The last two weeks were filled with an onslaught of concerning policies brought up for a vote by Speaker Pelosi including: a $1.9 trillion partisan payout, the so-called “Equality Act” that harms women and girls, and a stinging election reform bill that snatches election control from the states, consolidates Democrat power in D.C., and further erodes faith in our election system. Each one of these would have wide-reaching implications on our entire society, yet none of them were afforded adequate debate, opportunity for Republican input, or transparency for the American people.

Democrats packaged their $1.9 trillion partisan payout as COVID relief, but in reality only 9% of the spending goes towards combatting the virus. The rest of the bill is chock full of provisions that will keep schools closed, bailout blue states, pay people not to work, and send billions of dollars to foreign countries. As a reminder, there is still $1 trillion unspent from previous COVID relief packages—our children will be the ones who will front the bill for this wasteful expenditure

The Equality Act will elevate “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the ranks of protected classes under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As a Christian, conservative, and father of three fantastic girls, I vehemently oppose this bill. I strongly believe that every person is created equal and deserves dignity and respect, but we can absolutely not allow the federal government to send a down a decree that forces Americans to act in violation of sincerely held religious beliefs, threatens the safety and rights of women and girls, jeopardizes the rights of parents, and puts the lives of our unborn children at even more risk. I voted no on this bill, which passed the House along party lines. You can watch my video explaining why I voted no in more detail here.

Speaker Pelosi’s H.R. 1 ‘For the People’ Act should really be named ‘For the Swamp’ Act. It is a blatant infringement on states’ rights and a brazen attempt to solidify a permanent Democrat majority. I voted no on the bill that would completely overhaul our election system, and contains outrageous provisions that ban voter ID requirements, use taxpayer dollars to fund political campaigns, legalize ballot harvesting, and force every state to utilize unreliable mail-in voting. All of these initiatives will further erode trust in our election system. We all agree that we need thoughtful common-sense reforms to our election system, but this bill does just the opposite

Watch me speak in opposition to this bill here:

Read on to see more of what I have been doing in Congress on your behalf:

Introduced My Second Piece of Legislation

Last week, I introduced my second piece of legislation, H.R. 125. The bill works to rein in the Biden Administration’s executive overreach on the oil and gas sector by declaring that any policy-making action taken to address climate change should be undertaken by the legislative branch, not through the unilateral executive.

Our Nation does not need more dictator-style executive orders from President Biden. Already, he has unilaterally killed thousands of jobs with his plethora of executive actions. Our district is one of the main reasons a climate emergency is not needed. Thanks to American ingenuity and clean burning natural gas, the United States of America has already reduced CO2 emissions to a 20-year low.

The winter storm grid crisis in Texas demonstrated that our energy independence is too high of a cost to gamble away on the President’s far-reaching environmental extremism. We must oppose executive actions that will increase our dependence on foreign energy, increase consumer costs, and disadvantage the United States from adversarial nations such as Russia and China.

Read more about the bill here.

Energy Diplomacy Bill Passes Committee

Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) and I introduced a bi-partisan pro-energy bill that passed through the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The bill establishes an Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources within the U.S. State Department and ensures that American energy is a top priority of U.S. foreign policy.

Our nation is blessed with abundance of natural resources and strong innovative spirit that has dramatically re-shaped the global energy landscape and made the United States a world-leading energy producer. This bill will ensure energy security remains at the forefront of the U.S. foreign policy and help promote economic and resource development that will bolster our allies and interests abroad.

By ensuring that we are working in tandem with our partners across the globe to advance smart energy policies that promote trade, spur technology development, and advance an all-of-the-above energy strategy, we can better insulate ourselves and our allies from the malign efforts of Russia, Venezuela, and Iran.

Read more about the bill here.

Working to Bring Trevor Reed Home

Lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Michael McCaul (TX-10) and I introduced a resolution calling for the release of U.S. Marine Corps Veteran Trevor Reed, who is currently being detained as a political prisoner in Russia.

