As I said in my brief remarks, Sylvester Turner personified what it means to be a Houstonian—to believe in possibility, to work hard to make that possibility reality, and to share the results of that effort with others.  In his presence you could always feel the love for the city that we call home and for all the people who live here.  Among the many tributed, the Houston Chronicle published an editorial noting that his life embodied the American dream and Houston's history like no other.  We were lucky to have his service to our community for decades—including as a state representative, as Mayor, and as a member of Congress—as we were lucky to have his example to learn from and to inspire us.  My heart goes out to his beloved family, his devoted staff, and all those across our community who are grieving.

This week, much of the focus in Washington was anticipating and responding to the President’s address to Congress on Tuesday, discussed below.  In addition, developments in foreign affairs, developments in lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s recent actions and orders, and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office’s evaluation of the House Republican Budget Resolution the House passed last week were a major focus in Washington this week.

Foreign Affairs

Following last week’s disastrous meeting in the Oval Office, President Trump suspended the delivery of all U.S. military aid to Ukraine, estimated at more than $1 billion in arms and ammunition manufactured in the United States that were on order.  The Trump administration also announced that United States has paused intelligence sharing and military targeting information with Ukraine.  Also this week, President Trump imposed 25% tariffs on about $1 trillion of imports that Mexico and Canada send into the United States each year.  By Thursday, Trump had signed executive orders suspending some of them for goods that fall under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA), which we passed in the last Trump administration.

CBO Score for Budget Resolution

This week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) responded to a request and confirmed that the Republican budget, which House Republicans passed last week, would require deep cuts to Medicaid.  It found that, over the next decade, after excluding Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), only $135 billion is available for cuts from the Energy and Commerce Committee’s jurisdiction—which is less than one-sixth of the $880 billion in cuts the Republican budget resolution requires the Energy and Commerce Committee to make.  This leaves only cuts to Medicaid to meet its goals.

The House Budget Committee’s Democratic members have put together a summary of what the proposal will mean for our district here.

On Tuesday night, President Trump addressed a Joint Session of Congress.  As the representative for our district, it was important to attend—to hear the President’s report to Congress, especially in light of the recent actions of the administration and concerns in our district.  What we heard was not presidential.  President Trump put forward a vision for our country that undermines the Constitution and the Congress.  His address continued a pattern of lies intended to divide Americans.  Despite his claims, what he has done during his first six weeks has harmed our community and what he intends to do will harm it even further.  He has delegated authority to an unelected, unvetted, and deeply conflicted billionaire campaign donor, Elon Musk, who has created chaos and confusion by gutting government departments, freezing funding, and accessing Americans’ confidential, sensitive data.  He has started a trade war with our closest trading partners—Canada and Mexico.  And he has abandoned our European allies, including Ukraine, and has sided with Russia and North Korea, betraying our democratic values and risking our national security. 

While he claims to be working to bring down prices, his policies do the opposite.  In the longest Joint Session speech in our history, President Trump spent less than two minutes talking about lowering the cost of living.  He spent a lot of time making false, demeaning, and divisive statements.  I have expressed my concerns to you before—as so many across the district have to me—that statements President Trump has made and the actions he and his administration have taken dangerously divide Americans and undermine the Constitutional separation of powers and the checks and balances that are essential to the functioning of our democratic society.

This week, the House considered three resolutions under the Congressional Review Act (CRA).  As I have discussed in previous emails, these resolutions are a mechanism for Congress to overturn recently finalized rules from federal agencies.  This week, the House passed the three following resolutions on agency rules regarding air pollution standards for rubber tire manufacturing, certification and labeling requirements for consumer products, and protecting marine archaeological resources:

• H.J.Res. 61, Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) relating to "National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Rubber Tire Manufacturing," which overturns EPA’s rule setting higher standards for previously unregulated hazardous air pollutants.  EPA’s cost-effective rule protects public health while minimizing impacts to the rubber tire industry.  I voted against this resolution, which passed by a vote of 216-202.

• H.J.Res. 42, Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Energy (DOE) relating to "Energy Conservation Program for Appliance Standards: Certification Requirements, Labeling Requirements, and Enforcement Provisions for Certain Consumer Products and Commercial Equipment," which overturns DOE’s rule updating certification requirements for products under DOE’s appliance standards program.  Manufacturers need clear certification requirements to demonstrate their compliance with agency standards.  This CRA will only create confusion.  For these reasons, I voted no.  The resolution passed by a vote of 222-203.

• S.J.Res. 11, A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) relating to "Protection of Marine Archaeological Resources" which would overturn BOEM’s rule requiring offshore energy producers to include an archaeological report with their exploration and development plans.  While I am aware of some concerns with the provisions of the rule, I voted no because this CRA remedy is not the best way to amend the rule and address those concerns.  The resolution passed by a vote of 221-202.

On Thursday, the House also considered a privileged resolution to censure Congressman Al Green for statements he made during President Trump’s Joint Address (H.R. 189).  (In case you missed it, Representative Green responded to the President’s claim that he had a mandate from the people and Representative Green rose and said the President did not have a mandate to cut Medicaid, after which Speaker Johnson removed Representative Green from the House Chamber.)  House Democrats offered and I voted for a motion to table consideration of the resolution, but the motion failed and the House considered the resolution.  I voted against the resolution to censure Representative Green because the House had a remedy of removing him from the joint address and had already used it.  I would also note that, when Republican members Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert heckled President Biden at last year’s State of the Union address, there was no censure resolution and no removal from the chamber.  Until recently, Congressional censure was reserved for cases of severe ethics violations by a member of Congress, not violations of decorum in the Chamber.  This censure reflects a dangerous effort to silence criticism of President Trump under the guise of preserving decorum.  For all these reasons, I voted no.  The resolution passed by a vote of 224-198.

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

In Washington, Team TX-07 held more than three dozen meetings with constituents and groups advocating on their behalf, including Rice University students with the Council of Undergraduate Research, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Association of Critical Care Transport/Memorial Hermann, Breakthrough Type One Diabetes, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Houston Food Bank, Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies, National Bleeding Disorder Foundation, COPD Foundation, and Texas Credit Union Association.  Back home in the district, our team was out and about across the district, helping constituents and attending community events, including State of the City of Sugar Land, Grand Opening for the Wellness Institute of Neurodevelopment, Jewish Federation Women’s Philanthropy Event, Alief AARP Chapter 3264, GHP International Women’s Day Luncheon, the Alzheimer’s Association Houston & Southeast Texas Chapter and Burnett Bayland Stakeholder Meeting pictured below.

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.  Please share with any TX-07 young artists who might be interested.

Next week, the House will be back in session and I will be back in Washington.  Government funding runs out next Friday, March 14 at midnight.  Congress must pass legislation to avoid a government shutdown.  As I mentioned last week, House Republicans have not engaged with House Democrats to develop the legislation we need to accomplish these ends.  As a result, I still have not seen the House Republicans’ proposal to fund the government.  Published reports indicate that Republicans intend to offer and pass partisan legislation without any support from Democrats and that the bill may be circulated over the weekend or early next week.  I will, of course, keep you posted on these and other developments.

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,