This week, the House and Senate passed a resolution to continue funding the government until December 20 of this year, H.R. 9747.  Once again, we successfully averted yet another threatened government shutdown.  This short-term extension of funding extends current funding and provides critical protections and programs that people across our community and country rely on.  As I have said time and again, keeping our government funded and functioning is a fundamental responsibility of Congress.  While I supported this legislation, I hope that, moving forward, House Republicans will work in good faith to fund our government in a responsible manner before the December 20 deadline.  It is important that we do so, as our community and others seek critically important disaster relief funding and funding for our community’s priorities.

The House also considered several other bills this week.  On Tuesday, we voted on the Fix Our Forests Act, H.R. 8790, which would grant federal agencies expanded authorities to take preventative action against wildfires by creating fireshed management areas where action to manage fire risk would be exempt from environmental review and shielded from legal challenges.  While several provisions of this bill would help to mitigate wildfire risk, other provisions had the potential to undermine basic protections for public lands and reduce opportunities for public input.  For these reasons, I voted against the bill, which passed the House by a vote of 268-151.

On Wednesday, the House voted on the Sanctioning Tyrannical and Oppressive People within the Chinese Communist Party (STOP CCP) Act, H.R. 3334, which would require the President to impose broad sanctions across top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) if they develop policies that violate Hong Kong’s autonomy, increase aggression toward Taiwan, or oppress Uyghur Muslims.  Although I share the underlying concerns with PRC’s policies regarding Hong Kong, Taiwan, and transnational repression, this bill is designed to undermine any chance of high-level dialogue with Beijing for the long-term—which would hinder our national interests and increase the likelihood of conflict, while having little to no discernible impact on the issues this bill seeks to address.  For these reasons, I voted against the bill, which passed the House by a vote of 243-174.  The House also considered the Keeping Violent Offenders Off Our Streets Act, H.R. 8205, which would amend the federal insurance fraud statute to define “the business of insurance” to include posting any form of monetary bail.  This bill targets nonprofit bail funds and does nothing to address violent crime.  For these reasons, I voted against the bill, which passed the House by a vote of 255-161.

The House also considered a partisan resolution condemning the Biden administration, specifically President Biden, Vice President Harris, and several senior officials, for the withdrawal from Afghanistan, H.Res. 1469.  Introduced just last week, without going through the House Foreign Affairs Committee as it should, this nakedly partisan and political resolution failed to acknowledge that the United States had already committed to a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and set it in motion, during the Trump administration, reducing the number of U.S. troops to just 2,500 when President Biden took office.  Instead of honoring our troops who served in Afghanistan, protecting Afghan allies who served alongside our troops, or supporting Afghan refugees who’ve resettled in Houston and across the country with meaningful legislation, House Republicans appear to be using the war in Afghanistan for political gain.  For these reasons, I voted against this resolution, which passed the House by a vote of 219-194.

The House also considered several bills under suspension of the rules, which passed on a bipartisan basis, and I am glad to highlight a few here.  On Monday, we passed the Building Chips in America Act, S. 2228, which will maximize the impact of the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act by making modest changes to clarify the scope of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews for projects which receive CHIPS Act funding, speeding the siting and construction process while ensuring funded projects still undergo all necessary environmental reviews.  We also voted for the NASA Reauthorization Act of 2024, H.R. 8958, which would authorize $25.2 billion in FY25 funding for NASA and allow contracting with US commercial providers to conduct missions on the International Space Station.  We also passed the Seniors' Access to Critical Medications Act, H.R. 5526, which I cosponsored, which will allow people on Medicare to receive their medications by mail by allowing doctors to send it without fear of violating federal law.

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 several pieces of legislation on issues important to our community, including:

• the Improving Seniors Timely Access to Care Act, H.R. 8702, to streamline and modernize the prior authorization process under Medicare Advantage;
• the National Gun Violence Research Act, H.R. 9253, to create a national research program to support gun violence research and accelerate the translation of research into effective policy interventions; 
• the Uterine Cancer Study Act, H.R. 9782, to require the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institute of Health to coordinate to study and report on the relationship between hair straighteners and uterine cancer;
• a resolution commending state and local governments championing reproductive rights as human rights, H.Con.Res.130; 
• a resolution expressing concern about the spreading problem of book banning and the proliferation of threats to freedom of expression in the United States, H.Res. 1499; and
• a resolution expressing support for the designation of September 10, 2024, as “National Firearm Suicide Prevention Day” to educate about the growing firearm suicide crisis in the United States and promote the importance of storing firearms safely and securely as an essential component of suicide prevention, H.Res.1432.

This week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky came to Washington to meet with President Biden and Vice President Harris and congressional leaders to discuss support for Ukraine.  As you may recall, Congress approved a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine in April, which expires on September 30, at the end of the fiscal year.  The Biden administration has requested that Congress grant an extension to the Presidential Drawdown Authority to allow more time to spend the remaining $5.5 billion in aid set to expire at the end of this month.  Unfortunately, the House recessed without doing so, leading President Biden to announce an $8 billion aid package to allocate the funding before the authorization expires, including an additional $2.4 billion in security assistance through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative under the Department of Defense.  I have supported emergency funding for assistance to ensure Ukraine can continue to protect itself from Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression, and will continue to do so.  

I am always glad to see Houstonians on the Hill!  I was glad to have the chance this week to meet with the representatives from the American Society of Addiction Medicine, Associated General Contractors, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and the American Society of Hematology who were in Washington to advocate on a variety of issues. 

And it was great visiting with a large group of Texans, Ipas Partners for Reproductive Justice, who were in Washington this week to discuss the effects of the Texas abortion ban. 

In Washington, Team TX-07 held more than two dozen meetings with constituents and groups advocating on their behalf, including American Coalition for Ukraine, The Beer Institute, American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons, Solar Energy Industries Association, Carbon Capture Coalition, Jupiter Power, and Dr. Steven Pei, UH Professor and Co-Founder of the Asian Pacific American Justice Taskforce, pictured below.

Back home in the district, our team was out and about across the district, helping constituents and attending community events, including City of Houston’s 2024 Houston Disability Celebration and Alief National Night Out pictured below.

Your vote is your voice in our democracy.  For Texans, the last day to register to vote for the November 5, 2024 election is October 7.  You must register to vote by this date to be eligible to vote in the November election.  To register to vote or to check your voter registration status, click here.  To learn more about voting in TX-07, visit fletcher.house.gov/voting. 

With official proceedings in the House largely on hold until mid-November, the Weekly Wrap Up will be on hold, too.  But you will still hear from me!  And you can always reach me and our team by calling my office at (713) 353-8680 or (202) 225-2571 or by emailing here at any time.  We are always glad to hear from you.

Best wishes,