Dear [salutation],

I fully support making our government work better, smarter, and leaner but how we go about it matters in the lives of all Americans. We must thoughtfully consider what can be made more efficient and what the ramifications are to our communities. Ongoing delays and the brief loss of communication at Newark Airport show just how badly we need more air traffic controllers. Instead, Trump is firing members of the National Transportation Safety Board and trying to fire federal employees who keep us safe in the air. Canceling clinical cancer trials and treatments for traumatic brain injuries at veteran hospitals won't improve care or operations at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and it breaks our promises to those who put their lives on the line for us.  

If you have been fired from your federal job, have had a federal grant suspended, or have otherwise been affected by changes by the Trump Administration, please share your story here. By sharing your story, you can help me best represent San Diego in Congress.      

Leesa from Rancho Bernardo contacted my office after wrongly being declared deceased by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Due to this clerical error, Leesa lost her health insurance and had to reschedule important medical appointments. My staff submitted an inquiry to OPM and helped Leesa get her health insurance reinstated. 

"I can't thank Congressman Peters' office enough. Due to a silly but damaging clerical mistake, I lost my federal health insurance. I tried for 5 months to get the mistake fixed with no avail. [Congressman Peters' staff] worked their magic and my health insurance was reinstated within two months. Thank you for your hard work." 

On Thursday, I helped launch the Build America Caucus: Congressmembers from both parties focused on cutting red tape and bureaucratic delays so we can get sh*t done in America again. We know we must build more housing, expand our electrical grid, and invest in basic scientific research. Yet, current policies hold projects hostage in years of litigation. And this administration is cutting scientific funding and deterring the best minds in the world from coming here. The Build America Caucus, the pro-growth abundance caucus, will think bigger and take real action to solve these problems, not just pay lip service. 

I continue to hear from local leaders and community members about how critical Medicaid is to care for San Diego's children, individuals with disabilities, and working families who are already struggling to keep up. Hospitals in the district receive more than 30% of their payments from Medi-Cal supporting critical health services like labor and delivery, emergency care, and psychiatric care. I have fought Medicaid cuts and called out my Republican colleagues who are pushing to cut programs Americans rely on, like Medicaid, all to pay for tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the very wealthiest Americans and big corporations. I've voted "no" twice now on budgets that would slash hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid and have hosted a press conference with San Diego elected officials, health care workers, and patients to show Republicans that San Diegans will not stand by while Republicans strip health care from tens of millions of Americans. I will keep working to protect Medicaid.