• U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-California) and Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) drafted a Jan. 29 letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in response to her letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz urging him to surrender the state’s voter rolls as part of an exchange for the Trump administration calling off its deployment of Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and agents to Minneapolis. Padilla and Durbin’s letter, signed by a 28 senators, described Bondi’s proposition as marking “an unacceptable escalation” of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) campaign to centralize state voter rolls and sensitive personal information under its control. “It is also the clearest admission that the [DOJ] knows it lacks authority to obtain state voter rolls and is instead resorting to strong-arm tactics and intimidation by force,” the letter states. In a Jan. 30 statement, Padilla commented on ICE and CBP activity in Minnesota, while also denouncing the DOJ’s lawsuits against 24 states, including California, to coerce them into handing over unredacted access to their voting rolls. “To me, it’s pretty telling. Is it really about public safety in Minnesota, or is it about trying to get the voter data that they’ve been desperately trying to get for almost eight years now?” Padilla stated. “That’s the environment that we’re living and working in. The whole country sees it for what it is; I know I see it for what it is.”
• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) recently received the National Head Start Association PROMISE (Protecting Our Most Important Students Early) Award—an accolade from the Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo (CAPSLO) to recognize federal leaders “who demonstrate an unwavering commitment to Head Start children and families,” according to press materials. “Mr. Carbajal has been such a powerful advocate for early childhood education across our country,” CAPSLO CEO Biz Steinberg said in a Jan. 28 statement. “It was exciting to be able to present this award to him at one of our Head Start centers in San Luis Obispo.” CAPSLO presented Carbajal with the award on Jan. 16.
• On Jan. 30, U.S. Sens. Adam Schiff (D-California), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced the Veterans Hearing Aid Improvement Act, which was designed to improve access to over-the-counter hearing aids for eligible veterans through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In 2017, President Donald Trump signed into law legislation that directed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish a category of over-the-counter hearing aids for adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss, but many veterans experience long wait times for audiology appointments, according to Blackburn. “Veterans experiencing hearing loss often face long wait times when attempting to access the care they need, especially in rural or high-demand areas,” Blackburn said in a statement. “Our bipartisan Veterans Hearing Aid Improvement Act would position the VA to more efficiently serve the 400,000 veterans who call Tennessee home without compromising the quality of care they receive.” In a Jan. 30 statement, Schiff said that he’s proud to be part of this legislation to “ensure those who served our country have access to the health care benefits they deserve.” Supporters of the legislation include the Hearing Loss Association of America, the American Legion, and AARP (American Association of Retired Persons).
This article appears in February 5 – February 12, 2026.