Congresswoman Jackie Speier (pronounced SPEAR) is a fearless fighter for women’s equality, LGBTQ rights and the disenfranchised who has dedicated her life to eliminating government corruption while working to strengthen America’s national and economic security. She was named to Newsweek’s list of 150 “Fearless Women” in the world and one of “Politico's 50” most influential people in American politics for bringing the Me Too reckoning to Congress.
Women’s rights are human rights. Congresswoman Speier has fought her entire career for women and girls to be able to reach their full potential. Their right to make their own health care decisions, their right to earn equal pay for equal work, and their right to succeed in work environments free from harassment and discrimination – to name a few. As Co-Chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, which is comprised of all the women Members in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congresswoman Speier truly believes that when women succeed America is stronger and more prosperous. She will continue to be a vocal champion for women and their families.
Congresswoman Speier is the author of H.J.Res.79, a resolution to eliminate the arbitrary deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that would constitutionally prohibit discrimination based on sex. Since our country’s founding, women have been left out of the Constitution—intentionally. They were second-class citizens deprived of basic rights to vote, enter most jobs, or own property. The ERA would finally right that wrong by making women equal to men under the eyes of the law.
The ERA was first introduced in 1923 by Alice Paul and has been reintroduced in every Congress since. When the ERA finally passed Congress in 1972, it included a few simple but powerful words: “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.”
The Constitution requires that three-fourths of the states ratify an amendment before it takes effect. When it proposed the ERA, Congress added a seven-year ratification deadline to the amendment’s preamble. That deadline was extended an additional two years and 35 of the necessary 38 states ratified the ERA before the timeline ran out. Recently, Nevada and Illinois joined those ranks. That leaves us just one state shy of finally making the ERA a reality. Rep. Speier’s resolution would remove the arbitrary deadline so that the ERA may expeditiously proceed to ratification.
H.J. Res.79 has over 200 bipartisan cosponsors and was recently the subject of a Judiciary Committee hearing and markup. Congresswoman Speier looks forward to working toward a floor vote and the swift ratification of an amendment that is long overdue.
You can read Rep. Speier’s Elle op-ed on the value of the ERA here, and watch her testimony before the Judiciary Committee here.
Congresswoman Speier believes that every woman must have access to quality reproductive health care and is committed to protecting a woman's right to choose. As a Task Force Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus, Congresswoman Speier fights against the Republicans’ unyielding assault on a woman’s ability to control her own body. Across the country, Republicans have crafted laws designed to shutter abortion clinics, imprison doctors who perform abortions for longer prison terms than those served by many rapists, and leave women to die rather than access abortion care. As a result, 90 percent of U.S. counties lack access to a single abortion clinic. At the federal level, the Trump Administration is hell bent on punishing women with policies such as the Title X Domestic Gag Rule, which will block millions of dollars in funding from Planned Parenthood and deny countless people lifesaving care.
She is a proud cosponsor of H.R. 1692, the EACH Woman Act, to repeal the Hyde Amendment so that women’s access to abortion care is not dictated by their income or type of insurance. Congresswoman Speier is also a strong supporter of H.R. 2975, the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA). While Roe remains the law of the land, more than 400 laws have passed since 2011 to regulate or restrict abortion for medically unnecessary reasons. WHPA would protect against these burdensome restrictions. With this Conservative Supreme Court, protecting Roe is absolutely vital. Already 1 in 3 women of reproductive age – over 25 million people – live in a state where abortion could be outlawed if Roe is overturned.
As a leader on armed services issues, Congresswoman Speier is the author of H.R. 2091, the Access to Contraception for Servicemembers and Dependents Act, so that all women who receive health care through the military have the same access as civilians to all FDA-approved contraception and counseling with no co-pay. H.R. 2091 also ensures that the military provides family planning education and emergency contraception for sexual assault survivors. This legislation was successfully included as part of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that passed the House of Representatives.
For Congresswoman Speier, the fight for abortion rights is personal. In February 2011, she became the first Member of Congress to share her abortion story on the House floor. She initially took to the floor in opposition to a Republican amendment that would have withheld Title X funding from clinics, like Planned Parenthood, that provide abortion coverage.
But when she reached the podium, she felt compelled to share her own story in response to lies that were being perpetrated by one of her colleagues. On that day, Speier shared the fact that she had an abortion procedure when she was 17 weeks pregnant. She and her husband wanted to see the pregnancy through, but the fetus was not viable and the procedure was necessary for her health.
In the days that followed, Speier received thousands of letters, calls, and e-mails from women, not just in California but around the country. They shared with her that they too were among the one in four women who have had an abortion but had never spoken out because of the stigma created around the issue. Others talked about how Planned Parenthood had become their only health care option and how pleased they were that she and her colleagues were fighting for it. Speier continues to speak out about her experience so that women will no longer be silenced or stigmatized.
February 2013 marked the 100th Anniversary of the Suffrage Procession, when 5,000 women marched up Pennsylvania Avenue demanding the right to vote. The suffragists who mobilized in Washington that day were up against groups like the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage who, in 1917, argued in a letter to Congress that passing the 19th Amendment would be ‘an official endorsement of nagging as a national policy.' Congresswoman Speier keeps an original copy of that letter framed and hung on the wall of her office right next to the 1871 petition to Congress from suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Despite the vast improvements since the 19th Amendment was passed a century ago, the fight for women’s equality is far from over. That is why Congresswoman Speier and her House Democratic colleagues have fought for women’s economic opportunity, and policies that recognize the demands of both work and family. With women making up half of the workforce, and with mothers the sole or primary breadwinners in 41 percent of families with children, women can’t afford to wait any longer for equal pay, quality, affordable child care, paid family and medical leave, and equality in the workplace.
For all the progress women have made, Congresswoman Speier remains outraged that a woman still earns 80 cents for every dollar that a man takes home for full-time, year-round work. Right now women have to work nearly four months longer than their male counterparts to earn the same annual pay, losing over $10,000 per year and over $400,000 over the course of a 40-year career. Women of color face the brunt of the inequality, with Black women making only 61 cents, Latinas earning 53 cents, and Native women earning 58 cents for every dollar paid to white men. Closing the gender wage gap is both a moral and an economic imperative. If women received equal pay with comparable men, poverty for working women would be cut by half and the economy would grow by $512 billion annually.
Congresswoman Speier is an ardent supporter of H.R. 7, the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would help ensure equal pay by putting teeth into the Equal Pay Act of 1963, ban retaliation against workers who discuss their salaries, and prohibit the practice of asking salary history during the hiring process. The Paycheck Fairness Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives and currently sits on Mitch McConnell’s desk in the Senate.
Nearly everyone will need time to care for a new child or an ill family member or to recover from their own personal illness at some point in their lives. But just 17 percent of the workforce has paid family leave and less than 40 percent has paid medical leave. Families should not be forced to choose between a paycheck and taking time for care. California is leading the charge nationwide, with many workers entitled to six weeks of paid family leave. Still, there is a need for a comprehensive national standard instead of a patchwork of state laws. Rep. Speier is a cosponsor of the FAMILY Act, which would provide workers with 12 weeks of paid leave for a Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)-related purpose. She is also a cosponsor of the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act to provide paid leave for federal workers. Most recently, she was proud to vote for a National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that extended 12 weeks of paid parental leave to federal workers – although further action is needed to ensure workers have paid leave to care for their own health or for a family member.
Moreover, more than 37 million workers lack access to a single paid sick day. Rep. Speier is a cosponsor of the Healthy Families Act to allow workers to earn seven job-protected paid sick days each year.
Quality, affordable child care and early education allow families to work while children learn in safe, nurturing environments. Unfortunately, child care is increasingly out-of-reach for many families. In California, the average annual cost for full-time center-based infant care is $16,542, and child care workers are paid poverty-level wages, earning an average income of just $28,630. Congresswoman Speier is a proud cosponsor of H.R. 1364, the Child Care for Working Families Act to double the number of children eligible for child care assistance and increase Head Start and pre-school funding. Speier is also supportive of H.R. 1560, the American Family Act, to expand the Child Tax Credit, create a new Young Child Tax Credit for children under six, and make both credits fully refundable.
Sixty-two percent of pregnant women and new moms are in the workforce, and yet pregnant workers can be retaliated against, placed on unpaid leave, or pushed out of their jobs because of their pregnancy. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, of which Congresswoman Speier is a cosponsor, would ensure that pregnant women are not forced out of work or denied reasonable accommodations, such as permission to use a stool while working a cash register, or temporary reassignment to lighter duty tasks, that would keep them working and supporting their families. The legislation would close legal loopholes and ensure that pregnant women are treated fairly on the job.
In October 2017, actress and activist Alyssa Milano tweeted the immortal words – Me Too. Since then, the phrase has been shared millions of times and become an indelible part of our national conscientiousness. Workers across industries and in every part of the world have come forward with their own harrowing experiences of harassment and discrimination, refusing to accept any more excuses and demanding systemic change. As the Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Task Force to End Sexual Violence, Congresswoman Speier has hosted hearings with experts and pushed for legislation to make our communities safe from sexual violence. Her passion is emboldened by her personal experience as a survivor. Speier has been a lifelong advocate for women’s safety, taking on the military, K-12 schools and college campuses, the Boy Scouts, USA Gymnastics, federal agencies, and even Congress.
For far too long, Congress has been a breeding ground for harassment and discrimination. Members were able to subject staff to horrific and debasing behavior – with taxpayers footing the bill. Meanwhile, survivors had their careers derailed and were revictimized by a process that cared more about the institution than their lives.
In October 2017, Congresswoman Speier brought the Me Too movement to Congress by sharing her own experience of misconduct when she was a Congressional aide (link to video). When Speier was a Congressional staffer, her Chief of Staff forcibly kissed her, sticking his tongue down her throat.
Her legislation, the ME TOO Congress Act, became the basis of the bipartisan Congressional Accountability Act (CAA) Reform Act that was signed into law in December 2018. When Congresswoman Speier first started working on Congressional sexual harassment in 2014, she was told by a fellow colleague that anti-harassment training would never see the light of day. Today, thanks to the CAA Reform Act and a related resolution, anti-harassment training is mandatory. Survivors are also no longer forced to undergo mandatory counseling, mediation, and cooling-off periods and workers can’t be silenced with forced non-disclosure agreements. Moreover, interns and fellows have the same protections as permanent staff, employees can be heard in anonymous and regular climate surveys, and Members must personally cover the costs for their harassing behavior, not taxpayers. As a result of these efforts, employees also now have legal representation and counseling through the Office of Employee Advocacy so that the U.S. House of Representatives is no longer exclusively providing counsel to Member offices accused of misconduct.
The CAA Reform Act went into effect in June 2019 and has already made tremendous progress in people’s lives. However, Congresswoman Speier’s work is not finished. She and Congressman Bradley Byrne (R-AL) introduced H.R. 5464, the CAA Enhancement Act to further bolster protections for staff and hold Members financially responsible for their discriminatory behavior.
To ensure that the private-sector faces the same reckoning, Congresswoman Speier is a strong supporter of H.R. 2148, the BE HEARD Act, which would prohibit mandatory arbitration, lengthen the statute of limitations to file claims, and extend rights to workers in small businesses and independent contractors. She’s also a cosponsor of H.R. 1521, the EMPOWER Act, to prohibit mandatory non-disclosure agreements, require public companies to report their settlements and judgments, and reform the tax code so as to not punish survivors. And Congresswoman Speier has co-hosted three congressional hearings on workplace harassment with the bipartisan Women’s Caucus, helping to ensure this issue gets the attention it deserves.
Nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner and 1 in 5 women are raped in their lifetime. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is landmark legislation that responds to the epidemic of sexual assault, stalking, dating violence, and domestic violence. VAWA has ensured that survivors can access lifesaving services and supports, provided law enforcement with necessary tools, and disseminated resources to community-based organizations to prevent and address violence when it occurs. Since the passage of VAWA in 1994, non-fatal domestic violence has decreased by 67 percent.
For many, the Violence Against Women Act is a matter of life or death. Shamefully, Congress allowed VAWA to expire in February 2019. The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1585, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, in March 2019, but Senator Mitch McConnell refuses to take it up because he is more beholden to the deep pockets of the NRA than to victims around the country. Reauthorizing VAWA is essential for lifting severely outdated funding caps, closing loopholes in our gun laws that allow abusers to kill and injure women, and expand housing protections and financial assistance for survivors to rebuild their lives. Congresswoman Speier will continue to make reauthorizing VAWA a top priority.
Congresswoman Speier joined the House Armed Services Committee nearly a decade ago to combat the malignant problem of sexual violence within the military. Since that time, she has fought for the rights of military sexual assault survivors and instituted groundbreaking reforms within the military criminal justice system. She has overseen the implementation of the Special Victim’s Counsel Program, which provides legal representation for sexual assault survivors, major reforms to the Article 32 process, and limiting the role commanders play throughout the military criminal justice process to safeguard justice for survivors.
Despite recent progress, military sexual assault remains one of the most troubling issues within our military. Over the past two years, instances of unwanted sexual contact within the military increased by 38 percent but survivor reporting rates dropped from 41 percent to 38 percent. It is unacceptable that thousands of servicemembers continue to be sexually assaulted every year. Congress must remain vigilant in its oversight of the Department of Defense’s prevention and response practices. In the House-passed version of the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Congresswoman Speier championed monumental reforms to report policies for collateral misconduct such as drinking, the expansion of the special victim’s counsel program, and a pilot program creating a Chief Prosecutor to review all sexual assault cases at the service academies outside of the chain of command.
For more information about Congresswoman Speier’s work to eradicate sexual violence in the military, go to the Military Sexual Violence page.
One in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted on college campuses. Approximately 56 percent of girls and 40 percent of boys in grades 7-12 are sexually harassed in any given year. This epidemic of violence has both emotional and economic consequences. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that a single rape can cost $122,461 per survivor. Survivors are also three times more likely to suffer from depression, six times more likely to have post-traumatic stress disorder, and four times more likely to contemplate suicide.
Any progress is increasingly threatened by the Trump Administration’s Education Department which is more preoccupied with protecting perpetrators than their victims. Secretary DeVos has released a proposed rule that will make it harder to hold perpetrators responsible and will make schools and college campuses more dangerous. For example, under the proposed changes schools can avoid addressing a sexual assault that occurred off-campus and victims can be cross-examined during proceedings by the perpetrator’s advisor of choice. To protect against Secretary DeVos’ proposed Title IX rollbacks, Congresswoman Speier introduced the Title IX Protection Act, which codifies Obama-era policies that helped keep students safe.
To proactively prevent sexual violence and hold perpetrators accountable, Congresswoman Speier also authored H.R. 3381, the HALT Campus Sexual Violence Act, which increases penalties for violating the Clery Act, allows the Department of Education to issue penalties for noncompliance with Title IX, and creates a private right of action for students harmed by schools that fail to meet safety requirements.
Congresswoman Speier also introduced the Federal Funding Accountability for Sexual Harassers Act, groundbreaking legislation to increase transparency and accountability around the use of taxpayer funds to support research professors with a history of sexual violence and sex discrimination.
Congresswoman Speier firmly believes that health care is a human right and that our health care system should work on behalf of the people. Today, 30 million Americans are uninsured and an additional 40 million can’t afford their copays or deductibles. Nearly 1 in 4 Americans are skipping some form of medical care due to the cost. The United States is the only high-income industrialized nation in the world that does not provide health care for all its residents. As the U.S. works toward achieving universal coverage, Congresswoman Speier will continue to fight to preserve life-saving protections for people with pre-existing conditions. She also supports implementing more affordable options for at-risk populations in the short-term, such as creating an option for older Americans who often face the highest premiums to buy into Medicare early. The Affordable Care Act marked a milestone for our country’s health care system and Congresswoman Speier supports policies to expand and improve upon this landmark legislation.
Covered California
Due to the coronavirus, there is a Special Enrollment period for 2021 health insurance plans through Covered California is from February 1, 2021, to August 15, 2021. To apply, visit www.coveredca.com
The Covered California open enrollment period is normally from October 15 – January 31.
Remember, if you like your current plan and your personal information has not changed (for example, your income has stayed constant, no marriages, or childbirths, etc.), and if you selected the option allowing Covered CA to automatically check your income for between 1-5 years, you will most likely be AUTOMATICALLY reenrolled in your current plan with coverage starting January 1, 2022. However, I encourage you to check out Covered California’s website to shop around because you may find a better deal. Don’t wait until the last minute to #GetCovered!
Check to see if you’re eligible for year-round special enrollment through a qualifying life event or if you’re eligible for Medi-Cal. If you qualify for Medi-Cal, you can apply at coveredca.com and enroll at any point in the year.
If you have questions, visit www.coveredca.com/get-help or call the Covered CA Service Center at 1-800-300-1506, Monday – Friday from 8 a.m.to 8 p.m. (PT), and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (PT).
You can also call my District Office at 650-342-0300 Mon. – Fri. from 9AM to 6PM Pacific Time.
Drug Pricing
Prescription drugs are increasingly out of reach for patients due to exorbitant prices. A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that nearly a quarter of those taking prescription drugs report it is difficult for them to afford their medication. In the first half of 2019 alone, drug companies raised the price of over 3,400 drugs, with the average increase over five times the rate of inflation. Between 2012 and 2016, the cost of insulin doubled. PrEP, an HIV prevention medication, has seen a 45 percent cost increase since 2013. Conversely, prescriptions for PrEP have declined by 18 percent since 2015, which is largely attributed to the skyrocketing cost. Parents have been forced to cross into Canada to buy cheaper insulin for their children with Type-1 diabetes, while other patients have died after being forced to ration their medicine. This is unacceptable.
Congresswoman Speier believes no patient should have to go without life-saving medication because of corporate greed, which is why she voted for H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019, in the 116th Congress. This momentous legislation would have provided the Secretary of Health and Human Services with the authority, mandate, and tools to negotiate lower drug prices for 250 of the most expensive drugs under Medicare and caps annual out-of-pocket costs in Medicare Part D to $2,000.
In other countries, pharmaceutical companies charge less for the same drugs – while still making healthy profits. Congresswoman Speier has long advocated for allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies and is supportive of comprehensive, drug pricing legislation that would finally provide some much-needed relief to workers, families, and seniors in her district and across the country.
Medicare for All
Medicare for All would transition the current system to a publicly run and financed universal health care system by improving and expanding the Medicare program using a single-payer model. The comprehensive benefits would include primary and preventive care, dental, vision, audiology, mental health services, maternity and newborn care, emergency care, and long-term care. Notably, patients would not be charged co-pays or other out-of-pocket costs. Congresswoman Speier believes this will simplify our health care system as patients will have the freedom to choose their doctors, hospitals, and other providers without having to worry about cost or whether a provider is in-network.
Reproductive Freedom
Congresswoman Speier believes that every person must have access to quality reproductive health care and is committed to protecting a woman's right to choose. As a Task Force Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus, Congresswoman Speier fights against the Republicans’ unyielding assault on a woman’s ability to control her own body. Across the country, Republicans have crafted laws designed to shutter abortion clinics, imprison doctors who perform abortions for longer prison terms than those served by many rapists, and leave women to die rather than access abortion care. As a result, 90 percent of U.S. counties lack access to a single abortion clinic. At the federal level, the Trump Administration was hell bent on punishing women with policies such as the Title X Domestic Gag Rule, which forced Planned Parenthood and other providers to withdraw from the historically bipartisan program and lose tens of millions of dollars used to provide lifesaving preventative and reproductive care.
She is a proud cosponsor of the EACH Woman Act to repeal the Hyde Amendment so that access to abortion care is not dictated by income or type of insurance. Congresswoman Speier is also a strong supporter of the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA). While Roe remains the law of the land, more than 400 laws have passed since 2011 to regulate or restrict abortion for medically unnecessary reasons. WHPA would protect against these burdensome restrictions. With this Conservative Supreme Court, protecting Roe is absolutely vital. Right now, 1 in 3 women of reproductive age – over 25 million people – live in a state where abortion could be outlawed if Roe is overturned.
As a leader on military personnel issues, Congresswoman Speier is the author of the Access to Contraception for Servicemembers and Dependents Act, so that all people who receive health care through the military have the same access as civilians to FDA-approved contraception and counseling with no co-pay. The legislation also ensures that the military provides emergency contraception to sexual assault survivors upon their request and comprehensive family planning education so that servicemembers can make informed decisions. This legislation was successfully included as part of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that passed the House of Representatives but was removed because of Senate Republicans’ opposition before final passage.
For Congresswoman Speier, the fight for abortion rights is personal. In February 2011, she became the first Member of Congress to share her abortion story on the House floor. She initially took to the floor in opposition to a Republican amendment that would have withheld Title X funding from clinics, like Planned Parenthood, that provide abortion coverage.
But when she reached the podium, she felt compelled to share her own story in response to lies that were being perpetrated by one of her colleagues. On that day, Congresswoman Speier shared the fact that she had an abortion procedure when she was 17 weeks pregnant. She and her husband wanted to see the pregnancy through, but the fetus was not viable, and the procedure was necessary for her health.
In the days that followed, Speier received thousands of letters, calls, and e-mails from women, not just in California but around the country. They shared with her that they too were among the one in four women who have had an abortion but had never spoken out because of the stigma created around the issue. Others talked about how Planned Parenthood had become their only health care option and how pleased they were that she and her colleagues were fighting for it. Speier continues to speak out about her experience so that women will no longer be silenced or stigmatized.
Biomedical Research
Congresswoman Speier is Co-Chair of the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus and a long-time advocate for a robust federal research budget – especially for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Investing in these deeply impactful agencies means investing in innovative research initiatives, preventative care techniques, and effective treatment programs which can be critical in the fight against devastating diseases like Alzheimer’s – the fifth leading cause of death in California, claiming nearly 11,000 lives in the state each year. Congresswoman Speier considers medical research programs as the geese that lay golden eggs for years to come. These geese lay multiple eggs—good jobs, longer and healthier lives, and lower health care spending.
In the Bay Area, this cycle is seen firsthand. California’s 14th District is a testament to the tremendous advances that can be made through the combined efforts of government funding of basic research, top rate institutions of higher learning such as UCSF, UC Berkeley and Stanford, and a venture capital industry that is willing to take risks and invest in promising new technologies. South San Francisco, once known as the “Industrial City,” has adopted a new industry and is now a biotechnology hub. It is here that cutting-edge research led to groundbreaking advances in the fight against cancer, multiple sclerosis, and HIV/AIDS. Recognizing such potential, Congresswoman Speier has worked to bolster federal funding in this arena so that entrepreneurs and scientists in the 14th District can continue to think outside of the box and lead the charge on revolutionary research and medical advancements.
