Pete Aguilar

The Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade rolled back more than 50 years of settled law and ensures that girls growing up in America will have less freedom than their mothers and grandmothers. This decision sets precedent for right-wing extremists and their allies on the Supreme Court to try and roll back other settled law, like access to contraception, as well.

Rep. Aguilar is doing everything he can to make sure this does not happen. Rep. Aguilar helped pass the Ensuring Women’s Right to Freedom Act (H.R. 8297), which will protect Americans from extreme state laws that criminalize abortion by ensuing women cannot be prevented, restricted or retaliated against for traveling across state lines to seek an abortion. Rep. Aguilar also voted for the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022 (H.R. 8296), which restores the right to abortion nationwide, ensuring that Americans – regardless of where they live – can make their own decisions about their own lives. Additionally, Rep. Aguilar voted to pass the Right to Contraception Act (H.R. 8373), to enshrine the right to contraception in federal law.

It is clear that women’s fundamental freedoms are in jeopardy. Rep. Aguilar will keep fighting to block these extreme proposals and champion legislation that permanently protects these rights.

Rep. Aguilar believes that we need an economy that is fair and where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We all stand to benefit when our nation has a strong and productive workforce and families are economically secure. As we continue to build a better America, we need to ensure that low-income and middle-class families are not left behind.

To achieve these goals, Rep. Aguilar introduced the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Supportive Services Expansion Act, which increases funding for the Federal Highway Administration’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Supportive Services Program from $10 million to $25 million. This program provides training, assistance and other necessary resources to minority- and women- owned businesses to help them gain access to federally-assisted highway contract projects. As infrastructure projects get underway across the country, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, it is imperative that more disadvantaged, minority- and women-owned firms have a seat at the table. This bill serves as a step toward expanding economic opportunity and creating jobs.

Rep. Aguilar, in the 114th, 115th and 116th Congresses, introduced the Job Opportunity and Business Services (JOBS) Act, which empowers local Workforce Development Boards (WDBs) to advertise their services – including career-counseling, mentoring and on-the-job training – to businesses and potential employees in communities they serve. This bill was a product of conversations Rep. Aguilar had with Inland Empire community leaders and advocates on ensuring people have the right resources to secure good-paying jobs.

Rep. Aguilar is committed to lowering costs for families in the Inland Empire, which is why he voted to pass the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. This is historic legislation that will lower the price of prescription drugs for hard-working families, keeps health insurance affordable for millions of Americans and make the largest investment in modern history to combat climate change.

Rep. Aguilar is focused on passing legislation that will set the course for our economic future, like the landmark American Rescue Plan, which continues to provide resources for hardworking American families since becoming law. Rep. Aguilar also voted in favor of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a comprehensive bill that invests billions of dollars in our country’s roads, bridges, highways and high-speed internet access. Additionally, Rep. Aguilar voted to pass the CHIPS and Science Act, which expands our nation’s capacity to manufacture semiconductors, addresses national security and shores up global supply chains.

As a member of the House Committee on Appropriations, Rep. Aguilar has worked hard to ensure that the Inland Empire directly benefits from his efforts. In 2021, Rep. Aguilar announced over $1 billion in direct federal funding for local fire and police departments, healthcare programs and affordable housing services.

As a father of two school-aged children, a former Head Start teacher’s aide and a public servant, Rep. Aguilar has always believed that equal access to quality education for every child in America is incredibly important. Throughout his time in Congress, Rep. Aguilar has supported legislation that supports early childhood nutrition, and tutoring and academic counseling for low-income students, students with disabilities and other disadvantaged students.

In 2021, Rep. Aguilar introduced the Protecting Students’ Civil Rights Act to end racial inequity within American colleges and universities. Higher education needs to be accessible to students of all backgrounds. Our country’s institutions play a significant role in leveling the playing field and allowing students of color and students from underserved communities to thrive in their chosen future careers, but only if we ensure those students can thrive in a harassment and discrimination free environment.

