Dear Neighbor,

It was great to be home this week, especially to celebrate Mother’s Day!  Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms, stepmoms, grandmoms, and mother figures across the district!

It was great to get out and meet with visit with groups across town this week.  From an employee town hall at Phillips 66 to a meeting of the West U Rotary Club, I shared updates from Washington and heard from neighbors about the issues most on their minds.  I also spoke at the Broadband Communities Summit in Houston about relevant developments in Washington and the rollout of the infrastructure bill and congressional efforts to bridge the digital divide. 

On Tuesday, I was glad to join Houston METRO leaders and community representatives for a ribbon cutting in Gulfton to mark the completion of 2,500 universally accessible bus stops and to celebrate our community's efforts to make public transit accessible for all!

On Wednesday, I was glad to join leaders in Jersey Village to highlight $624,835 in federal funding for Jersey Village that I secured in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022, H.R. 2471.  The funding will replace water lines for approximately 55 homes in Jersey Village, including new sewer lines for approximately 25 homes.  I was glad to be joined by Jersey Village Mayor Bobby Warren, State Representative Jon Rosenthal (TX-HD-135), Jersey Village Police Chief Kirk Riggs, Jersey Village Fire Chief Mark Bitz, and other Jersey Village community leaders.  Protecting our community from flooding and natural disasters is a collaborative effort, and I thank our community leaders for joining me, and for their partnership and leadership.

I also had several meetings back home in our district office, including visits with Japanese Consul General Murabayashi Hirofumi, and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Special Representative Andy Berke about broadband rollout.  I also caught up in person with Briana, one of our spring interns in Houston!

Announcing the winner of the 2022 Congressional Art Competition for Texas’ Seventh Congressional District!

Audrey Huang from Memorial High School won this year’s competition for her painting, Freedom Soon, which will hang in the U.S. Capitol for the next year.  A panel of judges from the Houston art community, who judged the entries anonymously, without seeing artists’ names or schools, selected her painting as the winner.  Audrey’s painting depicted the challenges that many children have faced throughout the pandemic, while illustrating the hope that young people see for our future. 

Students from 12 different Houston-area high schools participated.  I am so impressed with the creative talent of our young neighbors, and look forward to seeing many of the entries on the wall of our district office this year!

Even though I was home in Houston, Congressman Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) and I introduced bipartisan legislation on Friday to help further the development of pediatric medical devices by reauthorizing the Pediatric Device Consortia (PDC) grant program and allowing profits for certain Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) devices. 

The PDC program brings together individuals and institutions to support pediatric medical device development, and assists scientists and innovators with technical and financial resources to improve the number of medical devices available to children.  I am glad to partner with Congressman Bilirakis in this bipartisan effort to bring beneficial treatments and technologies to children across our country.  To view the full text of the bill, click here.

On Tuesday, I will head back to Washington for another Washington work week.  The House plans to vote on several bipartisan pieces of legislation, many from the Science, Space, and Technology committee.  Of particular importance to Houstonians, we are planning to vote on Congresswoman Garcia’s bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 5302 Galveston Road in Houston, Texas, as the "Vanessa Guillén Post Office Building."

We just wrapped up Hurricane Preparedness Week!  Get your kit together, and learn more about local resources for getting ready for Hurricane Season next month.  Download our interactive PDF at: fletcher.house.gov/hurricanes.

As always, I am honored to represent you and I am here to help you.  Please call my office at (713) 353-8680 or (202) 225-2571 or email me at fletcher.house.gov/contact at any time to ask for assistance or share your thoughts.  My team and I look forward to hearing from you.

With best wishes,