Hi everyone, I’m Congresswoman Katie Porter, I’m a fan of transparency and accountability, especially in government. I want to give families an update on our office’s top 10 legislative accomplishments this year. incorporated into the Reduction of Inflation Act and signed into law about one in three Americans do not take drugs as prescribed because of cost and all taxpayers are ripped off when Big Pharma overcharges Medicare for drugs I wrote legislation to get taxpayer money back from pharmaceutical companies that raise prices faster than the rate of inflation is now law of the land number two my legislation to increase fees for polluters drilling on public lands was also signed into law as part of the inflation reduction law we have been charging the same royalty rate for over 100 years and that costs taxpayers millions and harms our environment.
I wrote legislation to finally raise that fee and I’m very proud that it was incorporated into the Reducing Inflation Act and signed into law by President Number Three, you guessed it, I signed another bill into law. I drafted legislation to honor the late Lieutenant Colonel Robert, a friend who flew 142 combat missions during World War II as one of the first Africans. US military aviators, your local post office in Irvine is now called skigi Airman Lt Col Robert J dude Memorial Post Office Building oh okay someone on my team just made a gesture that I need to speed it up so I’m going get these last ones over quick number four my housemates pass my legislation to crack down on big oil for raising prices at the
pump while making record profits they also pass my legislation to expedite investigation into natural disasters, including wildfires and droughts and my legislation to alleviate a dangerous shortage of federal firefighters such as increased pay and benefits and my legislation to extend a key water conservation program that helps provide sustainable clean water to families even faster and by legislation to better protect college students who struggled even with your mental health and my legislation to close a legal loophole that big insurers use to deny mental health coverage to firefighters, police officers, public school teachers, and city and state workers and by legislation to make it easier for state and local governments
send trained mental health professionals when calling 9-1-1 for a mental health emergency ok i just went from numbers four to ten needless to say we have gotten a lot of bills through this Congress, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the work we did in 2022, we also held hearings to demand answers for the American people and we recovered nine and a half million dollars for Orange County families through our program of social work, in fact before I go, I have to highlight one more victory that I was especially proud of for hundreds of veterans and their families who have developed rare and other blood cancers. er diseases since they were stationed at Fort Ord in California Congressman Jimmy Panetta and I want justice, so we urge the CDC to reinvestigate drinking water.
I am very grateful that the agency recently announced that they will. You can get more information. about these legislative accomplishments and our other accomplishments, including hearings and constituent services, by reading our offices’ 2022 review report available on our website at the link below. Thanks for tuning in. I look forward to continuing to work hard for you.