On the issues: Candidates for Congress in California’s Sacramento-based 6th District

The following interview was conducted by members of The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board and the three leading candidates for California’s 6th District House of Representatives seat, current Rep. Ami Bera, Air Force veteran Tamika Hamilton and real estate agent Chris Bish. It has been edited for length and clarity.

The Sacramento Bee: Can you introduce yourself and tell us why you’re running for Congress?

Bera: I’m a lifelong Californian who grew up in California and emigrated from India. My mom was a school teacher and dad was an engineer. I grew up going to California’s public schools, went to (UC) Irvine for undergrad and Irvine for medical school, got married, did my residency in San Francisco and then moved up to Sacramento about 27 years ago, when my wife went to medical school at UC Davis. This is my fifth term in Congress. It’s been an honor to represent the 7th Congressional District, which is Sacramento suburbs, Fair Oaks, Carmichael, Citrus Heights and up to Folsom. We’ve seen a lot in our 27 years and certainly in the last 10 years. I do think Sacramento as a region, and the county, is certainly hitting its stride, obviously the last two and a half years, with the pandemic, have been tumultuous. We’ve seen our fair share of challenges downtown with homelessness. Certainly we’ve seen an uptick in crime, but as a region we’ve been working together to get us through this. In Congress, the things I’m most proud of are the constituent services we’ve done in the 7th District — helping 20,000 individual constituents do things as mundane as getting their tax returns or do things really complicated. We’ve got the largest Afghan refugee population in Sacramento County, and helping folks get their family members out and process those visas. Now, as we come out of the pandemic, I’m glad that over 50% of my current district is going to be in the 6th (District), but I also look at the opportunities as we think about Del Paso Heights, as we think about Natomas. Not having represented any of the city of Sacramento, you see some of the challenges the city faces in terms of homelessness. While I think the suburbs are coming out of the pandemic in fairly good shape, with strong fiscal balance sheets, I think the city is facing some headwinds. How do we get back to that vibrant downtown urban core? Looking forward to working with the City Council and the county to address those issues. When we think about the opportunities in the infrastructure bill and how we build infrastructure throughout this region, I think, again, I’m very optimistic about what the future looks like.

Bish: I have lived in the district for more than 30 years, I have raised four children here, and I have operated my business since 2003. The district could not have been designed better for me. I’ve sold homes to families in every neighborhood in the district, and I’ve been to every school district and every high school. As a leader with Boy Scouts of America, I helped to recruit Boy Scout troops and Cub Scout troops throughout the district, from Natomas through Rancho Cordova all the way through Citrus Heights. I do consider myself a bit of an activist, fighting for children. When we had our crash in real estate, I advocated for local children so that the kids could stay in their schools. A lot of people don’t understand what homeless means — what it means to a family. I was homeless right here in Sacramento, in Del Paso Heights, as a child. I don’t talk about policies or what I think about homelessness; it’s my own personal experience. School is the No. 1 thing that helps families stay together. Del Paso Heights is not a good neighborhood now, and it wasn’t a good neighborhood in the ’70s. As a little girl who was sleeping in a car, the chance to go to school and to have a teacher that cared about me changed the trajectory of my life. If I had stayed in the system and on the trajectory that most children at my age were on, I would not be someone running for Congress. I’d probably have five kids with five different dads. That is the reality of poverty and homelessness. There are things we need to do at the local level to help the homeless population of California. I would love to see this Editorial Board help me with that. We have the Boys Ranch, right off of Highway 50, that’s vacant. The County of Sacramento owns that facility outright. It has a chapel, it has an infirmary, and within 30 to 60 days, we could put in the infrastructure for the campers that people are living in off the side of the road. Now, is it off the road just a little bit? Yes, it is. But with Sacramento County funding and funding from our infrastructure bill, we could put in an extra (regional transit) line out there to make sure that people who want the services can access them.

Hamilton: I’m an Air Force sergeant. I’ve been serving this country for 20 years. My husband is a police officer, and I’m a mom of five. Many of you know my story. I started this race with nothing — with $100 — and I started this campaign because I have the ability to bring people together and I want to help my community. I have been able to really show that in a district with a low registration of Republicans, with the message of just the kitchen table issues, we are not far apart. California is very unique and very diverse. And District 6, I believe, is one of the most diverse districts not only in California but probably in the nation. At the end of the day, this is about cutting through the noise and focusing on policies that really affect everyday families like mine. Right now, we’re just in a crisis where people feel like both sides are not doing their part to help with the high cost of gas, the high cost of food, the basics, and we need to get back to the basics in D.C. That’s what I want to do. That’s what I’ve been doing since I’ve been on the ground here, running in this district. At the end of the day, this is not about partisan politics. It’s about bringing people together so we can do the right thing by our community. And that’s why I’m running.

