- Welcome to "Inland Edition," where we have conversations with people who make decisions that affect our everyday lives.

My name is Joe Richardson.

I'm an attorney, an Inland Empire resident, and your host.

And today, we're going to chat with the representative for the 33rd Congressional District.

Hailing from four generations of Inland Empire residents, Congressman Pete Aguilar's first job at age 12 was working in the San Bernardino County courthouse cafeteria.

[background music] He put himself through college with the assistance of student loans and federal grants and went on to become the mayor of Redlands.

He has earned a reputation for his bipartisanship and his commitment to making our communities better places to work, live, and to raise families.

He's intelligent, he's sensible, and he's pragmatic, and it's time to meet him now.

[gentle upbeat music] ♪ ♪ ♪ - [Joe] Happy to welcome my congressman to "Inland Edition."

Pete Aguilar.

How are you, sir?

- I'm good, Joe.

Thanks for having me here!

- Yeah.

It's good to be here and to see your staff and all of our folks that we like so much.

Let's start here.

Was there ever a moment for you where you knew-?

I mean, you're an area guy.

You grew up in the Inland Empire, the whole thing; been here all your life.

Was there an, "Aha!"

moment that says, "This gets me on my path to public service?"

Or, was it just a succession of moments?

How did we get here?

- I think it could be a little bit of both.

I mean, I probably saw it as more a succession and a kind of evolution from local government and community service to this job, but my mom would have a very different, a different story.

And, she reminded me when I was running the first time; her kind of, "Aha!"

moment for me.

And so, I'd just been thinking about that recently.

But, it was 1989 when the Exxon Valdez spill happened, and I was a kid here living in San Bernardino on 27th and Waterman, and I was frustrated.

I was frustrated, and again, Joe, we're the same generation.

This is back when there was only seven TV channels.

- Right.

- But, on every TV channel on the evening news was all of this destruction, and the oil-slicked animals, and the cleanup efforts, and all because this company put profits ahead of safety.

And so, I was frustrated.

And so, I wrote a letter to the CEO telling him to take responsibility for the mess and to clean up.

And so, I thought I was pretty proud of myself.

I kind of did it on my own.

And then, my uncle told me, he said, "Well, why don't you start a petition?"

And, I said, "Well, what's that?

What's a petition?"

I'm nine years old.

And, he says, "Well, you get other people "to sign a piece of paper, and it means that they support what you're doing."

And so, I went door-to-door in my neighborhood, and I had neighbors-- and this is a working class, Latino community.

They're not used to a nine-year-old kid coming up!

Maybe selling a candy bar or something!

But, to say that they had been moved by this experience and what they saw on TV and wanted to help make change.

So, my neighbors signed on, teachers signed on.

I didn't let kids!

(Joe laughs) So, I had an 18-and-over policy.

But, that was my first real kind of piece of activism where I saw something in the world that I wanted to comment on, and I took action.

And, that's when my mom says that she knew I was a little bit different.

(Joe chuckles) But, it was an experience.

And, I sent it certified mail.

- Right.

- So, I got the little postcard back saying that someone had acknowledged receipt.

Never heard back, obviously, but it was still an important moment for me.

- Oh, they probably regret that they never heard back (both laughing) because here you are number three in Congress!

But, any event-- Let's talk about, before we get to Congress, how you got to Congress.

Professionally, you've done some things in politics for a long time.

You've been able to connect it, how you make a living, to politics and the political process.

Talk about that process to give folks a little bit of sense of maybe kind of they don't quite know.

Like, "Hey, here's some things that I did in the community before."

- Yeah.

Maybe like my Marvel origin story here!

- Right!

(laughs) - Yeah, no!

Oh, uh?

I think it's kind of grounded in community service.

I was just kind of drawn to it growing up, whether it was community cleanup days or helping out.

And then, going to the University of Redlands, they put an emphasis on community service learning, as you and I know, and they made it part of the curriculum.

Every student had to do some community service.

And so, mine was working at Habitat for Humanity.

So, I was the campus chapter president at the university.

My job was to get professors, and administrators, and students on job sites and to help build homes here in the region.

