For the third time this Congress, we are barreling towards a government shutdown at the hands of extreme MAGA Republicans. Current federal government funding expires March 1st for some agencies, and March 8th for the rest. Yet in the two months since we passed the last continuing resolution extending government funding to those dates, Speaker Johnson has not brought a single appropriations bill to the House floor. Instead, he continues to push a MAGA partisan agenda with a baseless impeachment vote and harmful political stunts and messaging bills destined to fail in the Senate. 

Each time House Republicans have taken us to the brink of disaster - whether a default on our debt or a government shutdown - it’s been House Democrats who provided the necessary votes to avoid going over a cliff. We stand ready to do so again, but the clock is ticking… 

Meanwhile, Speaker Johnson had another terrible week, with Punchbowl News calling House Republican leadership a “disaster," observing “[t]his is the most chaotic, inefficient and ineffective majority we’ve seen in decades covering Congress.” 

Here is an overview of what happened last week.

THIS WEEK IN WASHINGTON

Sham Impeachments and Harmful Environmental Bills 

As I reported last week, Speaker Johnson’s attempt to impeach the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas failed by one vote. Last week, with Majority Leader Steve Scalise returning from a stem-cell transplant treatment for blood cancer and two Democrats absent, House Republicans impeached Secretary Mayorkas by one vote.  

House Republicans also passed the so-called Unlocking Our Domestic LNG Potential Act – a harmful bill that will raise energy costs for American families by undermining the Biden-Harris Administration’s progress addressing climate change. The bill strips the Department of Energy (DOE) of its authority to determine when liquid natural gas (LNG) exports are in the public interest. Republicans claim this legislation is necessary to support our European allies; however, those allies support the Biden-Harris Administration’s actions to pause new LNG exports. I voted against this harmful bill, and you can read my statement and find more details on this harmful bill here. 

Things went downhill for Speaker Johnson from here. He pulled from the floor - for the second time - a bill to overhaul domestic surveillance provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act due to Republican infighting. For the sixth time this Congress, a procedural rule failed, this time on a bill to increase the federal tax deduction for state-and-local tax (SALT) payments. Rule votes rarely failed before the 118th Congress, but now appear to be routine.


Protect Black Women and Girls Act 

As a member of the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls, I was proud to join co-chairs Robin Kelly (IL-02), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), and Yvette Clark (NY-09) and Valerie Fouschee (NC-04) in a press conference to introduce the bipartisan Protect Black Women and Girls Act. Black women and girls face disparate outcomes in every facet of life, including health care, education, housing, criminal justice, and the workforce. Across the board, Black women face serious challenges that jeopardize their health and well-being: we are more than three times more likely to die during childbirth than white women; we make 61 cents for every dollar a white man makes; and 60% of Black girls experience sexual assault before reaching adulthood.  

Our legislation would establish an interagency task force to identify the unique challenges Black women and girls face and develop policy recommendations to begin addressing them. This bill is an important step in our continued efforts to redress the inequities experienced by the Black community.

You can read more about our bill in The Grio. 

A Checkup on the EPA's Climate Progress

Last week, I joined the Climate Action Campaign, public health officials, and House Democrats to celebrate the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s recent actions to protect public health and our environment. The EPA issued new air quality standards to lower harmful soot pollution, which is known to cause increased rates of cancer, infant mortality, asthma, and other respiratory illnesses. 

In our congressional district, there are over 12,000 cases of pediatric asthma and over 63,000 cases of asthma in adults. Furthermore, chronic lower respiratory disease is the sixth leading cause of death in Virginia. The EPA’s new rule is a life-saving measure that will help address these issues and protect future generations. I commend the Biden-Harris Administration for their commitment to environmental justice, and I look forward to our continued collaboration. 

THIS WEEK IN THE DISTRICT

Delivering Valentines to Veterans 

Happy belated Valentine’s Day! Earlier this year, I launched my inaugural Valentines for Veterans Program. Thanks to students across the Fourth District, we collected over 1,500 valentines! Last week, my staff and I handed out the valentines to local veterans at the VA Richmond Medical Center. It was wonderful to spread kindness and show appreciation to our veterans, who sacrificed and served our nation. Thank you to all of the students, teachers, and parents who helped make this program a success.

Watch a short reel here or below. 

Advocating for Voting Rights Legislation 

In a government by, of, and for the people, your vote is your power. For too long, however, our nation has disenfranchised certain populations and limited their access to the ballot box. I grew up on the stories of my ancestors who lived in the segregated South during Jim Crow. My grandfather had to pass a literacy test and find three white men to vouch for him to be able to vote. My father had to pay a poll tax to cast his ballot. My grandmother was never able to vote, and my mother didn’t vote until after the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Their stories motivated me to pursue public office and become a voting rights advocate. In fact, my first bill passed in the Virginia General Assembly in 2006 made it easier to vote absentee. In 2021, I championed passage of the Voting Rights Act of Virginia, making our Commonwealth the first state in the South with a voting rights act. Now in Congress, I am continuing those efforts as a member of the Task Force on Strengthening Democracy. 

Over the weekend, I joined local elected officials and community leaders for a voting rights roundtable discussion sponsored by Center for Common Ground and the Declaration for American Democracy. We discussed my work in the General Assembly and what we need to do at the federal level to protect against the wave of restrictive voter suppression laws cropping up in state legislatures across the nation. I reiterated the need to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act – two landmark pieces of legislation that would ensure every American can make their voice heard. I will continue fighting back against Republicans’ efforts to weaken voting rights and limit access to the ballot box.

Unsubscribe from future messages.