Press Releases

Today the U.S. House of Representatives failed to vote on a real solution to keep the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) open and instead brought up a stop-gap, temporary measure that failed 224-203. Congressman Ami Bera, M.D. made the following statement:

Congressman Ami Bera, M.D. (CA-07), along with Representatives Brad Ashford (NE-02), Gwen Graham (FL-02), and Scott Peters (CA-52) introduced legislation, H.R. 1032, the "No Homeland Security, No Pay Act," to withhold the pay of members of Congress if the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shuts down. Currently, funding for DHS will expire on Saturday, February 28 if Congress does not act.

Congressman Ami Bera, M.D. today urged officials at the Oakland Veterans Affairs Center to reach out to individual veterans who may have been impacted by the mismanagement of records detailed in a report released last week to ensure that they receive the benefits they have earned. The Oakland VA serves Veterans in Northern California who are receiving and applying for benefits, including any of the 95,000 in the 7th Congressional District of California which Bera represents.

Today the House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing on the growing threat of ISIL, one day after President Obama released his proposal for use of force against ISIL. Congressman Ami Bera, M.D. made the following statement:

Congressman Ami Bera, M.D. joined U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today for a tour of the ongoing upgrades at Folsom Dam. Jewell announced that the Bureau of Reclamation is making $50 million in funds available immediately for drought relief projects throughout the West —including nearly $20 million for California.

Congressman Ami Bera, M.D. today joined with 23 other Members of Congress from both parties to introduce the Preventing and Reducing Improper Medicare and Medicaid Expenditures (PRIME) Act of 2015 to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid.

As a measles outbreak that is believed to have started in California's Disneyland has spread to 14 states with no signs of its slowing, Congressman Ami Bera M.D. urged people to get vaccinated. The latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) show more than 102 people are now infected. Bera offered the following comment:

Congressman Ami Bera, M.D. has again sponsored the Partnership to Build America Act, bipartisan legislation to rebuild America's infrastructure in a fiscally-responsible way. Bera was an original sponsor of similar legislation in the last Congress.