Dear Friends, 

Happy New Year to you and your loved ones! It was an honor to be sworn in for another term in Congress. I am committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move the country forward, especially on the need to lower everyday costs and strengthen programs that families and seniors rely on to make ends meet, including Medicare, Social Security, and SNAP nutrition assistance.

I worked to pass the Inflation Reduction Act in Congress, lowering drug costs for seniors, and for the first time ever, allowing Medicare to directly negotiate the price of prescriptions. Starting this year, no one on Medicare will pay more than $2,000 in annual out-of-pocket drug costs. Thanks to this law, 19 million Medicare beneficiaries are expected to save $400 per year on average.

Bipartisan legislation I introduced to support Connecticut’s Family Resource Centers was signed into law by President Biden this week. When I served in the Connecticut State Senate, I worked with Dr. Edward Zigler, ‘the father of Head Start,’ to create the first Family Resource Centers in our state. Thanks to this new law, the 58 centers that serve 13,000 people in our state annually will be able to directly access federal funding to provide health screenings, parenting classes, childcare & other critical services. I spoke about Dr. Zigler’s legacy and the work of our Family Resource Centers on the House floor. You can view my remarks below.

This week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that medical debt will no longer be added to credit reports. Millions of Americans will be able to access opportunities to get ahead that they were previously denied, including mortgages, car loans, and small business loans. This builds on the progress we've made with the State of Connecticut to relieve medical debt for 23,000 patients through the American Rescue Plan, often incurred through no fault of their own.

To follow what I’m working on both in Washington and in Connecticut, visit my Facebook page, follow me on Twitter, or follow me on Instagram.     

Regards,

John B. Larson
Member of Congress