The House was in session for a brief time this week to consider a partisan spending bill funding the government for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2025 (H.R. 1968).  I have written you many times about resolutions to continue funding the government while members of Congress on the Appropriations Committee negotiate spending bills.  While some claimed Congress was doing that again this week, we were not.  Instead, House Republicans brought a 100-page bill to the House floor that did not simply continue funding the programs at the current spending levels (which is what a continuing resolution actually is), but instead reduces funding for critical government programs and projects that people in TX-07 rely on.  For example, it:

• Cuts $280 million in funding for the National Institutes of Health, jeopardizing jobs and medical research conducted in Houston related to cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, and more;
• Cuts Army Corps of Engineers construction projects by $1.4 billion or 44 percent, which could include the Buffalo Bayou Tributaries Resiliency Study and the Houston Ship Channel Expansion (Project 11);
• Strips Congress of the authority to determine Army Corps project funding levels and instead gives the Trump administration discretion to fund projects;
• Fails to fund the Disaster Relief Fund, which is already in need of additional funding to assist with future disasters; and
• Cuts $40 million in election security grants despite House Republicans falsely claiming for years about stolen elections and voter fraud.

At a time when people across Texas’ Seventh Congressional District are concerned about the Trump administration’s cuts to government programs they depend on, this spending bill makes things worse.  It gives Elon Musk and President Trump an unprecedented level of discretion to make more spending cuts to health care, infrastructure, public safety, and more.  House Republicans’ bill cedes the authority of Congress and undermines the checks and balances that are necessary to our democratic system.  For these reasons, I voted no on the spending resolution.

Before we took that vote o the spending resolution, we took a procedural vote on whether to consider the bill that included an important and unusual substantive policy change.  As I have mentioned in the past, most major bills are considered through a multi-stage process and at the beginning of the week, the House votes on “the Rule” setting the terms for debating and amending legislation on the House floor.  These votes are usually cast along party lines: the party in the minority usually votes against the rule because it excludes certain amendments (or any amendments at all), because of substantive disagreements with the bill, or for some other reason.  This week, the Rule vote included a provision in the Rule (H.Res.211) that surrenders congressional power over raising tariffs to President Trump.  Coming at a time when President Trump is imposing broad tariffs under the guise of “national emergencies” under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the National Emergency Act, this provision is deeply problematic.  The authorizing law, IEEPA, contains a safeguard that provides that any Member of Congress can force a vote to terminate a declaration of emergency.  In recent weeks, House Democrats have introduced resolutions to do just that—force a vote on President Trump’s declaration of national emergency.  This week’s Rule bill included provisions to prevent the House from voting on these resolutions, surrendering Congress’ authority.  I voted against the Rule bill, which passed by a vote of 216-214.

After the House voted on the spending resolution, the House sent it to the Senate for consideration.  You have likely seen by now that the Senate has agreed to end debate on the bill and proceed to a vote, which is expected to pass.  I don’t think this is the right outcome—and I think the brinksmanship and partisanship that led to the false choice between a traditional government shutdown or a bill empowering Elon Musk and Donald Trump to continue their government shutdown of recent weeks is a disservice to Americans.  It did not—and does not—need to be this way.  But, I am observing a deeply disturbing trend in Washington of ceding the authority of Congress and consolidating power in the White House.  This is dangerous in any circumstance, and certainly in the circumstances we are in now.

This week, the House also considered the Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act (H.R. 1156) which extends the statute of limitations for defrauding the temporary pandemic unemployment compensation authorized in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act by five years.  While it might sound like a good idea to extend the time, it is important to know that at the end of January, President Trump fired the person who would be charged with overseeing the pandemic unemployment fraud cases and referring them to the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor (DOL) Inspector General, and that the bill cuts $5 million from a program set up by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to help the DOL detect fraud within the unemployment compensation program.  These actions are inconsistent with the purpose of cutting waste, fraud, and abuse.  For these reasons, I voted against the bill, which passed by a vote of 295-127.

