Hello,

In a time when our politics seem more divided than ever before, moments of bipartisanship are sadly few and far between. But last week, the House and Senate worked across the partisan divide to pass legislation that will invest in our service members and their families.

If you serve our country, we ought to have your back — period. Our service members should get the pay and benefits that they deserve. Their families should be able to live in affordable, quality housing and should have access to top-notch childcare. When our region's shipyard workers work overtime, they should get paid overtime. When our federal workers work through a pandemic, they should earn back their unused paid leave in the new year. The new legislation achieves these key provisions, as well as measures I fought for, including:

• a 3 percent pay increase for all service members;
• extended paid parental leave for all federal employees;
• provisions to improve housing for military personnel and their families,
• and steps to address the shortage in military child care.