March 16, 2024

Dear Friends, 

Last week, tens of millions tuned in to watch President Biden deliver his annual State of the Union Address. I was honored to have a front row seat in witnessing the President outline a powerful scorecard of accomplishments that his administration and Democrats in Congress have achieved. The passage of numerous landmark bills under his administration has supercharged our economy and kickstarted an American comeback that continues to defy expectations. Over these past few days, we’ve been particularly reminded of just how far our nation has come.

This Wednesday, March 13th marked 4 years since Covid-19 was declared a national emergency, when America and the world shuttered its doors. Almost exactly one year after that emergency declaration, then newly-elected President Biden kicked off his first term by signing into law the American Rescue Plan. That critical, life-saving law marked a bellwether for better days to come, and over the months was followed up by equally impactful and sweeping legislation, including the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Honoring our PACT Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act.

Over the years, Democrats have invested in America and created a record-breaking 15 million jobs, including 700 thousand manufacturing jobs. Right now, wages are rising, inflation is slowing, and manufacturing is booming. While we still have further to go to address inflation and lower costs for consumers, I’m proud to have played a role in these historic achievements and am eager to add to this record of success.

To that point, the President’s remarks last week served not only as a reminder of the significant progress we’ve made, but also laid out a powerful vision for the future. This vision is one defined by hope, resilience, and progress. It’s a commitment to building our economy from the bottom up and the middle out, to protecting our environment, and to putting people over politics. This week, the President followed up those forward-thinking remarks with a bold budget that would help realize this vision, serving as a blueprint to build on the progress of the last three years and create an America that works for everybody, not just those at the top.  

Specifically, President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget would: 

• Grow the economy for all Americans by providing national paid leave, investing in education, and advancing cancer research. 
• Protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare by rejecting harmful, GOP cuts.  
• Lower costs for working families by investing in childcare and lowering the costs of housing, college, and prescription drugs.  
• Invest in our national security priorities and provide support for Ukraine against Russia’s illegal invasion. 
• Reduce the deficit by $3 trillion dollars by making our tax code fairer and ensuring large corporations pay their fair share. 

These investments and reforms would have countless benefits for our community and the President has my commitment to fight for these priorities in Congress. 

Democrats’ vision for a better nation and better future resides in stark contrast to the Republican vision for America. Repeatedly throughout this 118th Congress, the GOP has worked to gut widely important and popular programs such as Social Security and Medicare, all while paving the way for the wealthiest among us and billion-dollar corporations to get additional tax breaks. For the better part of a year, they derailed budget talks and negotiations in favor of pushing towards their goal for a nationwide abortion ban, discriminatory, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and many other radical measures that are drastically out of step with the large majority of Americans.  

But make no mistake, while GOP is trying to reverse our progress and take our country backwards, President Biden and Congressional Democrats are more committed than ever to building a better future for American families.

There is still more work to do. I stand ready to work beside President Biden to defend reproductive rights, protect Social Security and Medicare, lower costs for working Americans, and strengthen our investments to build an economy that works for all. I know that, guided by that firm commitment to delivering for everyday Americans, we can get the job done.

As always, thank you for reading.

Your friend,

DID YOU KNOW?  

My office and I are working to make sure you remain informed with the latest updates and recommendations from federal agencies. With that in mind, here is some information that may be of interest to you:  

• Big News on Credit Card Late Fees! 
• This month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized a rule to cut excessive credit card late fees by closing a loophole exploited by large card issuers. 
  • The CFPB estimates that American families will save more than $10 billion in late fees annually once the final rule goes into effect by reducing the typical fee from $32 to $8. 
  • This will be an average savings of $220 per year for the more than 45 million people who are charged late fees. 
• Specifically, the new rule: 
  • Lowers the dollar amount for late fees to $8. 
  • Ends abuse of the automatic annual inflation adjustment. 
  • Puts onus on credit card issuers to show that higher fees are necessary before charging them.
• The final rule is expected to take effect in May 2024, 60 days after publication of the rule. 
• Consumers can submit complaints about financial products or services by visiting the CFPB’s website or by calling (855) 411-CFPB (2372).