Health Care for Older Americans
America’s population of individuals ages 65 and older is projected to double by 2060. To address the evolving health care needs of seniors, Congresswoman Speier supports developing a comprehensive approach to improving access to care. Senior health care provides a crucial opportunity to ensure proper care for millions of Americans who are aging, managing chronic conditions, recovering from a severe illness, or for those living with disabilities. Each year, Congresswoman Speier holds an extremely popular forum for aging adults across her district, now called “On the Move.” Experts from a wide range of industries, including health care, share information on aging, mental and physical health, and local resources available to seniors at little or no cost. Ensuring access to the proper support and resources – at an affordable cost – is critical to allowing individuals to maintain their dignity and autonomy as they age.
Cancer Research & Treatment
Congresswoman Speier is Co-Chair of the Childhood Cancer Caucus and supports efforts to increase funding for care, treatment, and research to accelerate the development of new life-saving cures in the fight against pediatric cancer. In the 115th Congress, Congresswoman Speier co-led the Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research (STAR) Act which was signed into law on June 5, 2018. The STAR Act is the most comprehensive childhood cancer bill to ever pass Congress and helps prioritize the fight against this deadly disease at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Congresswoman Speier considers every opportunity for supporting medical research. In the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020, Congresswoman Speier secured the reauthorization of the breast cancer research stamp that was slated to expire in December 2019. One in eight American women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime and it remains the second leading cause of cancer death in women. Since the breast cancer stamp was first introduced in 1998, more than one billion stamps have been sold in the U.S. generating over $89 million in cutting-edge breast cancer research. That includes a recent landmark study that revealed that genetic testing can show which women with early-stage breast cancer need chemotherapy as part of their course of treatment and which do not. This finding is expected to spare up to 70,000 U.S. patients a year from the cost and side effects associated with this type of treatment. Congresswoman Speier believes this is a prime example of what the federal government can achieve by funding cutting-edge research that may not be funded elsewhere.
The United States has been the world’s envy when it comes to technological innovation and shared prosperity. We must ensure that these virtues form the foundation of a new 21st century economy that works for everyone. Congress must pave the way for a strong economy by investing in human capital and infrastructure projects to strengthen our workforce and by ensuring basic safeguards, such as a living wage and collective bargaining rights, so that hard-working Americans can share in our nation’s wealth and security.
The coming decades will be a time of transformation and unless Congress acts wisely to ensure that it is a time of positive change for all, many will be left behind. Increased automation threatens unprecedented upheaval in the job market. Congresswoman Speier supports legislation to provide training in the next-generation sectors so that people can more easily shift careers in response to economic shifts.
It will also be a time of change in how Americans transport themselves with a coming explosion in electric vehicle adoption and the advent of autonomous vehicles. To ensure our Nation’s continued global leadership in the automotive industry, Congresswoman Speier introduced H.R. 5393, the Affordable American-Made Automobiles Act. This comprehensive and visionary legislation will expand popular tax credits for electric vehicles, retooled so that these next-generation vehicles are accessible to the middle class, and will also provide greater incentives for U.S.-based production and adoption of electric vehicles and investments in electric charging infrastructure so that the United States is not left in the dust of other nations already focused on this important new sector.
Meanwhile, corporate consolidation has decreased competitiveness and innovation across the American economy. Congresswoman Speier supports reviving robust antitrust enforcement and merger review by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, which have turned a blind eye to unprecedented concentration. When only a few major corporations control an industry the result for consumers are higher prices and lower quality of service, not to mention the corrosive effect that concentrated money has on the political process. Also see the Elections Page.
Every person in this country deserves a living wage. The federal minimum wage remains stagnant at $7.25 per hour since July 2009, while inflation has eroded the real buying power of that wage by 15 percent. After adjusting for inflation, the minimum wage is almost 30 percent below its peak value in 1968. This especially hurts the residents of the 14th District, which has some of the highest costs of living nationwide.
That is why Congresswoman Speier supports H.R. 582, the Raise the Wage Act, which would gradually increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour and phase out the subminimum wage. This legislation will give 33 million workers a desperately-needed raise, including nearly 20 million women and 16 million people of color. Not only will these workers benefit, but the economy as a whole will grow as workers spend their money and stimulate the local economy.
It is also time to abolish the tipped minimum wage, which allows employers to pay just $2.13 per hour to tipped workers making them almost entirely dependent on tips for their livelihood. Especially concerning is the fact that nearly two-thirds of tipped workers are women. In addition to being an economic security issue, this is also a safety issue. One study estimated that women who work for tips in states without a tipped minimum wage experience half the rate of sexual harassment because they are not dependent on tips for their income. For more information about Congresswoman Speier’s policies to stimulate the economy by empowering women with equal pay and equitable workplace policies, please see the Women’s Rights page.
Investing in our aging infrastructure is critical for stimulating the economy and improving quality of life. The American Society of Civil Engineers gives America’s infrastructure a dismal D+ rating and estimates that we will need to spend upwards of $3.6 trillion by 2020 in order for our infrastructure to remain safe and operational. Speier has consistently supported essential investments in transportation infrastructure through the Highway Trust Fund and continues to advocate for long-term infrastructure funding. In the 14th District of California, over 60 percent of the bridges in San Francisco County and 40 percent of the bridges in San Mateo County are in need of major repairs or reconstruction. Additionally, Congresswoman Speier believes that future improvements must address the impending threat of climate change. “Climate smart” infrastructure is better equipped to withstand extreme weather and sea level rise and will save taxpayers significant costs in the long run. Upgrading our infrastructure improves public safety, creates jobs, and grows the economy through increased efficiency and decreased waste.
For more information, please see the Transportation and Infrastructure issues page.
As the nation’s debt is snowballing, it’s important to ensure our budget is a reflection of our nation’s priorities. Congresswoman Speier is a fierce advocate for crucial domestic spending that benefits the American public by educating our children, ensuring access to quality health care, keeping our environment clean, and maintaining a robust economy full of opportunities. She believes that the arbitrary debt ceiling should be abolished, since over time it has merely become a political football leading to dangerous gamesmanship and has caused the United States to suffer through unnecessary government shutdowns and brought us to the brink of a disastrous default.
For these reasons, Congresswoman Speier voted for the compromise Bipartisan Budget Agreement of 2019, which suspends the debt limit for two years, avoiding an unprecedented and disastrous default, and increases discretionary funding caps for Fiscal Years 2020 and 2021. This will allow the Federal Government to continue to make investments in education, consumer protection, affordable housing, and more.
Congress cannot kick the can down the road forever. Putting the budget on a more sustainable long-term trajectory will require some difficult decisions, though there are some places where progress can be made to close the gap. First, the government must collect more tax revenue by raising rates on corporate profits, closing loopholes, and investing in tax enforcement so that everyone pays their fair share. Second, we must decrease the belt-busting military budget. It is baffling that the United States spends nearly as much money on its defense as it does on the health and wellness of its people. In her position on the House Armed Services Committee, Congresswoman Speier is dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in the defense budget. Also see the Armed Services page.
A criminal sat in the Oval Office for four years, and though he is now gone it falls to Congress to hold him accountable for his wrongdoing.
Congresswoman Speier encourages all Americans to read the Mueller Report. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation found that then-candidate Donald Trump knowingly welcomed the assistance of Russians who were set on interfering in our elections with a widespread social media campaign sowing disinformation and division and a criminal hack-and-dump targeting the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton Campaign.
Congresswoman Speier has long advocated for oversight into foreign adversaries’ interference in our political process. Even before the Mueller Report, there was plenty of information suggesting deep financial ties between the Trump Organization and Russians and other reports that the Trump Organization was involved in dubious overseas ventures. Click here to learn more.
In addition to investigating coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, the Special Counsel found irrefutable evidence that the former president sought to obstruct justice and prevent a full investigation of the attack on our democracy from Russia. In fact, the Mueller investigation resulted in 37 indictments, 7 convictions or guilty pleas, and findings of 10 possible instances of obstruction of justice. While the Office of the Special Counsel believed it could not indict a sitting president due to Justice Department policy, it provided Congress with plenty of evidence to do its job and proceed with an impeachment inquiry. No one is above the law, even and especially the President or a former president.
As a Member of the House Intelligence Committee and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform (COR), Congresswoman Speier believes that Congress must use all available tools, including subpoenas and its powers of contempt, to force the Executive Branch to cooperate in legitimate congressional investigations into financial misconduct, election interference, obstruction of justice, cruel family separation policies, malicious attempts to add a citizenship question to the U.S. Census, White House personnel use of personal communications for official business, among many other instances of troubling misconduct during the previous administration.
In addition to holding the former president and his accomplices accountable, these investigations will enable Congress to pass legislation to improve the quality of government. Indeed, the findings of the Mueller Report and the first impeachment trial shed light on frightening vulnerabilities in our elections and democracy that need to be shored up. As Robert Mueller testified before the House Intelligence Committee, Russia and other nations were already at it again in subsequent elections. In addition to holding accountable those who illegally disrupted the 2016 election and sought to do so in 2018 and 2020, we must also be on guard to prevent similar interference in the future. Click here to learn more.
Our public institutions are only as good as the people that work within them and it is crucial that we have a highly qualified and motivated civil service workforce. Congresswoman Speier commends the service of the federal workforce and is active in measures to improve the standards in the government workplace and support the work that keeps our country running. To maintain trust and accountability, Congress must also engage in active oversight of the other branches of government and pass laws to improve transparency and enforce ethical standards. In her long legislative career in California and the U.S. Congress, and particularly in her role on the Oversight Committee, Congresswoman Speier has dedicated herself to eradicating political corruption and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in government procurement and operations.
Harassment and discrimination have no place in our taxpayer-funded federal workplaces and do a severe disservice to the important work of delivering for the American people. Congresswoman Speier is a champion of efforts to eradicate sexual harassment at the highest levels of government. In addition to leading the Me Too movement in Congress, she has led actions to address allegations of sexual harassment in the US Forest Service, the FBI Training Academy, the Defense Department, the State Department, and more. In 2019, Congresswoman Speier testified at a United States Commission on Civil Rights hearing on sexual harassment at the State Department and in 2020 introduced the SHAPE Act to overhaul the Department’s anti-harassment and discrimination practices. For more information on the Congresswoman’s efforts with the Me Too movement in Congress, please see the Women’s Rights section.
In her role on the Oversight Committee and the House Armed Services Committee, Congresswoman Speier prioritizes ensuring that taxpayer money is spent responsibly. She was a leader in the investigation of TransDigm, a military aircraft parts supplier that was found to have defrauded the government out of millions of dollars in an Inspector General report and in hearings before the Oversight Committee. As a result of those efforts, TransDigm returned some “excess profits” to the government.
Congresswoman Speier continues to fight to ensure that they return all the excess profits owed and that other companies fraudulently milking the U.S. government pay up as well.
Through her role on the Oversight Committee, Congresswoman Speier is working to strengthen government ethics so that taxpayer-funded official activities are used in the best interests of the American people. After the Trump Administration ran roughshod over government ethics rules, Congress must ensure no future president can abuse the power of their office in that same fashion.
