Sara Jacobs

After serving in several policy positions in the U.S. State Department during the Obama Administration, Sara went on to work as a policy advisor for the 2016 Clinton campaign. She is also the founder and Chair of San Diego for Every Child: The Coalition to End Child Poverty. After losing her Congressional race in 2018, Sara ran a successful race in the 2020 election. Sara became the youngest Congressional member from California. Check out our conversation with Sara where we dig into her background and perseverance to make it to Congress!

Sara has an extensive history in foreign policy and foreign aid so when it comes to issues of humanitarian aid, we tend to trust her assessment! This time around, it’s dealing with the aftermath of the Afghanistan withdrawal and the NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that are still operating there. She led a letter signed by 36 other members of Congress urging the Biden administration to issue new General Licenses to support education activities led by NGOs and allow them to keep providing assistance. Sara also spoke about her experience on 1/6/21 last week. If you want to hear more about how that day affected her, check out our conversation with her from last year!

Sara was focused on issues impacting children and families this year. In February, Sara co-sponsored a bill called the American Families Act, which proposed to make the Child Tax Credit fully refundable with an annual credit of $3,000 to $3,600 per child. Sara joined PP leader Ritchie Torres in writing a letter to President Biden urging him to make the expanded Child Tax Credit permanent and monthly. Sara, along with a group of her bipartisan colleagues introduced the Military Child Care Expansion Act, which would equip the Pentagon with new tools to upgrade military child development centers across the country. Sara also recently introduced a bipartisan resolution that calls on the U.S. and international community to prioritize children in their COVID-19 rebuilding efforts. If you missed our interview with her, check it out, it was one of our favorites.

As Covid continues to disrupt the education and lives of children around the globe, Sara and her colleagues are trying to do something about it. She’s introduced a bipartisan resolution that calls on the US and international community to prioritize children in their covid 19 rebuilding efforts. It specifically calls on the work done by UNICEF to increase its support and leadership to address the health and educational needs of children. This includes calling for vaccine equity and programs in rural and remote international places as well as pledging to Giga, a global initiative to connect every school with internet. Indeed, we are all one planet and Sara takes every opportunity to make it one bit better.

Nothing like a trip to bond some of our young members of Congress. Sara, along with 5 of her colleagues including PP leaders Elissa Slotkin (MI), Nancy Mace (SC) and Colin Allred (TX) traveled to East Asia. First, they went to Japan and South Korea where they served Thanksgiving dinner and then to Taiwan to meet with the island’s defense ministry. China has stepped up its military presence in the region causing Taiwan to be the center of discussion. But what many don’t realize is the U.S. like most countries has no official ties with Taiwan, but much to China’s dismay, the U.S. is their strongest and most supportive international backer and arms supplier. Taiwan is only officially recognized as the Republic of China by 15 countries. Wow.