One Year of the Trump Administration.  This week marked one year since President Trump’s inauguration.  This week gave many the chance to reflect on the dramatic changes that the year has brought.  From the very first day of the second Trump administration to today, it has been a year of chaos, confusion, and cruelty.  I will continue fighting to protect the people of TX-07 from the administration’s abuses in Congress, in the courts, and in the community. 

President Trump’s Nonsensical Threats and the World’s Response.  Conversations in Washington were dominated by President Trump’s repeated expressed desire to acquire Greenland—a territory of our NATO ally, Denmark.  President Trump attempted to coerce our European partners into complying through shocking and embarrassing threats of military force and tariffs.  Great damage has been done from these careless, chaotic statements and speeches, which are increasingly untethered to reality.  In response, the European Parliament suspended the approval of the European Union’s trade deal with the United States.  Leaders of our allied nations spoke out against the United States as an unreliable partner.  The careless hostility toward our NATO alliance disrespects not only our allies but also decades of work and sacrifice by Americans to bring peace and stability to the world, from the American soldiers who stormed the beaches at Normandy to the diplomats and others who have spent the last 75 years building bridges and securing the peace.  It is more than embarrassing.  It is devastating.  And it is dangerous.

DOGE Staffers Referred to the Department of Justice.  On Tuesday, news broke that the Social Security Administration reported two DOGE employees for Hatch Act violations after discovering that they were in contact with a political group seeking to use Social Security data to overturn election results.  The Hatch Act bars government employees from using their official positions for political purposes.  Trump administration officials have often openly violated the Hatch Act, but this offense—which could involve using Americans’ most sensitive data for the most nefarious of political purposes—represents a different level of unforgivable misconduct.  It is also exactly the type of behavior I sounded the alarm about early on in the Trump administration when these unelected, unaccountable DOGE staffers first gained access to Americans’ data.

Special Prosecutor Jack Smith Testified Before Congress.  On Thursday, Republicans brought former Special Counsel Jack Smith before the House Judiciary Committee with the intention of discrediting his investigation of President Trump’s scheme to overturn the 2020 election and keep classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after leaving office.  This was the first time Smith has had the opportunity to testify publicly.  A 30-year prosecutor with no political affiliation, he testified that he followed the facts and the facts led him to the charging decision.  Because Federal Judge Aileen Cannon issued a gag order prohibiting Smith from discussing the classified documents case, Democrats on the Committee have demanded that the hearing continue once that order is lifted.

Congress is failing to meet the moment.  And this week, I voted no on the bills before the House as a way of voicing this concern.

Government Funding.  On Thursday, the House took two votes on four government funding (appropriations) bills for certain federal agencies and government programs for Fiscal Year 2026, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026, H.R. 7147, and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, H.R. 7148.

On Thursday morning, I spoke on the House floor in opposition to advancing the bills.  You can watch the whole (brief) speech here:

For those who prefer to read, here are my remarks as delivered:

Mr. Speaker, I rise to remind all who are present in this chamber, all members of this body, and every person in this country that the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution states:

“The Right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.”

And yet, all across America, from Maine to Minnesota to California—and everywhere in between—hard-working, law-abiding people in the United States, American citizens, are living in fear—afraid to go to work, afraid to go to church, afraid to go to school, afraid to go to the hardware store because unidentified, masked agents—often in plain clothes and unmarked cars—are breaking down doors to their homes, pulling people from their cars, stopping people on the street and asking them to show their papers and prove they belong here.

This is not only unconstitutional, this is unAmerican.

And this Congress must do something to stop it.  Brave Americans are standing up and saying no all across this Country.  We have to do it here. And we have to do it now.

There is a lot to say here.  First, I appreciate the tremendous work that my Democratic colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee did to improve these bills—including funding for critical programs and for some measures of accountability for the Trump administration.  They do include some important protections, restore some critical funding, and reassert the power of Congress, not the White House, to direct federal spending.  They even include funding for projects I requested.

