It has been the honor of my life to serve in the House of Delegates, and I am humbled and honored to have the opportunity to continue serving this community this January in my second term representing Virginia’s 40th District. Whether I earned your support or not, I will work hard on behalf of every member of our community during my upcoming term.
To all who have served, Happy Veterans Day! As a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the only Democrat in the General Assembly who served in both wars, I often reflect on what it means to “honor” those who have served.
I do believe we owe a debt to those who have risked all to faithfully execute the orders of our national leaders to protect our country — even when at times they find those orders and the wars they have spurred have been misguided. For many, the psychic and physical toll of service lasts long beyond the veteran’s time in uniform. And for quite a few veterans, living a life of dignity that is healthy and safe remains elusive.
As a community we can do a lot more to honor our veterans through the policies we enact. Paid Family and Medical Leave offers the family of a wounded service member the ability to care for that individual without giving up their income. With one in five veterans earning less than $15 / hour as of 2017, raising the minimum wage would ensure veterans can put food on the table. With 1.2 million veterans covered by a union and veteran union membership rates exceeding the general population, eliminating barriers to collective bargaining disproportionately helps our veterans. Surveys regularly show that veterans’ health impacts last long beyond their time in uniform. Ensuring affordable health coverage and driving down the costs of prescription drugs are critical pro-veteran policies. Enacting policies like these would go a long way not only to making life better for all, but also honoring the service of veterans by ensuring their ability to live in dignity.
With a new legislative session starting in just a couple of months, I look forward to trying to advance these policies that support our veterans as well as other policies to help our community. If you have ideas of legislation that would help Virginians, please email or call anytime, and I am happy to have a conversation.
With that, here’s a few updates from the past few weeks.
Events and Meetings
Recently I stopped by Young’s Healthcare. The services they provide are so valuable to our community. It is critical we have organizations like Young’s that are focused on ensuring the Korean American community has access to affordable healthcare and proper senior care.
This week I had the chance to visit Centreville High School with Springfield District School Board Member Laura Jane Cohen. Thank you to Principal Lehman for showing us around, and to all the students and teachers who welcomed us into their classrooms. I also appreciated awarding the Centreville Boys Basketball team with a commending resolution for their state championship earlier this year. Go Wildcats!
Today, I valued joining my fellow members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8469 and the American Legion Post 177 for a Veterans Day observation in Fairfax. I hope all are able to take some time today to consider how we continue to honor national service, even when no longer in uniform.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness for Veterans
The Department of Education recently implemented changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that could wipe out student debt for thousands of Veterans. Secretary Cardona has made the explicit ask to veterans groups to help share this news, and make sure every veteran checks to see if they are eligible for this debt forgiveness. You can learn more about the changes to the program on the Department of Education’s website here.
COVID-19 Vaccine Updates
The FDA recently authorized the COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 through 11. Vaccinations are safe for children to receive and come as a relief to many throughout the Commonwealth as the holidays approach. I encourage everyone who is eligible to receive their vaccination to do so as soon as possible; to ensure not only their safety but other members of our community as well. You can learn more about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccinations for children 5-11 here.Children’s vaccination rollout will vary slightly from adults, as there will be an intentional effort to ensure that vaccines are offered in children-friendly spaces such as schools.
Favorites of the 40th
I recently had the opportunity to join Caroline & Corinne of Centreville High School who started a glass recycling network during the pandemic and have since recycled over 20,000 bottles. It was incredible to join these powerhouse students making our community cleaner and greener!
As always, feel free to reach out to my office if you have any concerns, questions, or need assistance with an issue. I hope you have a wonderful day.
