This past month has been very busy in Washington, DC. The President is wasting no time as we work to Make America Great Again!

This past week, I had an incredible opportunity to be down on the South Texas border hearing from the border patrol agents who work on the front lines day in and day out to secure and protect our border.

I joined Senator John Cornyn along with fellow house members Representatives Mike Conaway and David Rouzer, as well as Senators Dean Heller and Thom Tillis. Later in the week I hosted Speaker Paul Ryan, Congresswoman Martha McSally and Congressman Michael McCaul. Many of these elected officials are from non-border states and they don’t have the same experiences and challenges with border security that we have grown to know here in Texas.

I look forward to bringing even more members to our southern border, especially those from outside of Texas so they too can see first-hand the needs and challenges our Border Patrol agents face.

As Chairman of Homeland Security appropriations, this is a top priority for me, as well as for the Trump administration.

Additionally, President Trump headed to Capitol Hill this week to address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night. It was one of the best speeches I’ve heard in a long time. The President clearly laid out his vision to build more prosperous union and I look forward to working with he and my colleagues for all Americans.

The House has already passed many important bills that support our veterans. The purpose of these bills is to encourage businesses to hire veterans and ensure they receive the benefits they’ve earned.

The House also passed the WINGMAN Act, which cuts through red tape and helps caseworkers in Congressional offices serve our Central Texas veterans more quickly and efficiently.

Also this month, the House passed the email privacy act, that ensures information is kept private by a third party service, including cloud services. Under this bill, law enforcement will be required to obtain a warrant before accessing your email and other content. This is a good example of legislation trying to catch up to quickly evolving technologies.

The house also passed two bills to reign in federal overreach of our nation’s public schools. I believe Texans know what’s best for Texas students, not Washington DC. The legislation passed protects students and teachers and provides our central Texas schools with the flexibility they need to provide every child a great education.

President Trump has been working at warp speed to lead our country on a path of prosperity. Earlier this month he announced his nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. I was a strong supporter of the late Antonin Scalia and I am encouraged to hear Judge Gorsuch will uphold those same conservative values.

The President has also signed numerous Executive orders. Of note, he has signed EO’s that will help reduce the regulatory burden on our small businesses and investors. He is calling to roll back the Dodd Frank Act and he also put a hold on the fiduciary rule. This is great news for our local banks, credit unions and other small businesses and anyone looking to prepare for retirement through investment planning.

The President also announced new sanctions on Iran in retaliation to the rogue regime’s ballistic missile test last month.

Just a couple of weeks into the Trump Administration and the 115th Congress, and we are off to a record pace of implementing change for the better for all Americans. Since the beginning of January, I have voted and supported the following on behalf of TX31:

• Introduced H.R. 367, the Duncan-Carter Hearing Protection Act, which cuts through red tape surrounding the ownership of firearm suppressors, expanding access to hearing protection and increasing the safety of Texas sportsmen.
• Voted for the Fiscal Year 17 Budget Resolution, beginning the process of repealing Obamacare and replacing it with a healthcare system that encourages patient choice and increases access to quality healthcare.
• Introduced H.R. 495, the Protection of Children Act, which closes loopholes in immigration law dealing with unaccompanied alien children and expedites their return home.
• Been elected to serve as Chair of Homeland Security Appropriations, as well as serving on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and the Commerce, Justice, Science Subcommittee.
• Voted to support H.R. 7, ensuring that no tax payer funding will ever be used to fund abortion or support abortion practices.
• Supported legislation to rein in executive overreach through burdensome regulations, including H.R. 5, the Regulatory Accountability Act, H.R. 26, the REINS Act, and H.R. 21, the Midnight Rules Relief Act.
• Supported President Trump’s executive actions on border security, regulatory reform, military preparedness, and national security that will bring real, positive change to Texans.
• Supported President Trump’s executive action that allows for the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota pipelines. These two projects alone will create tens or thousands of jobs, and support hundreds of thousands of other jobs.
• Supported President Trump’s executive action that lessens regulator burden and costs.

I look forward to working with my colleagues and President Trump as we repeal and replace Obamacare, reform our tax code, secure our border, invest in our infrastructure, and reduce the regulatory burden on small business and other job creators.

My Accomplishments in the 114th Congress 

• Authoring the Resist Executive Amnesty on Defense Installations (READI) Act to prohibit illegal alien minors from being housed on Fort Hood or any other military base. This language was passed and signed into law under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017 (NDAA FY17).
• Authoring and passing the POLICE Act, which increases access to active shooter training. This bill was signed into law by President Obama earlier this year.
• Securing Purple Hearts for the victims of the 2009 attack at Fort Hood. This was a long fought fight & we won by having his bill passed and signed into law by President Obama in 2015.
• Authoring language to permit concealed carry on military installations. This language was in the NDAA FY16 bill that was passed and signed by the President last year.
• After securing funding for its construction, we celebrated opening of Darnall Hospital at Fort Hood earlier this year.  This is a state of the art facility that the men and women of our military have earned and deserve.
• Secured $61.5 million to upgrade barracks at Fort Hood.  It is a basic principle of readiness in the US Army to have high quality housing at The Great Place.
• Secured $49.8 million for renovation of the 1st Cavalry headquarters at Fort Hood.
• Calling on the FBI to investigate the Veterans Administration, continuing to provide oversight of the investigation and cosponsoring the VA Accountability Act of 2015. The VA is in shambles, and through the relentless work of my team, improvements are slowly being made at our Central Texas VA facilities.
• Growing the Army’s troop strength and readiness to keep our nation safe. Through the NDAA of FY16 and FY17, I’ve supported increasing our military strength and readiness, voted for a pay increase for our soldiers, and expanded retirement opportunities.
• I partnered with the City of Taylor to improve the Taylor airport and spur economic growth and opportunity in eastern Williamson County.
• We’ve had significant highway projects completed in Central Texas, including SH-195 in Georgetown, SH-190 in Killeen, and I-35 in Salado.
• Secured funding to bolster the Killeen Police and Fire Departments.
• We’ve mitigated the impact on threatened salamanders due to growth and development throughout Williamson County.
• One of the most important jobs in a Congressional office is working on behalf of constituents in need of assistance with a government agency. In the past two years, our office has closed more than 3,100 cases on behalf of central Texans.

Another important duty of a Congressman is providing nominations to students in the district seeking appointments to U.S. military service academies.  I’ve awarded 60 nominations to our nation’s military service academies.

“Tonight, we had a great win in Texas 31 and it is due to the wonderful support of all my friends and neighbors throughout Bell and Williamson counties. I am so proud and honored that you entrust me to travel more than 1,500 miles away and cast your vote in Washington, DC. I believe we need more Texas in Washington, DC and less Washington in Texas. I will continue to fight for our central Texas conservative values and strive to represent you honorably. Thank you, and God Bless Texas and our United States.” -John “Judge” Carter