Donald Trump After
Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in May 2016, Valadao said he would support his candidacy. He rescinded his support in June 2016, declining to endorse Trump and saying he could not support a candidate who "denigrates people based on their ethnicity, religion, or disabilities." In February 2017, Valadao voted against a resolution that would have directed the House to request ten years of Trump's tax returns, which would then have been reviewed by the
House Ways and Means Committee in a closed session. On January 13, 2021, Valadao was one of ten Republicans who voted for the
second impeachment of Donald Trump for inciting the
insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. On May 19, 2021, Valadao was one of 35 Republicans who joined all Democrats in voting to approve legislation to establish the
January 6 commission meant to investigate the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Environment In response to President
Barack Obama's repeated assertion that the
2011 California drought was caused by
global warming, Valadao said that "
climate change has nothing to do with the drought" and that
Obama administration regulations had worsened the drought.
Foreign policy In 2017, Valadao was blacklisted by
Azerbaijan for taking part in a visit to
Armenia and a disputed, breakaway region of
Nagorno-Karabakh, which is populated and governed by ethnic Armenians.
Health care Valadao favored repealing the
Affordable Care Act. On May 4, 2017, he voted to repeal it and to pass the
American Health Care Act (AHCA). He was one of three co-sponsors of a last-minute amendment that added $8 billion to fund
high-risk pools for patients with
pre-existing conditions. The revised version of AHCA allowed states to get waivers to allow insurers to charge individuals with preexisting conditions more if the individual has had a gap in insurance coverage. In 2017, Valadao introduced H.R. 299, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act, "to grant presumptive
Agent Orange exposure status to U.S. service members who served in the territorial seas of
Vietnam during the
Vietnam War. This would enable eligible veterans to receive expedited consideration for
Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits if they suffer from any of the diseases the U.S. Government has linked to Agent Orange." In August 2017, Valadao and Representative
Joe Courtney sent a letter urging the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure that Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans have access to medical care from the VA. That same year, Valadao and Representative
Jeff Denham introduced the Assessing Critical Care Efforts to Strengthen Services Act. It would correct California's
Medicaid reimbursement method to encourage physicians to operate in the Central Valley and ensure patient access to doctors and specialists. Also in 2017, Valadao and five other members of Congress introduced the Training the Next Generation of Primary Care Doctors Act of 2017, which would reauthorize the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program. It would expand existing programs at health centers and establish new teaching health centers. In 2025, Valadao withheld his support for a House resolution to cut at least $1.5 trillion from the federal budget, citing concerns about
Medicaid reductions. He was one of eight House Republicans to publicly push Speaker
Mike Johnson not to slash the benefit. Valadao ultimately voted for the budget resolution after winning reassurances from House leadership that cost savings "would focus on Medicaid fraud, while not touching benefits for those eligible for the program." In a May 2025 article entitled "The key Republican warning about a megabill Medicaid fallout",
Politico profiled Valadao's behind the scenes efforts "to rein in his party's ambitions to cut Medicaid spending." Valadao's congressional district has more Medicaid beneficiaries than any other Republican-held district. Valadao spearheaded a letter signed by a dozen vulnerable Republican members urging House leadership not to make major cuts to Medicaid. Valadao said "We're going through this partisan exercise to do what is supposed to be a tax bill, and it's becoming a health care bill, which is what we're trying to avoid, on an issue that desperately needs reform to make it better." In July 2025 Valadao voted in favor of the budget reconciliation bill, cutting funding to Medicaid, saying "It was not an easy decision for me, but I voted yes on the budget reconciliation bill."
LGBTQ+ rights In 2016, Valadao voted for a measure that banned discrimination against
LGBT employees by federal contractors. In 2015, Valadao did not join many other prominent California Republicans in signing a
U.S. Supreme Court brief in favor of
same-sex marriage. On July 19, 2022, Valadao and 46 other Republican U.S. representatives voted for the
Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify the right to same-sex marriage in federal law.
Immigration Valadao supports comprehensive immigration reform. He has also cosponsored the
American Families United Act. In August 2014, he broke ranks with the Republican Party and voted against a bill that would have dismantled the
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. On February 23, 2017, Valadao called for a bipartisan solution to the U.S. immigration system. Later in 2017, he and nine other lawmakers wrote to Speaker of the House
Paul Ryan asking for legislation to address DACA's future. In June 2018, Valadao released a statement about the Department of Justice's "zero tolerance" policy, which involved separating children and parents at the Mexican border. "The substantial increase of minors at our southern border is both a humanitarian and national security crisis," he wrote. "While we must work towards a solution that reduces the occurrence of illegal border crossings, it is unacceptable to separate young children from their parents. This is exactly why passage of a compromise solution, such as that being discussed in Congress right now, is absolutely necessary." In 2026, Valadao cosponsored the
DIGNIDAD Act, which proposes a
pathway to legal status for up to 12 million
illegal immigrants, paired with stricter border enforcement and mandatory work and restitution requirements.
Tax reform In December 2017, Valadao voted in favor of the
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Free trade Valadao has criticized the
Trump administration's imposition of tariffs against Chinese steel and aluminum imports, which prompted China to impose retaliatory tariffs on a range of U.S. agriculture products. In May 2018, he sent a letter to
United States trade representative Robert Lighthizer expressing concern over the tariffs' impact on the
Central Valley's economy, writing, "Not only do the proposed tariffs fail to adequately remedy China's unfair practices, such tariffs seriously jeopardize our farmers' access to export markets, which accounts for roughly twenty percent of their production."
Welfare and poverty In 2013, Valadao was one of 15 House Republicans to vote against a Republican-backed bill to make deep cuts in
food stamp spending. In 2025, Valadao voted in favor of the
One Big Beautiful Bill Act, legislation which included spending cuts on Medicaid and food stamps. == Electoral history ==