Congresswoman Speier has also been at the forefront of raising attention to the sexual exploitation of young girls by serial predator Jeffrey Epstein and demanding investigations into the government’s mishandling of Epstein’s molestation and sex-trafficking case. The 13-month sweetheart plea deal and nonprosecution agreement that former Secretary Alexander Acosta gave Epstein in Florida, and the gross negligence that resulted in Epstein committing suicide, demand answers and warrant congressional oversight.
We must give voice to the victims, whose rights were violated by being left in the dark. To that end, Congresswoman Speier introduced the Courtney Wild Crime Victims Rights Reform Act to strengthen victims’ rights and ensure that this kind of violation does not happen again.
California has always been at the forefront of the fight for equality. Embodying this spirit, Congresswoman Speier is a passionate ally to the LGBTQI community. As a proud member of the LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus and the Transgender Equality Task Force, she champions legislation that pushes our country closer toward true equality for every American. While marriage equality represents a hard-won victory, LGBTQ+ Americans are still at risk of discrimination in housing, employment, federal funding, education, financial services, and more.
In recognition of the work that must still be done, Congresswoman Speier is a cosponsor of H.R. 5, the Equality Act, which passed the House of Representatives and awaits consideration in the Senate. This important bill would directly protect Americans from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. In the 116th Congress, Congresswoman Speier cosponsored the Every Child Deserves a Family Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or religion in child welfare programs and services that receive federal funding, and the Greater Leadership Overseas for the Benefit of Equality (GLOBE) Act, which establishes a plan for U.S. leadership in the protection of international LGBTQI rights. She has also long fought to prohibit conversion therapy and supports legislation that would ban commercial conversion therapy and prevent Medicaid funding from covering this despicable practice.
The ex-president's ban on transgender men and women serving in the military was cruel, offensive and wrong. President Biden was right to overturn this policy and Rep Speier applauds the Pentagon’s bold action to expeditiously dismantle the trans ban.
The Trump policy ordered servicemembers to dress like and meet the standards of their gender assigned at birth. It even required individuals who have medically transitioned into their chosen gender to still serve in their birth genders. Over 14,000 trans servicemembers currently help keep our nation safe. Their bravery in putting their lives on the line to protect our country deserves better than this.
As the Chair of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, Congresswoman Speier has led the charge in Congress to overturn this hateful and senseless ban. On February 27, 2019, Congresswoman Speier invited the first five transgender servicemembers to testify openly in front of her Military Personnel subcommittee and share their stories. She introduced bicameral, bipartisan legislation in Congress that would protect the rights of transgender individuals who are qualified and meet standards to join and also serve openly in the armed services. Congresswoman Speier then introduced amendments to enshrine open service into law that were included in the House-passed Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act and the Defense Department Appropriations bill.
While President Biden and Secretary Austin have kept their promises to defend transgender servicemembers who put their lives on the line for Americans, we must ensure that we never backtrack again on basic human decency. Rep Speier will continue to work with her colleagues to establish statutory nondiscrimination protections for our servicemembers.
Congresswoman Speier believes that our gun violence epidemic is one of the most pressing public health crises of our time. Each day, an average of 100 Americans are killed with a gun. In 2020, more than 41,000 Americans died from gun violence, including 23,000 people who used a gun to end their own lives. These are the highest numbers we’ve seen in 30 years. yet many in Congress still try to divert attention from the true nature of this issue, blaming mental health or video games. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding a shooting, one factor is always the same: access to a deadly weapon that allows a shooter to lay waste to human life.
As a survivor of gun violence, Congresswoman Speier recognizes the immense physical and emotional toll of inaction. She currently serves as a Vice-Chair on the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, which works to save American lives by fixing gaps in our gun laws. Congresswoman Speier is a longtime champion of universal background checks, an assault weapons ban, gun and ammunition buyback programs, and incentives for states to establish Extreme Risk Protection Order laws, which are policies expanding prohibitions on firearm access for domestic abusers. She is an original cosponsor of the Bipartisan Background Check Act of 2019, which would fix gaping loopholes in our background check system. Congresswoman Speier also recognizes the important role of advanced user recognition technology in preventing the tragedies of the future. She introduced H.R.4730, the Advancing Gun Safety Technology Act, to help bring life-saving gun safety technology to market.
Congresswoman Speier understands that we cannot hope to address gun violence effectively without research to inform evidence-based solutions. In June 2019, she brought public health experts to the Capitol, including emergency room physicians and nurses who treat gunshot victims, to share their experiences working on the front lines of our gun violence crisis and highlight the need for research. She also hosted a briefing for congressional staff on the issue. Congresswoman Speier proud to support the Labor, Health, and Human Services appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2020, which funded $50 million in gun violence prevention research for the first time in 20 years.
Congresswoman Speier leads the House’s efforts to close loopholes that exempt Members of Congress from a prohibition preventing the public from carrying firearms in the Capitol. Under the current regulations, Members of Congress are allowed to carry in the Capitol and office buildings and give their gun to staff to transport within the Capitol complex. There are no rules requiring that Members secure or lock their firearms in their offices. Congresswoman Speier introduced H.R. 545, the No Congressional Gun Loophole Act, with Rep. Jared Huffman to change a 1967 rule that gives the Capitol Police Board the authority to exempt Members from gun safety rules. Congresswoman Speier also recognizes the relationship between gun violence and violence against women. In September 2019, she introduced H. Res. 555 to address misogyny-based gun violence and recommit Congress to preventing individuals with a history of violence against women from accessing a firearm. Approximately 4.5 million women in the U.S. have been threatened by an intimate partner with a firearm and the presence of a gun in the home increases the risk of female homicide three-fold. An analysis of mass shootings by Everytown for Gun Safety found that the majority of mass shootings in the U.S. involved killing a former or current intimate partner or family member. Notably, a loophole in our laws allows those convicted of dating violence or misdemeanor stalking to continue to access a gun. She plants to reintroduce this resolution in the 117th Congress.
Congresswoman Speier has been committed to gun violence prevention for more than two decades. In 1989, she managed the legislation banning assault weapons in California on the floor of the State Assembly. California now has some of the strongest gun safety laws in the country. During her time in the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Speier has introduced bills to close loopholes in our background check system, require reporting of lost and stolen guns, modernize the definition of “armor piercing ammunition,” and incorporate child safety into consumer product safety standards for handguns.
Congresswoman Speier is deeply committed to keeping Americans safe and advancing democratic values around the world. She believes that providing effective oversight of our national security apparatus is essential to accomplishing these objectives. Congresswoman Speier serves on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), where she is Chair of the Military Personnel Subcommitte, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), where she is Chair of the Strategic Technologies and Advanced Research (STAR) Subcommittee and serves on the Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation (C3) Subcommittee. She also serves on the National Security Subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (COR). Congresswoman Speier works tirelessly to hold our national security leadership accountable for protecting our interests and our values. She is also dedicated to ensuring that the intelligence community is independent of political influence and reflective of our nation’s rich diversity.
Congresswoman Speier was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives during the Iraq War. She used her very first floor speech to call for the return of American troops after hearing from constituents at over 60 meetings that they wanted an end to American deployments to Iraq. She remains committed to preventing costly, aimless American military engagements that harm our national interest.
From her position on HASC, Congresswoman Speier demands that the Department of Defense (DoD) adhere to the highest standards of transparency and accountability. She conducts oversight to make sure critical efforts to maintain military readiness and cutting-edge operational capabilities draw on the best management practices and that Department and military leadership are accountable stewards of America’s resources, especially our brave servicemembers. A strong national defense requires Congress to make policy and spending decisions based on ample information and insight. Serving both on Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, Congresswoman Speier is one of the best positioned Members of Congress to oversee our nation’s defense and foreign policies.
Congresswoman Speier believes all Americans should be deeply concerned by troubling evidence of foreign efforts to influence our democracy. That’s why she has consistently called for efforts to harden our cyber defenses, detect incursions, and ensure that our cyber defenders are able to follow through with proportionate responses to cyber-attacks. In January 2019, she introduced H.R. 1028, the RIGHT Act to prevent foreign money from influencing our elections. She also introduced legislation to prevent any federal funding for a cybersecurity unit with Russia, after the U.S. intelligence community confirmed Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election through digital disinformation campaigns and criminal hacking. For more information, please see the Election Security page.
In Congresswoman Speier’s view, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) offers both risks and opportunities for our nation’s security. The Chinese economy is inextricably linked with ours and our country is immeasurably richer for the contributions of Chinese Americans. Yet the PRC’s growing military, its aggressive actions in the South China Sea, and harassment of U.S. and other ships is a cause for concern and continued U.S. engagement in the Pacific. The PRC government also has a deeply troubling record of human rights abuses. Congresswoman Speier will continue to use her position in Congress to speak out on behalf of persecuted ethnic and religious minorities. Congresswoman Speier maintains that if China wants to be accepted as a partner in the community of nations, they must immediately stop the routine and horrifying detention and torture of peaceful activists and people of faith.
Congresswoman Speier is a steadfast supporter of the United States’ special relationship with Israel. She believes that the United States and Israel, the Middle East’s only democracy, share values and beliefs that make continued, close cooperation on security, technology, and myriad other issues in the best interests of both countries. Congresswoman Speier also believes strongly in the right of the Palestinian people to have their own country in lands currently occupied by Israel. Direct diplomacy between the parties, assisted by the United States, represents the best path to achieving a two-state solution. Congresswoman Speier also thinks the United States must work closely with the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority to address their respective issues with recent anti-democratic legislation, expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and accountable governance.
Congresswoman Speier believes that our world is safer and more prosperous when women are educated, have access to health care, and can participate in the global economy. She supports the Biden Administration’s repeal of the Global Gag Rule, which blocked foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that received U.S. health aid from providing referrals for abortion services with their own funding. Research shows that by limiting access to care, the previous administration’s disastrous policy led to a 14 percent decrease in contraceptive use, 12 percent increase in pregnancies, and 40 percent increase in abortion rates. However, she believes that more work must be done to ensure that future administrations do not reinstate the Global Gag Rule. She is a proud cosponsor of the Global HER Act, which would permanently repeal the Global Gag Rule.
Congresswoman Speier strongly supports President Biden’s decision to re-fund the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which works in more than 150 countries to end preventable maternal deaths, provide voluntary family planning, combat gender-based violence such as child marriage, and train health care workers. Last Congress, Speier led a letter with 145 of her colleagues urging the previous administration to reverse its decision to withhold U.S. funding.
Congresswoman Speier also supports efforts to educate girls worldwide, eradicate gender-based violence, promote women’s participation in peace and security efforts, and ensure their access to jobs and an economic marketplace free from discrimination.
Congresswoman Speier believes that the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) including chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, remains a critical concern. The safety and security of the U.S. nuclear arsenal must remain a chief priority of our strategic forces. In 2017, she demanded greater transparency from the Department of Defense Inspector General on the safety of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Congresswoman Speier was also an ardent supporter of President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, which severely limited Iran’s nuclear activities. She believes that the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement under the Trump Administration negatively impacted our national security and supports President Biden’s efforts to rejoin the nuclear deal if Iran returns to full compliance. Congresswoman Speier also believes that we must work with our allies to ensure that nation state adversaries and violent extremist groups are not able to threaten others by enforcing international treaties.
