Representative Lizzie Fletcher

Dear Neighbor,

The House was back in session, and I was back in Washington this week for what was supposed to be a full week of votes. As discussed below, the week did not go as planned in the House, and I am glad to send you this update on the week in Washington.

Another busy week in Washington. These are a few of the top issues on people’s minds in the Capitol.

The Trump Tariffs. On Wednesday, President Trump announced sweeping tariffs starting at 10 percent on all imports and an additional punitive tax for certain U.S. trading partners, including our major allies. In addition, his 25 percent tariff on foreign-made cars, trucks, and auto parts took effect on Thursday. By Friday, China had announced reciprocal tariffs, and the stock market had lost more than $6 trillion in value over the past two days, decimating the retirement savings and other investments for the roughly 60 percent of American families that own stocks.

Tariffs are taxes that American families—not foreign countries—pay. The tariffs are estimated to bring in $600 billion a year, which makes clear that prices will go up on goods Americans use every day, including food, clothes, gas, electronics, cars, furniture, building supplies, and more. Tariffs are taxes. And the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board says this is one of the largest tax increases in American history.

This new Trump Tax is not strengthening our economy or helping make life more affordable for Americans. It is doing the opposite. And in Texas, we will feel it. Texas is the second-largest importer, and we export more than any state, with $455 billion in exports in 2024.

Health and Human Services Firings. On Tuesday, the Trump administration fired 10,000 employees from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a massive reorganization of the department that has not been presented or explained to Congress. The people fired include scientists and civil servants who work to keep us safe from disease, protect us from harmful products, and carry out critical research to advance new cures and treatments. Whole departments and programs at the agency no longer have staff, including programs focused on gun violence research and prevention, occupational safety, HIV prevention, and more. The administration also cut all the staff at a program that lowers the costs of home heating and cooling going into the summer months. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) helps families afford to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Energy & Commerce Democrats have demanded that Secretary Kennedy appear before our committee. But this week we heard testimony that the damage already done may be irreparable. More on that below.

Booker Makes History. All across the Capitol, people were talking about Senator Cory Booker’s marathon speech on the Senate floor. I was glad to make my way to the Senate Chamber late Wednesday to watch a part of his speech, which lasted 25 hours and 5 minutes, breaking the record for the longest floor speech in modern history of the chamber. He began by saying, “I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able…. because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis…. These are not normal times in America. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate.” I agree with Senator Booker, these are not normal times. And each of us can show up, stand up, and speak up.

When the House convened on Monday, we took up a few non-controversial bills related to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and tax filing. The House passed the Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act (H.R. 517), which authorizes the IRS to postpone federal tax deadlines for taxpayers affected by a qualified state declared disaster and increases the automatic extension of federal tax deadlines for certain taxpayers. I voted for this bill, which passed 388-0. The House also passed the National Taxpayer Advocate Act (H.R. 997), which authorizes the National Taxpayer Advocate to appoint legal counsel within the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) to report directly to the National Taxpayer Advocate. Current Treasury Department rules prevent the National Taxpayer Advocate from hiring attorneys that report directly to the National Taxpayer Advocate. I voted for this bill, which passed 385-0. And I would note that the Taxpayer Advocate has been a helpful partner for people in our district. On Tuesday, the House passed the Disaster Related Extension of Deadlines Act (H.R. 1491), which amends the Internal Revenue Code to modify the statute of limitations on filing for a tax credit or tax refund in the case of declared disasters, ensuring that disaster victims are eligible for tax refunds and credits for three years after a postponed filing deadline. I voted for this bill, which passed 423-0.

On Tuesday, the House voted on the Rule for the week (H.Res. 282), and that’s where things went off course. As you have heard from me before, the “Rule” vote is a vote along party lines setting out the legislation the House will consider for the week and the rules that will govern debate—how long debate will be, whether and which amendments will be considered. This week, the Rule included consideration of legislation to repeal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regulations, to require proof of citizenship for voter registration, and to prevent federal district judges from issuing injunctive relief nationwide. (And I’ll have a lot more to say on those.) But the bill also included an unusual—perhaps unprecedented—provision to kill the vote on a resolution to allow members of Congress to vote by proxy for a limited time around the birth of a child, a bill the Speaker is required to bring to the floor because the bill’s sponsors successfully used a discharge petition to force a vote on the floor. (I’ve written about the discharge petition before. As a reminder, it allows House members to force a vote on legislation if they get 218 House members to sign the petition.) This week’s Rule included a provision to table that parental proxy voting resolution and to prohibit similar resolutions from being brought by discharge petition in the future. That vote failed 222-206, with nine Republicans joining all Democrats in voting against passage. Following this defeat, Speaker Johnson canceled votes for the rest of the week. So, the House took no votes after Tuesday.

