Rep. Susie Lee Releases 2019 3rd Quarter Report, Highlights Accomplishments for Constituents

Las Vegas, Nev. – U.S. Rep. Susie Lee (Nev.-03) marked the last day of the third quarter of 2019 by releasing a report of her legislative and casework accomplishments during this three-month period:

"I did not waste a second building on the momentum from my first six months in Congress. Since July, I have introduced and passed important legislation, helped constituents in my district, and advocated for the policies that improve the lives of southern Nevadans. One of the proudest accomplishments is founding the bipartisan Veterans Education Caucus with my Republican colleague Rep. Denver Riggleman of Virginia to shine a light on the issues facing our country's student Veterans.

"I have introduced nine bills since July to reduce Veteran suicide rates and improve important services and health care access for Veterans, to reauthorize and strengthen the Older Americans Act to make sure our seniors have the services they need to age in dignity, and much more. I've helped the House pass numerous important bills, many of them bipartisan, like the SECURE Act to strengthen retirement plans, the repeal of the harmful health care Cadillac Tax, and the SAFE Banking Act to finally properly regulate our nation's legal marijuana industry. I have dedicated my time in Congress to fighting for policies that matter to my constituents and that won't change anytime soon."

CONSTITUENT SERVICES ACCOMPLISHMENTS

From July-September 2019, Rep. Susie Lee's Las Vegas and Washington, D.C., offices have:

• Recovered $343,905 for constituents.
• Responded to 8,629 emails, calls, and letters.
• Closed 122 constituent cases.
• Held 75 meetings with constituents in the district.
• Helped 70 constituents tour our nation's capital.
• Hosted 2 town halls, including one education town hall.

LEGISLATIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• In August, the President signed H.R.1198, a bill renaming the 404 South Boulder Highway post office to the Henderson Veterans Memorial Post Office Building, into law. Rep. Lee drafted and introduced the legislation in February, making this her first ever original bill signed into law.
• Rep. Lee launched the bipartisan Veterans Education Caucus with her Republican colleague Rep. Denver Riggleman (Col.-05), which was formed to highlight the experiences of America's student veterans, and create a space for members to collaborate in a bipartisan fashion on policies and solutions to improve the lives of student veterans and enhance their educational and economic opportunities.
• Rep. Lee and a group of her colleagues introduced the bipartisan Protecting Access to Student Transcripts (PAST) Act to prevent higher education institutions from withholding transcripts from students who have defaulted on their student loans. A college transcript is often necessary to find a good-paying job, apply for graduate school, or transfer schools credits, leaving many of these students with few options to pay off their debt and start their careers after school.
• Rep. Lee and a group of her colleagues introduced the bipartisan Expanding Educational Opportunities for Justice-Impacted Communities Act. The new bill would repeal the ban on the receipt of Pell Grants by incarcerated individuals and the loss of federal financial aid eligibility for individuals convicted of certain drug offenses. Higher education is proven to reduce recidivism and to secure employment opportunities of justice-involved individuals. Repealing the Pell ban would save states an estimated total of $365.8 million per year as a result of reduced recidivism rates and reincarceration spending.
• Rep. Lee continued to serve America's veterans by helping introduce the bipartisan Gambling Addiction Prevention (GAP) Act to create and implement programs to treat problem gambling, particularly on military bases. There are currently an estimated 56,000 servicemembers who may meet the criteria for gambling addiction disorder, and as of now, the DOD does not have the resources or infrastructure to help our men and women in uniform and address this problem.
• In July, the House adopted three amendments introduced and supported by Rep. Susie Lee (NV-03) as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), all of which will improve veteran health care by ensuring that Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) Interagency Program Office implement an effective Electronic Health Records (EHR) system, so our veterans can get the health care they deserve. As the chair of the House Veterans Affairs Technology Modernization Subcommittee, Rep. Lee oversees the implementation of a $16 billion electronic health records program at the VA.
• Rep. Susie Lee introduced the introduced the bipartisan Leave No Veteran Behind Act, which would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to reach out to veterans that they have not had contact with in two or more years, to ensure that every veteran is aware and has access to the comprehensive medical services provided by the VA.
• Rep. Lee introduced the Deter Obnoxious, Nefarious, and Outrageous Telephone Calls (DO NOT) Call Act in an effort to deter illegal robocalls that have skyrocketed in recent years. This legislation will improve enforcement and enhance penalties for violations made under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The FCC has put forward aggressive enforcement actions, but the deterrents are still not strong enough. She then championed and helped pass the Stopping Bad Robocalls in the House, which would implement similar enforcement policies and penalties for robocall violations.
• Earlier this year, Rep. Lee helped introduce the Smithsonian Women's History Act, which would create the first contiguous women's history museum in the country. This month, the bill passed the 290-cosponsor threshold to be placed on the consensus calendar. This is the result of a new House rule that the Problem Solvers Caucus, of which the Congresswoman is a member, championed as part of its ‘Break the Gridlock' initiative. This brings the bill one step closer to passage, ensuring that every American can learn the complete story and the integral role women have played in shaping our country.
• Rep. Susie Lee joined a group of her colleagues on the House Education and Labor committee to introduce the Dignity in Aging Act, H.R. 4334, a bipartisan proposal to reauthorize the Older Americans Act (OAA), which increases funding for vital programs that help aging Americans live independently and with dignity.
• As part of her effort to bolster services for seniors through the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act, Rep. Lee and Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott (Va.-03) introduced legislation to invest in and support direct care workers. The Direct Creation, Advancement, and Retention of Employment (CARE) Opportunity Act (H.R. 4397) invests in training and employment advancement opportunities for America's direct care workers.
• Last week, Rep. Lee and a group of freshmen congresswomen introduced legislation to protect Americans from "surprise bills" due to out-of-date insurance directories. The UPDATE Act requires insurance companies to regularly update their provider directories to prevent patients from unknowingly receiving out-of-network care. Health care in this country is already expensive enough, and for any person to receive a surprise bill from a provider that they were led to believe is in their network is a burden that no American deserves.
• Last week, Rep. Lee and Senator Dick Durbin (Ill.) introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval on Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's rewritten borrower defense rule that gutted essential protections for student borrowers and taxpayers. The original 2016 Borrower Defense Rule was a commonsense policy meant to level the playing field between students and the predatory colleges taking advantage of them. But Secretary DeVos's new rule makes the process of applying for and granting borrower defense forgiveness unnecessarily difficult and burdensome for the students who we are supposed to be protecting. The original Borrower Defense Rule was projected to secure $17 billion in relief for defrauded students by 2020. According to the Department of Education's own estimates, the new DeVos rule is expected to garner only a fraction of that.

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