If you’ve ever tuned into C-SPAN to watch the House Floor proceedings, or followed them in another way, you may have heard two terms: the “Previous Question” and “the Rule.”  I’ve talked about the Rule before, especially this year.  Here’s a quick primer:  In the House of Representatives, most major bills are considered through a multi-stage process involving special rules, which the House Committee on Rules issues each week to set the terms for debating and amending them.  The members of the Rules Committee debate the proposed rules for debate in committee, and once that work is complete, they debate them on the House floor.  As I have explained before, these votes are usually cast along party lines: the party in the minority usually objects to the rule because it doesn’t include certain amendments, or any amendments at all, because the bill itself should not go to the House floor, or because of some other reason.  (And, I should note, the Rules Committee is usually stacked to the advantage of the majority party, with far more members in the majority than the minority party.  This is one way the Speaker of the House controls what goes to the floor for consideration.)

During the rule debate on the House floor, a motion to call the “previous question” is a motion to end consideration of that matter, and usually occurs after an hour or so.  When the vote is called on the previous question, known to members as the PQ, members return to the House floor to cast their votes.  If the PQ fails, then the Speaker must recognize the Minority Leader for an hour to propose changes to the rule, offer additional amendments to the bill, or allow the House to consider voting on a different bill entirely.  In essence, it is a chance for the minority party to take control of the floor.  That’s why the I have never seen the PQ fail while I have been in Congress.  (In contrast, as I have written to you before, the Rule has failed several times this Congress, which is also quite unusual.)

Why am I explaining all this now?  Because this week, I was asked to speak on behalf of House Democrats on legislation we would bring to the floor should the Previous Question fail.  That is, in contrast to the bills and amendments we debated this week, which I discuss below, House Democrats proposed consideration of the Women’s Health Protection Act (H.R.12).  You can watch my remarks in the video below.

This week, the House considered two principal matters under the Rule: (1) the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025, H.R. 8070, along with more than 350 proposed amendments, and (2) a resolution recommending that the House of Representatives find United States Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in contempt of Congress for refusal to comply with a subpoena issued by the House Judiciary Committee. 

The House first considered the resolution recommending that the House of Representatives find United States Attorney General Garland in contempt of Congress.  This deeply partisan and baseless resolution against U.S. Attorney General Garland was wrong in both form and substance.  Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee introduced this resolution to hold Attorney General Garland in contempt of Congress for not turning over audio recordings of President Biden’s interviews with special counsel Robert Hur, interviews for which the Department of Justice has already provided transcripts and complied with other parts of the initial subpoena.  President Biden asserted executive privilege for the audio recordings—am established assertion of privilege that is governed by a memo from the Reagan administration, referred to as the Reagan Memo.  Once the President asserts this privilege, members of Congress must appeal to the courts for a ruling.  I know this because President Trump invoked it in response to subpoenas from the House during my tenure, and the House challenged the privilege in court, winning in several important cases.  This week’s effort to hold the Attorney General in contempt of Congress, circumventing the process and laying the blame on the Attorney General, was more an election year stunt than a legitimate concern.  For these reasons, I voted against the resolution, but it passed the House by a vote of 216-207. 

After this vote, the House began consideration of the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025, H.R. 8070.  The NDAA is a historically bipartisan bill package Congress considers each year to provide policy guidance for defense agencies, support our servicemembers, and strengthen our national security. 

It is typically a product of bipartisan negotiation and compromise.  This year’s NDAA passed out of the Armed Services Committee by a vote of 57-1, and I intended to support the bill.  I was concerned going into the week, however, because last year House Republicans added harmful, partisan amendments that turned the NDAA into a deeply partisan bill, destroying bipartisan support for the NDAA for the first time in decades and harming our brave servicemembers and their families.  And the same thing happened this week.  House Republicans introduced dozens of partisan, regressive, right-wing amendments—“poison pills”—to destroy the NDAA’s bipartisan support.  And the Rules Committee voted to allow these partisan amendments to be considered on the floor.  At the same time the Rules Committee rejected many bipartisan proposals to improve the NDAA and the lives of our servicemembers and their dependents, rejecting bipartisan efforts to help resettle our Afghan allies we promised to protect, to correct a longstanding prohibition that prevents medically retired veterans from receiving their benefits, to provide cancer screenings for civilian firefighters disproportionately exposed to PFAS chemicals, and to ensure women servicemembers have access to reproductive health care when needed.  For instance, one amendment would eliminate protections put in place under the Biden Administration to ensure the reproductive rights and freedoms of military families are protected, dismantling important measures the Department of Defense has taken to build and sustain a diverse, inclusive, battle-ready volunteer force.  In the end, the harmful provisions the House added this week fail to meet the needs of our military servicemembers and, for these reasons, I voted against the bill, which passed the House on a vote of 217-199. 

