Our coastline is priceless and keeping it that way is essential. Protecting our environment will always be one of my top priorities. In Congress, progress can only be made by listening to all sides and bringing everyone to the table to find solutions. I know that collaboration is the key to getting competing interests to work together for common good because our local economy, tourism, and agriculture are all dependent upon protection of our water, farmland and forests. As a member of the Advisory Council for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, I have witnessed the importance of the collaboration between our marine research institutions and the health and well being of our oceans and marine life. I know that the future of the Central Coast starts by addressing climate change and aggressively promoting a clean energy economy that creates reliable new jobs for generations to come.  My goal is protecting the beauty of the Central Coast both here and in Washington, and I will be a strong voice for continuing California’s leadership on the important issues of controlling clean air and water for the enjoyment of outdoor enthusiasts, the health of our families, and the future of our planet. 

There is no greater gift a parent can give to a child than a first-rate education. In Congress, I will fight to make sure all of our children get the same opportunity to thrive.  I am committed to making sure the Every School Succeeds Act (ESSA) achieves its goals of providing opportunity to every child, reducing the overreliance on standardized testing, and bringing educators into the decision-making process. I will fight to fund Head Start – which since its inception in 1965 – has given over 32 million low-income children educational, nutritional and health opportunities.  For those interested in college, I am committed to making higher education both accessible and affordable. Before graduating from U.C. Davis, I attended Monterey Peninsula Community College, so I understand firsthand the impact our community colleges can make by giving students the academic foundation, job training and skills for a path to success. That appreciation has led me to give back to MPC through my work as the chair of the MPC Citizens Bond Oversight Committee.  I also serve as a Trustee on the Foundation for the University of California at Santa Cruz, where I helped ensure that high school students from Salinas were exposed to and, ultimately, attended that world-class university.  As a board member of the National Steinbeck Center (NSC), I worked on the deal for California State University at Monterey Bay (CSUMB) to purchase the NSC building in order to help that amazing university reach the students of the Salinas Valley.  In Congress, I am committed to making college loans more affordable and finding innovative ways to help students reduce their debt.  I will also focus on expanding pre-K and early education options for families and improving the Migrant Education Program to help immigrant children meet the challenges of enrolling in American schools.  My goal is to establish national service programs that provide educational benefits to those willing to serve the nation.

Expanding the local economy, investing in innovation and clean energy, raising wages, supporting workers through job training programs, and helping small businesses grow will be among my top priorities.  Our local economy relies on agriculture, tourism, and the strength of our educational institutions, so finding the right balance is critical.  The Central Coast is among the most agriculturally diverse in the nation (both conventional  and organic) and is a global leader poised to play a part in solving some of the toughest problems facing developing nations.  With these opportunities come challenges, and we must manage regulation and development in a responsible way that allows businesses to grow while ensuring the preservation of the natural treasures that drive tourism, research, and education. Having attended Monterey Peninsula College, I understand the role of accessible higher education in preparing students for the workforce. I will work to make sure all our local colleges take a similar innovative approach to education that Cabrillo College uses when it takes county Workforce Investment Board and Employment Development Department information to drive its curriculum to make sure it is offering classes in skills that meet the demand for local businesses. My goal is to strengthen the economic industries critical to jobs on the Central Coast – agriculture, tourism, technology, research, and education.

One of the problems with not having a coherent national security strategy is that when something comes up like the San Bernardino shootings, our national leaders grab for the nearest tool available. That can lead us into even more danger than what we were trying to stop in the first place.  Such is the case with the recently introduced Feinstein-Burr bill to force encryption providers to maintain backdoors in case the government shows up with a court order. It is bad for the government itself, the private sector and the public.

From the government perspective, the Feinstein-Burr bill is both unnecessary and harmful to our strategic interests. For all the power that the bill gives to the government, there is very little real-world upside. Agencies like the NSA have plenty of cryptologic horsepower to meet our cyber needs and if FBI forensic investigators need help, they should use existing capabilities, authorities – and protections -- to get it. The downside of a mandated universal backdoor is calamitous. The last thing we want is for our national security advantage in cyber power to be lost because our own government – by statute -- makes everything encrypted in the United States open for hackers.

This bill will also put American private sector innovation and companies at risk by making their products less secure and less private than products provided by other countries.  At a time where we are looking to grow jobs in the face of competition from emerging technology centers around the world, we don’t need the US government holding entrepreneurship and innovation back for illusory gains claimed by politicians reacting to news events.

And for the public at large, this is bad news. A backdoor key to every piece of electronics Americans use to take pictures of their kids, explore the internet and guide their cars is not something we want to provide to any government agency with a court order.  Trusting that they can keep that key safe given the lack of concern for security already shown to protecting government emails, personnel files and diplomatic communications is a risk we do not want to take.

