Press Releases

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson's (CA-5) legislative language that holds the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) accountable for ending the backlog of claims at the Veterans Benefits Administration was passed by the House and Senate and will be signed into law. The language was included with H.R. 3547, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 omnibus appropriations bill.

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5) announced today that the United States Naval Academy is accepting applications for their Summer Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Program. Applications for the United States Naval Academy's Summer Seminar program will open on January 16^th, 2014.

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5), chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, released a statement today on the $58.5 million included in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 omnibus appropriations bill (H.R. 3547) to strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The funding in the FY 2014 omnibus appropriations bill represents a $41.7 million increase in funding from FY 2013 levels. The additional funds will be used to help states improve data submissions to NICS.

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5) released the following statement after Congressman George Miller announced he would retire after serving 40 years in Congress:

– U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5), a senior member of the House Committee on Ways and Means, today reiterated his call on the House Majority to pass legislation extending emergency unemployment insurance as $64,858,382 was drained from California's economy during the first week of expired federal benefits. On December 28th, nearly 214,000 people in California lost an average $303 weekly benefit when the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation program expired. An additional 12,531 people in California will lose benefits each week during the first half of 2014.

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5), chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, released the following statement on the three year anniversary of the shooting in Tucson, Arizona in which former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot and wounded:

"Three years ago today, my good friend and former colleague, Gabby Giffords, was meeting her constituents at a public event when a gunman opened fire on the crowd. Gabby, Rep. Ron Barber, and 11 others were wounded. Six were killed.

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5), a senior member of the House Committee on Ways and Means, issued the following statement after the Senate voted to begin consideration of a bipartisan three-month extension of emergency unemployment insurance (S. 1845) on a vote of 60 to 37: