.png){kind=logo}
Fighting for Civil Rights
Congressman Sherman is a proud member of the Congressional Equality Caucus (formerly known as the LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus) and has earned a voting record rating of 100% from the Human Rights Campaign pertaining to LGBTQ+ rights issues.
Congressman Sherman introduced with his colleagues the Equality Act which would amend federal law to protect the LGBTQ+ community from prejudice in all walks of life – in housing, employment, education, and public accommodations.
Congressman Sherman has consistently voted against Republican legislative proposals to restrict gender affirming care for transgender Americans and close federal agencies’ civil rights and diversity offices.
In the Skrmetti Supreme Court case, Congressman Sherman signed an amicus brief (a formal argument submitted to the justices) asking the Court to overturn Tennessee’s SB1 law banning gender-affirming care for minors, on the basis that Tennessee’s law was unconstitutional and violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Congressman Sherman has also cosponsored legislation such as the Pride in Mental Health Act to establish a grant program for LGBTQ+ youth mental health care, and the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act to establish a grant program to prevent LGBTQ+ harassment and provide counseling to affected students in higher education.
Preventing Gun Violence
Congressman Sherman has earned a 100% voting record rating from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. On the other hand, Congressman Sherman is proud to have been awarded an “F” grade by the NRA in the same regard.
When Democrats were in the majority in Congress, Congressman Sherman cosponsored and worked to pass through the House several pieces of legislation – which unfortunately died in the Senate. Congressman Sherman remains committed to working on a bipartisan basis to see these bills signed into law.
These include the Assault Weapons Ban which makes it a crime to transfer or possess a semiautomatic assault weapon or large capacity ammunition feeding device, and the Bipartisan Background Checks Act and Enhanced Background Checks Act to close the gun show and Charleston loopholes. The former bill requires background checks for private transfers of firearms, and the latter bill extends the FBI background check review period from 3 to 10 days.
Additionally, Congressman Sherman cosponsors the federal Ethan’s Law, a bill named after 15-year-old Ethan Song, who was accidentally killed by an unsecured firearm. Ethan’s Law would require families with children to securely store firearms.
Congressman Sherman also is a cosponsor of the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act which encourages states to pass “red flag laws” and similarly allows federal courts to issue “extreme risk protection orders,” where family members or law enforcement can petition the court to have firearms removed from an individual that has shown intent to harm themselves or others.
Furthermore, Congressman Sherman is a cosponsor of the National Gun Violence Research Act to provide federal funding into research on the origins, consequences, and prevention methods for gun violence.
Supporting Our Veterans
Congressman Sherman has been a tireless advocate for veterans and has always voted in support of their interests. Congressman Sherman’s record has been 100% consistent with the positions of veterans’ service organizations like the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).
Congressman Sherman and his colleagues passed the PACT Act, the single largest expansion of healthcare and benefits for veterans in 30 years. More than a million veterans have already received benefits from the legislation, with over 300,000 more veterans also receiving VA health care under the law.
Congressman Sherman is working to help disabled veterans facing homelessness. The House of Representatives unanimously passed Congressman Sherman’s bill, the Housing Unhoused Disabled Veterans Act, which will make it easier for disabled veterans to qualify for VA supportive housing. At Congressman Sherman’s urging, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has agreed to make the changes sought by the Housing Unhoused Disabled Veterans Act administratively.
Congressman Sherman joined his California House and Senate colleagues in helping to pass and sign into law the West Los Angeles VA Campus Improvement Act. This law allows the VA to contribute lease revenues generated at the West LA VA campus to the development of supportive housing and services for homeless veterans. Previously, the VA could only use lease proceeds for campus beautification. Congressman Sherman participated in the groundbreaking of five new residential buildings on the West LA VA campus which, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, will provide an additional 374 units of supportive housing to our veterans – another milestone in L.A.’s most significant project in the effort to end veteran homelessness. The units will be spread across the campus and will provide homes, with supportive services, to veterans and their families. The new units are in addition to more than 600 housing units completed or under construction on the new North Campus, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Once complete, the campus will feature lots of green space, walking paths, gyms, dog parks and computer rooms, among other amenities.