Constitutional protections that are adhered to at all times in every way, even when we are under attack, are part of America’s vital national security interests. That is what we are fighting to defend. We can combat ISIS with offensive cyber tools and defeat them on every battlefield, virtual and otherwise. We just cannot lose focus on the fact that our tactics must reflect a strategy defined by national interests. Congress should get on the administration to produce a coherent strategy against terrorism, not grasp for easy fixes that do more harm than good.

I had the privilege of serving seven years on active duty as a Naval Intelligence Officer, including two years aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74). I’ve deployed to the Persian Gulf to help enforce United Nations Resolution 1242 and worked closely with SEAL Team 5 to interdict the illegal export of oil from Iraq in the wake of the first Gulf War. Later, I worked at the Fleet Intelligence Center in Hawaii, where I helped the Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet develop intelligence sharing partnerships with our allies and friends in the region. My service was a deeply rewarding and formative time in my life, and I’m proud to be a veteran. I’m also the spouse of a veteran. My husband spent 23 years in the Marine Corps, before he too made his transition back to the civilian world. My unwavering commitment to veterans and their families is grounded in my experiences both as a veteran and as the spouse of a veteran.

Veterans deserve our gratitude and our support. And they deserve the benefits that they were promised and earned. There are several areas that I believe deserve Congress’ immediate attention.

Veteran’s Disability Claims and Appeals

Although progress has been made to reduce the backlog, there are still far too many disability claims and appeals pending action by the Veteran’s Benefit Administration (VBA) and Board of Veterans’ Appeals. It is unconscionable to expect veterans and their families to wait years to have claims processed and adjudicated. We can and must do better. Not only must Congress require the VA and the Department of Defense to field interoperable electronic health records systems to facilitate timely adjudication of claims, but the VA must also be directed to accept and consider competent and credible private medical evidence when reviewing claims and appeals.

Accessibility of Care

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) provides the nation’s largest integrated direct health care delivery system, delivering care to approximately 6.6 million veterans every year; however, far too many veterans still must wait too long to access the health care they deserve and have been promised. I believe the VA must be resourced appropriately to ensure not only that there are adequate numbers of doctors, nurses, and other critical staff, but to also ensure the VA’s physical infrastructure is expanded and modernized to ensure that veterans have access to state-of-the art care facilities in the coming decades.

I support funded transport to VA facilities for veterans and their families, expanded used of telemedicine, where appropriate, and the authorization of non-VA providers when VA services are not within a reasonable distance or the wait times are excessive.  I also support increased funding to explore innovative treatment regimes, and to improve collaboration between the VA and the Department of Defense for the research, screening, diagnosis, and treatment of TBI/PTSD.

Employment:

The unemployment rate for veterans remains far too high, especially among those who served after 9/11. Veterans are among the most talented, innovative, and disciplined members of the U.S. workforce. They not only deserve to find meaningful employment, but employers and the U.S. economy both benefit enormously from their contributions. There are a number of things I think Congress can do to help veterans find meaningful work. First, I believe Congress must ensure that the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) remains fully funded irrespective of sequestration and budgetary brinkmanship. The estimated 250,000 service members who will be transitioning out of the military every year over the next several years need this assistance to ensure they make a smooth and successful transition back the civilian employment sector. I believe this program is not only essential for ensuring the success of our veterans, but it is also a vital component of efforts to address the homelessness epidemic among our veterans.

I also support The VET Act of 2015 (H.R. 3248), which authorizes the Small Business Administration to implement a pilot program that would permit up to 250 veterans to use their earned GI Bill benefits as financial capital to start a Veteran-Owned Small Business. I also support The Fairness to Veterans for Infrastructure Investment Act of 2015 (H.R. 1694), which passed the house last year with bipartisan support, but remains stalled in the Senate. This legislation would allow veteran-owned businesses to compete for federally funded transportation infrastructure contracts on par with other preferences authorized by disadvantaged business enterprise (DEB) program.

I support continued efforts to implement accelerated pathways for certification and licensure so that service members transitioning into the civilian workforce are pre-equipped with the professional credentials required to gain meaningful employment. I also support legislation that would make it easier and more cost effective for veterans and service members to use their GI Bill benefits to pay for professional licensing or certification exams.

Women:

The role of women in the military is continuing to evolve. Women today make up 20% of new recruits, 15% of the 1.4 million personnel serving on active duty, and 18% of the National Guard and reserve forces. The number of female veterans also continues to grow; by 2020 there could be as many be 1.9 million even as the number of male veterans declines. Since 2000, the number of women using VA health care services has more than doubled, with nearly half of the women veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan having used VA health care at some point.