And, it was a San Bernardino area affiliate.

So, I got to know a lot about habitat.

I got to know more about construction, which my uncles taught me a little bit of.

Still not as handy as I should be.

- Me, neither!

- But, it was an amazing experience to kind of bring people together.

And, that led me to serving on the board of directors for Habitat for Humanity, both when I was in school as well as after I left.

Became kind of volunteer of the year as a board president for them.

And then, that just kind of really started me down a discussion about affordable housing; about giving people a pathway; and a hand up, not a handout, that's a Habitat term; and how we help people in the region; but also how important affordable housing is.

And, for many people in our communities, that is their pathway to the middle class.

And, that's what the Inland Empire had traditionally held.

Which is a lot of people came from other places, but they became homeowners, and they built equity.

And then, maybe they bought their second house.

And, that's how-- that's the path to the middle class here.

And so, that was really, it was just kind of grounded in community service.

I kind of stayed with housing.

Was on the Housing Commission at the City of Redlands while I worked for a local financial institution.

Worked for the governor of California, Gray Davis, as well, right out of college after interning for him.

And then, the credit union for eight years.

And then, that's really where I began my city service, working on the city council for four years.

And then, mayor as four years before I ran and won for this job.

- Want to get your "101".

Not all of us had the benefit, like this current generation had the benefit of watching some of the things that we did when we were little.

We used to watch something called "Schoolhouse Rock!"

And, I joke about how I used to show it to my daughter; wasn't sure I was connecting.

And then, when we came to visit you with her eighth grade class, she walks up the stairs, she looks around and she says, "Oh!

This is 'I'm just a bill.'

I get it now."

So, give us a "101" for those that don't get to watch those things.

For everybody knows the work, Congressman, everybody-- "Oh!

There's Congressman Aguilar!

There's the Congress person or whatever else."

What does it mean to be in Congress, for those that don't know?

- Yeah.

What it means to be in Congress is our responsibility and our mandate is to help protect the country and to pass legislation that will strengthen our communities and our country.

We have responsibilities that are outlined in the Constitution, but I like to remind people that Article I of the Constitution, the first thing that the Framers thought about in creating our government was Congress.

It wasn't the executive and it wasn't the judiciary, although we have respect for each branch, obviously.

It was Congress, and that's because our Framers didn't want the United States to be a kingdom.

They didn't want a king.

They wanted the people to-- They wanted a republic to where people elect their representatives to help pass legislation and to help pass law.

So every day, my job is to-- And, I have the most special job.

And, my job title is my job responsibility, and that's representative.

And, that's our job is to represent the Inland Empire in Congress, to advocate for resources to this region, to make sure that our country is strengthened and protected, but to make sure areas like ours don't get overlooked and forgotten.

And, I think that's easy in the shadows of San Francisco and LA here in California.

People here in the Inland Empire, they work hard.

They play by the rules and they just want government to work for them.

- Tell me how your day-to-day interfaces.

You're in a congressional function.

We've been fortunate enough to talk to local leaders, state leaders, and now someone in Congress at the congressional level, the federal level.

Tell us about your interface and your job function with state government, with local government.

There's county government.

There's even city government.

Tell us how they all kind of coincide.

- Yeah.

We're all part of the same responsibility to serve our communities.

And, when a constituent calls our office and they ask for help, they don't really care what our role is in government.

They expect an answer and they expect help.

And so, oftentimes, at our most basic function, it's to help connect people.

Connect people and to solve their problems.

Because generally, when someone calls our office and asks for help, it's because they've called every 1-800 number that they possibly can and they're frustrated.

And so, our job from a very basic perspective is to help provide resources to people here in this region, as well.

But, I think from the function of what we do, passing laws and legislation, it comes-- it's about building coalitions.

It's about working together to solve problems.

And, whether it's fighting for our veterans or fighting for affordable housing, if something is happening in the House of Representatives in that area, in that topic, I wanna make sure that we're advocating for priorities for the Inland Empire within that.

- Tell us how.

Speaking of bridge building, I actually had this question planned and you led right into it.