But, in light of what is happening in our country at this moment, they do not do enough.  House Republicans refused to include basic protections against the lawlessness we have seen from the Trump administration, to prevent the White House from once again diverting the funding Congress has authorized, or to protect the fundamental constitutional rights of American citizens. 

Before the bills came to the floor for consideration, the House Rules Committee considered the bills and proposed amendments to them.  I proposed an amendment to the to the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act to make funding contingent on prohibiting the use of face masks and unmarked vehicles during immigration enforcement activities.  I also co-sponsored amendments other members brought to prohibit warrantless ICE arrests; restrict masks, tear gas and chemical agents, and ICE activity near sensitive locations (schools, churches, hospitals); and to prohibit ICE funding from being used to detain and deport U.S. citizens.  Republicans on the Rules Committee voted against my amendment, the amendments I co-sponsored, and all other Democratic amendments to these bills, so the House never even considered them.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act

Last summer, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” that House Republicans passed provided $170 billion to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—including $75 billion for ICE.  This week, the House considered a bill to provide an additional $64.2 billion for DHS, including $10.3 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  As discussed above, this bill does not include sufficient oversight and accountability reforms to rein in the DHS’ abuses and immigration enforcement practices.  For example, it has:

• No requirements to prevent U.S. citizens from being detained or deported;
• No requirements for federal immigration agents to properly identify themselves when conducting civil immigration enforcement;
• No requirements prohibiting ICE agents from concealing their identities with masks or
• No requirements to mark vehicles used for immigration enforcement clearly;
• No requirements prohibiting ICE from operating in sensitive locations, including schools, hospitals, disaster relief sites, places of worship, and more;
• No requirements for DHS to restrict the use of chemical agents, such as tear gas;
• No new or updated guidance on DHS’ use of excessive force; and
• Failure to strengthen language that DHS has ignored requiring them to grant access to Members of Congress for detention facility oversight visits.

The bill does, however, include provisions Democratic appropriators fought for, including

• $5.7 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an increase of $873 million from FY25, along with $26.4 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund;
• $8 billion for the Transportation Security Agency (TSA), an increase of $149 million from FY25;
• $13.9 billion for the U.S. Coast Guard, an increase of $533 million above FY25;
• $124 million for Emergency Food and Shelter Grants;
• $48 million for the Next Generation Warning System; and
• Extends the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through September 30, 2026.

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026

The Consolidated Appropriations Act includes three separate funding bills, wrapped into one bill for consideration, including funding for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS) and Related Agencies, the Department of Defense, and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies (THUD). Once again, I am grateful to my colleagues who fought to restore funding for key programs and priorities, including:

• A $1.7 billion increase in funding for medical research, including $1.3 billion for Congressionally Directed Medical Research Projects to support development of treatments for cancer, disease, and service-related injuries (Defense);
• A 3.8 percent pay raise for military personnel (Defense);
• Removal of a provision to prevent servicewomen and their families from traveling state lines for full reproductive health care for (Defense)
• $286 million for Title X Family Planning, which was eliminated in the Republican House bill (LHHS);
• $20 million increase for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LHHS);
• an increase of more than $400 million above the Fiscal Year 2025 level for the National Institutes of Health, including increases for research to develop cures or treatments for cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Diabetes (LHHS);
• an elimination of the 2026 and 2027 Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital Payments cuts, sparing hospitals that disproportionately care for underserved patients $16 billion in cuts (LHHS);
• an increase in mandatory funding for community health centers, equal to a rate of $4.6 billion through the end of the year (LHHS); 
• an increase of $170 million for Child Care and Head Start (LHHS);
• $4 billion in new funding to modernize air traffic safety and hire 2,500 new air traffic controllers (THUD) and a pay raise for Air Traffic Controllers;
• $100 million for the 2026 World Cup to assist transit agencies managing local transportation in support of the 2026 FIFA games, including in games in Houston (THUD); and
• $74 billion in discretionary spending for housing programs, an increase of $37 billion above the President’s budget request (THUD).

