{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221083057/http://denham.house.gov/newsletter/weekly-update-rep-denham-november-29-2013", "Weekly Update from Rep. Denham - November 29, 2013", "2013-11-29", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "CA", "Jeffrey Denham", "D000612", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Dear Friend,\n\tI hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with your loved ones! On Thanksgiving I was especially grateful for the service men and women who are sacrificing holidays without their families to fight for the freedoms and liberties that make our nation so special. I am blessed with the opportunity to represent you, and I am thankful for the responsibility.\n\tOn Monday the Sacramento County Superior Court issued rulings in two cases concerning the California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority). In the first case, the judge denied the Authority\u2019s request to validate more than $8 billion in Proposition 1A bonds, and in the second, the judge ordered the Authority to re-write its funding plan before any state bond money can be spent on HSR construction. In light of these rulings, I sent a letter\u00a0on Tuesday to the Comptroller General and asked that the U.S. Government Accountability Office review the Authority\u2019s funding agreements with the federal government. My top priority is to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly. The Authority has already spent hundreds of millions of federal taxpayer dollars, and now has no identified state matching funds. My letter, which was also signed by Rep. Tom Latham of Iowa, who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee on Transportation, asks the GAO to determine if the Authority is violating or on the verge of violating its grant agreements with the federal government and if the state court rulings on Monday put the FRA in violation of federal laws. You can view my letter online here.\n\tAs you may have seen, on Wednesday the Administration announced yet another delay to the Affordable Care Act \u2013 delaying the mandate for small businesses to enroll. Their latest in a series of postponements is more evidence that there is no fix for the law. Instead the Affordable Care Act should be fully repealed and replaced with patient-centered, cost-saving reforms passed through bipartisan effort.\n\tI had the honor of welcoming Taylor Barry as an intern in my Washington office this fall. Barry, a political theory graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz is a Fresno native who came to Washington, D.C. to pursue her interests in defense and veterans\u2019 issues through interning on Capitol Hill.\nTaylor interned in my D.C. office for the last several months.\u00a0\n\u201cDue to the timing of my internship, I have spent a considerable amount of time learning about what healthcare reform needs to look like in this country,\u201d said Barry. Her post-internship plans include pursuing a PhD in political theory or international studies.\n\tEach of my office\u2019s interns plays a valuable role in helping us to serve the people of California\u2019s 10th district. Washington provides a wonderful learning environment for many young people interested in politics, political theory and service. Taylor was a great asset to my staff.\n\t\u201cI chose to intern with Congressman Denham because he is a man of integrity and I have an immense amount of respect for the work he\u2019s done for veterans,\u201d said Barry. \u201cThis experience has taught me so much about just how important it is to remain true to your convictions. The right thing to do isn\u2019t always the easy thing to do.\u201d\n\tTaylor is the daughter of Mary Ann McCarthy, John Barry and Rebekah Barry.\n\tWe are accepting applications for spring and summer internships in both my Modesto and Washington offices. If you or someone you know is interested in an internship, please visit my internship web page\u00a0for more information.\n\tI post regular updates to my Twitter\u00a0and Facebook\u00a0pages to keep you updated on my work in the Central Valley and our nation\u2019s capital. For more information, you may also visit my website.  \n\t\u00a0\nJEFF DENHAM", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221083057/http://denham.house.gov/newsletter/weekly-update-rep-denham-november-29-2013"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.267714822664857, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}