Last week, late Wednesday night through the early hours of the morning Thursday, while most of the country was asleep, House Republicans passed their big ugly budget bill through the House of Representatives.  With more than 1,000 pages and only a few hours to review them, House Republicans, with an assist from President Trump, worked through the dead of night to jam one of the most consequential and disastrous bills in memory through the House.

The bill is not fiscally responsible.  It grows deficit spending and adds trillions to our national debt over the next 10 years.  The bill is not morally defensible.  It takes from the poor to give tax cuts to the rich.

House Democrats fought back, in committees—in mine, we pulled an all-nighter the week before in a 26 hour markup of some of this big budget bill’s provisions—in the Rules committee, and on the floor.  In the end, the vote was 215-214-1.  And now it is on to the Senate, which will make its own changes and send it back to the House.

So, we can’t give up.  We will continue to fight the provisions in this bill that are so devastating—like kicking eligible Americans off Medicaid, eliminating tax credits that make health insurance more affordable, defunding Planned Parenthood, taking away food assistance and more.  We will work in all the ways we can to make sure people know that this bill will hurt communities across the country, and we are trying to defeat it.  The odds aren’t in our favor, but we won’t stop trying.

Last week, after the vote, I got a text from a dear friend with a photo and flashback from seven years ago.  To the May night in 2018 that we won the Democratic primary runoff for TX-07.  We did so through the collective efforts of a broad coalition of people that knew the stakes, did the work, and believed in the promise.  

Six months later, in November 2018, Democrats won back the House majority—and we made history together as I became the first Democrat in more than 50 years and the first woman ever elected to represent our district in Congress.  It wasn’t easy.  It wasn’t guaranteed.  In fact, many people told me it wasn’t possible to win.  But we did.

Since then, we’ve faced historic challenges.  But we’ve also shown what’s possible when we work together.  Time and again, we’ve seen that making progress depends on all of us.

This month has provided so many more stark reminders of what’s at stake in our country right now.  And why our work—your work—matters.  If you’re in a position to make a contribution before the May end-of-month fundraising deadline tomorrow night, your support will help us not just to hold this seat, but to help take back the House in 2026.

If this month has shown us anything, it’s that Democrats must take back the House.  And if our TX07 races in 2018 and after show us anything, it’s that we can.

Together, we can do anything,