In the News

Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, joined fellow California Democrats today and sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging federal support for an investigation into mortgage fraud. California and Nevada attorney generals have teamed up to crack down on mortgage fraud.

"We worked pretty hard to get this," Allan said of the designation and collecting the necessary data. He added that Solano County received support from Congressmen John Garamendi and George Miller, both D-Solano. Farmers and ranchers in counties contiguous to Solano County also can benefit from the designation. Those counties include Contra Costa, Napa, Sacramento, Sonoma and Yolo.

"Geothermal energy is a crucial clean resource for creating jobs and securing our energy independence," said Garamendi.

Democrats say $2 billion a year can be saved by cancelling subsidies to oil companies. At a press conference outside the capitol, Congressman John Garamendi of Walnut Creek described those subsidies as a longstanding American economic tradition intended to spur new industries. "95 years ago," he says, "we began to subsidize the oil industry to encourage it.

"The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is critical to sustaining the life of communities across California and is an ecosystem of national significance," said Congressman John Garamendi (CA-10). "I have worked for decades to protect this vital resource by building consensus and including all stakeholders.

"I like this," said Garamendi, D-Walnut Creek, as he lauded the facility and noted that increasing the use of clean energy such as solar power can help secure national security so America doesn't have to depend on oil from dangerous parts of the world. "This is what we have to do."

Garamendi used the state-by-state numbers put out by White House that say 710,000 small businesses in California would benefit from the payroll tax cut, which also would give an a family earning $50,000 a $1,500 tax cut. It also would provide nearly $4 billion to California for surface transportation, $2.8 billion to upgrade schools in poor neighborhoods and hire 37,300 teachers in the state.

The event was held across the street from the Walnut Creek office of Rep. John Garamendi, a Democrat, whom Carroll called a "champion" for his advocacy against oil subsidies. Garamendi aide Brian Hooker read a note from the congressman, who is in Washington monitoring the jobs bill debate, he said.