The Sacramento Bee: The Sacramento area has obviously been scarred by some violence lately. Meanwhile, the president recently nominated a new (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) director and announced new rules on ghost guns. Congress has been unable to pass background check legislation, which has been supported by over 90% of the public. What do you think Congress can and should do about this kind of violence to make Sacramento and the rest of the country safer?

Hamilton: I think that one of the issues we’re facing in this country is calling things for face value, not doubling down. Criminals are going to find a way. My husband is a police officer, and we talk about these things all the time. Criminals are going to find a way to get weapons. It’s sad, but that’s the reality we’re living in. And I think that while I do agree we should have background checks — we do not want guns to fall in the wrong hands — we need to find a solution instead of having crimes being renamed or thresholds being lowered and standards being lowered. And it really comes back to the states — encouraging the states to really be more forceful on how they deal with criminals on the streets. And I think that we could talk about seizing guns and all that, but at the end of the day, we shouldn’t be afraid to say there are certain areas where there are high amounts of crime. There are disparities in certain groups of people that are committing these crimes. And I think it starts there because at the end of the day, we’re not going to be able to take guns away from everyone. The criminals are going to be able to have access to it, and restricting gun rights is an issue here in California. We have one of the strictest gun laws in the nation, and it hasn’t stopped violent crime. So we have to start with being honest about what is really the problem here in California.

Bish: I’m actually OK with background checks, but the truth is, criminals do not buy guns legally. We know from effective reporting on the violence downtown that those guns were stolen and that they were modified. Taking guns from responsible gun owners is not the solution. There needs to be more enforcement of our laws. We need to secure illegal guns coming across the border. We also need to be harsh on people who use guns to commit crimes. Now, not all crimes are committed with guns. We’ve seen this in England — they have a rash of murders that are done with machetes, with swords. On 9/11, there were no guns. Those were box knives and airplanes. We just saw someone who didn’t have a gun run down a bunch of children and old people in a parade. Are we going to ban knives? Are we going to ban cars? It’s about enforcement of the law and creating consequences for your actions. We do need more law enforcement, and we need to support them. There needs to be more training, more funding. We need to make sure that we are in the jails. I’m going to go back to homelessness: I could have been one of those people who gets in trouble. When you’re born out of poverty, you do have limited choices. We need to start building people up at the first-grade level all the way through high school with inspiration, not indoctrination. Teach people the value of life, the value that they have within themselves and other people. As we cheapen life, we’re going to continue to see these crimes. I’m going to go to the border. We have illegal guns. We have drug trafficking, which is part of these trends that we’re seeing. And we’re seeing human trafficking. This isn’t about the people that are coming over; this is what’s coming over with them. We need to control our borders to control the violence, the crimes, the human trafficking and the weapons that are coming over. Machine guns are not legal in the state of California. This was an illegal gun used in a shooting. And unfortunately, a lot of innocent people died, including a homeless woman who was just laying in the street.

Bera: I voted multiple times to pass background checks, to ban certain types of weapons like assault weapons, to restrict modifications that take non-automatic weapons and make them automatic weapons, to ban extended clips and so forth. The truth is, those always fail on partisan lines. So we’ve passed them out of the House, but they never go anywhere in the Senate. I do think we need to focus on what we can get done. I think there are places where you could find enough Republicans to work with us. You’ve heard senators like Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) talk about supporting red flag laws. And what that would be is for me, as a doctor, if I see a patient who might be suicidal or homicidal, I could contact law enforcement, and if they have guns in the house, they can temporarily get those guns. You can get something like that done. Going back to the ’90s, we restricted the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and other academics to study the root causes of gun violence. I think you could get 10 Republican senators to acknowledge that we ought to study the cause of the violence, we ought to understand why gun laws would actually have the necessary impact of reducing crime. The NRA (National Rifle Association) is a pretty powerful lobby. But you could get some increases in funding to understand the root causes behind gun violence. In California, we passed a law in the Legislature and allocated about $5 million to UC Davis, which is doing some of this research and is on the forefront of some of this. This is not about legal gun ownership. I think most gun owners are responsible owners. But as Ms. Hamilton and Ms. Bish have said, how do we put some restrictions on the guns that are being used for mass killings? And of course, those would be assault weapons. Those would be background checks. I think it’s logical to take guns out of the hands of folks who we would not want to have guns. And I do think, as we’re looking at what happened in downtown Sacramento, or what happened in New York in the subways, we do have to work together, with law enforcement and with others to try to better understand these root causes so we can reduce what is becoming an epidemic of crime.

