U.S. House Republicans moved on Wednesday to cut a $3.3 billion federal program meant to reconnect inner-city neighborhoods that were spliced decades ago by the construction of interstate highways, including Gulfton and Kashmere Gardens in Houston.
The move threatens the future of the Houston project, one of more than 75 across the country, which would create tree-covered sidewalks in… Read more »
Houston-area seniors and elected officials are increasingly alarmed at longer wait times on the phone and in-person at Social Security offices, fearing that the Trump administration is pushing more staffing cuts and potential slashes to benefits.
Calls to Social Security offices spiked 65% in March, year over year, department data shows, and many are waiting more than two hours on the… Read more »
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”… Read more »
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… Read more »
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… Read more »
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… Read more »
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 »