The House also considered a Congressional Review Act (CRA) (H.J.Res.25) resolution overturning a recent Internal Revenue Service (IRS) final rule requiring cryptocurrency brokers to report transaction information to the IRS.  I voted against this resolution, which would weaken the IRS’s ability to enforce tax laws and clarify that the sale and exchange of cryptocurrency on decentralized exchanges are subject to reporting rules.  The bill passed 292-132.

As a reminder, you can always find a list of all the votes I have taken for the district on my website.

On Tuesday, I introduced the Pink Tariffs Study Act, which would require the U.S. Department of Treasury to conduct a study on potential gender bias and regressivity within the U.S. tariff system and report the findings to Congress.  Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen (CO-07) and I introduced this bill in the last Congress, and have introduced it again in response to reports that the U.S. tariff schedule places higher import taxes on women than men for the same or similar products, including razors and clothes.

As we are hearing more and more each day as the Trump administration imposes new tariffs, tariffs have a significant impact on the prices Americans pay for products every day.  Studies suggest that women pay, on average, three percent more in tariffs than men, and the difference is sometimes even greater.  Now, as President Trump has imposed tariffs and started a trade war with our trading partners, it is even more important that we understand how higher tariffs will raise costs for Americans, and American women in particular. 

I co-sponsored several other pieces of legislation on issues important to our community this week, including:

• the Department of Education Protection Act, H.R. 433, to protect the Department of Education from efforts to dismantle it by prohibiting the use of appropriated funds to be used to alter the structure and staffing of the Department of Education;
• the Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act, H.R. 1422, to strengthen secondary sanctions on foreign entities that engage in transactions related to Iran’s illicit oil trade; and
• a bill to Codify President Lyndon Johnson’s Executive Order of September 24, 1965 (11246), titled “Equal Employment Opportunity”, H.R. 989., to affirm nondiscrimination in government employment and in employment by government contractors and subcontractors.

I also joined my colleagues in sending several letters on issues important to our community, including:

• a letter to President Trump demanding that the Refugee Resettlement Program be resumed to administer and process applications for resettlement of Afghan allies in the United States;
• a letter, with my Texas Democratic colleagues, to Honorable Andrew Gradison, Acting Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Children and Families, urging the Office for Refugee Resettlement to release the hold on an estimated $36 million in federal funding for the Texas Office for Refugees (TXOR).  The impact of this freeze has led to widespread layoffs across several nonprofit organizations, impacted refugee resettlement programs across Houston, and resulted in a lapse in vital support services for the refugee community.  I am glad to report that since we sent our letter, HHS notified TXOR that its funding will be released. 
• a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick expressing concern over the recent mass layoffs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), asking a series of oversight questions regarding the layoffs and the Administration’s plans for NOAA’s core operations moving forward; and
• a letter to Office of Personnel Management Acting Director Charles Ezell condemning the Trump Administration’s illegal mass termination of probationary federal employees; and
• a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin requesting an immediate reversal of any planned cuts to EPA programs keeping our air and water free from pollution.

I also joined my colleagues in a legal brief—a friend of the Court brief—to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT) in a case challenging efforts to block participants in a state’s Medicaid program from accessing health care at the Planned Parenthood health centers.  Medicaid beneficiaries’ right to receive healthcare services from the provider of their choice, known as the the free-choice-of-provider provision, was enacted nearly sixty years ago.  We set forth the position of 238 members of Congress in the House and the Senate that the promise to Medicaid beneficiaries should be honored.

Did you, like me, forget to change your clocks last weekend?  Every year, I hear from a lot of people who want to change the practice of springing forward and falling back.  There is a lot of support for stopping the change, but there is a big split on which one is better.  Let me know what you think in this survey.

We are now taking applications for summer internships in our offices in Houston and Washington.  The deadline to apply is April 4.  Students interested in learning about government service and policy are invited to apply here.

The annual Congressional Art Competition is also underway!  High school artists in TX-07 can submit their art for the competition and a chance to have it displayed in the U.S. Capitol for the next year.  To learn more, click here.

I am looking forward to spending some time at home in Houston next week while the House is in recess, and I will head back to Washington the following week.  Next week, I’ll be meeting with people from across our district to talk about all kinds of things.  Please remember that I am always glad to hear from you and I am here to help you.  Just 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,