The Sacramento Bee: Despite the undeniable scourge of the issue, partisan gridlock has, in a sense, sunk the president’s climate agenda given that the U.S. remains one of the largest emitters of carbon on the planet, and we failed to ramp up necessary efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If elected, how would you break through this legacy of inaction and overcome the opposition throughout Capitol Hill so voters can feel hopeful that we’re going to make the necessary changes before it’s too late?

Bera: I hear your frustration. I feel that same sense of frustration as a senior member on the (House) Science, Space and Technology Committee, where we have jurisdiction over the Environmental Protection Agency. It has been difficult to get the minority party to work with us on issues of climate change, even simple issues. The things that we have been able to pass in this Congress in the infrastructure bill are building electric vehicle infrastructure — you have those charging stations. There’s a large chunk of money to build that. But what we weren’t able to do is pass the Build Back Better Act, which had most of the climate provisions in there. Obviously, Senator (Joe) Manchin (D-W.Va.) didn’t work with us on this. We’ve been in conversation with the White House to say there is some urgency, while we have the opportunity with the Democratic majority in the House and a very slim majority in the Senate, to try to get something done. Those conversations unfortunately stop with Senator Manchin. He comes from a coal state. Can we do electric vehicle subsidies that were in the Build Back Better Act? Because if we do want to move from gas-powered vehicles to electric vehicles, we’ve got to make those affordable for the entire population. Can we invest in renewables and go to a state like Virginia and say, “OK, we’re going to move off of coal. Let’s subsidize some of those investments and take those coal miners and teach them new skills and have them build solar panels or build battery technology. Can we get 10 Republicans to support that investment in battery technology?” And I think we can. Again, it’s not going to be the transformative change we need because you really do need some carbon-pricing mechanisms. Some sort of carbon-pricing mechanism is going to be the most effective place to start reducing carbon utilization. I’m proud to be a lifelong Californian — we’ve always led the (country) in this. We’ve got to allow the states to continue to do the work that they’re doing and where we can, provide the resources to let states like California continue to lead the way. So when Congress does get its act together and comes along, they can look for those best practices. It’s unfortunate that we’re not able to get Build Back Better across the finish line. I do think there’s some urgency to get that done in this Congress.

Bish: There are things that we can do immediately without crippling our economy, skyrocketing gas prices and inflation. One of those things is forest management. We know when we have these big forest fires, it’s not just trees burning, it’s power lines. These power lines are soaked in creosote. This is a problem. We know that when houses burn, there are toxic gasses released. The most immediate thing we can do is start managing our forests. And that doesn’t mean leaving them alone. It means being the good stewards of the Earth, taking care of the planet. And there’s an economic benefit, not only to Sacramento, but to the region. The second thing we need to do is about water storage and water management. We know hydroelectric power is clean, it’s efficient and it also helps us during drought years. By building the Auburn Dam with modern technology, we can put the dam in and make it safe and make it hydroelectric. We already have the money and the resources necessary. And it’s been approved to raise Shasta Dam another 20 feet. This is here. We could control water, control our forest management and build up our hydroelectric power. These are things we can do quickly, affordably and efficiently. And this is something where we can go across party lines. Because what I’m talking about is preserving our environment — working to build up environmental resources, renewable resources that will benefit people. And, let’s face it, these forest fires that we’re having in California are also destroying a habitat for many endangered species. These are things we can do cheaply, affordably and effectively. I do not agree with stopping all the fossil fuel and coal production. What we need to do is invest in them. Make it beneficial to make solar panels. We’re just getting started on what they can do. But electric vehicles are not going to save this country. It’s not going to change our climate. It’s not affordable. But what we have to do is innovate and get companies to innovate. It’s about the bottom line. We do it through innovation, inspiration, not indoctrination and forcing companies to not be profitable. It doesn’t benefit anyone.

