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Miriam Raftery also contributed to this article
January 21, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – What has Congressman Juan Vargas accomplished during his first year in office and how effectively is he representing his constituents?
The answer varies, with the Congressman showing strong interest in representing the interests of Latinos, seniors, and labor interests -- while largely ignoring the interests of rural constitutents and enviornmentalists concerned over the industralization of East County with large-scale energy projects.
Immigration reform has been a priority for the freshman Congressman. The son of a farmworker, he says he has a passion for helping the less fortunate and has shown empathy for laborers. He is a strong advocate for the current immigration reform bill and even fasted for a day in an effort, albeit unsuccessful, to influence fellow House of Representatives members to pass the reforms.
“While we have chosen to fast, undocumented immigrants are forced to endure the gnawing sense of dread that they could be ripped away from their families at any moment,” Vargas, who represents southern San Diego County along the U.S.-Mexico border said, U-T San Diego reported. “I hope that this fast helps open the hearts and minds of my colleagues across the aisle."
Vargas, a Democrat who was a classmate of Barack Obama’s at Harvard and went on to attain a law degree, has stood with the party on many core issues. He voted to continue funding food stamps (now called Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP) for the poor, though the House majority voted for cuts. He has been consistent in voting with his party to oppose the government shut-down and has stood up for protecting Social Security benefits.
But some of his actions – and inaction—have drawn criticism from rural constituents.
He voiced support for drone testing over East County (a proposal shot down by the Federal Aviation Administration). That measure was supported by military and economic groups locally but opposed by many backcountry residents over safety and privacy concerns.
In Congress, Rep. Vargas has ignored constituents concerned about negative impacts of big energy projects in both San Diego and Imperial Counties, turning a blind eye to the many negative impacts of these projects on rural communities - impacts that include health problems, enviornmental impacts and fire danger.
While in the State Legislature, he angered rural East County constituents by coauthoring, along with Ben Hueso, AB 2551, which was signed into law. The measure forces rural residents to pay for development of massive wind and solar projects through property taxes, even when projects are opposed by a majority of residents. The bill allows a legislative body such as County Supervisors, or any city, to establish an infrastructure financing district in a renewable energy zone area to fund renewable energy projects. The law exempts creation of the district from voter approval, even though a two-thirds voter approval was previously required to form an infrastructure finance district. The provided a fresh source of funding for energy companies pushing industrial scale renewable energy projects at a time when federal energy subsidies were set to expire.
Vargas and Hueso both took thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the electric utilities industry, as ECM previously reported: http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/10341
In his first year in Congress, Vargas has sponsored/introduced three bills.He cosponsored many more. The political action he has taken as a congressman, can be found on http://vargas.house.gov/media-center/pressj-releases
Vargas authored Hazel’s Law, the Child Protection Act, H.R.1690 , which would allow conviction of a sex trafficker without requiring that a child’s age be proven. The bill has not made it out of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations.
Another of his measures is H.R.1691 , the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range Transfer Act of 2013, to change public land near Imperial and Riverside County to an arial bombing and gunnery range for the U.S. Navy and Marines.
His third measure was H.RES.241 to recognize the importance of the United States International Boundary Water Commission (USIBWC) and its recent efforts to address trash, sediment, and water quality issues with their Mexican counterparts. The measure did not make it out of committee.
A member of Congress wields influence not merely through their legislation and votes on the House floor, but also in the committees on which they serve.
Congressman Vargas is a member of the following committees and subcommittees: House Committee on Agriculture, Subcommittee on General Farm Commoditeis and Risk Management, Committee on House Administration, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Middle East and North Africa, and the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade.
From Jan 2013 to Jan 2014, Vargas missed 18 of 659 roll call votes, which is 2.7%. This is worse than the median of 2.3% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving, according to GovTrack. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/juan_vargas/412522
While in the state Legislature, before his election to Congress, Vargas drew controversy for twice failing to vote on a healthcare for all Californians measure that was supported by the Democratic Party’s platform. The measure had passed the Assembly and failed passage in the Senate by just two votes. For his action, Vargas, who had taken large political contributions from the insurance industry he had previously worked in, received a “spineless rubber chicken award” from activists angered by his failure to support the healthcare bill.
As a Congressman, however, he voted against repealing the Affordable Healthcare Act, or Obamacare. He also voted against HR 3350, the keep your health plan act, which grandfathers old health plans into the Affordable Care Act, regardless of their quality.
According to the San Diego Reader, Vargas used most of his Congressional campaign contributions to pay off his election debt. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2013/jun/12/radar-booze-sweets-and-vargas/
A great deal of the political action committee (PAC) cash collected by Vargas came from those associated with the sugar industry. Contributions included the American Crystal Sugar Company PAC ($5000); American Sugar Cane League Political Action Committee ($1000); American Sugarbeet Growers Association PAC ($1000); California Beet Growers Association LTD Political Committee ($500); Great Lakes Sugarbeet Growers PAC ($3000); Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative Sugar PAC ($1000); Snake River Sugar Co. Political Action Committee ($1000); Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative PAC ($2000); and the Western Sugar Cooperative PAC ($3000).
Sugar producers have been battling against proposals to abolish price supports on the sweet stuff. Pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into its battle, the sugar kings have so far been able to hang on to their subsidies; recently the Senate rejected the reform measure on a 55-45 vote.
Vargas, who sits on the key House Agriculture Committee, wasn’t alone in taking sugar cash. Roll Call noted Monday, June 10, that the American Crystal Sugar Company reported spending $1,004,117 on lobbying during the first quarter of 2013, about $300,000 less than for all of last year. Lawmakers from big sugar-producing states, including liberal Democratic senator Al Franken of Minnesota, have fought off the would-be reform legislation.
According to the 2000 committee’s financial statement for 2010, at the end of the year Vargas’s campaign owed a total of $24,253.79 in unpaid “legal defense” bills. Then, suddenly, on June 3, it reported getting $19,355 from the California Real Estate PAC.
A criticism of Vargas through the years has been on votes that favored developers and energy companies over environmental interests.
While on the San Diego City Council, he rejected the Barrio Logan Plan, a decision that favored the ship-building industry.
However in Congress he voted against a measure to increase offshore oil drilling (HR 2231) and against a measure to increase oil shale production.
In the State Legislature, he authored a measure that urged the federal government to block SDG&E’s cross-border transmission line from – a stance backed by labor unions. He also opposed a massive wind project in Mexico opposed by labor.
But Vargas has been silent on controversial energy projects inside his Congressional and formerly, state Senate districts , despite pleas from constitutents asking him to take a stand against the Tule Wind project in McCain Valley due to environmental and fire danger concerns. That project supported by organized labor due to construction jobs that would be created. Numerous constituents who have contacted Vargas on this issue and other major energy projects in San Diego’s East County and Imperial County have advised ECM that his office has been unresponsive to their inquiries.
East County Magazine asked Congressman Vargas for an interview for this article, but his office did not respond.
The Congressman remains somewhat of an enigma at this point, conducting a carefully orchestrated political balancing act among competing interests. While he has been supportive of core constituencies such as minorities and labor, he ahs also shown a disturbing pattern of dodging rural constitutents and environmentalists in his district -- as well as the media.
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