Dear Friends,
Throughout August, I have continued meeting with constituents across Virginia’s Fourth District to discuss how the policies pursued by the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans have made the cost-of-living crisis facing our communities worse and reversed decades of progress addressing voting rights and poverty.
To commemorate the 61st anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, I published an op-ed in Democracy Docket and held a press conference with Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, Secretary of Administration Traci Deshazor, Virginia NAACP President Cozy Bailey and New Virginia Majority Co-Executive Director Tram Nguyen highlighting how we are fighting back against voter suppression tactics in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Callais v. Louisiana decision making it virtually impossible to enforce.
To commemorate the 91st anniversary of Social Security, I held a town hall meeting in Hopewell to discuss what Congress must do to ensure the program remains a safety net for retired workers, workers with disabilities and survivors of deceased workers for generations to come.
In response to recent incidents of AI models breaking out of testing sites to hack into the networks of third party companies, I joined several colleagues in letters seeking answers from the CEO of OpenAI and calling on Speaker Mike Johnson to convene hearings with the large AI company CEOs. I discussed my concerns over these incidents with CNN’s The Story Is with Elex Michaelson and Bloomberg’s Balance of Power.
I also discussed the climate crisis, its impact on our environment, energy costs, public health and health care costs, and what we can do to fight back at a Climate Action Campaign town hall in Richmond and a roundtable with health care providers. You can watch the livestream of the town hall here and read my resolution raising awareness of the impact of extreme weather on children’s health here.
I held another roundtable in Henrico with state and local housing advocates to discuss what more needs to be done to address the housing crisis — while celebrating Congress’s recent passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to increase housing supply, ease regulatory burdens on construction and restrict large institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes. You can read a summary of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act here.
Read on for what else you may have missed since my last newsletter.
FOOD INSECURITY RISES AS A RESULT OF REPUBLICANS’ BIG UGLY LAW
A government that cares for its people must ensure that the people’s basic needs are being met. Of these basic needs, the most fundamental is the ability to put food on the table. Yet every year, food insecurity leaves millions of Americans hungry, particularly children and seniors. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was established, first as a pilot program in 1939 and then a permanent federal program in 1964, to help alleviate the causes of hunger and keep these vulnerable populations fed.
The Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans seem intent on keeping people hungry, and their Big Ugly Law passed last year funded tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy in part through the largest cuts to food assistance in American history. Earlier this month, I visited FeedMore, Central Virginia’s primary hunger relief agency, to discuss how these cuts have impacted food security in our region.
The report was bleak.
Prior to enactment of the Big Ugly Law, roughly 867,000 SNAP Virginians received SNAP benefits, nearly half of them children. One year later, over 100,000 Virginians have lost their food benefits as result of raised age requirements, new parental rules, lost exemptions, added work requirement paperwork and confusion about the changes. Nationwide, over 4.5 million people lost their SNAP benefits. This shift has left millions of families in Virginia and beyond without reliable access to food. Hunger impacts health, makes it harder to hold down a job, keep up in school and so much more.
As food insecurity increases, Feed More and other food relief organizations find themselves in a precarious position as tariffs, federal funding cuts and a sluggish economy have led to a decline in resources to meet these needs. And as grocery prices continue to climb, so too does food insecurity. For these reasons, I cosponsor the Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act to repeal the approximately $187 billion in SNAP cuts. I also co-lead the Healthy Food for All Americans Act to eliminate food deserts by providing targeted tax credits and grants for food providers, grocers and temporary markets that establish fresh food access in underserved low-income communities. Until we can reverse these cuts, I will continue to sound the alarm on their devastating impact on Virginia.
VIRGINIA FARMERS STRUGGLE UNDER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION POLICIES
Virginia is the birthplace of American agriculture. Over 400 years later, agriculture remains the largest private industry in the Commonwealth. The most recent USDA Agriculture Census identified nearly 39,000 farms in Virginia, covering roughly 7.3 million acres of land, with an annual economic impact of $82.3 billion and providing over 381,800 jobs. Roughly 95% of them are family-owned or individually operated. You can learn more about the over 1,400 farms in the Fourth Congressional District here.
Last week, I held a roundtable with the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, Colonial Farm Credit, the Virginia Grain Producers Association and area producers at Virginia State University’s Randolph Farm to discuss challenges facing our area farmers and support most needed from Congress. These challenges include extreme weather, higher costs and thinner profit margins exacerbated by the Trump Administration’s wave of unpredictable tariffs policies and the war in Iran.
I also toured Turner Family Farms and Spiers Farm in Dinwiddie to learn more about how these challenges impact their specific family-owned operations.
In the 119th Congress, I have worked to support our farmers and urged the Trump Administration to do more. These actions include:
- Joining a Virginia Delegation letter to USDA Secretary Rollins requesting a disaster designation for the unprecedented frost and freeze event this spring that left Virginia farmers with widespread losses;
- Joining Rep. Sean Casten’s letter urging President Trump to end tariff policies that have devastated American soybean farmers;
- Sponsoring legislation to support interagency work around soil carbon sequestration research and monitoring that could replenish and enrich soil for farmers;
- Co-leading legislation to help connect retiring or transitioning farmers with beginning farmers seeking land.
- Cosponsoring legislation to improve access and accountability in the Farm Service Agency loan application;
- Supporting increased funding for 1890s USDA land grant institutions, such as Virginia State University; and more.
I’ll continue to advocate for our farmers in Washington while meeting those with boots on the ground to hear more about the direct challenges they’re facing today.
MY BRIGHT SPOT: NATIONAL NIGHT OUT
Every year, National Night Out offers neighborhoods across the nation the chance to promote public safety, build relationships with first responders and strengthen communities. This year, I joined the Stonebridge Recreation Center in North Chesterfield for a senior-focused National Night Out event to provide resources from my office like constituent casework services and celebrate the community we’ve built.
I even got to meet McGruff the Crime Dog!
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS
The 2026 Congressional App Challenge is now open! Middle and high school students living in the district can submit an original software app written in any programming language for a chance to have the work officially recognized, meet me and attend the annual #HouseOfCode science fair in Washington, D.C.! Submissions are due October 26th, and more information can be found here.
Do you know a high school student interested in attending one of the service academies? They can apply for a service academy nomination today through Friday, October 30th!
Stay tuned for more updates and keep the faith, friends!