Delivering for service members and their families

Dear Friend,

I’m so glad to be back home in San Diego for the holidays after several busy weeks in Washington. Last week, we wrapped up legislative business for the year, so I wanted to share a quick update on what I’ve up to – from delivering big wins for San Diego’s military community to addressing the rise of antisemitism around the country.

Keep reading for last week’s highlights:

Improving Quality of Life for Service Members and Military Families

I’m so proud to represent San Diego and our proud military community in Congress. Our community knows better than most of the deep sacrifices made by our service members and their families. Unfortunately, they often lack the resources needed to live with dignity – that includes food security, safe housing, and affordable child care.

Every year, Congress passes the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which decides our defense priorities and funding limits. This year, my biggest priority was improving the quality of life of our service members and their families – and I’m so proud that I delivered some big wins including:

Expanded Housing Access for Junior Enlisted Service Members by giving commanding officers the authority to grant off-base housing to junior enlisted service members living on a naval vessel during shipyard unavailability or maintenance periods
More Oversight and Accountability to Ensure Safe Military Housing, through my Military Housing Readiness Council Act, which would create a working group to monitor privatized military housing to ensure all military families have access to safe, quality housing
Improved Food Security for Service Members and Military Families in line with my Military Food Security Act, which would exclude service members’ housing allowance from determining eligibility for the Basic Needs Allowance (BNA) in certain circumstances
Increased DoD’s Required Share of Child Care Spending to better reflect the true cost of care
Increased Transparency and Accuracy of Child Care Wait Lists by requiring wait lists to be published on the Defense Department’s website along with estimated wait times and requiring the Defense Department to conduct a feasibility report on improving communication with members on wait lists
A 5.2% pay raise for service members

These changes are important and will make life a bit easier for our military families, but I know more is needed. That’s why I won’t stop fighting until all service members and their families have the tools they need to succeed and live with dignity.

Addressing the Rise of Antisemitism

As the youngest Jewish Member of Congress, I know personally how hard it feels to be Jewish in today’s world, and I’m incredibly alarmed by the rise of antisemitism.

That’s why I’m grateful for President Biden’s leadership in addressing antisemitism – instead of politicizing our pain. I’m pushing for Congress to fully fund and implement the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism – a whole-of-society approach to ensure that Jewish people feel welcome and safe everywhere.

Watch my speech on the House Floor:

Fighting to Protect Americans’ Pharmacy Records

Did you know that eight of the country’s major pharmacy chains routinely hand over pharmacy records to the police without a warrant signed by a judge? That was one of the shocking – and frankly unacceptable – findings of a congressional inquiry that I led with Senator Ron Wyden and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal.

These findings are alarming – especially in the post-Roe world. That’s why we’re pushing the Department of Health and Human Services to strengthen its rules so that pharmacies can only release sensitive medical records to law enforcement with a warrant and the customer’s knowledge. I’m also leading efforts in Congress to strengthen HIPAA and protect reproductive and sexual health data. Your health information is personal and private and should be protected.