It is my hope that the Senate, which is currently working on its own version of the NDAA, will produce a bipartisan bill in line with the original bill from our Armed Services Committee and send it to the House for consideration.

We did consider and pass several bills outside of the Rule—or, “under suspension of the rules”—on a bipartisan basis, including a resolution originating in the Senate to enhance U.S. support for Tibet and promote dialogue between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Dalai Lama toward a peaceful resolution of the long-standing dispute between Tibet and China (S. 138).  We also passed the No Hidden FEES Act of 2023 (H.R. 6543), which requires short-term lodging providers to include each mandatory fee when displaying or advertising a price for a reservation and the WIPPES Act (H.R.  2964), which requires the Federal Trade Commission to label certain baby wipes, cleaning wipes, or personal care wipes clearly and appropriately to include Do Not Flush with an accompanying symbol to help protect our local waste systems. 

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

On Wednesday, Congresswoman Becca Balint from Vermont and I introduced the Juror Non-Discrimination Act of 2024, which explicitly bans discrimination in jury service on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.  While the Supreme Court has ruled that excluding jurors based on certain categories is unconstitutional, there is no explicit prohibition on discrimination in jury service on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.  The Juror Non-Discrimination Act adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes that cannot be used as criteria for exclusion from jury service, including race, color, religion, sex, national origin, and economic status.   

At home, members of our community celebrated the 100th Birthday of President George H.W. Bush, who represented our district in Congress for four years.  In Washington, I joined with a bipartisan group of Texas colleagues, led by August Pfluger from Midland, in sponsoring a resolution “recognizing the life, achievements, and public service of former President George H.W. Bush on the occasion of his 100th birthday.”  (H.Con.Res.113). 

I also joined my colleagues in sending letters on issues important to our community, including a letter to House Appropriations Committee leaders supporting full funding for airports to replace PFAS-containing firefighting foams and a letter to EPA Administrator Regan requesting an update to the timeline and functioning of the new chemical review process at EPA which will replace older, more risky and dangerous chemicals in the marketplace. 

On Monday, I joined several Houstonians and leaders from across our country for the White House’s Juneteenth concert and celebration.  I loved getting the chance to see so many of our community’s leaders on the White House Lawn, and to celebrate this national holiday, which originated in Texas and which is a national holiday because of the dedicated efforts of many Texans.  I was honored to be a part of the bill signing ceremony when President Biden signed this bill into law three years ago, and to be there to celebrate this week with elected officials Ft. Bend County Commissioner Dexter McCoy, State Representative Ron Reynolds, Controller Chris Hollins and many more community and national leaders from our area! 

Back in the office, I was glad to get a chance to visit with Houstonians advocating on a lot of different topics, including youth homelessness, energy policy, transportation policy, veterans’ issues, and more with representatives from Covenant House, American Exploration and Production Council, Sysco, and Paralyzed Veterans of America.

I also had the joy of talking with some outstanding students from our district who were visiting Washington, including the Texas History Day contest winners and our district’s newest Congressional Award recipient.  Two TX-07 students from Fort Bend ISD won first place in the Texas History Day Contest for their submission, The Capture of Life: The Daguerreotype and Its Impact on Art, and I loved hearing about their work and the competition while they were in town.  I also loved chatting with TX-07’s Congressional Award winner, who was in Washington to receive her Gold Medal, which is presented once each year in Washington at the Gold Medal Ceremony.  And, of course, I also enjoyed visiting with and congratulating all their proud parents!

The Congressional Award is the United States Congress’ award for young Americans. It is non-partisan, voluntary, and non-competitive.  Participants earn Bronze, Silver, and Gold Certificates and Bronze, Silver, and Gold Medals. Each level involves setting goals in four program areas; Voluntary Public Service, Personal Development, Physical Fitness, and Expedition/Exploration.  You can learn more about it here.

