In the News

Still reeling from the discovery a year ago of a biological laboratory operating secretly – and illegally – in the city of Reedley, Fresno County supervisors unanimously gave initial approval to an ordinance requiring annual inspections of any privately-funded biological research labs that are not regulated under federal law.

California will receive about $3.1 billion from the Biden Administration to help advance planning and construction of the state’s bullet-train line through Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley, including extensions to Merced and Bakersfield. Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, announced the grant from the Federal Railroad Administration in separate statements Tuesday afternoon.

Despite mounting criticism of California’s high-speed rail project, Rep. Jim Costa of Fresno remains one of its biggest supporters. On Tuesday afternoon, Costa announced that he had secured $3.1 billion from the Biden administration for bullet-train projects in Fresno, Bakersfield, and other Valley cities.

WASHINGTON (KFSN) -- Valley Congressman Jim Costa, along with the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, has unveiled a report on their investigation into the illegal Reedley lab. Costa was joined by Congressman Mike Gallagher, former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, city officials from Reedley, and more in a news conference from the U.S. Capitol Wednesday afternoon.

FIRST ON FOX: Congress is taking steps to address the rural mental health crisis in the U.S. with new legislation aimed at expanding the mental health resources available to farmers and ranchers.

President Joe Biden sent a request to Congress that includes $2.8 billion in disaster aid for farmers and livestock producers affected by natural disasters. The overall request the White House has put together is $56 billion.

Five Democratic U.S. representatives from California are calling on the White House to include disaster relief funds for their state’s farmers and growers in their forthcoming supplemental request for domestic priorities. The lawmakers — Jim Costa, Salud Carbajal, Zoe Lofgren, Jimmy Panetta, and Julia Brownley — represent a region of California that was battered by storms and flooding in the early months of 2023, causing an estimated $1.4 billion in damages to its agricultural operations.

On the ninth annual National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day, U.S. Representatives Jim Costa (CA-21), David Valadao (CA-22), John Larson (CT-01), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), and Paul Tonko (NY-20) introduced a bipartisan resolution designating October 8, 2023, as “National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day”.