Last Saturday, I joined people across our community at several Lunar New Year celebrations, including the Lunar New Year festival at the Chinese Community Center in TX07. 

Before heading back to Washington, I headed over to the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, where I had the privilege of delivering more than 1,000 handmade valentines to Houston-area veterans.  This is the fifth year that students, teachers, and residents of the TX-07 made these cards, and they were a hit.  Our team also delivered valentines to the Sugar Land and Richmond VA outpatient clinics.

Across our community, we are grateful for the love of country our veterans have demonstrated, and my annual Valentines for Veterans program provides one small way to express our appreciation to them.  I hope the messages of love and gratitude brighten the days of all who receive them this year, and I am grateful to everyone who participated and helped spread the love this Valentine’s Day.

On Tuesday evening, the House reconvened, expecting to take up several measures, including a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, also known as FISA. 

Tuesday evening the House first voted on the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act, H.R. 5856, to reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act for five years and expand anti-trafficking programs.  The bill passed by a vote of 414-11.  Next, the House took up the partisan resolution to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas (H.Res.863), which, as you may remember, failed in the House just last week.  Once again, I voted no.  This time, however, it passed by a vote of 214-213. 

It was really disappointing to see this baseless, partisan impeachment move forward.  And it especially true where Congress has the responsibility to help address the situation at the border and the failings of our immigration with legislation.  Instead, Speaker Johnson and Republican leaders announced last week that they would reject a bipartisan border security deal that Senators have worked on for months—at the request of the Republican conference.  Instead of working with Democrats on a comprehensive solution, House Republicans instead chose this path.  Next, the House impeachment managers will present their case to the Senate.

On Wednesday, the House voted on a resolution condemning rape and sexual violence committed by Hamas in its war against Israel (H.Res.966), which passed unanimously.  The House next voted on whether to consider additional legislation—the SALT Marriage Penalty Elimination Act (H.R.7160) and a resolution denouncing the energy policies of the Biden administration (H.Res.987).  This resolution for debate on these bills failed to pass the House by a vote of 195-225.  As I’ve explained a few times this Congress, failure to pass a resolution to begin debate is rare. 

The same day, Speaker Johnson announced that the House would not consider the FISA reauthorization bill.  In anticipation of voting on the FISA bill this week, I participated in briefings about the program and the proposed reauthorization, including from National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, and other intelligence and law enforcement leaders.

As a result of the failure to pass the rule and the removal of the FISA bill, we concluded the week earlier than expected on Thursday, considering the Assad Regime Anti-Normalization Act of 2023 (H.R. 3202), which condemns the normalization of relations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and expands sanctions on the Assad regime.  I voted in favor of the bill, which passed the House 389-32.  We also voted on the Uyghur Policy Act of 2023 (H.R. 2766), a bill to authorize the Department of State to appoint a special coordinator to oversee federal policies and programs that affect Uyghurs; the Strengthening the Quad Act (H.R. 5375), which would create a parliamentary working group with the governments of Australia, India, and Japan, also known as “the Quad”, a group committed to promoting security, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region; and the Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act (H.R. 533), which expands the responsibilities of the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues to include countering Chinese disinformation about Tibet. I joined my colleagues in voting for all of these bills, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.

Finally, the House considered the Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act (H.R. 7176).  This bill eliminates a portion of the process for LNG exports from the United States.  It is an important issue for many people in our district and our region, as ours is home to a high concentration of existing and planned LNG export terminals, as well as producers of natural gas.

U.S. LNG exports are a vital component of our national security, shoring up our allies' energy needs, and an important tool in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by replacing outdated coal-fired power plants with natural gas plants that can use U.S. LNG. 

Under the current regulatory process, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is responsible for authorizing the construction and operation of LNG facilities and the Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for approving the exports once it determines that the export is in the public interest.  Countries with which the United States has a free trade agreement are exempt from the DOE determination because they are assumed to be in the public interest. 

The Biden administration recently announced that it would be reviewing the process for what goes into this public interest determination, pausing the five pending applications before the department while it reviews its criteria.  This has caused some concern in our district, and I have heard from many people about it.

This bill, which predates the Biden administration’s pause, would remove the public interest determination from the process entirely so that LNG could be shipped anywhere without a public-interest determination.  We considered this bill in the House Energy and Commerce Committee last year, and I voted against it in committee because of concerns about the scope of this bill.  This bill would potentially allow the export of U.S. LNG not only to our allies but also to our adversaries.  I continue to believe that decisions about whether to export these natural resources should involve a public interest determination that includes national security considerations.  A more tailored approach is necessary, which is why last year, I introduced the American Gas for Allies Act (H.R. 1497), which would extend the free trade agreement exemption to NATO countries to help our European allies end reliance on Russian natural gas. 

