U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria represents Virginia's Second Congressional District. Prior to her election in 2018, Rep. Luria served two decades in the Navy, retiring at the rank of Commander. Rep. Luria served at sea on six ships as a nuclear-trained Surface Warfare Officer, deployed to the Middle East and Western Pacific, and culminated her Navy career by commanding a combat-ready unit of 400 sailors. Vice Chair of the House Armed Services Committee and a member the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Rep. Luria was one of the first women in the Navy's nuclear power program and among the first women to serve the entirety of her career in combatant ships. She serves on the House Armed Services Committee, where she is the committee's Vice Chair, the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, where she serves as Chair of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee, and the House Committee on Homeland Security. Of all members in the House Democratic Caucus, she served the longest on active duty, having completed 20 years of active military service with the U.S. Navy. Rep. Luria graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and received a master's in engineering management from Old Dominion University.
One of my top priorities is working to strengthen Medicare and Social Security. Hardworking seniors who paid into Social Security and Medicare deserve retirement security. I will continue to support measures that enhance the solvency of these critical federal programs.
I am a cosponsor of several bills to protect seniors, including the Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act. This bill would authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to negotiate drug prices and, if drug companies refuse to negotiate in good faith, it would enable the Secretary to issue a competitive license to another company to produce the medication as a generic. This will help make medications more affordable for senior citizens.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, our seniors were among the most vulnerable populations to the health and economic crisis. I heard from many social security beneficiaries throughout Coastal Virginia that their economic impact payments were delayed. Eager to mitigate this issue, I joined a bipartisan letter to the Internal Revenue Service requesting that they secure automatic payments for seniors on social security ensuring they receive their payments in a timely manner. Additionally, I cosponsored the Retirement Protection Act, which would suspend the 2020 Required Minimum Distribution for retirement accounts allowing seniors to keep their retirement savings invested without penalty. I also cosponsored the COVID-19 SCAM Act, which would help protect seniors and other vulnerable individuals by imposing civil penalties on scam artists who perform fraudulent related COVID-19 calls or texts.
The high numbers of fatalities from COVID-19 at assisted living facilities motivated me to cosponsor the Assisted Living Facility Coronavirus Reporting Act. This bill would require states to report to the CDC, for each assisted living facility in the state, weekly COVID-19 data, broken down by demographic information. It would also require assisted living facilities to notify federal, state, and local health officials, as well as residents and their loved ones, within one day after confirmed COVID-19 cases and suspected outbreaks in the facility.