119th Congress

Today, Representatives Julia Brownley (D-CA-26), Gabe Amo (D-RI-01), Jonathan Jackson (D-IL-01), and Robin Kelly (D-IL-02) led 73 colleagues demanding answers from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Acting Director Jay Bhattacharya about the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, warning that weakened U.S. global health capacity may have contributed to delays in detecting and responding to the current outbreak.

Today, Congresswoman Julia Brownley (CA-26), Congressman Sam Liccardo (CA-16), and Assistant Democratic Leader Joe Neguse (CO-02) led a coalition of twenty-four Members of Congress urging the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to release disaster assistance funds. Their push follows reporting by The Washington Post that revealed the agency withheld $1.68 billion in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) awards from California and Colorado.

Today, Congresswoman Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Congressman André Carson (D-Ind.), along with Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), led 61 members of Congress in pressing the Department of Education (ED) to immediately address the largest student loan default and delinquency crisis on record, which has been made worse by the Trump administration’s policies.

Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC) member Congresswoman Julia Brownley (CA-26), DWC Executive Steering Committee member Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-06), DWC member Congresswoman Gwen Moore (WI-04), and 32 DWC colleagues sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin urging him to immediately reinstate protections to help immigrant survivors escape abuse, stay safe, and seek justice without fear of deportation.

Today, Congresswoman Julia Brownley announced Wenqing Lu from Oak Park High School as the winner of the 2026 Congressional Art Competition for California’s 26th Congressional District. Lu’s piece, “Inner Worlds Never Fade,” will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol complex for one year.

Congresswoman Julia Brownley (D-Calif.-26), Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Congressman Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.-24), and members of the California congressional delegation are launching an inquiry into Sable Offshore’s efforts to restart oil drilling off the California coast and are demanding answers on the company’s collaboration with the Trump administration to invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) in relation to this project. 

Congresswoman Julia Brownley (CA-26) joined Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (CT-05) and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) in introducing the Scratch Cooked Meals for Students Act. Companion legislation has been introduced in the United States Senate by Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA). This bipartisan legislation would create a competitive grant program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to expand scratch cooking in schools.

On Thursday, May 7, Congresswoman Julia Brownley presented checks to the City of Camarillo and the City of Oxnard for community projects she secured federal funding for through the Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations process.

Congresswoman Julia Brownley and 47 Members of Congress sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. demanding transparency on its alleged policy of detaining girls, including pregnant girls, at the Urban Strategies San Benito (USSB) ORR facility in Texas. In the letter, the members condemned the Trump administration for violating established legal precedent requiring unaccompanied minors have access to all reproductive healthcare options and requested information regarding their care.

Congresswoman Julia Brownley announced additional funding that she secured for California’s 26th Congressional District in the Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations process. The funding ensures continued federal support for important transportation and infrastructure investments throughout Ventura County and the Conejo Valley. In total, Brownley secured more than $62 million for local infrastructure, transportation, and resilience projects in the FY26 appropriations process.

Congresswoman Julia Brownley (CA-26), Congressman John Garamendi (CA-08), and U.S. Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla (both D-CA) announced more than $22 million in federal funding from the Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) for the Port of Hueneme in Ventura County, California and for the Port of Richmond in Contra Costa County, California.

Today, on Marine Mammal Rescue Day, Congresswoman Julia Brownley (D-CA) reintroduced the Marine Mammal Climate Change Protection Act, legislation to strengthen protections for marine mammals and the coastal ecosystems they depend on from the growing threat of the climate crisis.

Congresswoman Julia Brownley (CA-26) and Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-06), alongside U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), introduced the bicameral Climate Change Education Act, which would establish a Climate Change Education Program within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to provide grants and technical assistance to state and local education agencies, institutions of higher learning, professional associations and academic societies, and youth corps organizations. The legislation would help ensure that graduating students are trained to live, work, and lead in a world increasingly impacted by climate change.

Retiring Democratic Rep. Julia Brownley first got into politics when she ran for her local California school board to advocate for students like her daughter, who has dyslexia. After arriving on Capitol Hill in 2013, she used her position on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee to help pass bills, like one expanding travel reimbursement for veterans seeking medical care, with Republican support. She’s still on that committee, but collaboration has waned.

Congresswoman Julia Brownley (CA-26) joined Congressman John Garamendi (CA-08), a senior member of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, and Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson (FL-24) to introduce the Transit Workforce Development Act, a bill to expand workforce training and strengthen the pipeline of skilled workers needed to support the nation’s public transportation systems.  

Congresswoman Julia Brownley (CA-26) joined U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), Rep. Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Sen. Edward Markey, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, and over 180 Democratic colleagues in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Miot v. Trump, a consolidated case challenging the Trump administration’s unlawful termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti and Syria. This case also has significant implications for 1.3 million TPS holders of several nationalities across the country. 

Introduced by Representative Gus Bilirakis, a Republican from Florida, and Representative Julia Brownley, a Democrat from California, the bill would close a loophole that’s harming some of America’s most vulnerable children, the legislators say.

Congresswoman Julia Brownley (D-CA) and Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) introduced the Ensuring Medicaid Continuity for Children in Foster Care Act of 2026—commonsense, bipartisan legislation to ensure vulnerable children do not lose access to essential mental health care because of a bureaucratic technicality.