Media

Today, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi named Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) as one of the Democrats who will serve on a conference committee to complete legislation addressing the opioid epidemic. The conference committee was selected to reconcile the 18 opioid bills passed by the House of Representatives last week with the single opioid measure passed by the Senate in March. The compromise legislation reconciled by the conference committee will then be resubmitted to the House and Senate for final approval.

Today, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Homeland Security, and Investigations held a hearing entitled “Synthetic Drugs, Real Danger.” The purpose of this hearing is to examine the growing problem of the manufacture and use of synthetic drugs and law enforcement responses.

On Friday, May 13, Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27), Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), and Rep. Grace Napolitano (CA-32), Chair of the Congressional Mental Health Caucus, introduced legislation to curb mental health stigma in the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. H.R.5234, the Stop Mental Health Stigma in Our Communities Act, instruct the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to provide outreach and education strategies for the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community by partnering with local advocacy and behavioral health organizations that have an established record of serving AAPIs. These strategies will increase awareness of symptoms of mental illness common among AAPI populations, provide linguistically and culturally appropriate interventions, and encourage individuals and communities to use a comprehensive, public health approach when addressing mental and behavioral health.

n Thursday, May 12, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee hosted a hearing entitled “The Zika Public Health Crisis: the Urgent Need for the President’s Emergency Funding Request.” Witnesses at the hearing included Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Honorable Mitch Landrieu, Mayor of the City of New Orleans, and Dr. Anne Schuchat, Principal Deputy Director at the Centers for Disease Control. Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27), a member of the committee, attended the hearing and participated in the discussion on the importance of the federal government in supporting efforts to combat the spread of the Zika virus in the United States. Earlier this week, Rep. Chu also met with the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District about their efforts to combat mosquitos and mosquito-borne diseases like Zika and West Nile Virus. This work includes a public awareness campaign to halt the spread of the invasive Aedes mosquito, which has begun to spread throughout the greater Los Angeles area.

Today, Reuters reported the Obama Administration intends to launch a nationwide 30-day “surge” of new immigration deportation raids targeting hundreds of families and young adults through the months of May and June. In January, Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27) condemned similar raids that resulted in the deportation of 121 individuals, mainly women and children from Central America.