As a proud Armenian American, Congresswoman Speier is committed to close U.S.-Armenia cooperation. As a Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, Congresswoman Speier regularly works with Armenian American groups, the State Department and USAID, and the Armenian government to advance the U.S.-Armenia relationship, U.S. democracy assistance for Armenia, and bring our countries closer together. Congresswoman Speier has travelled to Armenia to help build ties between our people and demonstrate continued American support. She also supported measures to make economic cooperation between the two countries easier, including the establishment of direct flights between California and Yerevan, Armenia.
Congresswoman Speier is also a strong proponent of the right of the people of Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) to self-determination, an issue that is even more critical after the 2020 war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In 2020 she introduced H.Res. 1165, a bipartisan resolution condemning Azerbaijan’s aggression in initiating the conflict. She recently also co-led several letters to President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and Defense Secretary Austin urging the administration to work towards a lasting settlement to the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh, support humanitarian assistance to the region, and recognize the Armenian Genocide.
Congresswoman Speier has worked to rally support from her congressional colleagues for the security of conventional weapons. In 2018, she formed the bipartisan Congressional Unexploded Ordnance/Demining Caucus. The caucus membership continues to grow as Members of Congress and their staff learn about the devastating impact these harmful legacies of war have on civilian populations and how they prevent post-conflict economic and social development.
Congresswoman Speier led a successful effort to secure a $6.3 million increase in funding in the FY 2021 appropriations bill for humanitarian demining assistance. Congresswoman Speier also worked successfully to include support for demining efforts in Nagorno Karabakh in the House-passed appropriations bill.
Congresswoman Speier believes that upholding human rights is one of our most important duties as a free society. She serves on the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and sponsors several Prisoners of Conscience through the Defending Freedoms Project.
Congresswoman Speier is a leading advocate for human rights in Saudi Arabia. In 2019, she introduced a resolution condemning the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and demanding a reevaluation of the U.S.-Saudi relationship in response to human rights abuses against activists. She currently sponsors Samar Badawi, an imprisoned women’s rights defender, and has repeatedly called on the Saudi Government to release Samar and all women activists and human rights defenders.
Outside of Saudi Arabia, Congresswoman Speier regularly calls on the U.S. government to prioritize human rights and democracy over flawed security relationships. In 2020, she cosponsored H.Res.1145, a resolution condemning the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and calling for a robust U.S. response. She reintroduced a resolution condemning extrajudicial killings and the so-called “War on Drugs” in the Philippines and urging the Philippine Government to release Senator Leila de Lima, a human rights champion who has been detained for more than three years. She also supports assistance programs that help partner nations build accountable, transparent governance structures.
As the co-chair of the Congressional Ahmadiyya Muslim Caucus, Congresswoman Speier is at the forefront of efforts to promote international religious freedom in Congress. During the 116th Congress, Congresswoman Speier co-hosted briefings that brought together bipartisan stakeholders to discuss the United States’ role in safeguarding international religious freedom and brought members of persecuted communities to Congress to increase awareness of the human rights abuses perpetrated against religious minorities. She continues to fight for Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan and around the world, the Rohingya people in Myanmar, Uyghur Muslims and other religious and ethnic communities in China, and other vulnerable populations.
Keeping America safe also means ensuring the security of our defense industrial supply chain. Congresswoman Speier believes that American innovation must not be subject to foreign acts of espionage or sabotage, especially when those technological advances protect our troops and our citizens. Congresswoman Speier co-sponsored the Protecting NATO Skies Act of 2019 to prevent the delivery of F-35s to Turkey after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to purchase and deploy Russian S-400 air defense systems. The exposure of costly U.S. and allied technology to adversary radar systems is dangerous and wasteful and Congresswoman Speier will continue to work to prevent the delivery of these weapons of war to Turkey. Rep. Speier recently led letters to President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and Defense Secretary Austin urging the administration to re-examine the U.S. relationship with Turkey in light of President Erdogan’s embrace of authoritarianism and Turkey’s actions in opposition to U.S. security interests.
Elections are the foundational processes of our democracy. We cannot take for granted free and fair elections nor can we ignore Congress’ role in ensuring that elections across the country operate effectively.
Our elections are increasingly under attack. As a Member of the House Committee on Intelligence and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Congresswoman Speier has promoted the necessity of securing our elections against nefarious influence. These elections must also be viewed as free and fair, and seen and experienced as such by all Americans.
Congresswoman Speier cosponsored and voted for the House-passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2021, which, in part, aims to improve the security of U.S. election infrastructure to counter the threat of foreign interference. H.R. 1 takes a whole-of-government approach to securing our elections, including directing the Election Assistance Commission to develop best practices and guidelines for ballot design, providing funding and requiring states to undertake measures to prevent and deter cybersecurity incidents involving computerized voter registration databases, and requiring the Department of Homeland Security to maintain the designation of election infrastructure as critical and requiring they provide timely threat information to chief state election officials.
Recent efforts on January 6, 2021 to overturn the results of our free and fair election through violence were despicable assaults on our democracy and American values. Congresswoman Speier is committed to holding the perpetrators accountable and rooting out domestic terrorism from our country. She has introduced the bipartisan Commission on Domestic Terrorism Act to create an independent, bipartisan commission modeled after the 9/11 Commission to investigate both the January 6 attack on the Capitol and the federal government’s failure to more broadly respond to the threat of domestic terrorism over the past two decades.
Congress must ensure that every vote counts—a foundational and most basic requirement of the U.S. Constitution. Voting rights are under attack across the country, and the Federal Government must act to prevent state election officials from suppressing the vote. Reports of voter suppression and efforts in some states to limit the number of polling places in communities which are predominantly home to people of color demonstrate that constant vigilance to protect hard-won voting rights is necessary. After the devastating Shelby County v. Holder Supreme Court decision that weakened the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the need for Congress to pass legislation to ensure Americans have equal access to the polls became even more acute.
The House-passed H.R. 1, the For The People Act, also promotes clean and fair elections, ends the corrosive power of big money in politics, and imposes ethics reforms to ensure public officials work for the people. Among its provisions, H.R. 1 empowers federal officials to oversee state elections and enforce constitutional standards of one-person, one-vote. Congresswoman Speier believes voters have a right to pick their representatives, not the other way around, and that efforts at the state level to gerrymander Congressional districts are corrosive to our democracy. Recent Supreme Court rulings in Rucho v. Common Cause and Lamone v. Benisek, which determined that federal courts could not hear partisan challenges to state legislature-drawn voting maps, adds new urgency for Congress to prevent these partisan practices from influencing our system of government.
The Citizens United decision released the floodgates for a wave of unaccountable dark money to overwhelm our electoral system. To protect the voice of the ordinary American voter who doesn’t have millions to spend on super-PAC shadow campaigns, we must empower the voter and candidates with better information and greater public financing and support. This way, we can make sure that voters have an informed choice about who they are voting for and to enable a more diverse and representative slate of candidates on the ballot.
H.R. 1, the For the People Act, will require organizations to disclose large donors, and it creates a matching system for small donations, thus shining a light on dark money that can influence campaigns. Congresswoman Speier is also an original cosponsor of Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal’s We the People Amendment, which would amendment the Constitution to make clear, once and for all, that Constitution does not protect corporations and establish that spending of money to influence elections cannot be construed as protected speech under the First Amendment.
Military Servicemembers and Veterans
Our brave servicemembers and veterans deserve the very best from Congress, our government, and the American people. These individuals and their families put their lives on the line for our country, make constant personal and professional sacrifices to fulfill military requirements, and endure working conditions that are often dangerous. As the Chair of the Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee, Congresswoman Speier has championed servicemembers, veterans, and their families. Congresswoman Speier has advanced numerous initiatives to ensure the military finds and keeps the most qualified individuals, provides their families with needed assistance finding employment and child care, and adequately compensates those harmed in the line of duty.
During the 116th Congress, Congresswoman Speier pursued a holistic approach to supporting our servicemembers and veterans that she will carry into the 117th Congress. Under her leadership, the Military Personnel Subcommittee emphasizes that “Together, We Serve,” recognizing the sacrifices entire families make in their service to our country.
Congresswoman Speier has held numerous hearings on timely military personnel topics, such as examining how to revitalize the military’s personnel policy by asking servicemembers and their families what they need and replacing one-size-fits-all solutions with innovative approaches that optimize scarce resources. She understands that a force capable of fighting and winning 21st Century conflicts cannot run on outdated policies.
During the 116th Congress, Congresswoman Speier secured passage of landmark legislation as part of the annual defense policy bill, including:
Building on these achievements, Congresswoman Speier continues to advocate for measures to ensure that military families have the same access to contraception without out-of-pocket costs as other Americans with health insurance, to stop pregnancy discrimination in the armed forces, to strengthen the effectiveness of military protective orders for victims of intimate-partner violence, to appropriately vet recruits and servicemembers for ties to white-supremacist and other violent-extremist groups, and to establish a standalone offense of violent extremism under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Congresswoman Speier believes that our dedication to our servicemembers must extend beyond their service on active duty. She supports efforts to ensure continued high-quality care by the Department of Veterans Affairs, help veterans access care when the VA cannot provide it, and protect the labor rights of VA workers. Congresswoman Speier has participated in numerous efforts to make sure the VA system provides appropriate care for veterans with non-typical injuries and conditions, such as survivors of military sexual trauma. From ardent oversight of proper medical care at VA hospitals and clinics to protecting the benefits earned during a veteran’s military career, the Congresswoman remains committed to our veterans.
If you are a servicemember or veteran whistleblower of misconduct or you believe your organization has retaliated against you, please contact our office. No organization is above oversight. If you are able to come forward, our office can help to ensure your rights as a whistleblower are protected.
Congresswoman Speier maintains that one of Congress’ most important responsibilities is protecting Americans from harmful commercial products and activities. New technologies, materials, and products may show promise, but they can come with new and unforeseen harms. As our economy is increasingly interconnected and garden-variety frauds are committed over phone lines and the internet, Congress must continue to lead in protecting consumers from exploitation. To that end, Congresswoman Speier serves on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform's Economic and Consumer Policy Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over income inequality and policies that affect the growth and prosperity of the middle class, including education, housing, labor, trade, small business, agriculture; securities regulation; consumer protection; private sector information technology security, policy, and management; intellectual property;telecommunications; and federal acquisition policy unrelated to national security and information technology.
While the internet has been an engine of remarkable innovation and novelty, fundamentally changing the way we interact with one another, it also has a dark side. The same technologies that provide us with entertainment and super-convenient commerce have also facilitated a toxic ecosystem of hate and resentment. The more “wired” our culture becomes, the more vulnerable we become to cyberbullying, exploitation, fraud, misinformation, disinformation, and other forms of abuse. The law needs to evolve and adapt to protect from new forms of violence and privacy violation.
The internet has matured well beyond the point where we continue to treat the whole enterprise as a “startup” too delicate to regulate. Many Americans conduct business and live their lives primarily on the internet and the internet is now dominated by many large, sophisticated firms with tremendous market power. Companies need to be able to respond to regulation and Congress can and must take strong action to curtail harmful activity on the internet.
To that end, Congresswoman Speier re-introduced her bipartisan legislation, the Stopping Harmful Image Exploitation and Limiting Distribution Act (the SHIELD Act), as an amendment to the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021 (VAWA). The SHIELD Act would address the widespread and harmful problem of nonconsensual pornography, often referred to as “revenge porn.” Victims whose private intimate images are shared online often suffer acute emotional harm and catastrophic damage to their professional and personal lives. The SHIELD Act would make it a federal crime to share nude or sexual images of someone with reckless disregard as to their lack of consent and expectation of privacy. The amendment passed as part of VAWA with bipartisan support.
