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A year ago today, I was duck hunting in California when my phone buzzed with a breaking news alert. There had been a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. As the hours unfolded, more details surfaced. Twenty children – all of them 6 or 7 years old – and six adults had been gunned down in a senseless act of violence.
In the days and weeks that followed the shooting, we pledged to never forget. We said this time would be different. We said that something must be done.
U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA-15) introduced the bipartisan Philippines Charitable Giving Assistance Act, legislation that provides expedited tax relief for Americans making charitable donations in support of Typhoon Haiyan recovery efforts in the Philippines. The legislation, H.R. 3771 was co-authored by Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-CA-15), Darrell Issa (R-CA-49) and Joe Heck (R-NV-3). A Senate companion bill was introduced by Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) and Dean Heller (R-NV).
U.S. Reps. Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Pete King (R-NY) released the following statement on tomorrow's one-year anniversary of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
One year ago Saturday, horror united us.
We froze in our pre-holiday tracks, stomachs and jaws dropping, at news that 20 first-graders and six educators had been shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. No matter our politics or feelings about guns, we all hugged our loved ones tighter that night.
But soon we parted ways again, as calls for tighter gun control were met with calls to protect constitutional rights, and accusations of hard-heartedness were met with accusations of political opportunism.
U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5) today voted in favor of House Joint Resolution 59, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013. This legislation is a result of the deal struck by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA). The legislation sets concrete spending levels for the next two fiscal years and partially replaces across-the-board sequestration cuts mandated by the 2011 Budget Control Act.
U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5), Chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, joined mental health and public health experts today to unveil a comprehensive report detailing evidence-based federal policy recommendations on gun violence prevention and mental health.
U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, released the following statement on Vice President Biden's announcement of $100 million in additional funding made available to expand and improve mental health services.
Some $50 million will come through the Affordable Care Act to help community centers provide more mental health services. The second half of the money, made available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will help finance rural mental health facilities.
U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05), chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, released the following statement on Vice President Biden's announcement of $100 million in additional funding made available to expand and improve mental health services. $50 million will come through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to help community centers provide more mental health services. The second half of the money, made available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), will help finance rural mental health facilities.
U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5) introduced bipartisan legislation expanding access to mental health care for Medicare recipients. H.R. 3662, the Mental Health Access Improvement Act, will add thousands of highly qualified licensed mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists (MFTs) to the network of providers eligible to serve Medicare beneficiaries.
This session of Congress is the first since World II that has failed to protect a single new acre of public land.
This year, however, bills supported by California lawmakers are getting action and a push from the Obama administration.
The House in July passed, by unanimous consent, a bill by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, to add the 1,660-acre Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands along the Mendocino coast to the islands, rocks, and reefs in the California Coastal National Monument.