In 2021, Rep. Aguilar helped pass the American Rescue Plan, which provided elementary and secondary schools in the Inland Empire $425 Million dollars to help ensure they had the necessary resources to provide students a proper education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, Inland Empire schools received over $18 million to help schools cover the costs of laptops and tablets, Wi-Fi hotspots, modems and more for students and school staff. Rep. Aguilar knows that internet access is a necessity, not a luxury and believes that no student should miss out on learning because of lack of accessibility.

The Inland Empire is also home to top-notch institutions of higher education for which Rep. Aguilar secured hundreds of millions of dollars from the American Rescue Plan. These funds were distributed to students for emergency financial assistance grants to students who are facing hunger, homelessness and other hardship.

Throughout his time in Congress, Rep. Aguilar has continued to find ways to strengthen public education. Rep. Aguilar knows that student success starts in the classroom. When he was a Head Start teacher’s aide, he saw firsthand how qualified teachers can make a difference in the lives of their students. He looks forward to working in tandem with the Biden Administration to ensure the success of students across the country is prioritized by continuing to tackle college affordability, expanding early education and investing in technical and career training.

It is our responsibility to future generations to conserve our resources, protect our environment and do our best to mitigate effects the climate crisis has on our planet. For the past couple of years, we’ve seen unprecedented fire seasons, devastating hurricanes, extreme drought, rising sea levels and more devastate thousands of communities globally. We need to take immediate action, or soon it will be too late.

Rep. Aguilar is committed to advancing a climate-forward agenda that promotes opportunity for Inland Empire workers, businesses and entrepreneurs and puts us on a path to win the economic competition of the 21st century. 

That is why Rep. Aguilar fought hard to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which contains the largest investment in climate change in modern history. This bill invested $369 billion in clean energy tax credits to address the climate crisis and reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. This historic legislation also provides ten years of consumer tax credits to families so they can lower energy costs, create home energy rebate programs and invests $1 billion to make affordable housing units across the country more energy efficient.

The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which Rep. Aguilar helped pass and get signed into law in 2021, was a historic investment in federal funds to modernize our nation’s energy grid system and decarbonize and expand public transportation systems. From a historic investment in rail and low-emissions transit options, to expanded broadband access, that will give every American access to fast and reliable internet, the economic benefits of this bill will be felt throughout San Bernardino County.

Families of San Bernardino, Columbine, Sandy Hook, Boulder, Buffalo, Parkland, Uvalde, and so many more have suffered horrific loss and continue to experience trauma due to gun violence. Rep. Aguilar is committed to passing commonsense legislation that will save lives and keep weapons of war off our streets.

Rep. Aguilar fought hard to pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, historic gun violence prevention that will protect children, keep schools safe and reduce the threat of violence in communities in the Inland Empire and across the country. Rep. Aguilar also helped pass the Active Shooter Alert (H.R. 6538), which creates a program similar to the AMBER Alert system to warn communities of a nearby active shooter. Additionally, Rep. Aguilar voted for the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022, which prohibits the sale, manufacture and possession of high-capacity magazines and semiautomatic assault weapons.

In order to protect our communities and prevent crime in the Inland Empire, our law enforcement officers need the necessary tools and resources. Rep. Agular voted for a comprehensive, legislative package to secure funding for police departments and increase public safety. This package included The Invest to Protect Act (H.R. 8448), which establishes a grant through the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Service (COPS) program to assist small law enforcement agencies fund recruitment, mental health support, training and retention. The Mental Health Justice Act (H.R. 8542), to send unarmed mental health professionals to de-escalate mental health crises, an overdue action to potentially save lives from fatal encounters with armed law enforcement officers. The Break Our Cycle of Violence Act (H.R. 4118), which creates evidence-based community violence prevention and intervention programs. The VICTIM Act (H.R. 5768), to strengthen the ability of our police forces to properly train detectives to investigate rapes, sexual assault, homicides, non-fatal shootings and kidnappings, while ensuring they are addressing the needs of the victims and their families.

At some point, everyone gets sick and needs to see a doctor. That’s why Rep. Aguilar believes that all Americans deserve quality, affordable health care and high-quality health care facilities.

