Wednesday, we celebrated the two-year anniversary of President Biden signing the historic Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law. In the last year alone, 121 projects have been funded – from upgrades to our roads and bridges to major investments in clean drinking water and broadband internet infrastructure. In January 2022, I joined the Delaware Department of Transportation for a “Bridge Tour” where we traveled across the state to talk about the updates that are going to be made possible thanks to funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. If you’re interested in watching this series, click the image below!

Hockessin Office Hours

Members of my casework team were glad to assist Delawareans this week at our Mobile Office Hours at the Hockessin Public Library. If you’re ever having an issue with a federal agency – including the IRS, Veterans Affairs, USCIS, and others – please contact my office to speak with a member of my team. We’re here to serve you!