Dear Neighbor,

It was another eventful week for us at home and across the country.  I was glad to be home for many events and the start of Pride month, a time to celebrate living authentically in our diverse community in TX-07 and beyond.

This was a district work week, so I spent much of it visiting with neighbors about issues important to our community, from energy to health care to infrastructure to public safety.  But with everything going on, we did some important legislative work in Washington, as well.  Here are some highlights:

On Wednesday, I attended the kick-off for the Houston Ship Channel expansion project, Project 11.  It was a great morning with leaders from our community and federal partners from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Coast Guard, and the Department of Transportation celebrating the partnerships and collaboration that made this $1 billion expansion project possible.  I was glad to work closely with my colleagues in the last Congress to authorize this important project to widen and deepen the channel.  And I was glad to work with the Biden Administration to help secure the initial $142 million investment in the project as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

We were honored to have Assistant Secretary of the Army Michael Connor and Bill Paape, Associate Administrator for Ports & Waterways at the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration join us in Galveston for the event.  And I was so glad to join local and state leaders from our district and from across the region for this historic day.

More on the project:  A joint effort between Port Houston and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Project 11 will widen the Houston Ship Channel by 170 feet along its Galveston Bay reach, from 530 feet to 700 feet.  It will also deepen some upstream segments to 46.5 feet, make other safety and efficiency improvements, and implement new environmental features.  With innovative and aggressive investment and partnership, the Port Houston has expedited the process to complete the work by 2025. 

Our hearts are filled with grief and outrage after the shooting in Uvalde last week, and each day has brought news of more tragic shootings.  Responding to the urgency of the moment, the House Judiciary Committee returned to Washington to mark up a package of gun-safety bills collectively titled the Protecting Our Children Act, which I have co-sponsored.  This bill furthers the gun safety legislation the House passed earlier this Congress, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, H.R. 8, and the Enhanced Background Checks Act, H.R. 1446, which I also co-sponsored.  When we return to Washington this week, the full House will vote on these bills as we continue to work to make our communities safer from gun violence.  

In addition to co-sponsoring the Protecting Our Kids Act, H.R. 7910, I also cosponsored a resolution expressing support for the designation of June 3, 2022, as "National Gun Violence Awareness Day" and June 2022 as "National Gun Violence Awareness Month," H.Res. 1144. 

In other legislative work, our House Committee on Energy and Commerce has been hard at work on a comprehensive data privacy bill.  This week, House and Senate leaders released a bipartisan draft that strikes a meaningful balance on issues that are critical to moving comprehensive data privacy legislation through Congress, including the development of a uniform, national data privacy framework, the creation of a robust set of consumers’ data privacy rights, and appropriate enforcement mechanisms.  I am glad to have worked on this bill through the Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee and look forward to continuing to work to get this bill finalized.  If enacted, the American Data Privacy and Protection Act would:

• Grant broad protections for Americans against the discriminatory use of their data;
• Require covered entities to comply with loyalty duties with respect to specific practices while ensuring consumers don’t have to pay for privacy;
• Require covered entities to allow consumers to turn off targeted advertisements;
• Provide enhanced data protections for children and minors, including what they might agree to with or without parental approval;
• Establish regulatory parity across the internet ecosystem; and
• Promote innovation and preserve the opportunity for start-ups and small businesses to grow and compete.

Earlier this year, I announced TX-07 service academy nominees for 2022.  While I have the privilege of nominating students to service academies each year, final acceptance is determined solely by the service academies. I am thrilled to share that several of our TX-07 nominees been accepted to the academies!

U.S. Military Academy

Wyatt Cyprow, St. John’s School

Kevin Durney, Langham Creek High School

U.S. Air Force Academy

Alessandro Rivero, St. Thomas High School

U.S. Naval Academy

Kirsten Baxa, Mayde Creek High School

Samantha Murphy, St. Agnes Academy

Aaron Stein, Bellaire High School 

U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

Trinity Santasiero, Cypress Creek High School 

Mark your calendars!  I am hosting a webinar on this year’s hurricane season outlook and preparedness tips with the National Weather Service next Friday, June 10 at 11 a.m.  To sign up, click here. 

And I am happy to announce I will hold an in-person town hall on Saturday, June 18 at 12 p.m. to provide a mid-year Congressional update and to answer your questions.  

I’m headed back to Washington this week to vote on several important matters, including the Protecting Our Children Act (discussed above) and the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act to keep guns out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves or others by implementing a nationwide extreme risk law and encouraging states to enact their own extreme risk laws.

We will also vote this week on a very important bill for our district, the Water Resources Development Act of 2022, which authorizes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide information and advice on the removal of sediment obstructing inflow channels to the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs in TX-07, and which authorizes the Coastal Texas Protection and Restoration Project, known to us here in Houston as the Ike Dike, a $30 billion project for flood risk management and ecosystem restoration.  It’s important to note that this bill will authorize the project, a requirement for it to move forward, but this bill does not provide funding for the project.  Funding for approved projects is obtained through other legislation.  (A fun note: the Houston Ship Channel expansion project we kicked off this week is one we authorized in the last Congress in the Water Resources Development Act of 2020.)

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,