Thank you to everyone who joined my telephone town hall this week! It’s always great to hear directly from you about the issues impacting our community. We had the opportunity to discuss a lot of issues including water supply in the Valley, border security, and the increasing cost of living. If you couldn’t make this one, sign up for our next call here.

On Tuesday, the Bureau of Reclamation updated their 2024 water allocations from 40% to 50%. Despite this welcome news, I am frustrated by this late season decision which unfortunately limits the number of farmers who can actually benefit from the increase.  Our farmers rely on meaningful and timely allocations for their yearly planning, like what crops to plant and when. I will continue urging transparency in Reclamation’s decision-making and a significant increase in water allocations for South-of-Delta agriculture.

Every year, the Congressional Institute sponsors an art competition for high school students throughout the country to recognize and encourage artistic talent.

This year’s winner for California’s 22^nd district is Kavanpreet Kaur from Delano for her art titled “Kiddu and Michi” - an acrylic and chalk painting of her dog and cat. I was glad to welcome Kavanpreet and her family to Washington, D.C. this week to recognize her accomplishment. Her painting will now hang in the US Capitol for the next year!

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to meet with the Corcoran police chief, city manager, and mayor. During my meeting we talked about some of the problems the city has had with FEMA and future community improvement projects.

Our veterans have made so many sacrifices for our country, and we need to ensure they have access to the benefits and services they’ve earned. This week I introduced the Modernizing All Veterans and Survivors Claims Processing Act, which will standardize the software the Veterans Affairs Administration (VA) uses to process benefit claims for survivors and veterans. This will ensure our veterans’ claims are being processed in a more timely and efficient manner. Read more here.

Trying to get an answer from a federal agency can often be a time-consuming and frustrating process. If you ever need help navigating a federal agency, you can visit my website here or call my Hanford office at (559) 460-6070. My team is ready to assist you!

Tratar de obtener una respuesta de una agencia federal a menudo puede ser un proceso frustrante y que requiere mucho tiempo. Si alguna vez necesita ayuda con una agencia federal, puede visitar mi sitio de web aquí o llamar a mi oficina de Hanford al (559) 460-6070. ¡Mi equipo está listo para ayudarte!

Our question this week comes from Margie in Hanford. She asks:

"What is your position on the repeal of the Windfall Act? As a retired educator and someone who has worked in industry for 20 years before entering education, I only receive 40% of my Social Security.  That is $12,000 a year less income.  I retired at 66 and started paying into Social Security at 18.  How is this fair?"

Thanks for your question, Margie. As you know, the Windfall Elimination Provision in the Social Security Act reduces social security benefits for retirees who are also receiving a pension. I agree with you- this is an unfair provision that directly harms those who worked in public service jobs such as firefighters, police, and teachers. That is why I support the Social Security Fairness Act, which would repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision.

The Social Security Fairness Act is a bipartisan, commonsense piece of legislation which will ensure our public servants who have paid into the system receive the full Social Security benefits they deserve. This bill was introduced last year and has the support of 322 members of Congress, making it one of the most co-sponsored pieces of legislation in the 118^th Congress. I’ll continue supporting efforts to get this bill brought to the floor for a vote.

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.

Did you know you can now sign up for texts from my office to stay up to date on my work in Washington D.C.? To sign up to receive updates from me directly to your phone, just text VALADAO to (559) 387-4346 and you will be automatically subscribed. You can also sign up for text alerts using this form here.  

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