Washington Week Wrap Up

Dear Neighbor,

After what is known in Washington as the August recess, Congress was back in session this week, and I was back in Washington. Here’s my Washington wrap up.

With the House and the Senate back in session, there is a lot to do this month and a lot on everyone’s minds, including the government funding deadline at the end of this month, the latest efforts from the Trump administration to take away funding Congress passed last year, and the continuing effort to secure the release of the Epstein files.

In recent weeks, people in Washington and across the country have been talking about the Trump administration’s failure to release information about the sex-trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. At the end of July, Speaker Johnson cancelled votes and sent the House home early to avoid voting on the Epstein files. At that time, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee forced a vote to issue a subpoena for the Epstein files. In response to the subpoena, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has provided tens of thousands of documents, almost all of which are already public. The bulk of the Epstein files are still at the DOJ, and they have not been provided to the Oversight Committee.

When we returned to Washington this week, Representatives Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) renewed their effort to force the Justice Department to release information about their investigation into Epstein which, unlike the current efforts, would require release of the complete files and set a deadline for doing so. This week, they brought what is called a “discharge petition” to force a vote on their bill. It needs 218 signatures. On Wednesday, victims of Jeffrey Epstein stood outside the Capitol with members of Congress and shared their stories and called on Congress and the Trump administration to release any and all documents related to Epstein. By the end of the week, the petition had 214 signatures (210 Democrats and 4 Republicans), including mine. The work to provide the transparency, accountability, and justice will continue.

With the federal government funding deadline looming at the end of this month (September 30), the House took up one of the 12 government funding bills that it must pass to fund the federal government. This week, the House considered the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2026 (H.R. 4553).

Overall, the bill provides $57.3 billion in funding for energy and water development activities, including programs at the Department of Energy, the Army Corps of Engineers, and other federal and state partner agencies. There are a lot of harmful provisions in this bill, but I will only highlight a few here:

The bill cuts the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) programs by $1.6 billion (47%). These cuts to EERE include cuts to the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), which reduces energy costs for low-income households by increasing the energy efficiency of their homes. Households that participate in WAP save on average $372 or more every year. Energy prices have increased by over 5% in the last year. House Republicans’ response to this is to cut the DOE's energy efficiency and clean energy programs.
The bill also revokes $5.1 billion of funding established in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for DOE programs that support hydrogen, direct air capture, carbon dioxide transportation infrastructure, battery recycling, and energy improvements in public schools. Cutting these investments will cede U.S. leadership in energy innovation and will hurt people who work here in Houston.

For these reasons and more, I voted against this bill, but it passed by a vote of 214 to 213.

The House also considered several resolutions under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). These resolutions are a way for Congress to overturn recently finalized rules from federal agencies and prevent agencies from issuing similar rules in the future. This week’s CRA resolutions would overturn three resource management plans finalized by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). CRA resolutions have never been used on BLM resource management plans, and many legal experts question whether this week’s resolutions are even legal. I voted against all three of these resolutions, which short circuit the public input process and leave BLM on unstable legal ground:

A resolution (H.J.Res. 104) overturning the “Miles City Field Office Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment.” The bill passed 211-208.
A resolution (H.J.Res. 106) overturning the “Central Yukon Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan.” The bill passed 215-210.
A resolution (H.J.Res. 105) overturning the “North Dakota Field Office Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan.” The bill passed 215-211.

Without much debate, the House also passed the Made-in-America Defense Act, H.R. 4216, to direct the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense to review defense articles and services that are currently restricted to the Foreign Military Sales program and assess whether they can be eligible for direct commercial sales; and the Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act of 2025, H.R. 747, to allow the U.S. government to impose sanctions on Chinese entities over fentanyl trafficking. I voted for both bills, which passed the House.

