In the News

‘Pink tariffs’ cost women more than $2 billion a year

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President Donald Trump is using tariffs to disrupt nearly everything about the global trade order. Except for a tariff policy that favors men over women. For decades, the US tariff system has taxed women’s clothing more heavily than men’s. Tariffs on women’s clothing are currently about three percent higher than men’s, a policy that’s known as “pink tariffs” — similar to the “pink tax”…

Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher’s Town Hall for Texas’ 7th District Successfully Concluded

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A town hall meeting for Texas’s 7th Congressional District, organized by U.S. Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher, was successfully held at the Chinese Culture Center. This event also featured special guest speakers, including Texas State Representative Gene Wu and Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher. Congresswoman Fletcher shared valuable and diverse insights, which were well received…

Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher Statement on President Trump’s Latest Executive Order To Erase, Rewrite, and Propagandize The History of the United States

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Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) released the following statement, March 28, after President Trump issued an executive order relating to the Smithsonian Institution and calling for the replacement of memorials and monuments removed since 2020, largely Confederate war memorials often installed in the twentieth century during the Jim Crow era. “As Americans, we have a long and deep…

Will Trump’s tariffs come with a pink tax?

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The U.S. is in the midst of a trade war. And, as consumers and companies brace themselves for the war’s fallout, concerns are growing that resulting high prices from tariffs will hit women harder. President Donald Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico and an additional 10 percent on Chinese goods. The tariffs, which went into effect March 4, are expected to…

Dems press Interior on orphaned wells

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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…

Texas lawmakers call for CDC transparency amid measles outbreak

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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. …

‘Financial microaggressions’: why ‘pink tariffs’ hurt women more than men

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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…

Army Corps projects like Houston Ship Channel expansion uncertain under GOP spending bill

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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…

Women’s clothing is often more expensive — and it’s partly due to tariffs

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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…

Trump’s layoffs could hinder disaster response in Texas as hurricane season nears, critics warn

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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…