As a reminder, you can always find a list of all of the votes I have taken for the district on my website.

On Monday, I introduced the Connecting Our Medical Providers with Links to Expand Tailored and Effective (COMPLETE) Care Act, H.R.2509, which would help primary care doctors improve mental health care access for Medicare beneficiaries. Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11), Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11), Congressman Steven Horsford (NV-04), and I introduced the bill as the Trump administration is actively cutting staff and programs at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the main government agency tasked with improving mental health across the country and addressing substance use disorders. Many patients with mental health concerns talk to their primary care doctors first about issues they are experiencing, but this can pose a variety of challenges for both the patient and the health care provider. If enacted, the COMPLETE Care Act would help primary care providers implement evidence-based integrated care delivery models into their practice and would provide mental health care services for Medicare beneficiaries by enhancing Medicare payment rates.

Expanding mental health care access is one of the most important things we can do to improve and save lives of people struggling with mental health issues, and this bill is an important way to build on our efforts to improve access to mental health resources.

This week, I also reintroduced with Congressman Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) the Consensual Donation and Research Integrity Act. This legislation establishes standards for registration, inspection, chain of custody, labeling and packing, and proper disposition of donated bodies, to ensure bad actors are unable to take advantage of donors and their families. While the process for donating a body for the purpose of organ donation is highly regulated and transparent, there is no federal law—and few state laws—governing the donation of a body or body parts for scientific research or educational uses. This bill will ensure that donor bodies are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve, while providing accountability and transparency.

I also co-sponsored several other pieces of legislation on issues important to our community this week, including:

the Do No Harm Act, H.R. 1954, to amend the Religious Freedom Act to prevent religion from being used in a manner that would result in discrimination or cause harm to others;
the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Funding Act, H.R. 2439, to authorize annual U.S. contributions to the UNFPA, which is critical to delivering life-saving health care, commodities, and gender-based violence protection services in more than 150 countries globally; and
a resolution supporting the goals and ideals of International Transgender Day of Visibility, H.Con.Res. 23.

This week, I helped lead a group of 150 members of Congress in sending a letter to

That's just one of the reasons I helped lead a coalition of House Democrats in an effort to restore this critical family planning program that Americans rely on and that the Trump administration is currently dismantling.

This week, as Reproductive Freedom Caucus Whip I joined Reproductive Freedom Caucus Co-Chairs Diana DeGette and Ayanna Pressley, Reproductive Freedom Caucus Task Force Chair Judy Chu, Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernandez and Chief Whip Nikema Williams, and author of the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act Congresswoman Sharice Davids (KS-03) in leading 155 of our Democratic colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., expressing deep concern about his recent actions to freeze tens of millions of dollars in funding for the Title X family planning funding program (Title X), the United States’ only federal program dedicated to family planning. The effort comes as the Trump administration announced plans to freeze almost $35 million in federal funds for 16 Title X grantees. You may not know it, but Title X was born in Texas Seven. It was introduced in the House by then Congressman George H.W. Bush. And It has enjoyed bipartisan support for years as an important program to help people get access to birth control and health screenings.

I also joined my colleagues in sending the following letters:

a letter to United States Attorney General Pam Bondi expressing concern regarding the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s (EOIR) decision to fire numerous immigration judges;
a letter to President Trump expressing outrage over his unprecedented dismissal of Commissioners Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and urging him to reinstate the Commissioners;
a letter to United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins expressing concerns regarding President Trump's Executive Orders mandating a return to in-person work and the lack of clarity around implementation within the Veterans Health Administration;
a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. urging him to reverse his decision to fire the entire 25-person staff of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP); and
a letter to President Trump urging him to repeal the Executive Order Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs, which strips away collective bargaining rights from 75 percent of the federal workforce.

In addition to these efforts, I also joined 202 of my House Democratic colleagues in a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia arguing against executive overreach and illegal dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in the matter of American Foreign Service Association, et al. v. Trump, et al. As the brief explains, by dismantling a federal agency authorized and repeatedly funded by acts of Congress the President’s directive violated Congress’s lawmaking and spending powers explicitly outlined in Article I of the United States Constitution. The unlawful shuttering of USAID undermines national security and causes irreparable harm to America’s global competitiveness. You can read more about our brief (and the brief itself) here.

