July 02, 2020

Weekly Wrap Up

Week 27 (July 3)

This week, I was back in Washington DC, fighting for our community and the people of Orange County.

This week, my colleagues and I worked to protect and strengthen the Affordable Care Act by passing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act to uphold our pledge of lowering health costs and prescription drug prices. We also passed the Emergency Housing Protections and Relief Act to address the dire housing needs arising due to the pandemic, and the Protecting your Credit Score Act to better protect and inform consumers by repairing and strengthening the credit reporting system.

Most importantly, the House took the first step in rebuilding our country and getting Americans back to work with good jobs by passing the Moving Forward Act. This ambitious legislation will get our economy moving again and invests more than $1.5 trillion to rebuild America’s infrastructure while creating millions of good-paying jobs, combatting the climate crisis, and addressing disparities throughout America including the lack of access to affordable high-speed broadband internet for all.  

Lastly, the House passed legislation to extend the deadline five weeks for small businesses to apply for Paycheck Protection Loans, sending the legislation to the President’s desk to extend this vital lifeline as the coronavirus pandemic continues.

This Week’s Votes

This week, House Democrats passed: 

  • H.R. 1425 – Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act – Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and provides an Improve Health Insurance Affordability Fund to lower premiums in the individual health insurance market.

    • Lowers Americans’ health coverage costs by expanding tax credits and allowing more middle-class individuals and families to qualify for subsidies.

    • Negotiates lower prescription drug prices, delivering immense savings to taxpayers, employers, workers and patients by preventing Americans from having to pay much more for medicines than pharmaceutical companies charge for the same drugs overseas.

    • Expands coverage and presses Medicaid expansion hold-out states to reconsider by renewing the ACA’s original expanded federal matching for states that adopt the Medicaid expansion and progressively reducing administrative FMAP for those who continue to refuse.

    • Combats inequity faced by communities of color by protecting vulnerable populations from losing health coverage.

    • Cracks down on junk plans & strengthens protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

  • H.R. 7301 – Emergency Housing Protections and Relief Act of 2020 – Prevents evictions, foreclosures, and unsafe housing conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

    • Provides $100 billion for an emergency rental assistance fund that would help renters cover their rent and utility bills, including any unpaid bills.

    • Helps renters and landlords by extending the eviction moratorium to March 27, 2021 and expanding it to protect all renters.

    • Extends the foreclosure moratorium for 6 months from enactment and expands it to protect all homeowners.

    • Provides $11.5 billion for homeless assistance grants that will help ensure that people experiencing homelessness are able to follow social distancing guidance and have access to necessary services. 

  • H.R. 5332 – Protecting Your Credit Score Act of 2020 – Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to ensure that consumer reporting agencies are providing fair and accurate information in consumer reports.

    • Creates a central online portal that allows consumers to access free credit reports and credit scores, dispute errors, and place or lift security freezes.

    • Establishes a public registry for credit reporting agencies.

  • H.R. 2 – Moving Forward Act – Invests in a comprehensive infrastructure plan to rebuild America’s roads, bridges, transit systems, schools, housing, broadband access, and more.

    • Delivers better roads and bridges faster with an investment of more than $300 billion that prioritizes fixing what we already have, including tens of thousands of structurally deficient bridges.

    • Invests in schools with the Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act, which invests $130 billion targeted at high-poverty schools with facilities that endanger the health and safety of students and educators. This investment will help students get back to school and create over 2 million jobs to help workers get back to work.

    • Invests over $100 billion into our nation's affordable housing infrastructure to create or preserve 1.8 million affordable homes.

    • Delivers high-speed broadband Internet access to all parts of the country by investing $100 billion to build broadband internet infrastructure in unserved and underserved communities and ensure that service is affordable. 

Catch Us In The News

What We’re Reading

Looking Ahead

Happy Fourth of July! Have a great weekend, and remember to stay safe. This means practicing social distancing and wearing a mask while in public. Next week, the Congressman will be joining the House Homeland Security Committee for a hearing on the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.