In the News

Representative Maxine Waters, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said on Tuesday that the proposed budget "fails to adequately fund our financial regulators."

Two primary regulators of Wall Street are preparing, once again, to make the most of scarce resources.

Apparently fed up with their Republican colleagues' policy priorities, a group of Democratic congresswomen sent a scathing memo to the GOP on Friday to express their frustration.

In the wake of last month's deadly shooting at Los Angeles International Airport, a local congresswoman has called for improvements to airport security, including the permanent assignment of armed police officers near passenger screening checkpoints.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) also urged law enforcement officials to allow airport police to have access to all airport security cameras.

"I believe these recommendations will play a vital role in ensuring that all travelers and airport employees are safe in our nation's airports," said Waters, whose district includes LAX.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43), a native of Kinloch, was on hand to give opening remarks for the 11th Annual Opening Door Awards on Friday, Dec. 6, hosted by the Millennium Momentum Foundation, Inc.

During the event, the foundation provided $54,000 in scholarships to 18 students representing various multicultural communities throughout Greater Los Angeles and the Southern California region that have demonstrated academic success, leadership potential and financial need.

Max Kaplan, a 20-year-old Ivy League student who graduated from South High School, has earned a gold Congressional Award medal, one of only 236 awarded this year nationwide.

The honor is the highest Congress can award to youths aged 14 to 23, South Bay Rep. Maxine Waters said in presenting Kaplan with the award at a ceremony held this week at Torrance City Hall. The event was held during Kaplan's holiday break from Princeton University because he was unable to attend a ceremony in June in the nation's capital.

Lawndale Mayor Harold Hofmann would have enjoyed his final ride along Hawthorne Boulevard because all the lights were working perfectly and the landscaping looked nice, his granddaughter told several hundred people who gathered to say goodbye to him on Saturday.

Hofmann, 81, died of natural causes at his home last week and was buried on Friday. On Saturday, city residents, friends, family and colleagues gathered at the Lawndale Community Center to remember the South Bay's longest serving mayor.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., introduced an aggressive bipartisan plan to fix the National Flood Insurance Program this past week.

Her new plan delays potential rate increases up to four years, while giving lawmakers time to obtain an affordability study from FEMA and to address lingering issues raised by the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act.

Waters noted that the Biggert-Waters Act brought many "unintended consequences." Her new legislation is designed to remedy those issues.

The Transportation Security Administration, already under scrutiny after one of its agents was shot to death at Los Angeles International Airport this month, has spent nearly $1 billion on a passenger behavior monitoring program that has not been scientifically proven to work, a key government watchdog agency said Thursday.