Additionally, Congresswoman Speier supports legislation that would give consumers more control over their privacy. The current privacy regime, created by corporations and forced upon consumers with hardly any consent whatsoever, has led to a situation in which consumers’ valuable personal information is up for sale by data brokers without the consumers’ awareness of how their information is being used. Congress must act to impose requirements on companies that collect personal data to tell consumers how their information is being used and limit the ways in which that information can be utilized without the user’s informed consent.
Congresswoman Speier is equally concerned about toxic disinformation and hate speech on the internet. While always respecting the cherished freedom of speech, Congress can and should take steps to prevent the most serious harms. For instance, the American public faces serious risks from the possibility of hyper-realistic digital forgeries, or “deep fakes,” that falsely depict real people doing or saying things that never happened. Such fakeries can not only harm the individuals that are depicted, they could be used to interfere with official processes and elections. Congresswoman Speier has led women legislators from Congress and around the world in discussions with Facebook to raise concerns about online gender disinformation. Congress must think of creative and effective ways to address the threat that such content poses, especially to women and underrepresented groups.
Congresswoman Speier supports efforts to restore Obama-era net neutrality principles that were rolled back as part of the Trump Administration’s pro-industry and anti-consumer agenda. Reinstating net neutrality legislation would prohibit internet service providers from blocking or throttling access to websites, which would make sure that the internet is open and free so that all web users can access the websites they want equally easily.
Congress must remain active in protecting our physical environment and consumer products. From asbestos-containing talcum powder, which is used in numerous consumer goods, to cancer-causing PFAS, which was used in consumer products and heavily used on military installations as firefighting foam, Congress must raise attention about dangerous chemicals and products that harm our health and environment, and pass laws protecting the public from them.
Especially concerning are products that can cause harm to children and teenagers. In 2015, Congresswoman Speier introduced legislation that would have toughened requirements around liquid laundry detergent pods that have can be deadly when ingested by children and toddlers mistaking them for candy. In response to the Congresswoman’s bill, manufacturers voluntarily established an industry standard geared toward protecting children. Similarly, Congresswoman Speier led the charge to keep children safe from heavy metals in jewelry, recalled toxic McDonald’s cups that contained cadmium, and removed BPA and other endocrine disrupters from children’s products.
In her role on the House Oversight Committee, and as a member of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Protection, Congresswoman Speier supports investigations into toxic and dangerous products. This includes inclined baby rockers linked to dozens of infant deaths and the electronic cigarette maker Juul, which has blatantly targeted children and teenagers in an attempt to create a captive consumer class for its highly addictive nicotine-packed product.
Gender-based pricing of goods and services, or the Pink Tax, is another area of consumer protection in which Congresswoman Speier has led the way in seeking a legislative solution. Simply put, the Pink Tax is an insidious form of institutionalized discrimination that affects women across the country and over the course of their lifetimes. It is compounded by the fact that women start off with less money in their pockets due to the gender wage gap. In the U.S., women still make 82 cents on the dollar compared with men’s earnings and the inequality is even worse for women of color. This means income losses from the Pink Tax are even more financially damaging than the raw numbers indicate.
In order to finally put an end to discriminatory pricing practices, Congresswoman Speier introduced the Pink Tax Repeal Act which would prohibit differential pricing of consumer products and services that are substantially similar when pricing differences are based on the gender of the consumer. It also allows the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to treat and enforce a violation of this act as an unfair or deceptive practice and gives State Attorneys General the authority to bring civil action on behalf of state residents in order to compel compliance with the law or obtain damages, restitution, or other compensation on behalf of residents of the State. This legislation builds on the Repeal the Gender Tax Act that Congresswoman Speier passed into law in the California Assembly.
Congresswoman Speier believes that every student deserves the opportunity to receive a high-quality education, from early childhood to higher education, regardless of income or zip code. She is committed to expanding access to early childhood education, strengthening our public schools, and solving our college affordability crisis.
A long-time advocate for Head Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant, Congresswoman Speier recognizes that access to early learning opportunities helps children succeed later in life. Unfortunately, child care is increasingly out-of-reach for many families in California’s 14th District. In California, the average annual cost for full-time center-based infant care is $16,542, and child care workers are paid poverty-level wages, earning an average income of just $28,630. Congresswoman Speier is a proud cosponsor of H.R. 1364, the Child Care for Working Families Act to double the number of children eligible for child care assistance and significantly increase Head Start and pre-school funding. Speier also supports H.R. 1560, the American Family Act, to expand the Child Tax Credit, create a new Young Child Tax Credit for children under six, and make both credits fully refundable.
Congresswoman Speier also knows that a successful public education system is fundamental to a strong nation. She vigorously opposes attempts to divert resources from our public schools, including school vouchers, which would allow taxpayer dollars to support institutions that are not subject to state or federal education or nondiscrimination standards.
As a mother, Congresswoman Speier understands that college affordability is a critical issue for families across the nation. She believes that one of Congress’ primary duties is to ensure that our education system allows all Americans to succeed in the 21st century labor market. She is horrified that students and graduates are forced to give up their dreams as they struggle against a system that leaves them with crippling debt or insurmountable barriers to education. As such, she supports increasing funding for Pell Grants, student loan reforms to reduce the crushing debt on American families, and strict regulations on for-profit colleges to protect students, veterans, and taxpayers from predatory practices that provide inferior educational opportunities at sky-high costs. She authored the Military and Veterans Protection Act, which would protect servicemembers and veteran students from being exploited by for-profit colleges.
One of Congresswoman Speier’s key legislative priorities is ensuring that students can learn and grow in an environment free from sexual violence and discrimination. One in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted on college campuses. Approximately 56 percent of girls and 40 percent of boys in grades 7-12 are sexually harassed in any given year. Any progress is increasingly threatened by the Trump Administration’s Education Department which is more preoccupied with protecting perpetrators than their victims. Secretary DeVos has released a proposed rule that will make it harder to hold perpetrators responsible and will make schools and college campuses more dangerous. For example, under the proposed changes schools can avoid addressing a sexual assault that occurred off-campus and victims can be cross-examined in proceedings by the perpetrator’s advisor of choice. To protect against Secretary DeVos’ Title IX rollbacks, Congresswoman Speier introduced the Title IX Protection Act, which codifies Obama-era policies that helped keep students safe.
To proactively prevent sexual violence and hold perpetrators accountable, Congresswoman Speier authored H.R. 3381, the HALT Campus Sexual Violence Act, which increases penalties for violating the Clery Act, allows the Department of Education to issue penalties for noncompliance with Title IX, and creates a private right of action for students harmed by schools that fail to meet safety requirements. Congresswoman Speier also introduced H.R. 5328, the Federal Funding Accountability for Sexual Harassers Act, groundbreaking legislation to increase transparency and accountability around the use of taxpayer funds to support research professors with a history of sexual violence and sex discrimination. She will continue to work in Congress to ensure that no student will be forced to put up with subpar education opportunities, crushing loans, discrimination or sexual misconduct in order to realize their dreams.
California’s 14th Congressional District faces immense losses and exorbitant costs if we don’t take immediate action to address the climate crisis. Sea level rise alone is projected to cost San Mateo over $39 billion over the next 50 to 100 years, and the Bay Area is not alone. As temperatures rise, the world will suffer from more extreme weather, rising sea levels, and an increase of airborne illnesses. Unless we take bold action, climate change will continue to cost countless lives and billions of dollars, produce a devastating loss of wildlife and species, generate climate-related migration, and destroy economies.
Given the dire threat of climate change, Congresswoman Speier believes that the United States must take bold action to become carbon neutral within the next ten years. In the 116th Congress, she was proud to vote for H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act, to block funding from being used to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement and require the Trump Administration to develop a national strategy for meeting the Paris Agreement’s goals. She also supports the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, which would impose a fee on carbon and create a Carbon Dividend Trust Fund to divide the proceeds among U.S. citizens and lawful residents.
In the FY2020 Water Resources and Development Act (WRDA), Congresswoman Speier secured broad study authorization through the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for studies pertaining to the coastlines of San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin counties. USACE oversees and funds a significant portion of water-related infrastructure projects. For these projects to move forward, USACE must conduct a study to determine whether the project meets the appropriate parameters. To launch a study, Congress must first provide authorization, which sometimes can take years to obtain. The broad study authorization obtained in WRDA will allow potential projects to move faster within the USACE pipeline and help Rep. Speier’s district obtain more federal funding for water infrastructure projects.
Congresswoman Speier believes that history will remember us by how we respond to climate change and will continue to push for a clean energy economy. In recognition of the need to stimulate innovation in clean energy technology, she co-leads the Clean Energy Production Parity Act, which would bring investment tax incentives for linear generators with the potential to convert fuels into electricity with low emissions in line with incentives for fuel cells. To supercharge the adoption and production of electric vehicles here in the United States, Congresswoman Speier also introduced the Affordable American-Made Automobiles Act, which would provide incentives for drivers to purchase electric vehicles and for domestic battery cell production—the future of clean transportation. You can read more about the Affordable American-Made Automobiles Act via the fact sheet and endorsement list below.
San Francisco Bay
As the largest estuary on the West Coast, the San Francisco Bay is the lifeblood of this region. It’s also home to more than 100 endangered and threatened species and provides water to 20 million Californians. Unfortunately, the Bay faces irreversible damage by 2030 if we fail to act now. In fact, a 2018 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report identified a lack of federal funding as one of the primary risks to long-term restoration efforts. The reality is that San Francisco has been shortchanged for years when it comes to federal funds. Between 2008 and 2016, EPA geographic programs invested only $45 million into the San Francisco Bay. Conversely, Puget Sound received over $260 million and Chesapeake Bay $490 million – that’s ten times as much.
To help protect this ecological crown jewel, Congresswoman Speier has reintroduced the San Francisco Bay Restoration Act, which would establish a San Francisco Bay Program Office within the EPA and authorize $25 million annually over a period of five years, for a total potential federal investment of $125 million. This funding will help support water quality improvement, wetland restoration, endangered species recovery, and adaptation to climate change. The House signaled its strong support for the SF Bay Restoration Act when it passed this importrant legislation in June. It’s long overdue for the federal government to take serious action and ensure that the Bay receives the funding it needs and deserves.
Our District includes two of the historically most productive fisheries in the country: salmon and Dungeness crab. Salmon from the Central Valley Delta migrate out to the Pacific Ocean where they spend three years before returning to the delta. Dungeness crab are a delicacy especially around the holiday season. Commercial and recreational fishermen, related businesses and restaurants rely on these fisheries and form the character of coastal communities. Both fisheries have faced existential challenges. In 2008, salmon populations collapsed and the fishing seasons of through 2009 were entirely shut down. In 2015, commercial and recreational Dungeness crab and rock crab fisheries were forced to close due to high levels of domoic acid. The increased level of the neurotoxin was linked to an unprecedentedly large toxic algal bloom along the West Coast. The salmon fishery valued at $1.4 billion a year and the Dungeness crab fishery valued at $60 million a year are crucial to the coastal economy of central and northern California. Closed and restricted fishing seasons have inflicted lasting economic damage on the industry.