Tell us how-?

You know?

Being in leadership, you are high up in leadership on the Democratic side.

But, I think one of the things that's really important is that there's this bridge building function, and you've always been known as a bridge builder, even from the time you-- before you even started doing local government, et cetera.

Someone that is listening to both sides of the aisle, someone that wants to solve problems without picking sides.

Tell us how that really comes to-- is brought to bear in your leadership position.

Because ultimately, you might not know it by looking at some other television shows where the sides are going like this, but the bridge building function is just as important as it's always been.

And, the leadership-- part of what qualifies you for leadership is the ability to take advantage of those opportunities.

Talk about that.

- Yeah.

So, I think that's an important piece of this.

My responsibility as chair of the House Democratic Caucus is to advocate for the House of Democrats; and to be a spokesperson for them; and to advocate our mission, our mandate, our responsibility; our desire to work across the aisle where we can, to lower the cost of prescription drugs, to make sure that we're ensuring economic opportunity and growing the middle class.

Those are things that we stand for.

That's just who we are.

But, in order to pass legislation, in order to have our objectives met, we have to work together.

And, I'm blessed to be in this position and to work with 212 other individuals in the House Democratic Caucus who see the world that way and want to help.

We want to govern.

We wanna make things work.

We don't wanna break government.

We don't want dysfunction.

We want to work together.

And, I think you saw that last year when we passed flagship pieces of legislation: the American Rescue Plan, the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, the bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, gun safety legislation, the most impactful piece of gun safety legislation in 30 years; all done in a bipartisan basis.

And, that's what we can do when we work together.

So, like you said, if you just tune in normal television, cable news, oftentimes it's dominated by the loudest voices.

But, I can tell you behind the scenes, there's a lot of discussions happening with our colleagues in elevators, in hallways.

And, generally, when you take the cameras out of the way, people can have conversations and work together, and we can find more common ground.

And so, my responsibility is to help find that common ground and to have conversations.

And, I text my Republican colleagues.

We talk; we communicate.

I can't tell you that I trust or text all of them!

(Joe laughs) But, there's a handful who I do trust on issues.

And, I wanna work with them and I want to see if we can help.

And so, that's what we try to do.

- [Joe] One of the things that I think we meant... We had talked about this years ago when you first came in and you said that one of your goals was to really be good to constituent services.

- Yeah.

- So, talk to us about what constituent services is.

Some people don't know until they have a certain problem- - Yeah.

- that perhaps their Congressional Office can help them with this.

Or maybe not even a problem, but just a function, whether they're trying to deal with getting their passport, or whatever it may be.

So, talk about constituent services and what kind of services people get from their local congressional office.

- [Pete] Yeah.

A variety of services.

And they can go to our website at aguilar.house.gov to see.

They can give our office a call.

But, like you said, passport services.

Right now, in a post-COVID world, people want to travel.

And, some of the delays that we're having in those offices, people are frustrated, and they're reaching out, and they're asking us for help.

Veterans who are trying to navigate the system, whether it's trying to navigate the PACT Act where we provide incredible benefits over the last couple years, and again, in a bipartisan way, and they're trying to unlock those benefits and to see what they're eligible for.

Or, a medical appointment at Loma Linda that they are getting the turnaround for.

We're helping veterans access disability claims and make sure that the VA is honoring the commitment that we've made to our veterans.

That's a good-sized portion of what we do is advocating for our veterans.

Medicare, Social Security; those are government programs.

Those are federal programs where we have a responsibility and we try to help people navigate those issues, too.

And again, like I said, people also call our office about local issues, and we have to try to connect them to the local cities or to the county and to help solve their problems.

But, we run the spectrum of people who-- and nonprofits who come to our office and ask for help.

They want to know what federal resources they can draw down, as well; what grants they can apply for.

That's a big portion of what we do in the office, too, is advocate for local cities and agencies as they seek federal grant dollars.

And, that's not lost on us, the importance of those resources.

- Connected to that: resources.

Once again-- I mean, we're just singin' here, man!

This is dancin', man.

This is great!

(laughs) - I'm here for you, Joe!