Hamilton: I personally embrace modernization. At the end of the day, this is about giving the public the information so they can make an informed decision. I think climate change has become really polarized on both sides. And I think people are afraid to lose jobs because they’ve done coal mining all their life, their granddaddy did it. And so I think that if we can show a plan to the best extent that we can, on the congressional level, and obviously communicate that to the states — and every state has their own set of issues when it comes to climate change — I think the public would embrace the modernization and technology advancements we want to make if we have a combination of nuclear power and urbanization. Those are the things that anyone can get on board with if it’s just explained to them the right way. And we can make advancements on protecting our environment.

The Sacramento Bee: How do you feel about legislation that would require COVID vaccinations for California’s schoolchildren?

Bish: I do not trust anything that has not been thoroughly tested. We know there are medical consequences and not everyone should get a COVID vaccination. For some people, I think it’s a good idea. I think it’s a personal choice. As far as vaccine cards go, my question for you is: Do you believe in voter ID? If you do not advocate for a voter ID, then why should I prove if I’ve had a shot? And I can’t get the shot without a voter ID. I had a phone call with a future constituent last night who called me desperately because her father had a stroke. He’s in the hospital. She has not had the COVID shots. But to get into the hospital to be with her dying father, she had to not only show a valid ID, but she had to show a COVID shot. He will die alone. There was no reason for that. If they were really worried about the COVID situation, they could put her in a clean suit with a respirator to allow her to be with her father. These draconian rules that force agendas, force drugs, force identification on people, there are consequences, and we need to consider those consequences. These drugs are new. We don’t know what they’re going to do to children long-term. And we won’t know that without the research. And quite honestly, the moratorium or the inability to even file lawsuits against any of the drug manufacturers that are making these COVID shots will not allow us to file these cases to find out the long-term effects. We’re doing this with climate change. We’re doing this with fossil fuels, looking at the long-term effects. Why would you not want to be patient and find out what these drugs actually do?

Hamilton: I think that as science has evolved when it comes to COVID, it would do more harm than good to be asking for proof of vaccines in businesses. I always tell people I’m not for mandates, but I myself am vaccinated. I’ve probably had more vaccines than anyone in the room just being in the military for 20 years. But it should be a choice. And I think we’ve gotten to a place where even (chief White House medical adviser) Dr. (Anthony) Fauci has stated the other day that we’re going to be living with COVID. We need to find a way to just protect ourselves as best we can and move forward. I just don’t agree that we should be asking for vaccine cards. I think that small businesses are trying to stay open. And I think that we should just be encouraging people to be as safe as possible.

Bera: I’m going to put my doctor hat on and think about it from that perspective. Given the fact that we’re still in the midst of the pandemic — hopefully we’re in the last phase — the best tool that we have to keep the population healthy, to prevent new variants from emerging, is vaccinations. The more we can do to encourage Americans to get vaccinated, but also broadly distribute vaccines around the world, the better off we’re going to be. That said, what we’ve learned from the pandemic is how polarizing mandates have become. Having talked to a number of folks that have steadfastly refused to get the COVID vaccine while they’ve gotten many other vaccines, I don’t know that pushing them and mandating them is going to get them any closer to getting the vaccine. I think we have to think about other ways to do that. With regards to mandates, I think it’s up to individual business owners and individuals. If someone owns a restaurant, it’s their decision if they’d like to have someone show proof of vaccination. I think that’s an individual choice. That’s up to that business owner. With regards to school-based mandatory vaccinations, I worry about the polarization that we’re seeing at school boards. I think we should encourage all kids to get their COVID vaccines, but my bigger concern with schools is: Is there going to be spillover from vaccine hesitancy around COVID, where parents are starting to think about not getting their kids measles vaccines? And we’ve been talking about it in the medical community. COVID doesn’t seem to affect our kids all that much. And they seem to get through this. But measles is very contagious. And measles really does have a detrimental impact on children. We’ve seen outbreaks occur, but the measles tendency has been on the fringes. It hasn’t been mainstream. And one thing we’re paying close attention to as we come out of COVID and kids go back to school is: Will that vaccine hesitancy spill over from anti-COVID vaccines to anti-all-other-vaccines? That’s something that Dr. Fauci and other leaders in the healthcare space are very worried about and paying close attention to. I do think measles vaccines should be mandated in schools, as they are here in California. Other things that I think we have to be careful about, and another reason I think we should be encouraging folks to get their COVID vaccines, are not because of the long-term side effects of the vaccines, but we know the long-term side effects of having COVID. We’re still learning a lot about that. And the best way to prevent long COVID is prevent getting the COVID infection in the first place.

