Spring is almost here in Washington. That means warmer temperatures and the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, which is quite beautiful and draws folks from all over the country. As we all look forward to flowers blooming and hope for more rain at home, I’m pleased to once again report back

I’ve been hoping that the new Republican majority would act out most of its right-wing partisan fire over the first month or two, get it out of its system, and then get to work with the important business of this country. This past week’s actions do not bode well for

The current political fight about funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is an unfortunate and misguided attempt by some congressional Republicans to stop the President from implementing humane and reasonable policies for the millions of this nation’s undocumented workers and their families. The immigration system in this country is

Hello and Happy New Year! I hope this note finds you happy and healthy. I wanted to share a few thoughts with you as I look forward to working for you in the coming year. State of the Union Along with many of you, I watched President Obama give his

This week has been extremely disappointing as the House Republicans pushed forward an agenda meant to satisfy their most extreme members. In just two days, the House passed three major pieces of legislation: H.R. 185, the “Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015,” H.R. 37, the “Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small

The Committee on Science and Technology has jurisdiction over the budgets of most science-related agencies, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA. One of the NSF’s responsibilities is the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP). The USAP consists of many scientific endeavors that require the conditions found only in the

Dear friends, With the holidays upon us and the end of 2014 fast approaching, I wanted to update you on what I’ve been up to and make sure we stay in touch heading into the new year and new Congress. Our Victory Because of your support and encouragement, I’ll be

I’d like to talk about two pieces of legislation that were voted on last week, the final week the House was in session during 2014. The Rep. David Valadao water bill, which he called “The Drought Relief Act of 2014,” and the “CRomnibus” appropriations bill. I voted against Rep. Valadao’s

I had an amazing opportunity to visit the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting Sunday in Washington, D.C. This is the largest annual neuroscience conference in the world, attracting more than 30,000 participants. One of the Society’s leaders, Dr. Jennifer Raymond, a Stanford professor, briefed me on her research and introduced

This past weekend, President Obama and Chinese President Xi reached an historic agreement to reduce our two nations’ greenhouse gas emissions. The details of the agreement are not yet available and will need to be reviewed. But the agreement looks promising and could have significant economic and environmental benefits. The