House Democrats are raising fresh concerns about how the Trump administration's funding freeze could impact cleanup of abandoned oil and gas wells. Why it matters: The IIJA allocated nearly $5 billion to remediate orphaned wells, a huge chunk of change for thousands of potentially toxic and methane-emitting sites across the country. Driving the news: In a letter to Interior Secretary… Read more »

The Brief Texas Democrats are calling for a detailed report from the CDC about how the agency is assisting with a measles outbreak in West Texas. The letter comes as the CDC is facing workforce and funding cuts and Texas deals with its worst measles outbreak in 30 years. The state health department reported 279 as of Friday. … Read more »

Many shoppers know about the so-called pink tax – a needless markup on products marketed to women, even if those products are essentially the same, just cheaper, when sold to men. Personal care items such as razors, deodorants and shampoo fall into this category. But shoppers may be less aware of “pink tariffs”, or taxes on imported goods labeled as “women’s items”. Pink tariffs are one… Read more »

The future of Army Corps projects along the Texas Gulf Coast, like the overhaul of flood control systems around Houston and the widening of the Houston Ship Channel, are in question after House Republicans on Tuesday passed a stopgap funding bill to keep the government open through September.  Their bill calls for reducing the Army Corps of Engineers' construction budget by $1.4… Read more »

Even tariffs on imported clothing can have a gender bias. A bill from two Democratic representatives would investigate the “pink tariff,” which encompasses the higher tax rates on imported items classified as women’s goods. The bill, reintroduced this session by Reps. Lizzie Fletcher of Texas and Brittany Pettersen of Colorado, would ask the Treasury Department to study these “pink… Read more »

After a series of severe hurricanes hit the Texas Gulf Coast and other U.S. coastlines last summer, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was nearing its limits. The agency was so strained, said Michael Coen, then its chief of staff, that it had to bring in officials from other federal agencies to help coordinate relief efforts in what would be the third costliest hurricane season on… Read more »

Each spring, the Congressional Art Competition provides high school students across the country, including those in Texas’ Seventh Congressional District (TX-07), represented by Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher, with a unique opportunity to have their artwork displayed in the U.S. Capitol. This nationwide contest, established in 1982, recognizes and encourages artistic talent among… Read more »

Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) led all Democrats in the Texas Delegation, February 14, in a letter to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Acting Director Matthew J. Memoli, M.D., M.S., requesting that the NIH withdraw changes to funding caps for research grants to allow lifesaving medical research to continue throughout the state. “Texas is home to multiple… Read more »

Politicians in Hurricane-battered Houston were less than enthused Thursday evening after news broke of the Trump administration's plan to cut the vast majority of staff at a federal office tasked with disaster recovery. First reported on by the New York Times, U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to fire as many as 84% of the workers employed by The Office of Community… Read more »

Earlier this month, Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, a Democrat from Houston, reintroduced legislation that would guarantee patients the right to obtain and use birth control and healthcare providers the right to provide and share information about it.  In theory, the legislation should be easy to pass: About 65 percent of U.S. women aged 15-49 use some form of contraception, and the… Read more »