The Sacramento Bee: Federal Reserve data from the pandemic shows that income inequality worsened mostly for communities of color and people without high school diplomas. What do you think Congress should be doing to help Californians struggling with their rent payments, child care payments and things like gas costs?

Hamilton: This is a topic that’s been heavy on my heart, and I’ve been tweeting about it. I know the governor has offered $400 rebate cards for gas, but that’s not really going to do much. I have a minivan, and I’m spending that in a week going back and forth to school. We can’t continue to print money, but we have to realize that here in California, we have a surplus, and we have a lot of money that’s sitting there that could be helpful to communities. And right now when I go talk to community leaders, they just need resources. It’d be easy to say, “Let’s just give direct cash,” but honestly, it’s gonna take more than that. It’s almost like a door-to-door campaign to see what the needs are. I think about the 100,000 kids that are not going to go back to school and the foster kids that have not been accounted for here in my local area. What can we do to fix this problem? It goes back to local leaders — getting those people involved and talking to them. If I were to be elected, that’s where I would start. It’s easy to say, “Let’s just give them money.” But that hasn’t solved the problem. It comes down to community leaders — whether it be church, after-school programs — so that we can connect with the programs to see what’s the best way we can support them. I’d love to be able to do that on a congressional level, as a congresswoman, to bring more people together to do that. Because at the end of the day, we’re not going to be able to save everyone, but we can get the word out that we’re here to help and we want to help and we want to know what the actual issues are. Using that ability to bring people together would be better than just trying to throw money at the situation because, as we’ve seen, that doesn’t always fix the problem.

Bera: There’s not one easy solution to this, and each community is going to be a little bit different because, as you pointed out, the pandemic really did show and expose the inequities that were already there and just put it to the forefront. I think a couple of things we did throughout the pandemic, in the (federal pandemic relief) CARES Act, the second CARES Act, the American Rescue Plan, was push money and resources and rental assistance to those that were at risk of not being able to pay their bills or their mortgage. We also pushed billions of dollars out to try to keep people employed and keep small businesses open that worked to some effect, but it wasn’t a long-term solution. It was an emergency solution. I think what we’ve got to do is start to invest in those long-term inequities — in simple things like rural broadband access. You don’t see it in a lot of the less resourced urban communities here and in south Sacramento and other places. They don’t actually have great broadband access. The infrastructure bill is going to allow us to do that, but let’s do it in an equitable way. And I know the White House has built equity into how those dollars get doled out. So broadband support in terms of schools and education. Ms. Bish talked about the importance of public education, and I’m here because I got a great public education here in California. How do we actually build that from the ground up? I would think about training folks to be able to find good-paying jobs, putting vocational training back in our public high schools. You’ll often see the least qualified, least experienced teachers end up in the toughest schools. How do we actually get some of our best teachers to work in some of these harder schools, as opposed to the most resourced communities who often have some of the most experienced and most qualified teachers? They’re not easy solutions, but we’ve got to work with our school districts to address teacher pay, and maybe give additional pay to get into those tougher school districts. Ms. Hamilton touched on the breakdown of things that hold our communities together — churches, after-school programs, things we all had when we were growing up. I think those are also pretty important in terms of bringing communities together, but there’s no one easy solution. We’ve got to think about the immediate impact, but also think about our long-term strategies to address inequities in America.

Bish: Right now, it’s not just about COVID. We know that low-income families are predominantly one-parent families. So when the kids are not in school, we do not have day-care resources because of the COVID vaccines. People are not able to go to work. Those children are not able to be educated by requiring these mandates. It is putting people out of work and, quite honestly, in low-income areas, particularly Black areas, we don’t have a good track record in America as far as vaccines go. The Tuskegee experiments are very real and very alive in people’s minds. As we see the results coming out of these COVID tests, the negative effects on people, these are very real fears. Bullying and trying to intimidate people to get these shots is not going to help. As far as education goes, we do need to build our education up through inspiration. Like Dr. Bera said, it’s bringing back those classes, those shop classes. We also need music and art. It’s what builds people up, and we need children in school. Our college enrollment is at an all-time low. They have a shortage of young adults enrolling in college. We’re actually going to have surplus funds for the Cal Grant program because students are opting not to go back to school under these draconian rules. A college education is the best escape from poverty and a high paying job so you’re not trapped. I know this personally. I remember taking those shop classes, taking music classes and taking art classes, learning about Van Gogh and Monet and how it inspired me to be a better person. It touches people in all different ways. At the little school I went to in Del Paso Heights, we didn’t have a lot of money in that school. But I can tell you, we had a lot of love. We had an amazing library. And if you can imagine a little girl that could go and pick up any book I wanted to. What we need to do is encourage teachers who live in the community who want to have those personal relationships with little girls like me.