In 2024, Congressman Sherman secured $1.5 million for the construction of supportive housing for homeless veterans at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, and Congressman Sherman is working to secure additional funds for homeless veterans again this year.
Protecting Our Environment
Congressman Sherman has consistently earned a nearly 100% rating from the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters based on his voting record in Congress.
Congressman Sherman cosponsored the Green New Deal when it was initially introduced in 2019 and has helped introduce that legislation each time Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has introduced it since. The Green New Deal sets forth an ambitious yet vitally necessary vision for a 10-year national mobilization effort to curb global warming and achieve a green economy with net-zero emissions, while creating thousands of good-paying unions jobs.
Congressman Sherman also supports establishing a national emergency for climate change and directing the President to take a whole-of-government approach to prevent climate change and mitigate its effects.
Congressman Sherman received the Sierra Club Los Angeles Chapter’s Public Policy Award for his efforts to secure federal funds for the Santa Monica Mountains. Throughout his career, Congressman Sherman has secured nearly $25 million for land acquisition in the Santa Monica Mountains, including for completing the Backbone Trail. That figure includes $963,000 in federal funding Sherman secured in 2024 for purchasing beautiful land for preservation in the Santa Monica Mountains. In the upcoming government funding deal, Congressman Sherman is working to secure additional federal funds for brush clearance and the removal of invasive species to preserve wildlife habitat in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Congressman Sherman consistently works with his colleagues to increase federal funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LCWF) – to preserve America’s natural resources – and for the National Trail System, 648 miles of which are in Southern California.
Congressman Sherman helped introduce the West Coast Protection Act, which would ban the federal government from issuing oil and gas leases off the coast of California, Oregon, and Washington.
Congressman Sherman is a supporter of the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act, a wide-reaching agenda to address the plastic pollution crisis; and Congressman Sherman also supports legislation like the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act to impose a fee on the carbon content of fossil fuels or any product derived from those fuels that emits greenhouse gases, and urgently reach net zero emissions.
Working To Protect Animals
Working To Protect Animals
Congressman Sherman has consistently earned a 100% rating from the ASPCA and has been awarded the Humane Society’s Humane Champion Award each year for over a decade.
Recently, Congressman Sherman joined his colleagues in introducing and passing the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act into law, which bans “crush videos” that depict acts of extreme animal cruelty.
But there is more work to be done to improve our animal welfare laws and enforcement. For instance, Congressman Sherman has cosponsored the Better CARE for Animals Act to strengthen the Department of Justice’s tools to penalize violations of the Animal Welfare Act and relocate animals that have been harmed. Congressman Sherman has also worked to ensure maximum federal funding for animal welfare law enforcement.
Recent victories in animal protection which Congressman Sherman worked to achieve also include the passage of the Big Cat Public Safety Act prohibiting the private trade or possession of big cats like lions, tigers, or cheetahs, and the passage of the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act which banned the purchase and sale of shark fins.
Congressman Sherman has routinely cosponsored the Humane Cosmetics Act, which would phase out animal testing in the cosmetics industry and promote the sale of cruelty-free cosmetics.
Congressman Sherman also cosponsored the Puppy Protection Act, which requires commercial dog dealers to provide adequate necessities for dogs under their care. That bill also requires breeders to utilize humane breeding practices and find permanent homes for retired breeding dogs.
Additionally, Congressman Sherman has supported several bills to protect horses and joined his colleagues in introducing the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act, which would crack down on the cruel practice of soring – the act of deliberately causing pain to a horse’s leg or hooves to artificially exaggerate a horse’s gait. Congressman Sherman is also working to pass the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act to end the practice of horse slaughter for good.
