In the News
It's been a travel-heavy recess for freshman Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Pleasanton.
Just weeks after his trip with a congressional delegation to Israel and the West Bank, Swalwell returned Thursday from another co-del to Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates.
Sandstone Diagnostics Inc. won a nearly $150,000 National Institutes of Health grant to develop an instrument to quickly detect a potentially deadly blood infection in newborns.
The Livermore company was founded last year with technology spun out of national defense work at Sandia National Laboratory. Its instrument is designed to help neonatal intensive care units monitor protein and cellular biomarkers in newborns with sepsis, an inflammatory disease where the entire body responds to severe infection.
The Department of Homeland Security has awarded Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) $12.8 million in Transit Security Grant Program funds to enhance security and help protect the Transbay Tube, one of BART's most critical assets.
Summer used to be the season of the "town hall" meeting, a traditional forum for voters to meet, question – sometimes confront – congressional representatives who return to their home districts during the August recess.
But increasingly, such unpredictable public forums have provided embarrassing fodder for YouTube and cable television, prompting many elected officials in the era of social media to opt for more easily controlled formats like Twitter, Facebook and "tele-town halls" to connect with constituents.
Rep. Eric Swalwell left Sunday for Israel and the West Bank as part of a massive Democratic congressional delegation "to gain a firsthand understanding of some of America's most pressing foreign policy challenges," his office reported.
As Congress leaves the Capitol for its five-week August recess, freshman Rep. Eric Swalwell is headed home a little frustrated.
"The biggest problem for me is we're voting on extremes. You don't see compromise bills," he said Thursday evening on the east steps of the Capitol after a vote.
"When they're voting to just repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), I want to mend it, not end it. The bills are ‘repeal it,' with no other solution."
Provided by the office of Congressman Eric Swalwell
U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (CA-15) today announced that Child, Family & Community Services (CFCS) in Union City was selected for a seven million dollar federal grant for its Head Start and Early Head Startprograms in Hayward, Union City, Fremont and other cities in southern Alameda County. The grant was awarded by the Department of Health and Human Services.
The 2012 congressional election in California's 15th district shook up things
The juicy plot of a young, ambitious attorney ousts a detached, yet established, incumbent from office, then heads to Washington with big plans would certainly be a blockbuster hit if brought to the big screen.
And the protagonist would be Rep. Eric Swalwell, played by an old-school James Stewart; sharp, edgy and a breath of fresh air.
A dozen years ago, Eric Swalwell dreamed of a career as a professional soccer player. A goalkeeper, he attended college in North Carolina on an athletic scholarship. But then he broke his thumbs—both of them.
Suddenly, a soccer career seemed unlikely. So he decided to try something else and took an unpaid internship with Rep. Ellen Tauscher in Washington, D.C. "That was a turning point," he says. "I knew I didn't want to play soccer anymore. I wanted to be in Washington."