Lots of great meetings this week, too! 

I led the New Democrat Coalition Trade Task Force meeting with the CEO of the Gap, Richard Dickson, where we talked about several important trade matters and priorities for the trade agenda (as well as the annual Congressional Baseball game, which was this week). 

I also met with Lauren Miller, a Dallas resident and plaintiff in the Zurawski v. State of Texas case, who came to the Capitol this week to testify before the Senate about her experience under Texas’ abortion ban.  We met with other members from Texas and her team at of the Center for Reproductive Rights to discuss her experience, and what we can do to help.

Early in her pregnancy, Lauren was hospitalized and diagnosed with a condition posing significant risks to her and her pregnancy.  A few weeks later, Lauren learned that one of her twins had a condition that made it non-viable.  Doctors told her it was a question of when, not if, the twin would die, she told us, as she later told the Senate during the hearing.  Continuing the pregnancy without addressing it would put both her healthy twin and herself at risk.  After she was hospitalized again at 15 weeks, she traveled to Colorado to have what is called a fetal reduction abortion.  Because of the abortion ban in Texas, doctors could not perform that procedure or even talk with her about it.  I am grateful to Lauren for sharing her story not only with us, but sharing with the Senate and challenging the Texas ban in court.  Too many Texas women are not getting the health care they need because of this vague and restrictive law that puts their health at risk—something I talked about on the House floor that same day.

On Thursday, I had a great meeting with a small group of House members and Senators with Bill Gates, who came to the Capitol to discuss emerging energy technologies and his Breakthrough Energy initiative to accelerate innovation in sustainable energy and in other technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Later that afternoon, I joined my colleagues in the New Democrat Coalition for a briefing with Steve Ballmer who started USAFacts, an organization designed to get factual data to policymakers and the public about federal programs and government spending, where we reviewed the organizations 2024 Report to Congress.  

In Washington, Team TX-07 held nearly three dozen meetings with advocates and constituents, including with representatives of Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT), Harris County Public Libraries, Citizens Climate Lobby, the American Psychological Association, DOW Chemical, Moms Demand Action, Portland Cement Association, Greater Houston Builders Association, Memorial Hermann, Texas Chapter of the National Association for Music Education, American  Cleaning Institute, American Telehealth Association, Global Business Travel Association, Foundation of India and Indian Diaspora Studies, U.S. Public Health Service, and students from TX-07’s Institute of Chinese Culture and Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professionals who were in town representing Houston for the 2024 Junior Achievement - Social Innovation Challenge.  A very full week! 

And, back home in Houston, Team TX-07 contined to work to assist constitunets with all kinds of matters, and kept tabs on happenings in the district, including the Alief Neighborhood Center Pool Opening.

In case you didn’t see the news, this week, Vice President Harris and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra announced a proposal to eliminate medical debt from credit reports.  I was glad to hear about it in her remarks on Monday, because I have heard from so many constituents about both the burden of medical debt and its impact on their credit reports.  The data shows that the burden results in serious financial repercussions for American families, including restricting access to credit, increasing risk of bankrupt cy, creating barriers to housing and health care access, and negatively impacting health outcomes.  To address this, the administration is working with, and calling on, states, local governments, and health care providers to help reduce the burden of medical debt by preventing the accumulation of medical debt and protecting patients from aggressive debt collectors by expanding access to charity care; and protecting patients and consumers by limiting coercive debt collections practices by health care providers and third-party debt collectors.

Another ICYMI – with a tropical disturbance in the Gulf and Hurricane Season here, I know many of us in TX07 are preparing and wondering what this hurricane season will bring.  Next Tuesday, June 18, I will hold a webinar with representatives from the National Weather Service, FEMA, and TDEM to review this year’s hurricane outlook. 

You can sign up here.

I am glad to be headed home for a week in the district, and looking forward to spending time at home meeting with neighbors across the district next week. 

I’m also looking forward to being home for the Juneteenth holiday—to celebrate Juneteenth and all it represents, here in Texas and across the country. It is important to remember and learn from our history—all of it—and to work together every day to ensure the promise of America for all of its citizens.

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,