Also, the bills contained funding for several projects I requested for our community.  I’m going to cover those in a separate email since there is so much to digest here.

But, despite the good and important work that is done, the restoration of key funding, the local projects I support, I voted against the bills because they still fail to include the necessary guardrails to prevent the Administration from ignoring Congress’ funding directives, fail to assert Congress’ oversight authority, and turn the administration’s destructive cuts to programs and into law, including:

• Ensuring no funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs or travel related to reproductive health care (Defense);
• Failing to respond adequately to the Trump Administration’s threats to invade Greenland, Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, and other countries (Defense);
• Failing to respond adequately to the Trump Administration’s rejection of long-standing U.S. relations with NATO (Defense);
• Rescinding more than $11 billion from the Internal Revenue Service (LHHS);
• Redirecting $2.3 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding, including $879 million from the Electric Vehicle Charging Network (THUD);
• Codifying DOGE recommendations to reduce personnel at the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) (THUD).

I voted against both of these bills, H.R. 7148 and H.R. 7147, which passed the House by a vote of 341-88 and 220-207, respectively.  They are now headed to the Senate for consideration before the January 30 government funding deadline.

Separate from the issue of government funding, the House also considered two disingenuously named bills that harm women and families.  The Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act, H.R. 6945, is a partisan bill that blocks the Biden administration’s efforts to strengthen the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which aids pregnant women and families with dependent children to help pay for food, shelter, and other essential expenses.  The bill also blocks efforts to prevent the misuse of TANF funds for anti-abortion centers–also known as crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), which masquerade as health care clinics and seek to prevent pregnant women from having abortions through deceptive means and medical disinformation.  Allowing TANF to continue funding CPCs would prevent pregnant women from receiving accurate medical information about their reproductive health needs. The Pregnant Students’ Rights Act, H.R. 6359, is a misleading bill claiming to provide information to pregnant students about their rights, however, it only outlines information on students’ rights to carry a pregnancy to term.  It offers no meaningful support to assist students in succeeding at school while being pregnant or parenting, and it omits resources for students wanting access to information about abortion services.  It is worth noting that the bill ignores existing protections under Title IX, including that pregnant and parenting students have rights to accommodations and support in continuing on as a student.  For these reasons, I voted against both these bills which passed the House 215-209 and 217-211, respectively.

The House also considered a resolution under the Congressional Review Act (CRA).  These resolutions are supposed to be a way for Congress to overturn recently finalized rules from federal agencies.  However, Republicans are twisting the CRA into a weapon to erase public land protections, asserting without precedent that Public Land Orders are rules covered by the CRA.  Congress received notice of this order over three years ago.  If Republicans succeed in reaching back to overturn a protection that was never considered a "rule," every protected public land in America could be on the chopping block.  This specific resolution,  H.J. Res. 140, would overturn protections for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota and allow a Chilean mining company with ties to China to pursue a sulfide-ore copper mine near its headwaters. I voted against this CRA, which passed the House by a vote of 214-208.

Finally, the House considered a resolution this week to prevent President Trump from engaging in additional unauthorized hostilities in Venezuela without Congressional approval.  As with previous war powers resolution, this resolution reasserts Congress’ authority and provides a process by which the President must consult with Congress and seek authorization for the use of armed force, or to terminate the use of force if not authorized by Congress.  I voted for this resolution, which failed on a tied vote of 215-215, falling short of the simple majority needed for passage.  By refusing to rein in President Trump’s abuse of power, Republicans are sending a dangerous signal that any president can unilaterally commit U.S. armed forces to hostilities without Congressional authorization.