Rep. Aguilar fought hard to pass American Rescue Plan, the greatest investment in affordable health care access and coverage in over a decade. The American Rescue Plan has helped reduce out-of-pocket costs for Americans by addressing premium subsidies and for the first time ever, creating new subsidies to expand coverage for those previously excluded from financial assistance.

Building off of the American Rescue Plan’s historic investments, Rep. Aguilar helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. This historic legislation allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and caps out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries at $2,000. The bill also extends Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies for three more years – ensuring lower health care premiums for millions of Americans.

Rep. Aguilar also helped pass the No Surprise Billing Act, one of the most significant consumer protection measures passed in the past decade, which will go into effect in 2022. It will ensure that no one is forced to endure hidden fees after a hospital visit.

Rep. Aguilar looks forward to continuing working to expand and protect quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

Homeownership is an important driver of wealth for American Families, but there remain significant barriers to buying property for many people. Rising housing costs in the Inland Empire are boxing too many families out of homeownership. Rep. Aguilar is committed to finding commonsense solutions to the affordable housing crisis and passing legislation that will make it easier for families to own their homes.

Rep. Aguilar introduced the bipartisan FHA Fairness Act to help homebuyers access higher loan limits with low-interest housing loans. Expanding FHA loan limits is a commonsense solution to help more Americans and residents of the Inland Empire become homeowners. In addition, Rep. Aguilar introduced the Homeownership for Dreamers Act, which ensures that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beneficiaries, or Dreamers, are eligible for FHA home loans and Rural Housing home loans. Rep. Aguilar knows that Dreamers and their families are a key part of communities across the country and believes they should have the same opportunities to become homeowners as any other American.

To help with the affordable housing crisis, Rep. Aguilar introduced the Affordable Housing Resident Services Act, which secures funding for affordable housing properties to provide supportive services for their residents. This bill helps give families the tools they need to get ahead, like after school programs, financial literacy training, elderly care and more.

Rep. Aguilar is an original cosponsor of and voted in favor of the House-passed George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. This historic legislation contains bold, unprecedented reforms to curb police brutality, end racial profiling and eliminate qualified immunity for law enforcement. This legislation will transform the culture of policing to address systemic racism and help save lives as it holds police accountable and increases transparency.

Rep. Aguilar also voted to pass the COVID Hate Crimes Act, Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act and more to ensure those who commit hate crimes in this country are held accountable.

Rep. Aguilar supports the Equality Act, which ends workplace discrimination for LGBTQ people. This historic, landmark legislation extends anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ Americans about employment, education, access to credit, jury service, federal funding, housing and public accommodations.

Throughout his time in Congress, Rep. Aguilar has demonstrated that he is an advocate for policies that promote equity, end hate and bigotry and stay true to our nation’s promise of equality and justice for everyone.

Our veterans put their lives on the line to protect our country. We made a promise to take care of our servicemembers when they returned home, and Rep. Aguilar has always supported legislation that honors that promise. Our veterans deserve great health care, more efficient government services and the peace of mind that their sacrifices for our nation were not in vain.

That is why Rep. Aguilar introduced the bipartisan Wounded Warrior Access Act, which streamlines the process for veterans to submit a claim for benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Rep. Aguilar’s bill updates an antiquated system and will make the lives of veterans in the Inland Empire and throughout the country easier. On September 14, 2022, Rep. Aguilar’s bill passed the US House of Representatives on an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote. This bill now awaits passage in the Senate.

In 2022, Rep. Aguilar supported the bipartisan Honoring Our PACT Act, one of the largest expansions of veterans’ health care in a generation. This bill creates presumptions for 23 different respiratory illnesses and cancers, shifting the burden of proof off our veterans by finally conceding exposure to burn pits and airborne hazards. Rep. Aguilar, following the recommendations from his local Veterans Advisory Board, worked to include language declaring Thule, Greenland as one of the recognized locations where veterans were exposed to radiation. On January 21, 1968, a United States Air Force B-52 bomber crashed near Thule Air Base in Greenland. The B-52 bomber was carrying four nuclear bombs, which created radioactive contamination throughout the area. Although the US and Denmark launched a cleanup, workers involved in the program experienced radiation-related illnesses.