As you may all know, there was a catastrophic natural gas explosion in the San Francisco Bay area last week. Considering the close proximity of the 15th District to the area, I’ve received many questions from concerned constituents regarding the safety of our nation’s gas transmission lines. In an effort to alleviate these concerns, the Department of Transportation has made available a publicly accessible and transparent version of the National Pipeline Mapping System that provides county by county information on the location of major gas transmission pipelines. You can access it by clicking the link below.

http://www.npms.phmsa.dot.gov/

Earlier this week, President Obama announced the end of our nation’s painful seven year long war in Iraq.  August 31, 2010 marked the official end date to U.S. combat operations in Iraq, a war I have staunchly opposed and voted against since its beginning.

My constituents have long been tired of this war. They understand that our troops have been put in harm’s way for too long. They understand that we have spent an inordinate sum of tax dollars fighting a war that should have never been waged. They understand that our economy is suffering as a result of our resources being poured into this war.

In the wake of the Gulf of Mexico’s BP oil spill disaster, I and my colleagues in the House acted to protect America’s families and businesses, rebuild the Gulf Coast, hold BP and oil companies accountable, and work to ensure that a spill of this kind never happens again.  On July 30th, the House passed the CLEAR Act (H.R. 3534) by a vote of 209-193. Not only is this good for our families, our environment, and the health of our natural resources, it will reduce our deficit—saving taxpayers more than $5 billion in the next five years (CBO), and up to $50 billion over the next 25 years (GAO).

Have you ever accidentally overdrawn your checking account while using a debit card by just a few dollars and been forced to pay a hefty fee? Starting this week, our credit card bill of rights will prevent banks from allowing you to draw more money than available from your account – and charging you a heavy overdraft fee – unless you opt in. These consumer rights are the result of The Credit CARD Act of 2009 (H.R. 627) signed into law by President Obama on May 22, 2009. This legislation includes many more common sense financial reforms and regulations that have been put into place in the months following its passage to safeguard consumers, including:

I recently joined Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, President John Hennessy of Stanford University, physicists and scientists at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to dedicate their Linear Coherent Light Source (LCLS).  The event celebrated SLAC’s strong commitment to research and innovation.  SLAC is a leader in exploring energy, space and time and developing and operating innovative scientific facilities.  As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I was pleased that SLAC benefited from federal stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) which will support their research and efforts to discover new science that benefits the American people.

Many people come to my office to ask for assistance with federal agencies. From veterans to seniors and students to business owners, my office is ready to provide information and, where possible, contact a federal agency on your behalf. This week alone, my office helped a veteran receive a decision about his benefits and referred a homeowner to a federal regulator, just to name a few. I also recently congratulated a new citizen, who went through our complex immigration system.

Miguel Sernas was born in a rural, undeveloped area of Mexico, with a hearing impairment. His family was never educated in formal sign language, and Miguel did not live in an area with a school for the deaf. Instead, he and his family "signaled" things to each other, and learned to communicate in their own way.

Over 500 people attend both of the town hall events. Topics ranged from financial reform to climate science and healthcare to education. Given the number of people who submitted questions, please visit my website, where I will soon post answers to the most popular questions submitted.

On July 21^st, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. I was proud to support this bill that protects the American people and small businesses from the greed and recklessness of Wall Street.

As we rebuild our economy, it is important that we put in place common-sense rules to ensure big banks and Wall Street do not jeopardize this recovery and hurt hard-working families or small businesses again through inappropriately risky behavior. This law will finally restore some common sense to Wall Street.

Earlier this month, the Department of Education officially launched the National Commission on Education Equity and Excellence. I’ve spent the last year working in Congress to establish and provide funding for the Commission and believe it to be a key part of bringing equity to America’s public education system.

My “equity framework,” is rooted in a child based approach. In our current system, federal dollars are funneled to high poverty schools to attempt to achieve funding parity. In an equitable system, the abilities of each student would be diagnosed and funds allocated to meet those needs, creating true equity.