Following Governor Brown’s 2015 disaster declaration, Congresswoman Speier repeatedly urged the federal government to take action and provide much-needed federal aid. Additionally, Congresswoman Speier and Congressman Huffman introduced the Crab Emergency Disaster Assistance Act of 2016, which would have appropriated $138.15 million for disaster assistance to California Dungeness and rock crab fishermen and related businesses. Conditions remain very difficult and Congresswoman Speier will continue to support our fishing communities to ensure that they can stay in business, recoup their losses, and continue to supply consumers with fresh, delicious, and healthy seafood.
California’s 14th district has a rich agricultural history that continues to this day. The coastal towns of Half Moon Bay, Montara, and Moss Beach are known for their locally-owned small farms, nurseries, and farmer’s markets. The region is one of the top flower producers in the nation and, along with tourists and locals alike, Congresswoman Speier enjoys celebrating the spoils of the coast at the annual Farm Day Luncheon and Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival. Congresswoman Speier is a strong supporter of sustainable farming practices and is dedicated to establishing greater environmental protections that help boost local economies and support small-businesses, including our farms and fisheries.
The Bay Area has changed drastically over the past two decades. The cost of living and traffic congestion have skyrocketed, impacting residents’ quality of life. Consequently, it’s more important than ever to invest in our aging infrastructure. In the United States, the majority of power lines have already passed their life expectancies. Over the next 10 years, the government must spend an estimated $80 billion on levees alone. The average age of U.S. dams is 56 years, a fact that sadly helps explain tragedies such as the Oroville Dam spillway in 2017. The American Society of Civil Engineers gives California’s infrastructure a dismal C- rating and predicts that California’s population will grow by 25 percent over the next 20 years. This rapid population growth, along with worsening threats posed by climate change, demonstrate the dire need for additional and improved infrastructure.
San Mateo County recently unveiled its green infrastructure workplan that would update storm drainage systems using a more environmentally conscious model. Congresswoman Speier applauds such progressive efforts, but the daunting job of solving our country’s infrastructure problems should not be left to state and local officials alone. Congresswoman Speier has consistently supported essential investments in transportation infrastructure through the Highway Trust Fund and continues to advocate for long-term infrastructure funding.
Congresswoman Speier also believes that any future upgrades to our infrastructure must address the impending threat of the climate crisis. Sea level rise has ravaged the coast, jeopardizing homes and businesses. The looming threat of wildfires underscores the need for updated and secure power structures. Speier supports investing in “climate smart” infrastructure, which is better equipped to withstand extreme weather and sea level rise and will save taxpayers significant costs in the long run. A proactive response to evident vulnerabilities in our infrastructure is necessary. These essential upgrades will improve public safety, create jobs, and grow the economy through increased efficiency and decreased waste.
Caltrain is the backbone of the Silicon Valley transportation system. In the past two decades, Caltrain ridership has more than doubled and now serves nearly 65,000 passengers per day. The Caltrain Modernization Program (CalMod) includes electrification and other vital upgrades that will improve overall speed, safety, and performance.
In 2018, Speier announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded an additional $18.7 million to Caltrain for construction of its positive train control (PTC) system. This brings the total federal contribution to PTC to nearly $90 million out of the $263 million project budget. This system was first mandated by Congress after the 2008 Metrolink accident and was expected to be operable on railroads throughout the country by 2015.
Positive Train Control will make rail passenger service safer and allow more efficient operations, helping to speed commuters to their destinations, rather than being stuck for endless hours in our highway gridlock. Caltrain remains an innovator in our nation both in terms of its long-range vision, which includes electrification of the line by 2022 and a system blended with high speed rail at some point in the future, and in terms of responsiveness to rider requests for greater capacity, convenience, and safety. Congresswoman Speier will continue to advocate for opportunities for the federal government to support Caltrain’s riders and America’s economy.
Further information about the PTC project may be obtained by visiting Caltrain’s website at http://www.caltrain.com/projectsplans/CaltrainModernization/PTC-Project.html
Housing prices have pushed an ever-increasing number of workers farther and farther away from their places of employment. In the past decade, commute times have increased 17 percent, tacking on an extra 43 minutes weekly per commuter. Highway 101, between San Francisco and San Jose, remains one of the busiest corridors in the Bay Area.
Congresswoman Speier is supportive of Caltrans’ announced plan to add 32 miles of express toll lanes to Highway 101, between San Bruno and Sunnyvale. Buses, carpools of three or more, and motorcycles will be able to use the lanes for free and all other drivers must pay a fee. This measure will have a positive impact on the environment by incentivizing carpooling and bring much-needed relief to drivers.
Congresswoman Speier has also worked to combat driver-fatigue. Bus drivers are frequently over-worked without overtime pay and unwittingly become a danger to themselves, their passengers, and other travelers. Fatigue-related collisions claim nearly 40,000 lives per year, which is why Congresswoman Speier reintroduced H.R.3485, the Driver Fatigue Prevention Act. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), intercity bus drivers are exempt from overtime provisions, which apply to the majority of American workers. Current law not only allows but encourages companies to keep bus drivers on the road past the point of exhaustion. The Driver Fatigue Prevention Act would extend these overtime provisions to intercity bus drivers and help ensure that drivers are compensated for the full amount of work that they complete, thus making employers less likely to overwork their drivers.
In 2012, Congresswoman Speier visited the Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune, where she witnessed a sexual assault case in the final stages of a court-martial. What she saw appalled her. The shockingly perverse treatment of the victim, inadequately trained prosecutors, and outdated and ineffective laws revealed that there was little “justice” in the military justice system for survivors.
Military sexual violence and trauma are among the most debilitating and toxic problems confronting our nation’s armed forces and service academies. Sexual assault dehumanizes survivors and degrades operational readiness, but a broken criminal justice system can also be traumatizing and dangerous. In 2018, nearly 20,500 servicemembers indicated they suffered from some type of sexual assault, a nearly 40 percent increase from 2016. Only 38 percent came forward to report the crimes, a decrease from 41 percent in 2016. These shameful results occurred in spite of the military spending about $1 billion to address the problem over the last decade.
Sexual assault committed by servicemembers against their peers or subordinates represents a complete and utter breakdown of respect and dignity. Military Sexual Trauma (MST) isolates survivors from their units and erodes the core principles of good order and discipline and faithful service that the military so often extolls. As the military continues to fail in protecting its members, Congress must diligently exercise its oversight and leadership to stamp out military sexual violence.
Congresswoman Speier is a lifelong champion of gender equality and freedom from violence who has led the crusade to improve military sexual assault prevention and response for over a decade. She demanded a spot on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) and the Military Personnel Subcommittee, which she now chairs. Prior to 2011, Congress had only held 18 hearings on sexual assault in the military in the previous 16 years. In 2019 and 2020 alone, Congress held six hearings related to military sexual violence, due in large part to Congresswoman Speier’s work on this issue. She has long believed that a key approach to combating military sexual trauma is eliminating commanders’ authority to determine whether to prosecute sexual assault cases. This power, unique to the military system, in which a unit commander determines what crimes to prosecute despite not being a trained lawyer and having potential biases toward the parties in question decreases confidence in the military justice system and discourages survivors from coming forward to report crimes.
Congresswoman Speier has also overseen and implemented monumental legislative reforms in this area with many aimed at correcting a broken military justice system. These include:
In recent years, Congresswoman Speier has prioritized preventing and addressing military sexual violence. She successfully included numerous provisions in the annual defense policy legislation that include:
In the 116th Congress, Congresswoman Speier introduced the I am Vanessa Guillén Act, which had 187 bipartisan cosponsors and would:
The Act was named in honor of SPC Vanessa Guillén, who was brutally murdered at Fort Hood, TX, in 2020. Before she was killed, she told her family that she was being sexually harassed by a superior but that she was afraid to report the harassment to her command. In honor of Vanessa Guillén and countless others, Congresswoman Speier will never stop fighting to ensure that survivors of sexual harassment and assault receive the justice and respect they deserve.
Congresswoman Speier is horrified that our broken immigration system forces individuals and families into the shadows and abuses their basic human rights. She is a longtime advocate for comprehensive immigration reform to provide stability for undocumented people living in the United States, grow the workforce we need for a thriving economy, make our immigration courts more impartial and independent, and ensure that America remains a refuge for those fleeing persecution, violence, and oppression.
California’s 14th Congressional District has a rich history of immigration. As a daughter of an immigrant, she understands that our country was built by the hard work, determination, and dreams of those who came to America in search of a better life. Unfortunately, today’s America fails to live up to the ideals that drew people to seek opportunity and safety within our borders.
The Trump Administration’s cruel and punitive policies dismantled our immigration system and gutted essential protections and programs for asylum seekers and others. It fomented instability and fear across immigrant communities and caused a humanitarian crisis on our Southwest Border through policies such as family separation, Remain in Mexico, and other changes to restrict entry for those seeking humanitarian protection. To conduct oversight of conditions at Department of Homeland Security (DHS) border facilities, Congresswoman Speier led two congressional delegations to South Texas and observed firsthand the heartbreaking impact of Trump’s policy of forcibly separating families.
In 2018, she consoled mothers at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility who had no information about their separated children and visited a tender-aged child shelter that housed toddlers and babies separated from their parents. In July 2019, she crossed into Mexico to meet with migrants camped near the border as they waited to ask for asylum in the United States. On both trips, she was deeply horrified by overcrowded and inhumane conditions at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) holding and processing facilities. She published an op-ed detailing the shameful conditions she saw at the border to spur desperately-needed reform. Through her position on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Congresswoman Speier has also fought for accountability for the abuses she’s witnessed.
In the wake of the Trump Administration, Congress and President Biden must work together to develop long-term strategies for a functioning immigration system that reflects American values, furthers American interests, and protects the rights of immigrants. Congresswoman Speier supports reforms to provide status to undocumented immigrants, restore our refugee program, reform visa programs like the H-1B visa that fail to protect immigrants and American workers, and address the root causes of migration in Central America.
Congresswoman Speier is a longtime champion of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program that provided relief to 800,000 immigrants who came to the United States as children and call America home. She was outspoken in her condemnation of the Trump Administration’s attempts to strip DACA recipients of their protections and has highlighted the contributions of Dreamers in California’s 14th Congressional District. In March 2021, Rep. Speier voted for H.R. 6, the American Dream and Promise Act, which would prevent the deportation of DACA-eligible individuals and certain Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients and create a pathway for citizenship.
Congresswoman Speier is also a strong advocate for reforming the immigration detention system, a multi-billion-dollar industry that profits from the mass detention of immigrants. The two largest prison companies with ICE detention contracts – which skirted ethics laws to donate to President Trump’s inauguration fund during the 2016 cycle – netted hundreds of millions of dollars from DHS contracts while Trump was in office. In the 116th Congress, Congresswoman Speier included a provision in her sweeping ethics bill, the RIGHT Act, to change this pay-for-play mentality and incentive for the Administration to detain immigrants by preventing companies that benefit from government contracts from donating to inauguration funds.
Congresswoman Speier is a member of the Women’s Working Group on Immigration Reform, which works to find sensible solutions to the issues that plague our immigration system and particularly focuses on the rights of immigrant women and children. She is also a member of the bipartisan Congressional Refugee Caucus.
