In the News

California Rep. Ted Lieu made a big statement by keeping quiet on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday.

In his speech, the Democratic lawmaker cited two articles that appeared in The Washington Post about the groundswell of legislation affecting the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans.

U.S. lawmakers of both major political parties are ramping up pressure on the Biden administration to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism.

A resolution urging the secretary of state to make the designation has been introduced in the House of Representatives at a time when Congress is eager to punish Moscow for its war on Ukraine.

Sponsored by Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina and Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California, the resolution seeks to add the Russian Federation to a list that includes North Korea, Iran, Syria and Cuba.

With nuclear tensions rising around the world, particularly in Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, and nuclear-weapon states coming closer to direct military conflict, Congressman Ted Lieu, '91, believes it's time for America to reevaluate its nuclear launch approval process.

"What happens if Vladimir Putin decides to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine?" Lieu asked an audience Thursday, May 5, at the Bechtel Conference Center. "What constraints are there on the U.S. president if he decides to use a nuclear weapon in response? The short answer is, there are virtually no constraints."

Torrance has received $1 million in federal funding to aid the city's homeless response, officials announced Monday, April 25.

The money, which came from Congress' recently passed bipartisan spending bill, will help support Torrance's 40-unit temporary housing program — set to open in June at the Civic Center — and city efforts to clean and make improvements at existing homeless encampments. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, helped secure the federal money.

While the federal government needs a warrant to seize your laptop, it can access revealing details through what lawmakers say is a glaring back door: cloud-stored metadata, the information tucked within files that offers clues about who created them, when and how.

The data may seem innocuous, given that it doesn't reveal the full contents of any given document, video or image. But lawmakers say it can be used to identify key facts in an investigation, such as who was involved, what role they played and when the events took place.

Los Angeles-area projects will receive nearly $9.5 million in federal appropriations during fiscal 2022, officials announced on Wednesday, March 16.

The funding was included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, that President Joe Biden signed on Tuesday to fund the rest of the fiscal year.

The funding includes $1.5 million, through Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Los Angeles, and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla, both D-Calif., for Los Angeles' pilot program to have unarmed outreach teams respond to nonviolent 911 calls involving people experiencing homelessness.

On Tuesday, President Biden signed a $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package that includes $2 million to support the City's project to build a mixed-use affordable housing project on the current site of Parking Structure 3. The funding in the FY 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act is part of a total of $11 million in Community Project Funding that Congressman Ted Lieu successfully secured for ten projects in his district.

WASHINGTON —

After a decadelong prohibition, congressional earmarks make their return this week, sending more than $760 million in transportation, military, healthcare and other projects to California.

President Biden signed into law a $1.5-trillion government spending bill on Tuesday that includes financing for initiatives specifically written by lawmakers seeking to boost their local universities, roadways or parks with federal dollars. Nearly 500 of the projects will be in California.