Joe Neguse

When it comes to fighting wildfires legislatively – Joe is your man. He introduces bill after bill in an attempt to curb one of the most horrific upticks in natural disasters we’ve witnessed over the past few years. And for him, it’s close to home. The recent fires in Colorado were right in his backyard and he accompanied the president and First Lady to see the damage. Then, he wasted no time before speeding up the introduction of the Western Wildfire Support Act which will modernize how the country confronts wildfires through preventative measures and increased funding in fighting the fires if and when they come. This guy is on fire – no pun intended.

Joe has had his eyes on the environment this year. Joe partnered with PP leader Nanette Diaz Barragán to introduce a resolution to reaffirm the federal government’s responsibility to provide access to clean drinking water for Native communities. Joe also partnered with a group of bipartisan colleagues to introduce the Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership Act, which would better support forest and grassland restoration projects across public and private lands. Joe also presented three bills to the U.S subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands. Joe passed an amendment through the House that would increase federal funding for wildfire management by $2 million. On the topic of wildfires, Joe released a resource guide on wildfire safety. Joe also attended the Climate Change Conference in Scotland and remains hopeful about the work that the global community can do.

It seems every week, there’s a new bill aimed at fixing something at the VA, which begs the question, what exactly is so screwed up over at the VA? This week, Joe has his sights on removing financial barriers for low-income Vets seeking disability claims. In Joe’s bipartisan, bicameral legislative package, the PTSD Processing Claims Improvement Act looks to improve on PTSD claims processing training, so that VA personnel can better identify cases requesting disability. Additionally, the Veteran’s Pro Bono Corps Act would expand supplemental pro bono medical care for low-income veterans. Regardless of the VA’s actual functionality, the weekly introduction of bills proves it’s not being forgotten.

Has anyone recently had an issue getting an appointment with the doctor? Well sadly many who are suffering from mental health issues are having a hard time. Approximately one third of Coloradans with mental health issues said they had an issue getting an appointment. This is why Joe introduced bipartisan legislation to expand interstates access to mental health resources. The Compacts, Access and Responsible Expansion (CARE) for Mental Health Professionals Act would establish a grant program to incentivize interstate mental health providers networks, thereby expanding mental health professional networks and availability in rural communities. Thanks Joe, we think everyone can use a dose of mental health help!

Depending on who you talk to, the Climate Change Conference in Scotland fell somewhere on the spectrum of great success to utter waste of time. Joe is somewhere in between. He attended the conference and remains hopeful about the work that the international community can do, especially in the area of addressing wildfires – an issue specifically personal to him and his district in Colorado. However, he did note that the conference didn’t yield as many solutions as he would like considering that the deadlines are less than 10 years away – “We have a very short runway to avoid those serious consequences,” he said. What were you hoping to see come out of the climate summit?