Congresswoman Speier believes that the Bay Area housing crisis is one of the most pressing challenges facing her constituents today. The lack of affordable housing has led to skyrocketing homelessness, seniors trying to survive on fixed incomes, and a widening inequality gap. People are commuting up to three hours in just one direction to get to work. Families are living in garages. This is beyond unacceptable and it’s a crisis that is playing out in communities across the country as well.
Everyone in the Bay Area will agree that there is a severe homelessness problem. The housing crisis and general lack of affordability is front and center when discussing the record-breaking number of homeless people – almost 10,000 in San Francisco alone. Congresswoman Speier has urged cities to grow their affordable housing stock, build new homeless shelters, and ensure access to wraparound services. The stigma surrounding homelessness remains a problem, with many misjudging the causes of homelessness. Seventy percent of homeless San Franciscans stated that they were living in San Francisco when they lost their homes, with 55 percent living in the city for over 10 years. When asked what prevented them from securing permanent housing, 63 percent of respondents stated they could not afford rent. The second most common obstacle cited for obtaining housing was a lack of employment or income, while the number one reason preventing homeless individuals from getting a job was having no permanent address.
Congresswoman Speier is also concerned by the marginal number of households that can afford a median-priced home in the Bay Area – an abysmal 17 percent. Due to the exorbitantly high cost of living in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin counties, six-figure salaries are considered “low-income” for a family of four. When residents are routinely spending 50 percent or more of their monthly income on housing, it becomes a quality of life problem. In Silicon Valley, the growth in jobs and wages has severely outpaced our housing stock. Congresswoman Speier believes that there is no one solution that will solve this crisis, but it’s irresponsible to believe that we can continue this high job growth without developing housing at a comparable rate. In terms of federal assistance, Congresswoman Speier supports expanding successful initiatives, such as the low-income tax credit and Section 8 voucher program, to alleviate this critical problem.
The solution to the housing crisis and associated quality of life issues requires local, state, and federal officials to work together. Congresswoman Speier has consistently urged local officials to use public land for workforce and senior housing. For example, the San Mateo County Community College District now operates over 100 affordable housing units for faculty and staff. Many of our hardest working members of our communities – which includes but is not limited to teachers, first responders, and nurses – are struggling to stay in the area. Congresswoman Speier understands the urgency and magnitude of the housing problem and remains committed to finding creative solutions that will help constituents struggling with the high cost of living and improve their quality of life.
The high cost of living exacerbates other problems in our communities, including child care costs. Since the 1970s, the per-child spending on child care has risen by a staggering 2,000 percent. In San Francisco County, child care is the second highest expense after rent and at 13 percent, San Francisco now has the lowest youth population of any major city. Even those who can afford to pay the average $1,900 per month in cost are often put on months-long waitlists. But quality child care is not only about finding a safe place for children while their parents work, it’s also about child development. Research has shown that the first five years of a child’s life are critical to developing their linguistic and cognitive skills. The Council of Economic Advisers reports that every $1 spent on early-childhood education results in $8.60 of social benefits for the child’s community.
The lack of affordable, high-quality child care hits low-income families the hardest. When licensed care is unattainable, parents turn to “license-exempt” care, such as friends or neighbors who are less likely to have child development experience. Approximately 95 percent of children who are cared for by license-exempt providers are children of color and 75 percent of these caregivers are in San Francisco’s highest-poverty neighborhoods. In order to afford our children every opportunity to succeed and to address the growing inequality in our communities, investing in child care and early education is a must. Congresswoman Speier is a proud cosponsor of H.R. 1364, the Child Care for Working Families Act to double the number of children eligible for child care assistance and increase Head Start and pre-school funding. Speier is also supportive of H.R. 1560, the American Family Act, to expand the Child Tax Credit, create a new Young Child Tax Credit for children under six, and make both credits fully refundable.
Food security is another challenge facing our community. Students are particularly impacted by the soaring costs of higher education and many cannot afford basic needs like food and housing. In a 2018 survey of community college students throughout California, nearly half reported experiencing hunger in the past year. At City College of San Francisco (CCSF), 41 percent of students reported experiencing moderate food insecurity and 21 percent reported facing extreme food insecurity. Congresswoman Speier has been a longtime supporter of federal nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC), but believes that these initiatives do not go far enough to address food insecurity. Therefore, Congresswoman Speier supports increasing funding for federal nutritional assistance and in fighting the stigma associated with public benefit programs.
AIRPLANE NOISE IMPACT ON OUR COMMUNITIES
Airplane noise has become an ever-increasing concern in our communities. In the fall of 2014, the FAA began implementation of NextGen RNAV flight procedures in the Bay Area. NextGen Performance Based Navigation is part of a nation-wide FAA modernization program which includes new technologies using precise satellite navigation in place of the aging ground-based radio beacon navigation system.
This new technology is lauded because of its ability to design more efficient straight-line flight paths which reduce flight time, fuel and emissions. But NextGen RNAV procedures are not necessarily a good thing for residents living below. Because of the precision of satellite navigation, airplanes fly a concentrated, repeatable narrow path over the earth; many residents are subjected to an incessant barrage of flights overhead.
In addition, long standing flight paths based on ground based navigation aids were often eliminated and replaced by new NextGen procedures which shifted noise to new areas. As the installation of NextGen routes expanded to new areas through 2015, more and more communities were impacted.
In response to the noise impact of these new NextGen procedures, Congresswoman Speier, along with two of her Bay Area colleagues Anna Eshoo and Sam Farr, met with FAA Administrator Michael Huerta in the spring of 2015 in Washington, DC to explain in no uncertain terms that more and more residents were being subjected to intolerable NextGen noise…and the FAA needed to fix it.
FAA’S RESPONSE TO CONGRESSIONAL INQURIES
As part of the FAA Administrator’s response to these Congressional complaints, FAA Western-Pacific Regional Administrator Glen Martin appeared at Congresswoman Speier’s August 2015 meeting of elected and community leaders. At this meeting, Mr. Martin heard how families could not sleep through the night, how conversations would be disrupted throughout the day and that the noise was unrelenting. These community leaders also shared suggestions to improve flight procedures to reduce the noise impact.
FAA INITIATIVE REPORT AND PROCESS
In response to Congresswoman Speier’s initial inquires and the forthright community comments to the FAA at her meeting as well as additional input, the FAA compiled the FAA Initiative to Address Noise Concerns of Santa Cruz/Santa Clara/San Mateo/San Francisco Counties: Compiled at the Request of Representatives Farr, Eshoo and Speier. This FAA Initiative, presented to these three Members of Congress in November 2015, listed a number of suggested changes to flight procedures. Since that time, the FAA has been evaluating those items using the FAA’s seven step process: 1. Detailed Analysis, 2. Fly-ability Assessment, 3. Operational Assessment, 4. Feasibility Determination, 5. Stakeholder Feedback, 6. Environmental Review, 7. Safety Assessment.
As part of the FAA process, the three Members of Congress established the Select Committee on South Bay Arrivals (SCSBA). The SCSBA and the long-standing SFO Airport/Community Roundtable provided forums for public input to the FAA Initiative reports.
The SCSBA has focused on South Bay arrivals, especially the SERFR Arrival, including its impact on Peninsula cities underneath the flight path to its termination at MENLO intersection. The Select Committee on South Bay Arrivals has considered other FAA Initiative items as well as additional noise issues.
The SFO Airport/Community Roundtable has focused on departures and arrivals which impact the City and County of San Francisco and San Mateo County and its cities.
Each of these forums has worked with FAA staff on technical issues, held public meetings, study sessions and technical meetings, received written communications and heard public input at meetings. After much consideration, discussion and debate, each of these two forums has voted on recommendations which have been presented to Representatives Speier, Eshoo and Farr. The recommendations made by both the SFO Airport/Community Roundtable and the SCSBA will undergo the same FAA research, analysis and feasibility determination as was performed for the initial recommendations in the May 16, 2016 FAA Feasibility Study.
The final report and recommendations from SFO/Airport Community Roundtable can be downloaded HERE.
The final report and recommendations from the Select Committee on South Bay Arrivals can be downloaded HERE.
Representatives Speier, Eshoo and Farr have transmitted these two reports to FAA Administrator Michael P. Huerta with a letter requesting a progress update. The Members have urged the Administrator to take action as soon as possible to remedy disturbing noise impacts which affect the health and well-being of their constituents. Read the letter HERE.
Administrator Huerta provided a brief progress report to Representatives Speier, Eshoo and Panetta stating that the FAA "is carefully reviewing, analyzing, and considering the detailed report and recommendations." Read his letter from February 6, 2017 HERE.
The FAA continues to analyze the numerous recommendations submitted to the FAA in the November 17, 2016 reports by the SFO Airport/Community Roundtable and the Select Committee on South Bay Arrivals. Congresswoman Speier's office has been in regular contact with FAA staff regarding the FAA response to the SFO Roundtable and Select Committee recommendations. In mid-May, she had a conversation with FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, as did her colleagues, Rep. Anna Eshoo and Rep. Jimmy Panetta. The Administrator informed each of the Members that the draft Response document was in his office and after appropriate review, within about a month, would be forwarded to the Department of Transportation for review. Click HERE to read the May 17, 2017 Joint Statement of Reps. Speier, Eshoo and Farr on this topic.
On July 25, 2017, the offices of Representatives Speier, Eshoo and Panetta released the FAA Initiative - Phase Two. This FAA report is in response to the Recommendations submitted by the SFO Airport/Community Roundtable and the Select Committee on South Bay Arrivals.
On November 16, 2017, the offices of Representatives Speier, Eshoo and Panetta released the FINAL FAA Initiative - Phase Two. This final FAA report is in response to the 203 separate Recommendations submitted by the SFO Airport/Community Roundtable and the Select Committee on South Bay Arrivals.
This final report is divided into four major categories based on the status of each recommendation:1. Addressed Concern: These recommendations are already being addressed - primarily by NCT TRACON. This does not necessarily mean that an individual item has been completely addressed and solved, but that it is known and is being addressed;
2. Feasible and could be implemented in the Short Term (less than 2 years);
3. Feasible and could be implemented in the Long Term (more than 2 years);
4. Not Endorsed by the FAA: These recommendations are not feasible by the FAA based on some aspect of their non-compliance with FAA standards.
Some remaining recommendations are categorized as: “Not endorsed by the Select Committee” and “Not under the FAA’s jurisdiction.” (The SFO RT only submitted recommendations that they endorsed – unanimously.)
Feasible recommendations in this final FAA Report of particular interest to residents of Congresswoman Speier’s District include: improvements to nighttime overflights by routing most southbound SFO and OAK departures over the Bay and Ocean rather than over residential land; by routing most arrivals from the north over the Bay - rather down over the Peninsula; and by allowing certain SFO departures to receive unrestricted climb clearances. Other feasible items include a return close to the historical split of arrivals from the north which will result in increased arrivals from the north to fly over the Bay and fewer arrivals from the north over the Peninsula.
Promising recommendations deemed not feasible by the FAA include: the creation of dual offset approaches to SFO Runways 28, which would have provided for two flight paths closer to the mid-Bay than to Foster City, the implementation of an RNAV overlay of the traditional OFFSHORE Departure, and the creation of a Runway 10 RNAV departure overlay of the traditional DUMBARTON Departure.
I would urge the SFO Airport/Community Roundtable to closely review a number of these promising recommendations categorized as : “Not Endorsed by the FAA.” As appropriate, it may be that modifications made to the recommendation may cause it to become “feasible” or there may be alternate means to achieve the recommended action.