I hope you’ve had a good start to 2023. It took more time than usual to be sworn in at the beginning of the month, but I am honored to have the opportunity to represent NW Oregon for another term in Congress.

Thank you to everyone who sent well wishes after my husband and I were struck by a driver in Portland while walking in a crosswalk. I spent some time recovering at home, and I’m now back to work in Washington, D.C.  As always, staff in my district and D.C. offices remain available to help constituents who need assistance.

If you would like to learn more about my work and send me your thoughts and ideas, please join my next telephone town hall meeting on Friday, February 24 at 11 a.m. You can RSVP here.

Addressing food insecurity on college campuses

Earlier this month I held a roundtable discussion about food insecurity with students, higher education faculty and staff, and anti-hunger advocates. Several people mentioned the many barriers that prevent students from accessing nutritious food.

Others discussed the stigma around asking for or using assistance programs like SNAP. Several people mentioned unreasonable work and income requirements, especially in the context of graduate students. We were reminded that many students are parents with kids to feed.

Our existing food assistance programs are not reaching every student who struggles with hunger. My Opportunity to Address College Hunger Act would help eliminate one common barrier, but we must do more to close the gaps in our federal nutrition programs.

Saving more with the Inflation Reduction Act

Starting this year, Oregonians will begin to see savings from the Inflation Reduction Act. For those on Medicare, the price of insulin is now capped at $35 a month and vaccines for diseases like shingles and whooping cough are now completely covered. Big Pharma companies can now be penalized for increasing the prices of their drugs faster than the rate of inflation, which will help end unscrupulous price gouging.

Additionally, the legislation can help you save on new and used electric vehicles (EVs), EV home chargers, rooftop solar, and more. These improved federal tax credits can be combined with local and state incentives to make it even more affordable to go green. Click here for information about the tax credits available through the Inflation Reduction Act.

About the debt ceiling

You may have seen in the news that the U.S. Treasury is now taking “extraordinary measures” because our government has hit the debt ceiling—a limit on how much money we can borrow to pay our bills. Despite what some of my colleagues may say, raising the debt ceiling does not create new spending. We raise the debt ceiling to pay bills that have already been incurred.

Failing to raise the debt limit would be tremendously damaging to our economy. Even a failure to raise the debt limit promptly has lasting costs. We saw this in 2011 when House Republicans almost caused our country to default on its obligations.

An actual default would cause economic catastrophe, which is why Congress has raised the debt ceiling multiple times in both Democratic and Republican administrations. Using the threat of default to extract cuts to Social Security and Medicare—as some House Republicans have suggested—is dangerous and irresponsible.

ICYMI

• Here are some tips for tax filing season
• I led my colleagues in calling for an investment in child care and early childhood education 
• I joined my former Select Committee on the Climate Crisis colleagues for a celebration of our accomplishments
• I spoke out against House Republican’s extremist anti-abortion bills