In the News

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Just days after voting to pass the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kansas) visited a vaccine clinic in Overland Park.

Dr. Jennifer Watts, Children's Mercy Medical Director for Emergency Preparedness, gave Davids a tour of the clinic Saturday at the Shawnee Mission School District Center for Academic Achievement in Overland Park.

The clinic was primarily for teachers, though others also were vaccinated. The goal was to vaccinate around 2,300 people.

Hundreds of jobs that were eliminated because of financial issues during the COVID-19 pandemic are restored, many right here in Kansas and Missouri.

Lawmakers from both states supported the decision by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to restore 500 positions.

"This announcement is great news for workers headed back to the job and for continuity of operations at USCIS," Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said. "Restoring all of the positions that have been eliminated at the National Benefit Center has been and will continue to be a bipartisan priority."

After burning through cash reserves last year, Kansas City is set to receive $195 million in federal aid that Mayor Quinton Lucas hailed as a "game-changer" for the financially-pressed city.

Congress gave final passage Wednesday to President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. It provides a $350 billion windfall for state and local governments nationwide.

The aid comes as Missouri's largest city faces a $70 million revenue shortfall, created by the pandemic's decimation of the city's convention and tourism industry.

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-3rd Dist, and other members of Congress met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris today at the White House to discuss transportation and infrastructure.

Rep. Davids, vice chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, discussed priorities for infrastructure during the meeting. The group discussed the need to create and pass an infrastructure package that would build back the U.S. economy with materials made in America, create good-paying jobs, and combat the effects of climate change, according to a spokesman.

President Joe Biden sat down with two Kansas City area lawmakers Thursday to discuss what will likely be his next major proposal: A massive infrastructure bill.

The U.S. House passed legislation Wednesday evening that would massively expand mail voting, enable same-day registration for federal elections and ban partisan gerrymandering among other major election reforms.

H.R. 1's passage by a vote of 220 to 210 in the Democratic-controlled comes as GOP state legislatures, including in Kansas and Missouri, are contemplating an array of new restrictions on voting in the wake of the 2020 election.

Representative Sharice Davids and U.S. Senator Roger Marshall want a federal commission to hurry up and approve Kansas Governor Laura Kelly's emergency request.

As the bitter cold stretch reached its peak last week Kelly issued a disaster declaration and the Kansas Corporation Commission issued an emergency order directing utilities to do everything possible to make sure customers could still get natural gas, propane and electricity. There were rolling blackouts and natural gas prices skyrocketed as much as 20,000%.

A Lenexa, Kansas company that makes personal protective equipment is undergoing a major expansion.