The Sacramento Bee: What do you all think of the recent development regarding Title 42, which is the policy under which the United States has expelled all asylum seekers coming over land borders under the pretext of public health. The Biden administration has announced that it’s going to lift Title 42, which was imposed by the Trump administration and continued by the Biden administration. Do you think Biden made the right call on this?

Bish: This isn’t just about COVID. Title 42 is public health, and it’s about allowing people to cross the border. We have an uptick in measles among children. We’re seeing TB, we’re seeing bird flu. We’re seeing a lot of diseases that have been controlled in the United States with tested drugs and tested vaccines that most people do not have a problem taking. They’re not forced to take it. By not enforcing it, we’re opening ourselves up to disease that’s coming over. I see no problem in enforcing Title 42. And if we want to do the humanitarian thing, offer those basic vaccines that we give to children — time-tested, approved vaccines with minimal side effects that will make a difference. That’s not only an investment in the health of Americans but it’s also an investment in the health of people whether they come across the border or not. But with that said, I do agree that we need to secure our border not only because of the health risks that are coming over but the illegal drugs, the human trafficking. Do any of you leave your front door open for anyone to walk in? I don’t. I ask who you are; I just don’t open the door and let a stranger in. This is our home, and we need to make sure that the people that are coming here are coming here with just causes, that they want a better life, that they’re not dragging little girls across the border to be sold as sex slaves. That they’re not dragging fentanyl that’s causing deaths, particularly in our lower-income communities — they’re not bringing in illegal weapons, stuff that law-abiding citizens don’t have. There are a lot of things at the border. But Biden not enforcing Title 42 is putting all of our families, our friends and our country at risk to diseases we have not seen on this continent in a long time

Hamilton: One of the things that’s argued with Title 42 is that it’s going to bring some fairness back to the seeking-asylum process. But I would say that being in the military for 20 years, I’ve worked with many people who have become citizens because they were able to join the military. And they don’t see the fairness in what’s happening at the border and what they’ve had to go through to become a citizen. And my philosophy is that I think border security is paramount. I think we need to address the fact that it’s not fair to citizens, to people that want to become citizens. And the other side of it is that we’ve let in close to a million people. We cannot sustain this long-term. That’s just the crux of it. We need to find a way to make this process better and address the real issues that are at the border, and that’s not being done by this administration. I think a lot of this goes back to people being afraid to talk about these real issues like human trafficking. I’m very much for immigration and having a diverse country, but we also need to be fair, and the fact is that we cannot sustain this large influx of immigration that we’re seeing at the border. So we need to come together and find a bipartisan way to fix the issues that are at hand. And hopefully Congress can find a way before the summer to fix this issue.

Bera: I think it’s a complicated issue. Title 42 was a public-health emergency and a reason to exclude folks at the border. I think it would be hard at this juncture to justify the COVID public-health emergency. Maybe you could extend it. And I think there is a debate taking place in the White House. I do think the administration’s not well prepared for the surge of folks that may come over the border in terms of housing, in terms of the backlog and immigration courts. There’s already a huge backlog of folks that are in the asylum-seeking process, and that really does point to a larger issue of: How do we provide secure borders, continue to be a compassionate country and take those that are legitimately seeking asylum, and then address the issues of economic migrants as well? Having been to the border in El Paso, Texas, a lot of the folks are still economic migrants. On the flip side, I also think that we have to address the folks that have been here in the United States for extended periods of time, sometimes generations, that are undocumented and who are contributing to our economy, who have been upstanding citizens in all of our communities. How do we give them a legal path to come out of the shadows? That’s something that has been difficult to accomplish in Congress. I have been talking to Republicans about it because they recognize that we need the food and ag workers. We need the construction workers as well. That’s inflationary. And I do think you could get an immigration bill done that addressed that necessary workforce and gave some of those folks a pathway to become legal residents and then go on to citizenship — probably pairing in there the Dreamers, which I think you could get bipartisan support for, and also doing something on the Ph.D. students and the folks who are coming here to get educated who can’t actually get green cards. We’re working on a slimmed-down immigration bill. It doesn’t address the border issue, and I think that’s something we have to find a solution for.