The House also voted on several bills under suspension of the rules.  While I believe that these bills could serve important ends, I decided this week to vote against any bills considered under suspension.  To the extent that passing bills under suspension of the Rules gives the impression or message that Congress is working diligently and functioning as it should, I voted no to make clear that it is not.  Congress is failing to do the work it should and failing to respond to the threats to our communities, our country, and our Constitution.

You can always find a list of all of the votes I have taken for the district on my website.

This week, I co-sponsored the Stop Excessive Force in Immigration Act of 2025, H.R. 5973, to place strict limits on immigration enforcement agents’ use of force.  As we have seen in countless videos and posts from across the country, the dramatic escalation in excessive force used by federal agents, including the use of crowd control munitions like tear gas and pepper balls, is deeply concerning as the Trump administration continues its aggressive deployment of immigration officers to cities and states.  This bill aims to reinforce protections for people exercising their First Amendment rights.

I also co-sponsored the No Funds for NATO Invasion Act, H.R. 7016, to prohibit the use of Federal funds to invade countries or territories that are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).  As the Trump administration continues to escalate tensions over Greenland, it is critical that we stand with our NATO allies.

I cosponsored several other bills and resolutions this week, including:

• the Preemption of Real Property Discrimination Act, H.R. 7053, to preempt state prohibitions on real estate purchase by foreign citizens;
• the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino Act, H.R. 1330, to permit the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino to be located within the National Mall;
• a resolution honoring Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by celebrating diversity, promoting tolerance, and condemning hate, H.Res. 1004; and
• a resolution recognizing and expressing support for the Iranian people protesting for a free and democratic Iran, H.Res. 993.

In addition to these bills and resolutions, I joined my colleagues in sending several letters this week, including:

• a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan calling on the House Judiciary Committee to fulfill its obligation and conduct a thorough investigation into Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's unlawful and potentially impeachable actions;
• a letter to House and Senate leaders and House and Senate Appropriators urging them to include language in any final FY26 funding package that prohibits implementation of a proposed new Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) Model, or any related model that would implement prior authorization in Medicare. The WISeR model utilizes AI to implement prior authorization in traditional Medicare;
• a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding answers from the State Department following new revelations about the tens of millions of dollars of family planning commodities that the State Department refuses to distribute, which are being held in Belgium; and
• a letter to the United Nations Secretary General António Guterres expressing concern about the proposal to merge the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Women under the UN80 Initiative and urging the United Nations to reconsider.

On Thursday, the Energy & Commerce's Subcommittee on Health held a hearing with executives from health insurance companies to discuss health insurance affordability.  The hearing got rushed at the end, and I didn’t get to ask all my questions, but the hearing raised a lot of important issues about the things driving up health care costs and insurance premiums, the problems with prior authorizations from insurance companies, the consolidation and vertical integration of the health care providers, and some potential ideas to fix them.  Throughout the hearing my Republican colleagues kept blaming costs on the ACA, which the facts just don’t bear out for a whole host of reasons.  You can see my full remarks below. 

In Washington, Team TX-07 held more than a dozen meetings with constituents and groups advocating on their behalf, including the American Chiropractic Association, pictured below.  Back home in the district, our team was out and about across the district, helping constituents and attending community events, including an Alief ISD School Board meeting and the Houston City College State of the College breakfast, pictured below.

Our team and I have been watching the weather forecasts in Washington and Houston.  With an expected statewide freeze and potential snowfall, travel may be difficult throughout the region and power outages are possible.

I sent a more detailed note earlier today, and am repeating a few highlights here. 

• You can monitor road conditions through Houston TranStar.
• For weather updates, you can monitor the National Weather Service. 
• You can sign up for emergency alerts through AlertHouston, ReadyHarris, and Fort Bend County Alert. 
• For power outages, you can check the CenterPoint Energy outage tracker.
• Information on warming centers and cold-weather resources is available through the Houston, Harris County, and Fort Bend County emergency management offices.

Our TX-07 team and I will work closely with federal agencies and our local leaders in the days ahead.  We will continue to post updates on my website here and do all we can to help our community.