California thankfully maintains high standards for food products sold in the state, including Proposition 12 which prohibits the sale of meat from farms using inhumane animal practices. Other states’ farm industries have waged an aggressive lobbying and litigation campaign to undermine this critical animal protection law of California. When Prop 12 was challenged before the Supreme Court, Congressman Sherman urged then-President Biden to defend Prop 12. Notably, the Court upheld Prop 12, but efforts to undermine it continue and Congressman Sherman remains strongly opposed to any legislative or other effort to invalidate Prop 12 or similar animal protection laws.
Supporting Israel In Congress
Since the day he arrived in Congress, Congressman Sherman has been an unwavering advocate for strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship and using his role on the House Foreign Affairs Committee to ensure that Congress’s support for Israel remains bipartisan and ironclad. Congressman Sherman serves as the Chair of the Congressional Israel Allies Caucus and as the Ranking Member of the Congress-Knesset Friendship Group.
Congressman Sherman understands Israel’s position as a stalwart U.S. ally in a dangerous region where it is under constant threats of annihilation by terrorist groups on its borders. That’s why he worked tirelessly to pass the 2024 National Security Supplemental to provide Israel with $14.1 billion in emergency defense aid after the October 7th massacre. Congressman Sherman has also been a vocal advocate to fully fund the Iron Dome and the annual $3.8 billion in aid to Israel under the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
Understanding that terrorist groups and their sponsors must be defeated, Congressman Sherman authored some of the foundational Iran sanctions legislation including Section 106 of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act (CISADA) and Title 3 of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, both of which became law. Congressman Sherman also successfully passed into law the Strengthening Tools to Counter the Use of Human Shields Act to sanction terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah for their use of human shields, and has introduced legislation to sanction Hamas-allied terrorist groups that participated in the October 7th massacre.
Congressman Sherman also waged a successful, decade-long effort to secure Israel’s entry into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, including introducing the original legislation to allow Israelis to travel to the U.S. without a visa. After the October 7th massacre, Congressman Sherman led a bipartisan letter to the Biden Administration urging that Israel finally be admitted into the program, which resulted in the Biden Administration completing Israel’s admission into the Visa Waiver Program – allowing Israelis to stay with American family during the war.
Congressman Sherman is one of Congress’s foremost leaders in building people-to-people ties between Americans and Israelis, including through Congressman Sherman’s annual efforts in building support for federal funding for joint U.S.-Israeli research programs in agriculture, defense, cybersecurity, energy, and healthcare.
Standing With Armenia
Congressman Sherman is proud to serve as the Vice Chair of the Congressional Armenian Caucus, which he has been a member of for decades, and consistently receives an A+ rating from the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) for his strong record on Armenian issues.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Congressman Sherman heard firsthand stories from friends and neighbors whose families survived the Armenian genocide. That’s why, since first being elected to Congress in 1997, Congressman Sherman was a vocal advocate for recognizing the Armenian genocide and helped introduce and pass a resolution that finally secured recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2019, spurring the Senate and President Biden to follow and finally achieve Armenian Genocide recognition from all branches of the U.S. government. Congressman Sherman believes it is our collective responsibility to ensure that future generations learn the legacy and lessons of the Armenian Genocide, which is why he is a proud cosponsor of the Armenian Genocide Education Act, which will create a curriculum on the Armenian Genocide to be taught in U.S. public schools.
Congressman Sherman understands that the Armenophobia that fomented the Armenian Genocide isn’t a thing of the past: over 120,000 Armenian refugees from Artsakh remain displaced by Azerbaijan’s 2023 ethnic cleansing. That’s why Congressman Sherman has fought to enforce Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, which would cut off U.S. military assistance from Azerbaijan, including by forcing a vote to do so in the House Foreign Affairs Committee in September of 2025.
Congressman Sherman has also helped introduce the Artsakh Revenue Recovery Act which requires the President to seize Azerbaijani assets to compensate Artsakh refugees for revenue lost due to the ethnic cleansing, cosponsored legislation calling for Azerbaijan to immediately release of Armenian POWs, and has met with family members of Armenian soldiers who were captured and tortured to death by Azerbaijan to raise awareness of the brutality of Aliyev’s regime.