December 16, 2021

Memorandum RE: Jake Auchincloss’ First Year in Office

Memorandum RE: Jake Auchincloss’ First Year in Office

To: Interested Parties

From: Matt Corridoni

Date: December 16, 2021

Congressman Auchincloss assumed office at a critical moment in our nation’s history. His first three weeks in Congress saw an insurrection, impeachment, and an inauguration. Throughout it all, Congressman Auchincloss was a cool head in a time of crisis and has proven how he is the right person at the right time to take on the historic tenure of representing the Fourth Congressional District. Be it securing wins in the American Rescue Plan and Build Back Better Agenda; delivering results through top notch constituent services; or becoming a leading voice in the next generation of Democratic leaders, Congressman Auchincloss has shown up and made an impact during these first twelve months of his term. His unique perspective as a millennial, new dad, veteran, and former local elected official have allowed him to make strides even during some of the most turbulent times in Washington.

Legislative Victories and Representing Values

Congressman Auchincloss was appointed to two coveted committees in his first term, Transportation and Infrastructure and Financial Services. Within his first year on the Committee, he has been named Vice Chairman of Financial Services.
Congressman Auchincloss became one of the first Freshmen to see a bill successfully pass the House. His consumer protection legislation was introduced on the 100th day of Congress. In addition, Auchincloss’ “Promoting New and Diverse Depository Institutions Act,” which will ensure that Americans in banking deserts have access to affordable banking services, passed the Financial Services Committee with unanimous bipartisan support. He questioned SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, and other stakeholders to advocate for retail investors during a series of hearings on the GameStop trading halt.
Following a letter to House and Senate leadership, Auchincloss was able to secure key wins in the American Rescue Plan Act, including funding for a vaccine rollout program, testing and contact tracing in schools and childcare, rental and homeowner assistance, and relief for public transportation agencies.
Key Auchincloss priorities - including funding for member designated transportation projects - were included in passage of the INVEST in America Act and Auchincloss successfully advocated for Massachusetts appropriations priorities.
The Build Back Better Act passed by the House in November included a provision led by Congressman Auchincloss to increase affordable housing supply through factory-built housing. In addition, following an Auchincloss-led letter urging House leadership to fund innovative, on-demand public transit to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the House-passed Build Back Better Act included a $4 billion Community Climate Incentive Grant Program to “reduce dependence on single-occupant vehicle trips” and advance carbon reduction strategies through transportation.
Following a letter from Congressman Auchincloss to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the Treasury Department has announced it will provide maximum flexibility to states so that they may direct funds allocated in the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund towards a diverse set of essential priorities. This broad allowance will enable the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to invest in critically needed capital projects that support early childhood education and workforce training.
Two of Congressman Auchincloss’ amendments were included in passage of the historic and sweeping voting rights legislation - HR 1, the “For the People '' Act. One amendment would expand the requirements for states to receive grants for poll worker recruitment and training to ensure the state includes dedicated poll worker recruitment for youth and minors, including by recruiting at institutions of higher education and secondary education. The second amendment offered would help ensure that young voters are not discriminated against by voter challenges by adding “age” to the list of bases upon which voter challenges by persons other than election officials will be presumed as lacking a good faith factual basis.
Congressman Auchincloss introduced a resolution calling for a “Marshall Plan” for vaccines after laying out the vision for one in a national oped earlier in the year. Congressman Auchincloss also became a founding member and co-chair of the COVID-19 Global Vaccination Caucus, which recently praised the Administration listening to their calls to invest billions in expanding U.S. coronavirus vaccine manufacturing to increase supply for poorer nations.
Congressman Auchincloss led other Democratic members in a letter to PayPal urging the corporation to ban the use of its online payment system on websites that perpetuate COVID-19 vaccine and treatment disinformation. Specifically, the letter calls on PayPal to deactivate the accounts of the “Disinformation Dozen.”
Congressman Auchincloss became the only Democratic veteran to vote against the NDAA after having joined co-chairs of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus, Representatives Mark Pocan (D, WI-02) and Barbara Lee (D, CA-13) in a letter to President Biden urging him to decrease the Pentagon’s budget. However, Auchincloss was able to secure the passage of two amendments to the NDAA, one to prevent US financial support for the Taliban and another to advance declassification of U.S. intelligence records of decisions pertaining to the War in Afghanistan.
Congressman Auchincloss introduced legislation to create a U.S.-Israel Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research and Development Center to further bilateral cooperation in AI and contribute to the advancement of this critical field.
Congressman Auchincloss responded to Ted Cruz’s “Border Bill '' that would move immigrant processing centers to New England by hand delivering a letter to the Senator’s office. The letter stated, in part, “We have no patience in Massachusetts for your crass attempt to denigrate immigrants by implying that new ports of entry in the Commonwealth would undermine our support for immigration. From Plymouth Rock to today, immigrants have been building new lives in Massachusetts for 400 years. We welcome them.”
As Vice Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, Congressman Auchincloss has chaired several hearings and questioned witnesses about future investments in offshore wind that follow in the footsteps of other Massachusetts programs like Bristol Community College’s National Offshore Wind Institute and Vineyard Wind.
As a member of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, Congressman Auchincloss, along with Representatives Joe Neguse (D, CO-02) and Robin Kelly (D, IL-02), unveiled the End Gun Violence Act, legislation to restrict the sale of firearms to those convicted of violent misdemeanor crimes in the last five years.
Congressman Auchincloss became one of the first members of Congress to call for the resignation of Marjorie Taylor Greene after she engaged with social media posts calling for violence against Democratic members and he was one of the first members of Congress to commit to not working with Republicans who refused to certify the results of the 2020 election.

