The first six months of this Congress have been very busy. A few highlights include:
- Most productive Congress in more than 30 years, House has passed 421 pieces of legislation this year
- President has signed more legislation into law in first 6 months than any of the past five Presidents
- House passed, President signed 14 bills overturning Obama era regulations, saving $3.7 Billion in regulatory costs
In just the past month, the House has been extremely busy, having passed all 12 appropriations bills out of committee and passing a combined national security funding bill by the entire House. Included in this bill is $1.6 billion for building a wall along our southern border.
The Make America Secure Appropriations Act provides funding for our defense programs, our veterans and includes my legislation providing for $1.6 billion for a wall along our southern borders.
It includes increased funding for the men and women of our military, giving them their largest pay increase since 2010, as well as increasing the number of troops and their readiness. It also includes funding for specific projects I requested for Fort Hood including modernization of equipment and upgrades for living quarters, as well as supporting our veterans by increased funding to the Department of Veterans Affairs by 5 percent.
Additionally, the House passed the National Defense Authorization Act that outlines the priorities for national security and our military. This bill includes many items important to Ft. Hood and the overall TX31 community. Including specific items I fought for including an accelerated time frame for equipment modernization in the Army. I was also able to secure increased troops for our Army, remanufactured and new Apache helicopters, and new unmanned aerial vehicles. This legislation also provides for a 2.4 percent raise for the men and women in our military, the largest pay raise for our military in the past eight years.
The House also passed and I supported a bill that tightens economic and political sanctions on Iran, North Korea & Russia. As we all know, the rogue regimes of these nation states continue to pose a growing threat to the United States.
The House also passed and I supported many bills that will lead to improvements at the VA. Of note, a bill that will allow the VA Secretary more flexibility to remove low performing employees passed and has now been signed by President Trump.
I also supported and the house passed the Forever GI bill to expand benefits to the National Guard, Reservist and Purple Heart recipients.