Trevor Reed is an eighth-generation Texan who stands to spend a decade of his life in a Russian prison for crimes he did not commit. These charges were clearly politically motivated, and the entire process has been a sham. We cannot tolerate American citizens being used as political pawns. President Putin must immediately release Trevor and end this nightmare, which has already lasted 567 days too long.

I joined Trevor’s parents on Fox News with Bill Hemmer to share Trevor’s story. Watch here.

Thank you for reading. It is the honor of my lifetime to serve you in Congress. Please follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for daily updates.

Supporting Meaningful Legislation

This week, I co-sponsored several important bills:

No Social Media Accounts for Terrorists or State Sponsors of Terrorism Act of 2021

Introduced by Andy Barr (KY-06)

This legislation corrects a loophole in the U.S. sanctions law that allows social media companies to provide services to terrorists, and state-sponsors of terrorism. The proposal gives the President of the United States the authority to prohibit social media companies from providing services to individual terrorists, terrorist groups or state-sponsors of terror.

PPP Flexibility for Farmers and Ranchers Act

Introduced by Jim Hagedorn (MN-01)

This bill would allow farmers and ranchers categorized as a partnership (LLCs, LLPs) to utilize gross income when calculating their PPP maximum loan amount. Currently, SBA only allows net income to be considered by farm partnerships, which results in a lower max PPP loan amount. Additionally, the bill contains a retroactive provision that allows producers who haven’t already had their loans forgiven to reapply for their PPP loan, and receive a check from their lender reflecting the difference they would've received if, in fact, the loan amount were to increase using gross income in their PPP calculations.

Working to Support Energy, Texas, Border Security, and Veterans

I signed onto numerous letters advocating for federal relief for Texas following winter storm Uri, national security, border security, vaccine rollout, veterans, and smart foreign policy.

Promoting an Alliance in Energy Cooperation

I joined my colleagues in sending a bipartisan letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel advocating for increased energy cooperation between the United States, Germany, and all European allies. Currently, over 45 percent of the European Union's natural gas is imported from Russia. This letter sheds light on the risks associated with relying on Russian energy, including the continued construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would give Russia even greater leverage over the security of America’s European allies.

Letter to President Biden on Sanctioning Iran

This letter urges President Biden to reconsider the possibility of lifting the sanctions in place as Iran is one of the longest standing countries listed by the State Department as a State Sponsor of Terrorism. We must protect American national security first and prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Title 42 Letter

With massive immigration overhauls by the Biden Administration, the crisis at the border is getting worse. Right now, Title 42 is one of the last protections for our border. Title 42 law gives the CDCthe authority to order border agents to quickly deport migrants due to the risk of increased spread of COVID-19. I have joined my Republican colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden urging him to preserve the title.

Letter to FBI Director Regarding Rep. Swalwell

I joined my Committee on Homeland Security colleagues in sending a letter to FBI Director Wray to brief us on the security and intel implications of Rep. Eric Swalwell’s relationship with a Chinese operative. For us to continue our work within the committee, is important for us to understand the extent of our nation’s intel exposure from this event.

TX Delegation Vaccine Allocation Letter

My Texas colleagues and I penned a letter to the CDC asking the agency to use more recent population estimates when making population-based vaccine allocations. We are concerned the rapid population growth of Texas is not being properly reflected as CDC officials continue to use U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey for 2018 to decide vaccine allocations instead of 2020 data. The CDC’s current estimates favor states such as California and New York who have seen their population decrease since 2018.

Letter to USDA

I joined my Texas Agriculture Task Force colleagues in asking the USDA to declare a Secretarial Disaster Declaration for Texas counties in order to provide relief for farmers & ranchers who faced insurmountable damage from winter storm Uri.

Letter to NPRC

 I signed on to a letter addressed to Archivist Ferriero referencing the growing backlog of unprocessed veteran records request with the National Personnel Records Center and asked the organization to properly update their system in order to keep up with the number of requests.

Tough-on-Cuba Letter

I joined Rep. Mark Green and Rep. Maria Salazar in sending letter to President Biden insisting that he maintain the same Tough-on-Cuba policies that were practiced in the Trump administration.

Rep. August Pfluger

Member of Congress