Delivering Results at Home

By the end of the calendar year, Congressman Auchincloss will have visited all 34 cities and towns in the Fourth Congressional District at least once.
The Joint Economic Committee has recently reported that $154.8 million in Child Tax Credit tax cuts were delivered for over 76,000 families in the Fourth District. Additionally, the district saw over $89,000,000 in restaurant grants for small business.
Massachusetts received over $385,000,000 in shuttered venue grants; over $1,830,000,000 to help k-12 schools reopen safely; and over $146,000,000 for community health centers.
Even with limitations in place due to COVID-19, Congressman Auchincloss hosted over 36 total events - including over 20 city and town-specific roundtables - during the course of more than 100 district visits. During this time, Congressman Auchincloss met with 225 organizations - meeting with constituents and stakeholders,engaging on issues of importance to the district, and being hands-on, visible, and transparent. Visits have been as diverse as the district itself from discussing agriculture in Lakeville to riding a bike through the streets of Brookline to promote micro mobility.
Among some other events hosted by Congressman Auchincloss: bringing local leaders together in Franklin to discuss “Strong Towns”; a tour of Dighton with local leaders to discuss infrastructure, public safety, and economic development; a roundtable with Senator Cindy Creem focused on climate change where it was noted he “demonstrat[ed] a deep and nuanced understanding of the climate challenges we face.”
By the end of the calendar year, Congressman Auchincloss will have hosted Five telephone town halls to connect with constituents even while in DC. Each telephone town hall reaches out to an estimated 75,000 constituents. Congressman Auchincloss has also successfully launched a newsletter program with over 26,000 current subscribers in addition to mass communication and paid communication his office has done through the House franking program - all in an effort to inform constituents about results he is delivering at home.
Congressman Auchincloss’ office has responded to over 112,000 messages and has successfully closed out over 1,100 casework requests in every city and town in the district. Success stories include helping businesses navigate grant programs to keep their doors open; reuniting families and helping students secure visas; and prioritizing veterans issues.
Congressman Auchincloss has partnered with local officials to simplify federal legislation including assisting with interpretation of the America Rescue Plan Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, ensuring our local governments not only secure federal dollars but maximize their potential.

Effectively Communicating and Making a Name for Himself in the Next Generation of Democratic Leaders

Congressman Auchincloss has had an aggressive “go everywhere” media strategy that was noticed from his first few weeks in office: “[Auchincloss has] wasted no time in starting to build a national media profile after just three weeks as a congressman...Auchincloss has already gotten a notable amount of press attention for a freshman Democrat hailing from a safe district...He’s blanketed local media, too — from big TV, radio and print outlets to hyperlocal ones..” Auchincloss has also already been hailed as a “media-savvy millennial politician.” During his first year in office he has made over 65 local and national television appearances, penned national opeds appearing in outlets such as The Washington Post, FOX, The Boston Globe, and CNN, and he’s taken his message everywhere - from local public access to new mediums like TikTok and Clubhouse to defending the administration on FOX News (something not all Democrats are willing or able to pull off).
Congressman Auchincloss was a recipient of one of the awards in House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s 12th Annual Member Online All-Star Competition, receiving recognition for effectively promoting constituent services on social media during his district tour highlighting member designated transportation and infrastructure projects. Congressman Auchincloss was also a recipient of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee’s (DPCC) Thomas Paine Award. The DPCC's Thomas Paine Floor Speech Competition recognizes members for "spreading the Democratic message." It is presented on behalf of Co-Chairs Matt Cartwright (D, PA-09), Debbie Dingell (D, MI-12), Ted Lieu (D, CA-33), and Joe Neguse (D, CO-02).
Tied for one of the most loyal votes in the party when it comes to advancing the Democratic agenda, Congressman Auchincloss has been called The White House’s “new favorite Democratic congressman,” having been the Administrations strongest defender on the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. As a young dad, Congressman Auchincloss also took a leading role in championing early childhood education and paid family leave policies in President Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda, including hosting Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff in the district for a surrogacy event promoting the provisions. To quote one White House official, “Rep. Auchincloss brings a unique and badly needed perspective [to Washington]...We appreciate Rep. Auchincloss' leadership...and we look forward to continuing to partner with him in the future."

Looking to the future, Congressman Auchincloss will continue to be a strong and effective voice when it comes to representing the Fourth District. To quote former Fourth District Representative Barney Frank, “He's doing a very good job. It's a turbulent year… [and] he's part of that mainstream Democratic majority that's doing well with Nancy Pelosi's leadership.” Congressman Auchincloss’ ability to breakthrough and deliver results even during the toughest of times shows that we can expect even more in the year ahead.

###

Next Article Previous Article