Dear Neighbor,

After another bust week on the Hill, I am glad to be home in Houston to share this report with you.

We said farewell to our Fall 2021 interns in Washington this week.  It’s always great to have interns engaged in our work in Houston and Washington.  We are all looking forward to welcoming our new interns after the first of the year.  And now is a good time to think ahead to who you know who might want to apply for a summer internship! 

This week in the House, we passed several important pieces of legislation—more than 30 bills throughout the week, most with overwhelming bipartisan support.

Among the important bills was S. 610, the Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act, which prevents harmful cuts to Medicare providers across the country, including so many health care professionals in our district.  Just last week, I signed on to a letter to Congressional leaders urging this action, and I will continue working for a durable way to stabilize and safeguard Medicare.

The House also passed S. 1605, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022, which will authorize—among other things—a pay raise for military families, a historic 32 percent increase in military research and development funding, and funding for Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders to be relocated.  This bill addresses the ongoing surge in sexual assault complaints in the military by taking sexual assault and other serious crimes out of the chain of command to be investigated by independent prosecutors.  Keeping our country safe means investing in our servicemembers and this bill does just that.

On Thursday, the House passed H.R. 5314, the Protecting Our Democracy Act, I am an original cosponsor of this bill to restore our system of checks and balances, strengthen accountability in government, protect our elections, and prevent presidential abuses.  This bill’s purpose is to restore transparency, integrity, and accountability—and with them, Americans’ faith in our government.  

Of the many bills that I voted for this week, and which passed the House with strong bipartisan support, here are a few highlights for members of our community:

• Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Prevention Act, H.R. 1667, a bill to provide resources and support for healthcare workers who face burnout and mental health crises, named after Dr. Lorna Breen, an emergency room director at New York Presbyterian Hospital who died by suicide in April 2020 at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act, H.R. 3537, a bill that awards grants to certain small drug manufacturers to cover the cost of investigational drugs for the prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, treatment, or cure of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), research associated with the investigational drug, and the provision of the investigational drug to patients not eligible for clinical trials.  It also establishes a Public-Private Partnership for Neurodegenerative Diseases to support the development of treatments for ALS and other rare neurodegenerative diseases, facilitate access to investigational drugs for such diseases, and create a grant program at FDA for rare neurodegenerative disease research and development activities. 
• Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, H.R. 1155, a bill to impose sanctions on people or entities that contribute to forced-labor practices in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China and ban the importation of goods presumed to be made using forced labor. 

As a reminder, you can see my full voting record with links to the bill on my website.

I was glad to co-sponsor several bills this week, including:

• Postal Service Reform Act of 2021, H.R. 3076, to address the finances and operations of the USPS by requiring the Office of Personnel Management to establish the Postal Service Health Benefits Program for USPS employees and retirees.
• H.R. 6202, a bill to amend Titles XI and XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish requirements for the provision of certain high-cost durable medical equipment and laboratory testing; to extend and expand access to telehealth services, to expand patient access to telehealth and chart a path forward for the continuity of telehealth services beyond the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) period.

On Tuesday, I participated in the Science, Space, and Technology Joint Environment/Research Subcommittee legislative hearing on PFAS chemicals titled “Forever Chemicals: Research and Development for Addressing the PFAS Problem” to discuss the role of federal research and development and to expand public understanding about PFAS.

On Wednesday, our Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a legislative hearing titled “The Future of Biomedicine: Translating Biomedical Research into Personalized Health Care” as we look to deepen our molecular understanding of the biological processes that govern human health and disease.

On Thursday, our Energy and Commerce Consumer Protection Committee held a legislative hearing on how to build a safer internet titled Holding Big Tech Accountable: Legislation to Build a Safer Internet.  As a member of both the Communications and Technology Subcommittee and the Consumer Protection Committee, I have participated in meetings each of the last two weeks to discuss algorithms, data privacy, child safety—all of which have an impact on the way we use social media and other big tech platforms.  We are working hard to address the many challenges they present.

Once again, I was glad to meet with constituents and those advocating for them in person and virtually from D.C.  I particularly enjoyed meeting with Scout Troops 740 and 1974 from TX-07 earlier this week to talk about government and citizenship and to answer their questions.

Building on the success of our Valentines for Vets program, we have begun a new Winter Wishes program.  Our district team was thrilled to pick up some cards from TX-07 students this week!  Once all cards are submitted, we will deliver the cards to senior citizens throughout TX-07. 

District representatives for the United States Military Academy let me know that they will hold an information session about applying to West Point next Sunday at St. John’s School.  Each year, I have the honor of nominating young leaders to attend the U.S. military service academies.  This session will be a good opportunity to learn more about the process of applying to West Point. 

Last but certainly not least, I hope you will join me on Tuesday, December 14 for a year-end Telephone Town Hall. I'll provide a summary on all we have been working on in Congress this year and answer your questions.  I hope you will be there.  You can register at the link below.

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,