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.
