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John, After last week’s debacle on the House floor, the 118th Congress has finally been sworn in. It’s an honor to serve another term representing the people of CA-02, and I’m relieved that we can now get to work as the American people elected us to do – we have no shortage of important things that need Congress’ attention this year. But John, the chaotic Speaker election was just Episode 1 of what we can expect in this new Congress. Republicans won a very narrow House majority, but rather than governing with humility and compromise they ceded the levers of power to their worst MAGA extremists. This week, they prioritized a package of extreme bills that tells us what they really care about: shielding billionaires and huge corporations from IRS tax enforcement; thwarting pending criminal investigations of violent insurrectionists, Donald Trump, and even some of their own House GOP members who will be assigned to a surreal new “investigate the investigators” subcommittee; and of course, culture wars (abortion, transphobia and xenophobia). That's pretty much their entire agenda for the new Congress. Which means we have our work cut out for us if we want to push back on the partisan nonsense and continue getting meaningful things done for the American people. The good news is that House Democrats remain united and focused on governing. And we can expect more infighting and dysfunction from the fractured GOP, which should create opportunities to work with the small number of reasonable Republicans who care about governing. It’s a challenging and dynamic political landscape, but we can still find ways to get things done for our community and that’s what I intend to do. So, as we begin the new Congress, let’s reaffirm our shared values and vision for a government that puts people over politics, rejects extremists who would hold our government hostage, and delivers results on climate change, reproductive justice, affordable health care, gun violence prevention, a fair economy, and more. You can count on me to lead this fight. There’s no time for relaxing just because Democrats are (temporarily) in the minority – Truman already does enough lounging for the both of us!  And for those of you impacted by the earthquakes and severe storms that have brought damage to parts of my district, please know that my team and I will not allow ourselves to be distracted by partisan antics like the GOP’s dysfunctional speaker votes last week. We’re tracking these urgent local priorities and ensuring that all available federal assistance is swiftly secured – including recently approved SBA loans for Humboldt earthquake victims, and President Biden’s approval of federal disaster relief for flooding in Mendocino and Sonoma counties. Let’s get to work. Stay safe, John – more updates to come. Jared |