On Tuesday, the Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee held a hearing on the FDA’s regulation of over-the-counter drugs. Normally, this hearing would have been a great opportunity to discuss the reauthorization of an important FDA program that reviews over the counter products that Americans rely on. As I mentioned above, HHS fired 10,000 workers across the agency on Tuesday, many of whom worked for the FDA. And while we were sitting in this hearing, we received reports that HHS employees were lined up outside their office building finding out whether they were still employed by swiping their badge at security. So, I asked my colleagues about that instead during the hearing.

Also on Tuesday, the Energy & Commerce Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee held a hearing titled “Aging Technology, Emerging Threats: Examining Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities in Legacy Medical Devices.” While there is merit to discussing ways to improve cybersecurity in aging medical devices, the irony of the timing of both of these hearings concurrent with the firing of thousands of highly skilled professionals and scientists at HHS was not lost on us. The actions we have seen from this administration are undermining the government’s essential function in keeping us safe, and the Congress is letting it happen.

During this unusual week, I was glad to see some friends from home. I was happy to have the chance to sit down with representatives from the National Association of Letter Carriers from the Houston area, including our TX-07 representative, to talk about priorities for postal service carriers and customers. It was also great to catch up with TX-07’s Rice University’s representative about things going on at Rice and talk about challenges facing universities these days.

It was also great to see some Houstonians just off the Hill! On Wednesday, I joined several Houstonians and people from across the country on the steps of the United States Supreme Court as the Court considered a case about whether Medicaid patients who want to get their annual exams, testing, and birth control at Planned Parenthood can do so. The law says they can: it’s in a provision in the law that says Medicaid beneficiaries may obtain services from any qualified Medicaid provider that undertakes to provide services to them. This case isn’t about abortion, which Medicaid does not pay for. It is about whether states can exclude providers and whether patients can sue over it. I was on those steps because Planned Parenthood is a trusted provider of health care in our district and because every American deserves access to high quality, non-judgmental reproductive health care at the place of their choosing.

Also on Wednesday, I was delighted to be named a Humane Champion by the Humane World Action Fund (formerly the Humane Society Legislative Fund) for my legislative record and advocacy on animal protection issues. Animal rights and animal wellness have always been near the top of the list of issues I hear about from constituents each year, and I am glad to bring your voices to Washington on these issues.

In Washington, Team TX-07 held more than three dozen meetings with constituents and groups advocating on their behalf, including nursing students and representatives of American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the American Dental Association, National Ocean Industries Association, NeighborWorks America, Jewish Federation, AIDSWatch, National Association of Workforce Boards, and Armenian Association of America, pictured below.

Back home in the district, our team was out and about, helping constituents and attending community events, including a visit to the University of St. Thomas and Fort Bend County Environmental Organization’s Earth Month celebration.

While I was home last weekend, I was glad to join Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones for a town hall meeting at Burnett Bayland Community Center in TX-07. It was great to hear from so many engaged Harris County residents and from the Precinct 4 Team about improvements across the area, including park improvements and transit. I was glad to field questions from constituents, along with other elected officials.

Later that day, I was glad to celebrate hope and new beginnings at House of Charity's 28th Annual Ramadan Distribution for newly arrived refugees in TX-07. I am so proud to represent this community working together to spread love, joy, and support to our new neighbors!

We have had such a great response to this weekend’s town hall meeting happening tomorrow with special guest State Representative Gene Wu at the Chinese Community Center that we have now reached full capacity for the event. If you weren’t able to RSVP before we reached capacity, save the date for our next town hall: Thursday, May 29, 2025.

Also, the annual Congressional Art Competition is underway! Submissions are due next week. High school artists in TX-07 can submit their art for the competition for a chance to have it displayed in the U.S. Capitol for the next year. To learn more, click here.

Save the Date: Team TX-07 constituent advocates will be at the Burnett Bayland Community Center on Monday, April 28 to help residents who need us! You can also visit fletcher.house.gov/casework or call my Houston office for help.

4.28 Constituent Services Pop-up Burnett Bayland

The House will be back in session next week, and I will be back in Washington. The House is expected to vote on the legislation that was planned this week. In addition, we may consider the senate-passed budget resolution if the Senate passes it this weekend. Whether that is what will actually happen is not clear, but I’ll let you know what happened on the floor and more in my next wrap up.

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. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,