I started out this week in Dallas, Texas where I participated in a field hearing with the House Budget Committee on how Congress can get our fiscal house in order.

Our national debt has exceeded $40 trillion for the first time ever. We're borrowing nearly $2 trillion every year just to keep the government running, and interest payments alone are about $1 trillion annually. That’s more than we spend on defense or Medicaid. Our growing interest rates make it harder for San Diegans to buy their first home, pay off student loans, finance a car, or start a business.

Instead of governing responsibly, this Republican majority has handed us nearly $2 trillion deficits year after year. President Trump has already added more to our national debt in less than two years than President Biden did during his whole presidency.

As co-Chair of the Bipartisan Fiscal Forum, I made my case at the hearing for our coalition's proposals. This includes reducing annual deficits to 3 percent of Gross Domestic Product, cutting deficits in half relative to the current level. Meeting this target would help lower national debt and reassure financial markets. Our coalition also leads the Bipartisan Fiscal Commission, which would take input from Members on both sides of the aisle to find legislative solutions to stabilize spending and decrease the national debt.

While this hearing was an important way to hear how Congress can work together to get our fiscal house in order, I will continue to urge Speaker Johnson to consider the Bipartisan Fiscal Forum's proposals to tackle our national debt and work toward a solution to bring down inflation.

Right now, hundreds of energy projects are stuck waiting to get built, and 95% of those are clean energy like wind and solar. We can’t wait, consumers can’t wait, and the planet can’t wait. The faster these projects are completed, the sooner we can lower utility bills, increase jobs, and transition to cleaner energy production.

For months, Congress has been working on a deal to speed up the approval process for these energy projects, known as "permitting reform." This week, the Senate was supposed to unveil a bipartisan permitting reform package that would allow more energy projects to be completed. But despite months of negotiation between Republicans, Democrats, and the White House, a bipartisan group of senators has said they'll wait until after the midterm elections to release a deal.

While I urged the Senate to finalize this deal this month, I still believe it can get done and that Members must hold firm in the months ahead to get there. This historic package is too important not to get over the finish line. In the meantime, I'll continue pushing for permitting reform in the House so San Diegans stop paying more than they should for energy that's stuck in the pipeline.

This week, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao confirmed that eight sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group attempted to commit suicide over the course of their deployment in the Middle East.

This is yet another tragic consequence of the President's reckless, foolish, and prolonged war of choice. My thoughts are with these sailors, their families, and everyone serving alongside them.

For weeks, the country has been focused on the very dire situation aboard the USS Lincoln carrier, and we're just learning now that it extends to the entire strike group. This is exactly why oversight matters. Congress and the American people should not be learning about a crisis like this through family members or the news media. The whole strike group needs relief and then we need a deep and serious investigation into how Navy and Department of Defense leadership let this happen.

The human cost of this war continues to rise, and Congress must do more than watch it happen. San Diego's service members and their families should never have to suffer in silence, and I will keep pressing for Secretary Pete Hegseth's removal and for Congress to pass a War Powers Resolution and stop this chaos.

72 and Sunny is back for season 2! In my latest episode, I was joined by Megafire Action CEO Matt Weiner to discuss wildfires and forest land management. We spoke about the importance of passing my major forestry bills, such as the Save Our Sequoias Act and Fix Our Forests Act, and how they could help prevent the next deadly, costly wildfire in California.

Watch the full episode to learn more about what these bills would do, the importance of prescribed burns for our environment, and the health impacts of wildfires, as well as some Q&A about our national debt, the Iran war, and election security.

• AI is moving faster than Congress is moving to regulate it. As I mentioned last week, I'm a cosponsor of the bipartisan FRONTIER Act, and I've joined the Problem Solvers Caucus' working group on AI so we can develop a bipartisan framework that protects Americans without choking off innovation.
• San Diego scientists have said that dozens of iconic coastal spots could be harmed by a potential ‘Super El Niño' event. Read more about how you can protect yourself this upcoming storm season in last week's newsletter.

Click here for a comprehensive list of the actions I've taken to push back on the Trump Administration and protect San Diego.

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Thanks, and take care.