Dear neighbor, 

This week marks thirteen years since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed by congressional Democrats and signed into law by President Obama. The ACA has led to an historic advancement of health equity in our country. Millions of Americans have gained health care coverage and those with preexisting conditions have been protected thanks to this landmark legislation. Thirteen years later, far more Americans have access to essential health benefits including prescription drugs, wellness visits, preventive and rehabilitative care, and mental health treatment. As a Member of Congress, I’ve been proud to support efforts to protect and strengthen the ACA and will continue to do so until every American has access to affordable quality health care. 

While I’m happy to celebrate this milestone in health equity, this week in Washington focused on extreme MAGA Republicans’ efforts to bring their divisive and unpopular culture wars into our local schools. The House this week considered H.R. 5, a bill that would make it easier to ban books and would violate student privacy. When this dangerous bill was considered by the House Committee on Education, Democrats offered amendments that would improve the bill. Republicans voted down every single one. These amendments included proposals to help keep firearms out of schools, to remove lead pipes from schools, to ensure healthy meals for students, to prevent censorship of Holocaust education, and more.  

With their repeated “no” votes, extreme MAGA Republicans made it clear student wellbeing is not their priority.  Instead, they’re focused on putting politics over parents and censoring teachers in favor of their own extreme political agenda. As a parent, and as your representative in Congress, I am committed to improving our public schools, not harming them and jeopardizing the health, safety, and success of our students. 

Here’s what else I’ve been working on this week: 

• Joined members of the House Judiciary Committee in Texas at our southwest border to hear from community advocates and leaders about the importance of commonsense immigration reform. 
• Sent warm wishes to those observing Ramadan in our community and around the world. 
• Applauded the State Department’s announcement that they will end their discriminatory assignment restrictions policy, which barred certain State Department employees from overseas postings in particular countries due to their heritage, birth country, or community connections. 
• Celebrated the winners of the 2023 Congressional Art Competition! It was wonderful to see over 200 pieces of art submitted by high school students in our community. Congratulations to all those who participated! 

With first place winner Mia Fienberg and her piece, "Contaminated".

READY FOR TAKEOFF? Please make sure that your passport is up to date! Processing times for passport renewals have increased recently due to normal seasonal demand. Standard processing times are now eight to eleven weeks, while expedited processing time has risen to five to seven weeks. If you need to apply for a new passport in person, please click here. If you have a passport that will expire within six months and need to renew it via mail, or if you need to correct or change your current passport, please click here. If you’ve already applied for a new or renewed passport and would like to check the status of your request, please click here. 

My office has been fielding an increased number of requests for passport renewal or support. We are ready to assist you and your family. The State Department is processing a record number of passport applications, and appointments for emergency passports are harder to obtain due to very high demand. If your passport has one year or less of validity, please visit the State Department’s website to renew your passport or call my Los Angeles office at 323-651-1040. 

For more on my work in Congress, please 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