- Okay!

Well, listen.

Talk to me about the Inland Empire.

It's special place, not only in the state of California- geographic diversity, people diversity- but it's place in the country and how we often feel a little "under-resourced", shall we say?

And, how you advocate for the Inland Empire so that we don't get lost in the shuffle behind LA, behind San Francisco, San Diego.

- Yeah.

And, I think that's incredibly important.

And, we serve at such a fundamental geographic point between the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and the rest of the country.

The significant cargo containers that come through our region that find their way to the Inland Empire through warehouse and logistics, through the railroad system.

Traditionally, a lot of railroad activity, and those jobs, they created jobs here in the Inland Empire, as well.

My grandfather worked for the railroad, and many middle-class families are tied to the railroads themselves.

And so, that's always been kind of the core of this region.

What we need to make sure is that we need to unlock that opportunity and we need to find the right balance between that economic growth and opportunity with the jobs that are created.

And, I think that's just fundamental to who we are.

And, the federal formulas don't always reflect that.

And, when I was working for Gray Davis in 2001, I was talking about the Inland Empire being 1.1 million people and growing.

I mean, it's 2.4 now and growing.

And so, most of the calculations we have and most of the funding we derive is based on old calculations.

- Mm hm.

- And so, making sure that the federal government recognizes high growth areas like us, whether that's our streets and roads, whether that's mitigating air quality issues, those are the things that are important.

And, those are the things that our community wants to see.

We just wanna make sure that we don't get lost in the shuffle and that we need to create good-paying jobs here in the region so people don't have to commute to Orange County and LA as well for employment.

- Tell me about, if there is some such a thing, a "normal week" in the life of Congressman Aguilar.

You are a commuter, for sure!

(Pete laughs) You're on the other end of the country!

Tell us how that goes.

Give us some insight as to kind of what happens with you during a time you're in-session versus out-of-session, and that kind of thing.

- Yeah.

I mean, I try to come home every weekend.

And, this is home; the Inland Empire's home.

It's where my family grew up.

It's where I'm raising my kids, And so, that's important to me.

So, a typical week, like one coming up, "is what we would call a Tuesday to Friday Washington D.C.

Week."

So, I'll be on an early morning flight out of Ontario.

I'll connect somewhere, either in Denver, or Phoenix, or Dallas.

I'll get into Washington D.C.

I'll have votes that evening, Tuesday evening; vote all day Wednesday and Thursday; meet with people who are visiting the district, try to shape policy and legislation in the committee that I'm in.

And then, Friday, we would vote.

And then, we would be on planes in that afternoon.

And then, the weekend is reserved to a balance between family and being in the district, being public and helping people, taking meetings, showing up at events.

Those are things that we do.

And then, generally back on the plane on Monday or Tuesday the next week.

So, every week has a kind of rhythm and flow.

We're coming up to the end of the fiscal year, and the government hasn't been funded past September 30th.

So, that is top of mind for all of us.

So, I would imagine, especially in the leadership role, I'm gonna be called into some meetings.

We're gonna be having some family discussions and huddles among House Democrats to see what our path is, and to make sure that we're advocating to fund government.

So, those are the things that we have kind of coming up.

And so, every week, every month, is a different shape, but this month, particularly September and October, and November and December, all shaping up to be very busy, very difficult.

- Tell us about some things that citizens don't know about you find that there's a little less knowledge surrounding them.

Like particular programs for veterans, or for young people.

Things that are-- end up being like found treasures for folks that they just really don't always know about quite as much as they could.

- Yeah.

I think people would be surprised at the amount of federal funding and resources, one, that is available, and two, that is already being drawn down.

We announced millions of dollars for Head Start funding recently that the County of San Bernardino received.

So impactful, so helpful to our early population, making sure that kids have the skills and the resources to read at an early grade level.

Statistics have shown that early childhood development is a meaningful investment.

And so, making sure that young people have access to those programs, but those are things that we're doing.

The county is drawing down those resources.

We're helping deliver them.

I think when you ask me that, I think about those types of examples that we are receiving some resources and that people may not know it.

