Dear neighbor, 

I’m pleased to provide you with another update on House Democrats’ work For the People.

This week the House passed the Active Shooter Alert Act, a bill to create a program like the AMBER Alert system for law enforcement to alert the public to active shooters in the community. This is a commonsense, bipartisan solution that will save lives and has been endorsed by numerous key law enforcement organizations. 

The House also passed two bills to protect and reaffirm the right to abortion care. The first is the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify Roe v. Wade and restore the right to an abortion nationwide. The second is the Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act, which would protect a woman’s constitutional right to safely travel across state lines to obtain an abortion. While Republicans in Congress seek to criminalize abortion, Democrats are fighting to restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land.

Here’s a look at some other items I’ve been working on this week:

• Wrote a letter with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urging the Senate to make its position clear on whether Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh lied about their views on abortion care during their confirmation hearings.
• Voted in support of the Honoring Our Pact Act, legislation to expand access to healthcare for millions of veterans exposed to toxic substance during their time in service. This bill now heads to the President’s desk for signature.
• Sent a letter to the USDA and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding management practices of wild horses at the Devil’s Garden Plateau Wild Horse Territory in California’s Modoc National Forest.
• Spoke on the threat to individual freedoms in a post-Roe world during a Judiciary Committee Hearing.
• Congratulated NASA on the stellar first images from the James Webb Space Telescope!
• Announced that six provisions I authored passed the House as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, including amendments to support homeless veterans at the West LA VA, protect human rights abroad, boost subnational diplomacy, and more.   

Additional Resources: 

• This week, the LA Department of Public Health and the LA LGBT Center hosted a virtual town hall to answer questions about Monkeypox. Watch the full town hall here.
• Starting Saturday, July 16th, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is transitioning to the easy-to-remember number: 9-8-8. For more information, visit 988lifeline.org.

Reminder: As more Americans are planning or nearing trips abroad during the Summer, the State Department is processing an unprecedented number of passport applications.

Currently, the State Department is processing routine passport applications in 8 to 11 weeks and expedited passport applications in 5 to 7 weeks. Before you plan a trip abroad, please check your passport to determine if it has expired or will expire within 6 months of your trip. Apply for a passport or renew your passport before planning a trip. 

For those seeking emergency passport appointments at a local passport office, please be aware that passport appointments are routinely fully booked for a week or weeks at a time due to excess demand.

For more information on my work in Congress, you can visit my website at lieu.house.gov and follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. If you have any questions or concerns, please call our D.C. office at (202) 225-3976 or our Los Angeles district office at (323) 651-1040. 

I look forward to updating you again soon.

Sincerely, 

Ted W. Lieu 
Member of Congress