Because of my concerns about the bill, I voted no on the Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act which passed the House by a vote of 224-200.

As a reminder, you can always find a list of all of 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 Greater Leadership Overseas for the Benefit of Equality (GLOBE) Act of 2023, H.R. 4050, to build a framework into U.S. diplomacy to protect LGBTQ+ human rights worldwide and create a Special Envoy within the State Department to advise on LGBTQ+ human rights issues; 
• the Providing Realistic Opportunity to Equal and Comparable Treatment for (PROTECT) Rare Act, H.R. 6094, to broaden the set of information sources for determining coverage of certain drugs used in the treatment of rare diseases; 
• the Access to AEDs Act, H.R. 2370, to authorize the Department of Health and Human Services to award grants to local educational agencies to develop and implement a comprehensive program to promote student access to defibrillation; 
• the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act, H.R. 3106, to prohibit the non-consensual sharing of intimate altered images online; and 
• the Sergeant Manuel Sillas Gonzales Post Office Renaming Act, H.R. 7374, to designate a USPS facility in Fort Davis, Texas, as the “Sergeant Manuel Sillas Gonzales Post Office.” 

Congressman Colin Allred (TX-32) and I took the lead in drafting a letter to the Federal Trade Commission requesting an investigation into recent allegations of deceptive and unfair trade practices in connection with Medicaid eligibility determinations in Texas. 

And I joined my colleagues in a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra encouraging HHS and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to incorporate a voter registration question within the application workflow on HealthCare.gov. 

On Wednesday, the Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy held a hearing on challenges to reliable and affordable electricity focusing on grid reliability.  After the devastating impacts of Winter Storm Uri, peak demand in Texas has continued to grow by large amounts for each of the last three years.  I asked our panel of experts about how the current permitting structure slows deployment of new generation which allows us to meet our energy needs.  You can see our exchange here:

On Thursday, our Energy & Commerce Committee’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee held an important hearing on securing our communications networks from foreign adversaries.  It was timely and helpful in assessing the challenges and issues before us in this area.  You can see my questions here: 

This week, our Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus met with Neera Tanden, who currently serves as Domestic Policy Advisor to President Biden, where we discussed a range of issues important to people in our district, including student loans and FAFSA issues, immigration, and nutrition programs.

I always love seeing Houstonians on the Hill!  I was glad to visit with a few visiting Houstonians in and outside of the office, including representatives from the YMCA of Greater Houston and from Bee Busy Wellness Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in our district that serves patients in Harris and Ft. Bend counties.  I also enjoyed the chance to visit with University of Houston Chancellor and President Renu Khator about lots of different issues. 

Our Washington team met with many Houstonians this week, including representatives from the Texas Association of Community Health Centers and the National Association of Community Health Centers, several chapters of the American Federation of Government Employees, and the Texas Farm Bureau.  A few of the meeting highlights are pictured below with representatives of Fugro, the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1633, trustees from Fort Bend ISD and Alief ISD, and representatives of the Alliance for Childhood Cancer. 

And in Houston, Team TX-07 met with the Arc of Fort Bend County and attended events including the Society of Justice & Equality for the People of Sugar Land’s Civil Rights award event where Bricen on our team accepted the Civil Rights award on my behalf; the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce annual reception; and the Washington Avenue Super Neighborhood Meeting. 

The House has a district work period this week, and I am looking forward to spending some time at home.  Lots of important meetings and good things planned for the week ahead.   

The House will be back in session the following week to vote on legislation of some kind relating to government funding.  You may remember that Congress voted in January to continue government funding until March 1 and March 8 for various agencies.  While I hear that work is progressing on the fiscal year appropriations, it is not yet clear when we will consider these appropriations bills in the House.  It is quite possible we will vote for another short-term extension at the end of this month. 

I also hope that we will soon take up the national security supplemental appropriations bill that passed the Senate this week.  This bill, which passed the Senate with 70 votes, includes funding to support Ukraine in its fight to repel Russia and protect its people and sovereignty; security assistance for Israel; humanitarian assistance to provide food, water, shelter, medical care, and other essential services to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, Ukraine, and other populations caught in conflict zones across the globe; key regional partners in the Indo-Pacific; and operations in the U.S. Central Command, including combat expenditures related to conflict in the Red Sea.  While Speaker Johnson said this week he would not bring the bill for a vote, a vast majority of House members, including me, support this bill and are working to get it to the House floor.

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,