The Health Subcommittee held a hearing entitled "Health Care Lifeline: The Affordable Care Act and the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The ACA has been a lifeline for affordable health coverage for years and certainly during this pandemic when more unemployed neighbors are losing their employer-provided health care coverage. I promise to continue to fight every day to safeguard this lifesaving law, just as I did when I worked to pass it 10 years ago. We must be especially vigilant in the face of Trump and Florida Attorney General Moody and Governor DeSantis continuing to press for a Supreme Court ruling to end the ACA and the protections for pre-existing conditions. Over 1.8 Million Floridians purchase affordable health insurance through the ACA HealthCare.gov marketplace. Thousands of young adults are able to stay on their parents plan too. All of these protections and coverage would end if Trump, Moody and DeSantis are successful, particularly as Trump and Republican senators rush to fill the Supreme Court seat.

Today, my Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce of the Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing entitled “Mainstreaming Extremism: Social Media’s Role in Radicalizing America.” Surveillance, manipulation and extremism from online platforms like Facebook and YouTube are resulting in violence, terrorism and division. We need new laws to ensure that social media platforms are taking responsibility for what is spread via their platforms.

H.R. 4447 – Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act: this largely bipartisan bill will bring us closer to solving the climate crisis by following the science, putting money back into the pockets of taxpayers and workers and taking on environmental justice. This legislation incorporates many of the recommendations from the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis’ report, and I look forward to it passing the House.  In our Climate Action Plan from my Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, we stress that frontline communities of color have borne the lion’s share of impacts from our changing climate, and they need to be a starting place for our work. My amendment to identify barriers to equitable distribution of the benefits of clean energy to frontline communities has been made in order and I look forward to its inclusion in this important bill.

H.R. 8319 - the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act of 2020: This Continuing Resolution was passed on Wednesday night in order to keep the government open until December 11 and provide critical extensions on programs that serve our community. The bill includes funding for health programs including community health centers and a protection that I fought for against President Trump’s desired increase in Medicare Part B Premiums for 2021 and the protection of the subsequent Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). While Senate Republicans and Trump continue to callously reject the Heroes Act or negotiating any subsequent COVID-19 aid, House Democrats fought to have our bill provide $8 billion in food aid for working families, children and single parents. Also important for Floridians, this bill will extend the National Flood Insurance Program through September 30, 2021.