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

Since I last wrote you, I have cosponsored several pieces of legislation on issues important to our community, including:

the Hands Off Social Security Act, H.R. 4734, to protect Social Security benefits and ensure the continued effective operation of the Social Security Administration;
the Claws Off Social Security Act, H.R. 2999, to cap the Social Security Administration's overpayment withholding rate at 10 percent of a Social Security benefit per month.
the Protect Our Hospitals Act, H.R. 4807, to repeal the Medicaid Provider Tax provision of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which will allow states to continue generating the revenue needed for them to continue their Medicaid programs;
the Enhance Access to SNAP (EATS) Act, H.R. 4797, to expand SNAP eligibility to students who attend college part-time by amending the Food and Nutrition Act to eliminate the requirement that eligible students perform work study or 20 hours a week of outside employment to receive SNAP benefits;
the Expanding the VOTE Act, H.R. 4917, to ensure that everyone, regardless of their level of English language proficiency, can vote, by giving jurisdictions the resources to provide more translations of election materials;
the Reproductive Freedom for Veterans Act, H.R. 4876, to codify the right for veterans to access abortion care;
the Reproductive Rights are Human Rights, H.R. 4888, to require the State Department to report on reproductive rights in their annual country reports on human rights;
the Stop Comstock Act, H.R. 2029, to repeal provisions of the Comstock laws in the U.S. Code that anti-abortion activists want to misapply to ban abortion nationwide;
the Cool Corridors Act of 2025, H.R. 4420, to reauthorize and strengthen the Healthy Streets program to enhance the resilience, accessibility, and safety of the country’s transportation corridor; and
the Break the Cycle of Violence Act, H.R. 4103, to create a nationwide strategy to build safer communities and reduce gun violence by providing federal grants to community violence intervention and prevention programs.

As discussed above, I also signed a petition to force a vote in the House on a resolution requiring the release of the Epstein files.

I also joined my colleagues in sending some letters, including:

a letter to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie and House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chairman Morgan Griffith urging the committee leadership to demand hearings to address the recent firings at the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control and the risks to public health;
a letter to House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole and House Appropriations Labor Health and Human Services Subcommittee Chair Robert Aderholt urging the House Appropriations Committee to pressure the Administration to release more than $5.8 billion in K-12 and adult education funding still being illegally withheld from states and school districts across the country;
a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging the State Department to ensure the collective, protected, and dignified right of displaced Armenians to return to their indigenous homeland of Nagorno Karabakh;
a letter to now-former Internal Revenue Service Commissioner (IRS) Billy Long expressing concerns about casework impacts of reductions in force at the IRS;
a letter to Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano expressing concerns about casework impacts of reductions in force at the SSA;
a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. requesting additional information and clarification following his decision to disband the Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children;
a letter to Acting Federal Emergency Management Administration Administrator David Richardson expressing concern over the Trump administration’s failure to share a list of June Nonprofit Security Grant Program awardees with congressional offices;
a letter to President Trump pushing back on the administration-wide efforts to weaken federal disaster response and requesting that the president restore funding and staffing; and
a letter to President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi expressing concern regarding the Department of Justice’s release of guidance to implement President Trump’s EO 14224, which attempts to designate English as the official language of the United States

Amicus Alerts. During the August recess, I joined my colleagues in filing an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Chiles v. Salazar, a case concerning the question of whether Colorado's ban on mental health professionals engaging in conversion therapy for minors violates the First Amendment’s protections for freedom of speech. My colleagues and I urged the Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of Colorado’s ban on mental health professionals engaging in conversion therapy.

On Wednesday, the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care. There are many important AI-related issues to understand and legislate. Our witnesses shared their insights on the profound impact AI has and can have on the American health care system. While I believe that there are real opportunities and concerns around the use of AI that Congress should consider, I reminded my colleagues, that this hearing-once again—seemed to ignore the reality of the moment we are living in. We cannot ignore the real-time dismantling of our public health infrastructure and reduced access to health care for millions of Americans. We also must understand the limitations and risks of the technology, including its use to deny access to treatments and care, which I asked the witnesses about. You can watch my comments below.

Despite the heat, it was really good to be back home in Houston in August. I enjoyed the opportunity to see people all across the district for meetings and events. A few highlights are pictured below. I joined the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston and local community leaders for a Youth Advocacy Town Hall about the importance of working together to help kids in our community by engaging, educating, and empowering them, in Texas’ Seventh Congressional District and beyond. I welcomed global energy leaders to Houston as they kicked off the US-Africa Energy Forum 2025, building on U.S.-Africa trade and economic engagement, stimulating innovation, and developing partnerships for the future. With access to health care under attack, I visited the HOPE Clinic to highlight both the important work clinics do to keep our community healthy as well as the Medicaid coverage their patients rely on and need. I have opposed these cuts at every opportunity on behalf of our neighbors and our providers and will continue to do so. I also joined the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston for a roundtable discussion on what is happening in Congress and matters important to businesses in Texas’ Seventh Congressional District and all over the country.

