• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) and 75 other members of the New Democrat Coalition urged congressional leaders to schedule a vote on President Joe Biden’s supplemental request for security and humanitarian aid in support of Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, as well as humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza and funding to help address immigration and backlogs and security challenges at the U.S. southern border, according to a Nov. 17 statement from Carbajal’s office. Biden’s request would provide approximately $60 billion in funding to support Ukraine, $14 billion to support Israel, and $10 billion in humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and elsewhere. It also includes $7 billion to reinforce the U.S.’s Indo-Pacific allies like Taiwan and $14 billion to improve immigration processes, reduce immigration court backlogs, and address security challenges at the U.S. southern border. “The United States cannot afford to hide from the challenges of the times or the burdens of our responsibilities. As was the case nearly a century ago, how we respond in this moment will have grand implications for generations to come,” Carbajal and his colleagues wrote in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson. “It will be far less perilous and less costly for the United States, in blood and treasure, to ensure Russia, Hamas, and Iran are defeated in their current wars than it will be if we falter, and our adversaries achieve strategic victories against Ukraine, Israel, or Taiwan.”
• U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife, convened a hearing titled “Challenges and Opportunities to Facilitate Wildlife Movement and Improve Migration Corridors.” Chairing his third subcommittee hearing this Congress, Padilla heard testimony from wildlife experts examining challenges and solutions to facilitating wildlife migration and movement corridors across public, tribal, and private lands. Padilla questioned Charlton Bonham, director of California Department of Fish and Wildlife; Madeleine West, director of the Center for Public Lands, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership; and Richard King, the chief game warden for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Padilla began his remarks by highlighting the issues that wildlife face during migration. He noted the impacts that human-made barriers have on traditional migration wildlife corridors, especially as climate change increases migration pressures. The disruption of wildlife corridors also endangers human lives: Padilla said that wildlife-involved crashes kill more than 150 drivers every year in America and cost between $8 million to $12 billion annually. He called for a bipartisan bill that supports voluntary conservation efforts throughout the country, including increased federal funding for state and local research and data gathering, or on-the-ground projects that restore wildlife corridors. During his rounds of questioning, Padilla asked about bipartisan support for restoring or preserving wildlife habitat connectivity and migration corridors and improvements in GPS and mapping technology, and he heard about the importance of federal and state land acquisitions through partnerships and land trusts to bolster habitat connectivity.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that California recently awarded more than $149 million in grants and tax credits to 12 companies, creating nearly 6,000 full-time jobs and bringing an estimated $1.3 billion in private investment over the next five years, according to a Nov. 17 statement from the governor’s office. The funding from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) CalCompletes program, is going to companies expanding their operations in California and advancing the state’s semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, building the next generation of electric vehicles and electric aircrafts. “Investing in ingenuity and innovation works, and no place does it better than California,” Newsom said in a statement. “Businesses like the ones we’re investing in today will drive the future of our economy, helping create thousands of good-paying jobs and bringing billions in economic investment to communities up and down the state.”
This article appears in Nov 23 – Dec 3, 2023.