Unfortunately, there are still far too many barriers in the way of the VA services that female veterans deserve.  I support legislative efforts that address these barriers, such as theWomen Veterans Access to Quality Care Act of 2015 (H.R. 1356), which mandates that every VA medical center have a gynecologist on staff, as well as access to maternity care, infertility, breast and reproductive oncology, and services to address military sexual trauma (MST).

Women veterans also make up a growing proportion of the homeless veteran population. In fact, women veterans are two to four times more likely to be homeless than non-veteran women. Nevertheless, many programs that serve homeless veterans still do not have adequate facilities for female veterans at risk of homelessness, particularly transitional housing for women and women with children. In fact, childcare has consistently been one of the most reported unmet needs reported by homeless veterans and service providers over the last several years. The Veterans’ Benefits Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-275) specifically created an HVRP grant program to serve women veterans and veterans with children, and offered, among other services, access to child care. There is no reason that any veteran should be prevented from receiving the care they earned simply because they cannot find or afford quality childcare. 

Families:

When veterans and service members suffer the physical and emotional wounds of war, so do their families. Many spouses and children have suffered through countless deployments of their loved ones. They waited and worried, and sometimes their warriors came home with physical and emotional burdens that they cannot fully understand. I believe we have a moral obligation to ensure that spouses and children of our wounded warriors get the care and support they need to overcome their own wounds. They deserve this for their own sake, but also because strong and stable families are critical to the recovery of those that served.

We also owe it to veterans to stand by them as they travel their roads to recovery even when they make mistakes associated with PTSD, TBI, cognitive impairment, substance abuse, or military sexual trauma, which is why I support increased funding to expand the VA’s Veterans Justice Outreach (VJO) program and to provide further assistance to local communities seeking to establish and maintain Veteran’s Treatment Courts within their jurisdictions, including those recently established in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.

Homelessness:

Veterans homelessness is a complex problem often made worse by shortages of affordable housing, poor access to healthcare, and difficulties achieving a livable income. It can be further complicated by mental health issues, substance abuse, and broken family relationships. Despite a pledge by the VA to end veteran homeless by 2014, the problem persists.

Our priorities must continue to focus on helping homeless veterans 1) get off the streets and into transitional housing, 2) receive the medical care they need, and 3) secure a living income that supports stability and security. Consequently, I believe that the VA's Grant and Per Diem (GPD) program and Supportive Services for Veteran Families program (SSVF) both remain imperative, and should be reauthorized and fully funded.  

The Role of Veteran’s Organizations

My husband and I are proud member of several veteran’s organizations. These organizations, and many just like them, provide critical services to service members and veterans. My husband readily admits that he probably could not have navigated the complexities involved in his VA disability claims without the support he received from the Disabled Veterans of America. There are literally hundreds of thousands of individuals who have had exactly the same experience, and we owe these groups a debt of gratitude for their commitment to our veterans. These organizations also provide important voices of advocacy that come from a deep and diverse well of experience. It is incumbent upon legislators and administrators to listen to these voices as we develop policies and set priorities that touch on the health and wellbeing of our veterans.

Abortion:  Abortion is a difficult and serious decision for anyone faced with an unwanted and unplanned pregnancy.  I am not personally an advocate of abortion, but I do believe that women should have the right to make this very personal decision in coordination with their family members and their doctors. I believe abortion should be legal, safe, and rare. 

Equal Pay:  Any wage gap between men and women is not only unjust and out dated, it also hurts the local and state economies.  The AAUW found that even after accounting for industry, work hours, work experience, marital status, number of children, and education, women were still paid 82% of what their male peers were making.  I am proud that Governor Brown passed the Fair Wage Act in California, and as a member of Congress I would support Fair Pay legislation. 

Family Leave:  I support the Family and Medical Leave Act which allow for up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave per year to help families balance medical and family responsibilities.  However, this legislation could be improved to apply to employees after six months on the job rather than twelve months; and it should offer flexibility in providing for a percentage of pay during this leave period.  Part of the federal family leave program should also include donating sick leave to co-workers. 

Women Veterans:   Research from Disabled American Veterans reveals that America’s nearly 300,000 women veterans are put at risk by a system designed for and dominated by male veterans.  The VA and DoD are still not fully prepared to provide equitable access to the gender-specific care and services that women need, even as the demand for such care increases. VA and DoD have difficulty providing gender-specific peer support, group therapy, and specialized inpatient mental health care designed to meet the needs and preferences of women.  As a member of Congress I would support legislation to build the capacity of the Veterans Administration to ensure proper care for both our male and female veterans.