Dear Friend,

As I reflect on the past year, I am proud that the Democratic-led Congress consistently stood up for hardworking people and small businesses. Thank you for your interest in progress for our community and America. The House of Representatives has passed nearly 400 bills this year, including bipartisan bills to lower the cost of health care and prescription drugs, ensure equal protection for all, and climate action now, including:

• Lower Drug Costs Now Act, giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for prescriptions drugs and make the lower prices available to people with private insurance.
• Raise the Wage Act, increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 after the longest stretch in U.S. history without an increase.
• Bipartisan Background Checks Act, a commonsense step to address gun violence and establish measures that protect our community and families by ensuring that all gun sales or transfers are subject to a background check.
• Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, a robust, long-term reauthorization that makes new investments in prevention, improves services for domestic violence victims, and gives law enforcement enhanced tools to combat domestic violence.
• Equality Act, prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in a wide variety of areas including public accommodations and facilities, education, federal funding, employment, housing, credit, and the jury system.
• Protecting and Securing Florida's Coastline Act of 2019, my bipartisan bill to protect Florida’s way of life and America’s national security by making the moratorium on oil drilling in federal waters off Florida coasts permanent.
• Climate Action Now Act, my bill to ensure that the U.S. honors our commitments detailed in the Paris Agreement and lays the groundwork for further climate action.
• ACE Kids Act, my bill that improves the coordination and access to high quality care to ensure optimal outcomes for children with complex medical conditions (signed into law).
• ENROLL Act, my bill to guarantee funding for Navigator initiatives like the one at USF that provides critical assistance to help hardworking families pick the health plan that is right for them.
• Mission Zero Act, assists the Department of Defense in assigning trauma surgeons to civilian trauma centers, like Tampa General Hospital, filling a gap in care recently examined by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (signed into law).
• H.R. 1010 to stop Trump’s expansion of junk insurance plans, halts the Trump Administration’s rule that allows insurance companies to sell sub-par junk health insurance plans for longer periods of time.

More than 250 House-passed bills are sitting on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s desk.  He is doing a disservice to the country through his inaction and obstinance, but I will not give up on getting our priorities and many others enacted into law. Know that I will continue to work hard for our neighbors as we look ahead to the new year.