Representative Lizzie Fletcher

Dear Neighbor,

This was a short but busy week in Washington. I am glad to be back home and to share an update with you.

There were several important issues before the House this week. As usual, we started the week with bipartisan votes under suspension of the Rules, including the Enhancing Detection of Human Trafficking Act, (H.R. 443), a bill to require the Department of Labor (DOL) to train its employees on how to identify human trafficking and refer potential cases to law enforcement. I voted for this legislation, which passed by a vote of 407-0.

We returned to Washington this week knowing that the House would consider a partisan and unsupported resolution to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas (H.Res. 863). As you know, I have considered multiple impeachments during my tenure in the House. The effort to impeach Secretary Mayorkas represents a dramatic departure from more than two centuries of established precedent about the proper exercise of the extraordinary tool of the Impeachment Clause of the Constitution. Contrary to the resolution’s charges, there is not shred of evidence that Secretary Mayorkas has committed high crimes or misdemeanors. The evidence shows he has performed his duties in good faith. Impeachment is not the remedy for policy disagreements—especially where, as here, they are brought in bad faith. This bill failed to pass the House by a vote of 216-214, with three Republicans joining all Democrats in opposing and voting against impeachment.

It was particularly ironic because, at the same time that House Republicans advanced the impeachment resolution claiming that Secretary Mayorkas failed to secure the border, House Republicans rejected unilaterally a bipartisan compromise bill months in the making that was released last Sunday evening. You may have seen this in the news.

Since October, President Biden has requested, and I have supported, emergency funding for pressing national security needs, including assistance for our allies Ukraine and Israel, and for humanitarian aid in Gaza and around the world. Republicans insisted that this emergency funding bill include not only the border security funding that the President requested but also policy changes at the border. This week, as soon as the Senate announced a bipartisan agreement to accomplish these national security objectives and in advance of the anticipated Senate vote on this compromise bill, House Republicans announced they would not even consider it.

Instead, we witnessed a cynical political effort to advance a different bill for transparent political purposes: the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024, (H.R. 6126), which the House considered on Tuesday. By separating national security funding for our allies and eliminating humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations, including the Palestinian and Israeli civilians impacted by the violence of war, this bill failed to meet the moment and the needs of our allies who are waiting on us to act while tyrants and terrorists around the world are watching what we do.

I have and will continue to support efforts to provide security assistance to Israel and humanitarian assistance to those suffering and in harm’s way in Israel, in Gaza, and in the region. The partisan bill advanced in the House, however, undermines the longstanding, bipartisan support Israel has received in Congress. It undermines our national security and, by failing to provide funding for humanitarian assistance in the Middle East, undermines efforts for resolution and long-term peace in the region. For these reasons, I voted no.

This is not the time for these partisan political games. The world needs the leadership of the United States. Our allies need reliable assistance. And the American people need a Congress as serious as the moment we are living in.

I am glad to report that the Senate has now voted to consider comprehensive legislation that addresses our national security interests in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the Indo-Pacific region. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has announced that House Democrats are prepared to use every available legislative tool to make sure we get this comprehensive national security legislation with vital security and humanitarian assistance across the finish line. I am hopeful we will be able to consider it in the House very soon.

On Wednesday, the House voted on the Protecting Health Care for All Patients Act of 2023 (H.R. 485), a bill to prohibit the use of a cost-effectiveness measure quality adjusted life years (QALYs). While there is well-founded concern that QALYs could be discriminatory against Americans living with disabilities, federal law already prohibits Medicare from using QALYs in its coverage determinations and state Medicaid programs are required by law to cover all drugs. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) explicitly banned the use of discriminatory cost-effectiveness measures.

The bill presented this week includes language that would ban the use of any value measures by the federal government. These measures are critical for federal agencies such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), to negotiate fair prices for prescription drugs. When this bill was in front of the Energy and Commerce Committee, I supported a proposed amendment to the legislation to clarify the intent of the bill and make clear that nondiscriminatory measures of value are permissible, but the majority on the committee rejected that amendment.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that, if enacted, the bill would not only increase drug prices across federal health programs, it would also increase federal spending by $1.1 billion over the next ten years by eliminating an important tool to manage drug prices. In order to pay for this bill, Republicans proposed devastating cuts to the Affordable Care Act’s Prevention and Public Health Fund. This funding goes to our state and local health departments to improve public health and prevent chronic diseases. Cuts to funding for this important public health program harm the very people proponents claim this bill it protects. For these reasons I offered a Motion to Recommit, which is a legislative tool that allows the minority to offer a last-minute amendment to a bill on the floor and send it back to committee for consideration.

My amendment would have prevented this bill from taking effect until the Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Director of the Office of Personnel Management certified that it would not result in an increase in prescription drug prices or an increase in patient costs in the United States. I am sorry to say that my amendment failed by a vote of 210-207. I voted no on the bill, which the House passed by a vote of 211-208.

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

This week, I co-sponsored a resolution recognizing the cultural and historical significance of Lunar New Year in 2024 (H.Res.1002). I also joined colleagues in a resolution expressing support for democracy and human rights in Pakistan (H.Res.901).

I joined my colleagues in a letter to House leaders expressing support for robust funding for child care in the Fiscal Year 2024 funding legislation and in any future supplemental funding package.

On Tuesday, our Energy & Commerce Committee subcommittee on Energy, Climate, & Grid Security held a hearing on the U.S. Department of Energy’s recent announcement that it will pause issuing permits while it reviews its process for making determinations about whether some liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports are in the public interest. In the last 8 years since the first modern LNG export facility came online, the U.S. has become the world’s top exporter of natural gas. In this hearing, we discussed how LNG exports can lead to a future marked by affordable, accessible, reliable and sustainable energy for the energy transition and how to protect local communities and public health through the permitting process.

We had lots of Houstonians on the Hill this week! Some highlights are pictured below, including meeting with Houston’s IRS Taxpayer Advocate Gina Smith to review the National Taxpayer Advocate’s semi-annual report to Congress on the state of the IRS; visiting with representatives of the Energy Workforce and Technology Council; visiting with Michael Murphy, President of Texas Children’s Hospital, representatives from the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and Harris Health. I also had a chance to sit down with leaders from two important educational institutions in TX-07, University of St. Thomas President Richard Ludwick and, Rice University’s Senior Director of Government Relations Nathan Cook, to discuss issues in higher education, including federal student aid.

On Tuesday, I joined my colleagues in the New Democrat Coalition for a discussion with Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra on the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which Congress passed and President Biden signed into law last year. The IRA allows the Secretary of HHS the power to negotiate drug prices for Medicare so that it can lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors. This critical step is estimated to lower drug prices by at least 25 percent, saving seniors and taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and ensuring that people with Medicare get better, fairer prices for prescription drugs. It will also save the federal government an estimated $100 billion over the next ten years. Just last week, the Biden administration announced that it had sent initial offers to participating drug companies for the first ten drugs selected for price negotiation–a milestone in implementing the IRA. These ten drugs alone cost seniors $3.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs in 2022.

With Secretary Becerra and Rep. Marc Veasey from Ft. Worth

On Tuesday evening, I met with the Congressional Study Group on Europe at the Residence of the Belgian Ambassador. As a Co-Chair of the Congressional Friends of Belgium Caucus, I met with Ambassador Jean-Arthur Régibeau of Belgium; Ambassador Birgitta Tazelaar of the Netherlands; Ambassador Miloslav Stašek of the Czech Republic, and several members of Congress to discuss the importance of U.S.-EU transatlantic ties, Belgium’s priorities as it assumes the Presidency of the EU Council, and supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia.

Some Team TX-07 highlights this week: In Washington, Team TX-07 met with lots of constituents and groups, including representatives from Special Olympics Texas; Habitat for Humanity Houston; the Independent Bankers Association of Texas; and the Houston Community College System pictured below.

And in Houston, Team TX-07 hosted another successful constituent services pop-up, this time at the West Gray Metropolitan Multiservice Center. Our team also met with the Gulfton Citizen Advisory Council; attended Baker Ripley’s Verizon Learning Center ribbon cutting; participated in the Harris County Women's Commission Public Meeting with Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones, the Southwest Management District Chinatown Public Safety Meeting, and the West End Civic Club Meeting.

Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the U.S. economy added 353,000 jobs in January, far exceeding initial expectations of 180,000. The report also found that wage growth for workers in 2023 grew to 4.5 percent, and inflation fell to 2.6 percent over the last six months. This is the 36th consecutive month of job growth—job growth every single month since President Biden took office and more than 14 million jobs created during this administration! With unemployment below four percent for two full years, this is the longest stretch of low unemployment in half a century, and I am glad that our labor market and economy remain strong.

Saturday is Lunar New Year! I am glad to join the many families in TX-07 in celebrating the Year of the Dragon. Wishing all who are celebrating a year of luck, strength, and prosperity!

I will be back in Washington next week and look forward to sharing an update with you then.

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,