The Sacramento Bee: The war in Ukraine has presented quite a few discussions about diplomacy, military intervention and the United States’ role in handling conflicts abroad. Do you think Congress should reclaim its war powers after the 9/11 rule change? Do you feel that’s a power that Congress should have back given the way military action is going?

Bera: I’m a senior member on the (House) Foreign Affairs Committee that has jurisdiction over authorization to use military force. And we’ve rescinded the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force out of that; I think there’s broad, bipartisan support for that. I’ve also passed out the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force, and we’ve also communicated with the administration that if there was going to be a military excursion into Ukraine with boots on the ground, that we would expect them to come to Congress; we would have to provide that authorization. Obviously, the president has the ability, if there is a direct threat to the United States, to act in an appropriate manner, but we still expect him to — within the 90-day period — come to Congress and justify any action. I think that’s broadly bipartisan at this point. With regards to what’s happening in the world, I was in Kyiv in February with the bipartisan delegation, and a meeting with their leadership and President Zelensky, because we were convinced (Mr.) Putin was going to invade — more so than they were at that time — and we wanted to do the necessary planning. Obviously, we’ve seen what’s transpired in the last week, and I think the world has changed. Certainly Europe has changed. But I think what Vladimir Putin has done has changed the security apparatus that probably existed post-World War II into a different environment. I also chair the (sub)committee on Asia and the Pacific in the Foreign Affairs Committee, and we really are paying attention to an autocratic China right now. I think you can see the importance of a unified European Union. We have to come together in a stronger coalition because it’s not a given what the 21st-century, modern model will be. Will it be what the second half of the 20th century was? Or will it be more autocratic rule, like Russia, China, even other countries around the world where you see autocrats? I think that’s a real foreign policy debate.

Hamilton: One of the things for me is that we need to be working in tandem. It would be great to, every time something happens, that Congress should sit down and make those decisions, but being in the military for 20 years, the bigger picture is that the generals sometimes get intel, and things need to be acted on very quickly, and that’s why we elected the president and have trust in his decision-making. Not every single decision, I believe, can go directly to Congress, but we do need to be working in tandem and giving information to the public as soon as we can, I think that’s most important. Being deployed multiple times in the Middle East, I would say that the sentiment right now, with morale being low in the armed forces, is: Do we really need to be in every armed conflict? Obviously, the situation right now with Russia and Ukraine is a different story. But we need to be conscious of the fact that our military is quite strained right now, and that needs to be taken into account when we’re thinking about the different conflicts across the world. We are dealing with real-life situations where quick decisions need to be made, and that’s why we elected a president who we trust to make calls like that and to make the right calls on situations like that.

Bish: Dr. Bera brought up the autocracy in China. That’s exactly why Congress needs to reclaim its power. We do not want to see that happen in our constitutional republic. Congress needs to be strong and united, and we need to use all of the resources that the Founding Fathers gave the House of Representatives, and that is to have a fair and balanced three parts of government. With that said, with what’s going on in Ukraine, do I agree we should help with arms? Actually, I do. Should we be putting military force there? No. There is a complacent Europe. We have other countries in Europe that are there — Germany, France — this is their war. We cannot be (dragged) into another endless conflict. We need to see their neighbors step forward and stand up to Russia; it should not cost American blood. Now, with that said, we need to bring essential manufacturing, farming and materials — drugs, formula — that need to be manufactured on our shores. Right now, we’re getting baby formula and medication from China. We need to be self-sufficient. We have the ability to be self-sufficient when we are not (dragged) into these endless wars that cost money and blood. Yes, Congress does need to take back its power and do its job. We are hired to serve; that is what that is. That means having all of the tools available to us and not relinquishing our job to a single person, a single administration or even a bureaucrat. I want to go and serve — not just serve my district, the place I’ve raised my children, my grandchildren — but to serve the American people.

This story was originally published May 26, 2022 at 5:00 AM.