This week, I joined my colleagues on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce for a three-day markup, where we debated sixteen major bills, and proposed amendments to them, passing fifteen of them out of our committee and sending them to the Budget Committee as part of the Build Back Better Act. 

Our work addressed critical issues for our community and our country—from health care, public health, clean drinking water, and air pollution to wireless connectivity, supply chain, manufacturing, and public safety.  Some of the highlights from the committee’s Build Back Better Act provisions include:

• Making Health Care more affordable and accessible by closing the Medicaid “coverage gap” by (1) providing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace cost-sharing reduction assistance to individuals with incomes below 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) beginning in 2022 through 2024 and (2) establishing a federal Medicaid program for individuals who reside in states that have not expanded Medicaid beginning in 2025, providing the same benefits and beneficiary protections to individuals as are provided by state.
• Addressing the maternal mortality crisis by expanding post-partum coverage for one year for pregnant women on Medicaid.
• Providing $130 million in Department of Health and Human Services grants for Home- and Community-Based Services improvements under Medicaid to provide health care services in familiar settings for people with developmental disabilities, physical disabilities, and/or mental illnesses.
• Investing in public health infrastructure, workforce, and preparedness.
• Adding coverage for dental, hearing, and vision care to Medicare, including routine preventative appointments and procedures, dental cleaning, hearing aids, glasses, contacts, and more.
• Providing more than $10 billion in funding for grants to upgrade existing 9-1-1 infrastructure to Next Generation 9-1-1 (digital-based 9-1-1 that creates faster and more resilient emergency systems) and to enhance the cybersecurity of our 9-1-1 systems.
• Adding $4 billion to the Emergency Connectivity Fund, established in the American Rescue Plan Act, to allow schools and libraries to purchase internet services for students, staff, and patrons for connectivity off of school or library premises.
• Appropriating $10 billion to the Department of Commerce to support critical manufacturing supply chains through mapping and monitoring, establishing voluntary standards and best practices, and identifying and promoting technological advances for critical manufacturing supply chains.
• Addressing the need for clean drinking water by investing $30 billion in replacing lead service lines in drinking water systems throughout the country.
• Incentivizing clean energy investments across all sources of energy.
• Curbing methane emissions.

On the last issue—the methane fee—I talked with people across our district about the various proposals made in Congress, and worked with the Committee Chairman and committee staff to address several concerns with implementation of the proposals while recognizing the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions generally and methane emissions specifically.  You can see my remarks explaining the work and my vote in the markup here. 

The first issue highlighted above is particularly important to Texas – expanding access to health care in the state that has the highest uninsured rate in the country.  In response to an effort to prohibit people from buying health plans that include abortion care, I shared my thoughts on why that is wrong, which you can see here.  And if you want to read more or watch the whole 39 or so hours of the markup (!)—or some portion of them—you can do so here.

Each committee in Congress has marked up various bills to be included in the Build Back Better Act, but much work remains to be done.  I’ll be back in Washington this week as we continue to negotiate provisions and work with the Senate to deliver a bill to the president’s desk.  If you have thoughts to share on the bill, I hope you will send them to me here.

Most of our work this week was focused on the Build Back Better Act.  But I was glad to join Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) and several of my colleagues in the Texas delegation in sending a letter to President Biden urging him to support the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) and asking the administration to issue a Statement of Administration Policy in support of the bill.

The COVID-19 positivity rate in Harris County is currently at 16.2%.  After being closed this week because of Hurricane Nicholas, Harris County Public Health’s COVID-19 vaccination and testing sites have reopened.  

If you have not yet been vaccinated, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo approved to extend the $100 cash card incentive for people who receive their first vaccine dose until September 30th, 2021.  As a reminder, COVID-19 vaccinations do not require insurance information or immigration status.

As I head back to Washington for the week, I want to remind you that next Sunday, September 26 at 4:00pm, I will be hosting a Telephone Town Hall where I will give a general update on what’s happening in Congress and answer questions directly from TX-07 constituents.  I hope you can make it!  You can RSVP here or by clicking on the image below.

I am proud to represent you and I am here to help you.  Please call my office at (713) 353-8680 or (202) 225-2571 or email here at any time to ask for assistance or share your thoughts.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,