Antonio Cárdenas is an American politician who has served as the United States representative for California's 29th congressional district since January 2013.
As a child growing up in Pacoima, I experienced firsthand the inequalities in our justice system. Everyday in my community and in Washington D.C., I’m working to make sure that our justice system treats everyone with respect and dignity.
As an American citizen and the proud son of immigrant parents, I am dedicated to reforming our immigration system that will keep families together.
I believe everyone has the right to participate in building a cleaner world. I am constantly creating and supporting legislation to give opportunities for all communities to participate in creating and using clean energy in our vehicles, homes, and throughout our community.
I’m committed to creating legislation that attracts businesses to open up shop in the Valley and train our workforce for the next generation of jobs. I work with schools, community colleges, and businesses to bring everyone together so that people can work in the jobs of today and tomorrow.
This global pandemic has taken more lives and decimated more families financially than anything we’ve experienced in the last 100 years. I helped write the laws that have provided critical relief throughout this pandemic. I am continuing to do all that I can so that we all can receive the support we need to save lives and keep families safe and in their homes.
Growing up, I saw firsthand how families would make the difficult decisions to feed their families over healthcare costs. I will continue to create a healthcare system that will give everyone access to affordable and quality healthcare services. Healthcare is a right not a privilege.
Providing a voice for the voiceless has and always will be part of the work that I obligate myself to do. I have created and funded programs that have educated people and saved lives in our city, our state, and across the country.
As millions of people are thrown off their health insurance due to massive employment losses nationwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has made the case for Medicare-for-All better than any politician ever could. We must use this unprecedented moment to rally together to, once and for all, institute a single payer system; a move that enjoys major support across the political base of the country. We are the only major country in the world to not provide healthcare as a right, yet spend around $9,400 per capita- the most expensive in the world! That’s an average of 2.5 times more than other major industrialized nations who provide universal healthcare for ALL of its citizens. On top of high administrative costs, costly deductibles, and payments for procedures, most uninsured people are low-income and disproportionately people of color.
Congressman Cárdenas believes in a balanced approach to our debt and deficit. This means investing in the middle class, making smart, targeted reductions in spending, closing tax loopholes and reducing subsidies to profitable industries.
While Republicans use the example of American families sitting around their kitchen table to explain our national budget, they focus on cuts without looking at what services will be lost. Congressman Cárdenas does not look at budgets in the same way, because no American family is the lender of last resort for other nations. We are not a family around the kitchen table. We are the largest economy in the world. The decisions we make have global implications. This is why we must be strategic in deciding our priorities and getting our fiscal house in order.
Congressman Cárdenas served as Chair of the California State Assembly Budget Committee and Los Angeles City Council Budget Committee, balancing the California budget for the first time in decades. The Congressman brings this experience to our Nation’s Capitol as a Member of the House Budget Committee.
As a child growing up in Pacoima, Congressman Cárdenas saw firsthand the effects gangs have on our community. Having that background, he has made gang prevention and juvenile justice a top priority, with a proven track record of enacting legislation to keep our kids safe.
This problem in our community cannot be alleviated by sending out more police officers and arresting more juveniles; we need to stop this problem before it starts. Throughout his career, Congressman Cárdenas has met with police officers, community leaders and justice officials to develop the nation’s first comprehensive “Community-Based Gang Intervention Model.” This model laid out a new way for the city to combat gang violence without always resorting to arrests and has been implemented in cities throughout the country. The Congressman has introduced legislation based on this model for the federal level.
In 2000, as a California State Assemblyman, Congressman Cárdenas co-authored and passed AB 1913, the Schiff-Cárdenas Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act, which has provided local communities with approximately $120 million per year, the single, largest appropriation of state funds for youth crime prevention in the history of the United States. This bill was designed to counter-balance rising incarceration costs and has provided over a billion dollars for youth development services and programming helping to drastically reduce juvenile crime throughout the state of California.
These gang prevention and intervention services are needed in every community. Congressman Cárdenas will work to ensure that they are provided.
In 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. This law, often called “Obamacare,” is the strongest, most robust improvement made in our nation’s healthcare system since Medicare was passed in 1965. More than 40 million Americans will finally have the opportunity to purchase affordable health insurance coverage.
Congressman Cárdenas is working with the Obama Administration to provide resources to hospitals, small business owners and families in the San Fernando Valley, to make sure everyone understands the opportunities in the new law, as well as the potential costs.
Congressman Cárdenas has held dozens of forums throughout the 29th Congressional District to help educate the community on the benefits of the Affordable Care Act and how to sign up.