Email Update: Raising the Minimum Wage, Rebuilding Infrastructure, Helping Sacramento County Veterans

Statement

I sent an email update on Sunday about how I've been working for you and your family over these past several weeks.

I hope you and your family are enjoying a great summer. Here's a quick update on how I'm working for you:

Fighting for Working Families

In our nation, people who do the right thing and work hard every day shouldn't have to worry about if they can take care of their families. But today, people like nursing home workers and daycare providers who take care of us, oftentimes do not earn enough to care for the people they love. That's wrong.

That's why I'm strongly supporting a new bill -- the Raise the Wage Act - to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour. It will also index the minimum wage to inflation so it doesn't lose its buying power.

All hardworking Americans should have the chance to succeed in our economy. This is not only fair, but will help our economy by ensuring businesses have customers who can afford their products.

Improving Sacramento County's Water Infrastructure

We need to invest more in our infrastructure to create jobs and keep our communities safe. That's why I was honored to join the groundbreaking of the EchoWater project in Elk Grove, which will be one of our area's largest ever public work projects.

This will ensure that water going through the Sacramento region's wastewater treatment plant will meet higher standards and could help address our drought in the long-term.

The project was approved in April to receive $1.6 billion in low-interest financing from the State of California. According to the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District, the favorable loan terms will save ratepayers more than a half billion dollars.

This project shows how important it is to continue investing in the Clean Water Act's State Revolving Loan Fund, which made this project possible and is something I've voted to support.

Helping Veterans with their Health Care and Benefits

As a doctor who has cared for veterans, I've seen their sacrifices first-hand. Our heroes deserve our unwavering support.

That's why I fought to pass the bipartisan 21st Century Healthcare for Heroes Act. This bill, which is now law, requires the Defense Department and the Veterans Administration to streamline and update their electronic health records. It will help reduce the backlog of veterans' benefits at the VA and get our heroes the care they've earned.

Implementation of the law is under way and I was pleased to recently get an update from the Defense Department and the VA on their progress.

In our meeting, both departments said they're on track for records systems to be fully interoperable and modernized. In fact, they're already sharing more than a million pieces of data per day.

While there's still a lot of work to do, I'm glad to see the progress being made and proud to have worked to pass this bill with my Republican colleague and friend Congressman Chris Gibson. I will continue to do my part in Congress to provide oversight to make sure this project stays on track.

Congress needs to be a place for service, where we focus on fixing problems, not fighting. This is a great example of what we can do when we work together and put people ahead of politics.

My office is also here to help local veterans who need help with their health care or benefits. If you need assistance please don't hesitate to contact us.

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