Look, Inland Empire families are busy.

They're taking their kids to school.

They're going to work.

They're going to church.

They're living in one city, they're commuting to another county, and they might go to church in a third city.

That's just who we are, and that's amazing.

And, all of these things are happening in the background to make sure that they have access and opportunity to resources.

But, I would encourage folks to also look at federal grants and programs and reach out to our offices if they're working with a nonprofit and they want to see some change, or they think that they have an idea or a program that can work.

There's a lot of other federal funding that is available and we don't oftentimes raise our hands for some of those dollars.

And so, connecting some of those nonprofits and community leaders to the resources that are available is something that our office takes seriously and that we work on proactively.

- Tell us a little bit-- Talk a little bit about the environment.

I was watching the news the other day and I saw folks struggling to get back from Vegas, you know, because of what was happening out there.

A couple weeks ago, we're dealing with a tropical storm.

We know we've got environmental legislation that was just recently passed, but tell us about what the government is doing.

What are some of the prerogatives and some of the priorities related to dealing with environmental issues?

- Yeah.

There's so many pieces to this.

The Inflation Reduction Act that we passed is so meaningful.

$370 billion that we're going to put into climate, the largest single investment.

But, as you mentioned, the hurricanes, the fires, the floods, these are not things that just come around once every 10 years anymore.

In areas like ours, we're gonna have wildfire threats year round.

There is not a wildfire season anymore.

That traditionally used to be September, October, November when the Santa Ana winds are blowin'.

Uh?

That's not the case.

Thankfully, we've had a wet year, but fire season could happen in February, in April.

And so, making sure that we have the resources and the coordination to address climate change is so fundamentally important.

And, for our region, that's gonna mean drawing down resources for wildfire prevention.

So, those are the things that are gonna become more common.

And, we need to make sure that we're planning, that we're putting resilient money, and that we're putting up every barrier we can to address the climate crisis, because this absolutely is a crisis that we need to address.

- Let us know how you would encourage someone not only the young Pete Aguilar out there, the kid that's grown up at 27th and Waterman, who some issue moved them and they're thinking about, "Oh, gosh.

How do I get involved?"

or, "I just saw Pete Aguilar on 'Inland Edition.'"

But, also the parent or the adult who's just doing life day-to-day and struggling with that, right?

And, that's where their priorities are, when in fact, that, at best, would hopefully make them more likely to see the importance of civic engagement and those types of things.

Encourage those folks that are a little out of the loop, but they're still so directly affected by what you do on a day-to-day basis.

- Yeah.

I mean, everybody-- I like to tell kids when they come and visit the office or when I come to classrooms here in the Inland Empire, we all have a responsibility to help and to make our community a better place.

Whether that's community cleanup days, or whether that's being active in a board, or serve as an advisory board member to something, or to just help in your community.

Help your neighbors.

Help your friends.

Those are the things that are deeply meaningful.

We understand that there's a lot of noise out there.

And, especially when it comes to how people receive their news, people tend to kind of gravitate to the platforms that they like and that they believe in.

And so, we wanna make sure that people are receiving the information that they need, and that information that is accurate and fair.

Because, like you said, Inland Empire families are busy.

And, sorting through the noise of a local school board meeting doesn't always sound fun.

And so, we need to make sure that we also hold our elected officials accountable, that we're open and honest, and transparent with what we do, the decisions we make.

That's the type of elected official I want to be and that's what we would expect out of our representatives.

And so, but just staying connected to your community and making sure that you engage and that you teach your family to engage.

That's something that's just so fundamentally important to who we are.

- Congressman Pete Aguilar, thank you so much, again, for being here with us on "Inland Edition."

I really appreciate it.

- Thanks for having me, Joe.

- And, we thank you for following us and watching us.

And, you can catch us on YouTube.

You can catch "Inland Edition" on YouTube, and let your friends know, let everybody know.

Let's keep walking down the road [background music] and building bridges one conversation at a time.

Until then, thanks for coming.

See ya.

[uplifting music and vocals] ♪ ♪ [softer music] ♪ ♪ [music fades]