Dear John,

It's no secret that the price of essentials like groceries and gas have gone up – every Pennsylvanian feels it. No one in our community should have to choose between affording vital medication, putting food on the table, keeping a roof over their head, or other budgetary concerns. That's why I'm working aggressively to find short- and long-term solutions.

Recently, we held a town hall in Coatesville to discuss how the historic Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will help our economy grow and thrive. In short, by investing in the infrastructure that allows our students to have better Wi-Fi and our businesses to more easily transport goods and compete in the global marketplace, our local economy will benefit – leading to more jobs and higher wages.

I also helped start the New Democrat Coalition Inflation Working Group. We've called on the President to release strategic oil reserves to bring down gas prices, worked to pass bipartisan legislation that will address supply chain issues, and pushed to increase manufacturing here at home. We are meeting with experts, and together we will continue pushing for policies that will help us lower costs for working families and strengthen the American economy.

And just last week, I was asked to help negotiate final revisions to an important bill – the America COMPETES Act – that will secure our supply chains, promote opportunities in the science and technology fields, and support American innovation and manufacturing so we are less dependent on China and Russia.

As an entrepreneur and veteran, I bring a focus on national security, as well as experience managing supply chains and doing business in China where the tables are rigged against American firms. The conference process will involve combining the COMPETES Act with the Senate's United States Innovation and Competition Act, and I look forward to bringing our priorities as Pennsylvanians to the table and delivering this legislation to the President's desk as soon as possible.

The pandemic reminded us how globalized our economy is, and how impossible it is to avoid the economic impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine here at home. I spoke on the floor to discuss the importance of confronting Putin, how securing a lasting peace in Ukraine will help us get prices under control at home in Pennsylvania. Watch my full remarks by clicking here or above.

As our community's Representative, I hear you and I know how important bringing down costs is. As I continue working to do just that, please stay in touch with our office and know that I will keep you informed about my efforts.

Some of you may have already seen the news: we are once again accepting Community Project Funding requests from now through Friday, April 15th at  6 p.m.

I am proud of the steps we are taking to make this process transparent and equitable. First, we have assembled a board of community leaders to review each application. Second, we asked them to evaluate each application on the following criteria: 

• Public benefit and need;
• Economic opportunity or job creation;
• Capacity to promote equity and inclusion for underserved populations;
• Potential to address the high rates of poverty and financial exclusion among low income communities.

Ability to address imminent threats to public health, safety, or the environment; (change this order and make this one last in the sequence)

Last year, we secured funding for 9 of our 10 submitted community projects and called recipients to let them know their project would be funded – those joyous conversations were a highlight of my time serving our community in Congress.

This year, I'm looking forward to advocating for additional thoughtful investments in our community: submit your application on our website here.

Our process caught the eye of Science Magazine and they decided to profile one of our Community Project Funding recipients, Albright College.

Read more about our improvements to the process and how my team and I delivered for our community's needs: