Dear Neighbor,

As many of us celebrate Easter and Passover, I send warm wishes to you for a joyous day and Holy Season—a time of reflection, of hope, and of peace.

We have spent another challenging week together—apart—as we see the devastating impact of COVID-19 in the United States and around the world.  And while Houston and Harris County have not experienced the same impact as some other regions of the country, we are experiencing devastating loss and disruption that will impact our community into the future.  Sadly, our Congressional district appears to have the some of the highest number of cases in our region, and I know all our thoughts are with our neighbors who are ill and who are grieving loss of friends and family.

I also know you join me in gratitude for those on the frontlines of the pandemic, those who are working around the clock to provide essential services to our community and risking their own health and safety to do so.

I keep all this in mind in the work that I do every day on behalf of our district.  I remain committed to advocating for the needs of our community, and I wanted to share a few highlights from the last week with you.

It is clear that small businesses and non-profit organizations across our community are seeing devastating impacts from the pandemic.

On Wednesday, I hosted my second webinar with the Small Business Administration to address questions about COVID-19 grant and loan programs.  Although Congress passed $377 billion the CARES Act to provide critical loan and grant assistance for small businesses across the country, there are challenges to implementing these programs and many still have questions about how to access funding.

The webinars have provided important and useful information for people across our district thanks to our SBA Houston Region Director Tim Jeffcoat.  Both webinars filled up quickly, so I am hosting a third webinar next Friday, April 17^th at 12:00pm.  You can RSVP here to secure your spot, and if that date does not work for you, please know that we will schedule more in the future and that my office is here to help you. 

In case you missed my prior email, my team and I have prepared a Small Business Guide to help navigate different funding opportunities available and the application processes. 

I was also pleased to announce this week that more than $1.7 million in funding Congress authorized through the CARES Act is coming directly to community health centers in our district: Houston Area Community Services, Inc. will receive $912,080 and Saint Hope Foundation will receive $886,700.  These health care providers are working around the clock to combat COVID-19; they are on the frontlines of this public health emergency.  I am these centers have received this funding so they have the resources they need to care for their patients during this time.  I know our community will need more resources, and I will continue to work to get them.

I continue to work with our delegation and with members of Congress across our country to advocate for the needs of Texas’ Seventh Congressional District.

This week, I announced that I will lead the effort in the House of Representative as the lead House sponsor of bipartisan legislation to support our energy sector by providing $3 billion in funding to purchase crude oil produced in the United States for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  Domestic production of oil and natural gas is essential to our national security, our economy, and our energy future, including our ability to drive innovation and production of cleaner energy.  Our neighbors who work in the energy business are facing an unprecedented challenge that will have long-term ramifications for our energy independence, our economy, and our energy future.  I will file the bill in the House next week, and it Senator John Hoeven will introduce it in the Senate.  We have a bipartisan group of co-sponsors in both chambers, and I am optimistic we can move this legislation forward together.

Our Transportation and Infrastructure Committee convened for a call to discuss our legislative priorities.  We are working to introduce a comprehensive infrastructure bill and to move forward with the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which is critical to our area as we are working to authorize the project to widen and deepen the Port of Houston.

I participated in many other calls with my colleagues this the week to talk about our local response to COVID-19, including our bipartisan Houston delegation call; calls with state and local officials, including the Texas Department of State Health Services, the Texas Workforce Commission, and Harris County; and a call with the Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services to discuss community-based testing sites in Houston and Harris County. 

I also joined with colleagues in sending letters to Congressional leadership about important priorities this week, including:

• Ensuring that Texas maintains the same level of Medicaid services and funding to help our most vulnerable populations and protecting this program from any funding cuts.

• Calling for future coronavirus response legislation to include provisions that make health care more affordable.

• Urging increased federal funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps low-income households to pay for utilities like air-conditioning in the summer.

• Reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act in the next COVID-19 legislation to help those who are now even more vulnerable to increased instances of domestic violence.

I also joined in letters to the administration:

• Asking President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence to ensure that the administration and federal agencies distribute coronavirus public safety guidance and other critical information in multiple languages.  The City of Houston and Harris County have done so, and this multi-lingual information can be accessed here and shared.

• Demanding transparency from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) about redirecting or seizing personal protective equipment (PPE), tests, and other essential medical supplies ordered by states, hospitals, and other health care providers as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

And I joined a bipartisan, bicameral letter to the directors general of the World Health Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to take the action the necessary to end the threat to human health associated with the wildlife trade responsible for COVID-19 and other diseases like SARS, MERS, Bird Flu, Swine Flu, Zika, Ebola, and even HIV/AIDS that can be traced back to close contact between wildlife and people.

The weeks ahead will continue to be trying for us all, even as we work together to get through these difficult times.  Stay home.  Work safe.  Keep social distance.  And please remember that my team and I are here to help.  If you need anything, you can submit a request for help through my website, you can send me an email here, you can call my office at (713) 353-8680, and you can find an updated list of resources on my website.

I am proud to represent you, and I am here for you.