A Month in Review: April 2024 Congressional Update

Dear john,

It was an incredibly busy month on Capitol Hill and in El Paso. I hope you saw that I secured over $19 million in federal funds for projects across our community in March, and this month I had the opportunity to visit with several of the awardees to celebrate these investments.

I also was thrilled to see the official website launch and the applications open for the American Climate Corps (ACC). Thanks to the leadership of President Biden, the ACC is an incredible way to both join the fight against climate change and serve our country. To learn more about the almost 2,000 available jobs, click here.

Finally, I know how many of you have raised concerns with me about the Affordable Connectivity Program running out of funding. This month, I hosted a roundtable and press conference with community stakeholders to learn more about the program’s transformational impact on El Paso and raise awareness about its importance. I’ve also cosponsored a bill to allocate more funding for the program and continue to call on Speaker Johnson to bring the bill to the House floor for a vote.

As always, please subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to ensure you never miss any of my updates and stay in the loop on what I’ve been doing for El Paso.

Should Speaker Johnson bring the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act of 2024 to the floor for a vote?

Yes

No

I was thrilled to join the Lower Valley Water District this week to present them with $1.35M I secured through Community Project Funding.

These funds will be used connect and upgrade service lines, as well as install fire hydrants. They’ll also be used for the construction of a steel ground storage tank to store a million gallons of water.

The Affordable Connectivity Program has been transformational, providing over 81k households in El Paso with affordable internet access.

With the ACP running out of funding soon, I hosted a roundtable and press conference with community stakeholders to talk about the impact of this program for El Paso.

It was so lovely to meet with 8th graders from St. Mark's Middle School while they were here during their annual trip to our nation's capital!

We spent some time discussing my work as a Representative, what the House of Representatives does, and I took some questions.

I hope you all enjoyed the rest of your time in DC!

Our community has an incredible need for access to nutritious and stable food assistance.

To help meet that need, I secured $800k in federal funds to construct a new permanent operations center for El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank in west El Paso County.

Thanks to the Build Back Better Regional Challenge and the investment of ARPA funds by the City of El Paso for the Innovation Factory, our region’s aerospace & defense industries are growing.

I toured their facility and heard from some of the businesses that have chosen to relocate or expand in our community.

I'm beyond thrilled to have celebrated with University Medical Center of El Paso that I secured $1.3 million in federal funds to replace their emergency generator.

Hospitals must be equipped with the latest power storage capabilities in the event of emergency situations.

Investing in our community's public safety infrastructure will save lives and improve emergency service personnel response times.

I secured $975k in federal funds for El Paso Water to develop a flood warning system for our county.

There are few things more special than seeing El Pasoans in our nation's capital!

It was wonderful to chat with students and from Loretto Academy answer their questions about DC and the House of Representatives as they visit Washington as part of the Close Up program.

It was a pleasure to sit down with EPPD Chief Pacillas this month for a productive meeting.

We spoke about his priorities for our community and his vision for the department moving forward.

Recognizing a local, family-owned business + celebrating their kitty’s birthday = the best day ever!

It was my pleasure to present Zin Valle Vineyards with a Congressional Commendation for their 20 years of dedicated service to our community. Truffles the Cat got one too for her birthday!

Thank you to City Councilmember Canales and District 8 for having me at your community meeting to give updates about my work in Congress!

My office is always here to help! If you need assistance with a federal agency, please call my El Paso office at 915-541-1400.

Congratulations to the El Paso HS's Mock Trial Team for placing third at the Texas High School Mock Trial State competition!

You are all brilliant! Thank you for making El Paso proud! I was thrilled to celebrate with you all and present each of you a certificate of congressional recognition.

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