Much of my time at home was dedicated to responding to the proposed, unusual mid-decade redrawing of Texas’ congressional districts. At President Trump’s urging, the Texas Legislature convened two special sessions this summer, prioritizing redrawing Texas’ congressional map with the purpose of diluting the voting strength of minority voters and, in turn, electing more Republicans to Congress, over all other issues, including flood relief for central Texas.

I testified before the Texas House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting about why this effort was wrong, urging them to reject the effort. As chair of the Texas Democratic Congressional Delegation, I explained to them that all but one of the 13 congressional districts in Texas represented by a Democrat has a majority-minority population, including all four of the districts in Houston; that in all 13 of those districts, minority voters elect their candidate of choice; and that those 13 districts are the only districts where minority voters—who make up more than 60% of the population of our state—consistently and reliably elect their candidates of choice. I made clear that to dismantle any of these 13 districts currently represented by Democrats would be intentionally diluting the voting strength of minority communities.

I testified that the legislators could not do so without harming Texans, and that they should not do so. It is against the law, and it is against the fundamental organizing principle of a democratic society that all citizens—not just the privileged few—have the right and the ability to have a say in our government. You can watch my testimony here:

Ignoring the thousands of Texans who attended hearings and registered their opposition to doing so and instead following the orders of President Trump to draw more seats designed to elect Republicans to Congress, the Texas Legislature passed a new law redrawing Texas’ Congressional districts and Governor Abbott signed it on August 29.

This redistricting effort and the resulting map is an affront to Texans in product, process, and principle. The map intentionally dilutes the voting strength of minority communities across Texas and betrays the principle that all Texans should have the ability to have a say in our government. I will continue to fight for fair maps for Texans and all Americans in all the ways I can—in Congress, in the courts, and in the community. And I will keep you informed here of the changes for our district that may result from this law, which is currently being challenged in court.

Over the last few weeks, our TX-07 team has been out and about across the district. Our team hosted several events, and teamed up with others to meet with and help our neighbors, including another successful Constituent Services Pop-Up at the HOPE Clinic and a passport fair at the Mission Bend Boys & Girls Club. Our team celebrated Senior Citizens Day with seniors at the Chinese Community Center, the Alief Community Center, and at another Constituent Services Pop-Up at the West University Senior Center. And our team attended dozens of events all around the district. There’s more to come! See the next section.

In Washington, Team TX-07 continued to meet with visiting constituents and groups advocating on their behalf—more than 60 of them—including the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, the American Academy of Neurology, Partners in Health Engage, Scientist Network for Advancing Policy, Tata Sons, Apache, Cheniere, Baker Hughes, and Exxon.

Our D.C. team also continued working on legislation and responses to your letters, getting ready for the busy fall ahead. They put together a useful timeline for the provisions of the recent budget bill and the dates that some of its provisions go into effect, which I sent a few weeks ago. If you missed the email, you can check it out here.

Our next Constituent Services Pop-Up will take place on Thursday, September 18 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Bellaire City Library. Stop by if you need help with a federal agency, or visit fletcher.house.gov/casework or call my Houston office at (713) 353-8680 for help any time.

9.18 Constituent Services Pop-Up Bellaire Library

On Saturday, September 27, our annual Military Service Academy resource fair will take place at the Tracy Gee Community Center. This is an opportunity for high school students interested in attending one of our country’s service academies and their families to meet with service academy representatives and learn more about the nomination and application process. If you can’t make it to the event and are interested in applying to a service academy, read more information about the nomination process here.

The House will be back in session, and I will be back in Washington next week. Currently, the House has plans to vote on the annual bill to authorize defense-related activities, the National Defense Authorization Act. I’ll let you know about that and update you on the end-of-month government funding deadline next week.

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,