Dear Neighbor,

The weather is cooling and the leaves are changing across Fairfax. But through several seasons now, two things have stayed constant: President Trump's increasingly reckless statements and the rising cost of everyday life.

Groceries, rent, electricity, and gas keep taking a bigger bite out of every paycheck. This week showed how closely those two things are connected.

At the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, President Trump told world leaders he faces a "big decision" on Iran: make a deal, or "annihilate the Islamic Republic" and "drive them into hell." It is the same whiplash we have seen for months, threats one week and talk of a deal the next, with no clear plan to end the war. Now he predicts a deal will come "right after the election."

Nearly seven months in, the average gallon of gas costs $4.48, about 50 percent more than before the war. Diesel just hit a record $6.53, driving up the cost of shipping everything from groceries to building supplies. Democratic staff on Congress's Joint Economic Committee estimate that higher gas prices alone have cost the average household an additional $699.

Meanwhile, the committee found the President's own oil and gas stocks have gained as much as $15.5 million this year.

America needs a President serious about protecting our interests and bringing our servicemembers home, not one who governs by threat and bluster while his policies line his own pockets.

Families across Fairfax are cutting back, skipping the extra grocery item, putting off repairs, and watching every dollar. The President is making different choices.

The committee estimates his vanity projects will cost more than $1.8 billion, including more than $927 million for White House renovations and a new ballroom, $100 million for a proposed "Triumphal Arch," and $16 million for a no-bid contract to repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Try the committee's interactive calculator to see how far $1.8 billion could go: school lunches, child care, medical care for veterans. You will come up with a better plan in thirty seconds.

The seasons will keep changing. It's time the President's priorities did too. Until they do, I will keep fighting to lower costs for Fairfax families, root out corruption, and hold this administration accountable for the choices it makes.

Make sure to follow me on X, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and Threads to stay up-to-date.

Please continue reading below to learn more about how I’ve been serving you. 

A servicemember injured in harm's way will get a raise next year, as they should. The VA nurse caring for them when they come home will not. Neither will the food inspector keeping our families safe or the cybersecurity specialist protecting our networks. They will be left to absorb higher costs on the same paycheck.

As founder and co-chair of the Federal Workforce Caucus, I stood at the Capitol on Wednesday with my fellow co-chairs, Rep. Steny Hoyer and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, and leaders of four federal employee unions to demand that Congress reject the freeze. A bipartisan group of 110 lawmakers is backing the 4.1 percent raise in my FAIR Act, or at a minimum the same 3.8 percent offered to law enforcement.

Congress has the power to stop this pay cut. The Federal Workforce Caucus and I will keep fighting until it does.

Cyber threats against our country are growing more sophisticated every day, from attacks on critical infrastructure to new risks from artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Yet since President Trump took office, nearly 1,000 employees at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have been fired, sidelined, or pushed out. That is roughly one-third of our nation's leading civilian cyber defense agency, gone.

That's why I introduced the CISA Force Structure Assessment Act with Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie Thompson and Cybersecurity Subcommittee Ranking Member Delia Ramirez. 

Our bill would require CISA to determine whether it still has the people, training, and resources to protect federal networks, support state and local governments, and secure the critical infrastructure we all depend on. Within a year, CISA would report its findings to Congress, along with recommendations to close the gaps.

America's cyber defenses are only as strong as the people behind them. Congress needs a clear accounting of the damage done by DOGE and the Trump administration so we can fix it.

I believe in strong, orderly border security and a modern immigration system that works. What the Trump administration is doing is neither. It is cruelty.

On September 20, an ICE agent shot Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old DoorDash driver, in the back while he was working in Austin, Texas. DHS claims he was evading arrest, but the agent who fired was issued a body camera and was not wearing it. That makes Mr. Garces Perez a key witness to what happened. Yet ICE is moving to deport him, with the bullet still in his body, according to his lawyers, before any independent investigation is complete.

This is a pattern across America. From Minneapolis to Houston to Maine, at least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration agents under this administration, often with no footage and no answers. As of this summer, not one of ICE's 22,000 officers had been disciplined for violating use-of-force policies.

I joined more than 100 colleagues in demanding that ICE release Mr. Garces Perez for medical care, keep him in the country until the facts are known, and preserve all evidence for a full, independent investigation.

ICE is out of control, and it cannot be trusted to police itself. As a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, I will keep fighting for real accountability: judicial warrants, body cameras that are actually on, and independent investigations every time someone is hurt or killed.

Affordable Housing Waitlist Opens October 5

Housing costs are one of the biggest pressures on Fairfax families, so I want to make sure you know about this opportunity. The Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority is opening its waitlist for affordable units at two new properties:

• Telestar Court in Falls Church
• The Exchange at Spring Hill Station in Vienna.

Applications open Monday, October 5, at 8 a.m. and close Sunday, October 11, at 11:59 p.m. Applicants will be selected at random for the waitlist and screened for eligibility as units become available. Participating households pay no more than 35 percent of their adjusted income toward rent, and the County covers the rest.

Apply online through the County's RentCafé portal, call 703-449-9050, or visit the FCRHA office at 3700 Pender Drive in Fairfax.