This week the House continued organizing for the next Congress, and took up two principal pieces of legislation, as well as several bills under suspension of the rules.

The House considered and voted on the Prove It Act of 2024, H.R. 7198, a bill that requires federal agencies to estimate any “potential indirect costs” a proposed rule would have on “small entities.”  Current law defines “small entities” as small businesses, nonprofits, and certain state and local government entities, but this bill significantly expands this list.  It also gives the Chief Counsel of the Small Business Administration (SBA) the power to review proposed agency rules that affect this expanded list of “small entities,” sole discretion to determine if the proposed rule in question has a significant economic impact on small entities, and the authority to nullify any rule for small entities upon a determination that the agency proposing the rule did not adequately assist in the review.  Setting these tight deadlines, using overbroad definitions, establishing a system that cannot possibly function, while failing to provide new funding for the SBA to carry out these new analytical and procedural requirements made this bill deeply problematic.  Still, the bill passed the House by a vote of 208-196.

The House also considered and voted on the Crucial Communism Teaching Act, H.R. 5349, a bill that directs the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit chartered by Congress in 1993, to develop a civic education curriculum that compares how communism, totalitarianism, and similar political ideologies conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy.  Although the Department of Education is prohibited from dictating curricula, Congress has advocated for bills in the past that authorize independent entities to develop resources for school use on topics of interest– such as the Never Again Education Act (2020), which authorized the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to develop resources on the Holocaust.  The bill passed the House by a vote of 327-62.

The House also voted to pass several bills under suspension of the rules, including the America’s Conservation Enhancement Reauthorization Act of 2024, S.3971, a Senate bill that reauthorizes important habitat and wildlife conservation efforts across the country, building on previous efforts to protect wildlife and wildlife habitat by reauthorizing the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Establishment Act, and the Chesapeake Bay Program. This reauthorization also provides much needed technical improvements and administrative streamlining to these existing programs.  This legislation also addresses the emerging threat of wildlife diseases, works to protect livestock from predators, and combats invasive species. It passed the House by a vote of 366-21.  The House also passed the Shirley Chisholm Congressional Gold Medal Act, S.4243, to award posthumously a congressional gold medal to Shirley Chisholm, as well as a bill to rename a USPS facility in Corpus Christi, Texas, after Captain Robert E. Batterson, H.R.10065.

I still co-sponsored legislation on issues important to our community this week, including: 

• the Saving the Civil Service Act, H.R. 1002, to protect the civil service system from political manipulation by prohibiting changes to the classification of positions in the competitive service and expected service unless certain conditions are met;
• the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act, H.R. 7127, to provide federal employees with a 7.4% pay increase in 2025; and
• the Equal COLA Act, H.R. 866,  to revise the formula used to calculate the cost-of-living adjustment for annuities paid under the Federal Employees Retirement System. 

In Washington, Team TX-07 held a dozen meetings with constituents and groups advocating on their behalf, including College Ave and #TX07 Girl Scout Maryam who is working on her democracy badge.

Back home in the district, our team hosted a successful constituent services pop-up event at the Alief Neighborhood Center.  As usual, our team was out and about across the district, helping constituents and attending community events, including a ribbon cutting, a grand opening, the Asian Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 board swearing-in ceremony, the City of Houston’s Office of Intergovernmental Relations holiday event, the Energy Corridor’s Holiday Tree Lighting, pictured below. 

Reminder:⏰ Medicare Open Enrollment closes tomorrow, Saturday, December 7, 2024.  Make sure you and your loved ones on Medicare have reviewed the options at Medicare.gov.

It’s flu and cold season!  Take it from me—you don’t want to be sick!  Make sure you’re up to date on your flu and COVID vaccines.  The best way to protect yourself and your loved ones is to get the vaccines recommended for you.  To find vaccines available near you, visit vaccines.gov. 

With annual benefits elections and Medicare and ACA Open Enrollment underway, I want to hear from you about the health care issues that are your priorities and concerns.  As a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce with jurisdiction over health care matters, it’s especially important for me to hear from you about issues of all kinds – from patient protections to physician reimbursements to privacy matters.

I hope you will fill out my survey at this link and let me know your thoughts and priorities.

Being sick meant that I also had to postpone our year-end town hall planned for this week.  With the busy holiday schedule in mind, our team is looking for a new date after the first of the year for a recap of the 118th Congress and a look ahead to the 119th, which convenes on January 3, 2025.  We will keep you posted on the new date as soon as it is set.

I am looking forward to returning from Washington to deliver Winter Wishes to our senior neighbors again this year.  I welcome anyone who would like to participate by making or signing cards to join us.  You can sign up here.

Also, for students and their families interested in learning more about attending the United States Military Academy at West Point, West Point admissions officers will hold an information meeting on Sunday, December 22 from 2 to 5 p.m.  For more information, click here. 

The House will be in session again next week, and we have a lot of important work to do before the end of the year.  We are still waiting for more information on the extension of government funding before year’s end and the annual defense authorization bill, both of which we expect to consider in the next two weeks.  Next week, we know we will take up several bipartisan bills, including the Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved (JUDGES) Act of 2024 (S. 4199), to create new federal district court judge positions between 2025 and 2035, including 13 new district judges in Texas, in all four judicial districts over the next 12 years, with four in the Southern District of Texas (Houston).  I’ll, of course, keep you posted in next week’s report.

As always, 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.

Best wishes,