I'd like to thank everyone who joined my telephone town hall this week. We had some great conversations about the top issues impacting the Central Valley. These calls are a great opportunity for me to hear directly from constituents and I'm looking forward to our next event. Until then, I want to know which issues discussed this week you'd like to hear more about.

Substance use disorder can affect people of all ages, but over the last two decades, overdose deaths among seniors have increased at an alarming rate. While Medicaid covers residential addiction treatment, too many seniors who rely on Medicare are left without access to these critical services or forced to pay out-of-pocket for expensive services they can’t afford. That's why I was proud to join a bipartisan group of my colleagues to reintroduce the Residential Recovery for Seniors Act. This bill would help lower the rate of drug overdoses among older adults by authorizing residential and in-patient treatment of opioid-use disorder under Medicare. In the Central Valley, we’ve seen the devastating impact of the opioid crisis firsthand, and we need to ensure every American has the care they need to recover.

Our question this week comes from Trevor from Bakersfield. He asked:

"Many of our roads are in bad condition and hard to drive on. I have a 16-year-old future driver and I'm concerned for him. What can do to make sure they get fixed?"

Thanks for your question, Trevor. This is an issue I've been hearing about from many constituents, so I appreciate the opportunity to respond. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, one of my most important responsibilities is helping decide how our federal dollars are spent. Last year, I was proud to secure almost $7 million for road improvement projects across Kern County. Those investments will help repair aging infrastructure, improve safety for drivers and pedestrians, and make our roads more reliable for the families who use them every day. This year, I'm continuing that work by fighting to bring additional federal funding back to the Central Valley through the Fiscal Year 2027 appropriations process.

I've also reintroduced my bipartisan Farm to Market Road Improvement Act. In agricultural communities like ours, local roads and bridges face constant wear and tear from heavy farm equipment and commercial trucks that transport the food we grow. Too often, local governments are left to shoulder the cost of repairs on their own. My bill would help provide communities with the federal resources needed to repair and maintain these critical roads and bridges, strengthening both public safety and our local economy.

Safe, reliable roads are essential for our families, businesses, and agricultural economy, and I’ll continue working to ensure the Central Valley has the infrastructure necessary to keep our communities connected and moving forward.

Do you have a question about my position on an issue? How the Congress operates? My thoughts on the news of the day?

Send your first name, town, and question to AskDavid@mail.house.gov and I might answer yours right here in one of my weekly newsletters. Make sure to subscribe to my weekly email updates to see if your question was answered!

If you want to share your opinion with me on issues of importance, you can always contact me on my website.