newsletter

Howdy, After celebrating a very merry Christmas and ringing in the New Year, I’m happy to put these boots back on the ground in D.C. and get back to working for Texans. Specifically now during National School Choice Week, I’ve been focusing on giving every child a fair chance to get a great education. Tuesday, I introduced The Student Empowerment Act which allows all students to use 529 savings accounts to cover eligible educational expenses such as tutoring, standardized...

It was another work week in Washington, D.C., but I was happy to kick things off over the weekend in the Lone Star State, where I welcomed President Karis of Estonia to Austin. President Karis and I spoke about the energy interests and security of our respective nations, including the need to defeat Putin’s military aggression. Additionally, we discussed the ability of Texas as the energy leader of the United States to advance America’s national interests by exporting energy to...

Good Evening, Yet another week of meeting with and advocating for Texans up here in Washington, D.C. is wrapping up as I head back to Austin to speak at the Texas Tribune Tribfest. We began the week celebrating the United States Air Force’s birthday. For 75 years, the Air Force has defended the skies and kept our country safe. Thank you to all who have served! This week, I had the honor of meeting with my friend Rosa Maria Paya, the daughter of Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, to...

Good Evening, We’re back in the swing of things following August recess in the Senate, and that means I’m hard at work fighting for Texas, and for your needs in Congress.   To watch my conversation with Ryan Chandler on KMAC, click above  ↑I enjoyed speaking with Ryan Chandler of KMAC this week about my work to get the Ports-to-Plains highway authorized and moved towards construction. I was proud to lead the way, authoring the legislation and building a...

The past four weeks I’ve been blessed to travel across the Lone Star State, visiting with Texans and discussing the needs of our great state. From Corpus Christi to hear from city and county leaders about additions I ensured were included in the Senate version of the Water Resources Development Act, to Lubbock to talk about the importance of the Ports-to-Plains legislation and discuss with leaders in the Texas agriculture industry about how I can fight for them on the upcoming...

Greetings, As my team and I come to the end of the fourth week of session in the Senate, we are in the middle of a fight on President Biden’s Schumer-Manchin-revived Build Back Broke tax-and-spend package. If you drive a pickup truck, suburban, or minivan and are already struggling to fill up your gas tanks, this bill will make it worse. It contains new energy taxes that violate Biden’s pledge of no new taxes on the middle class. The Schumer-Manchin bill also contains provisions that...

Greetings Heading into the third week of July session in the Senate, the weather is hot and the days are long as I work to support the millions of Texans in the sweltering heat back home.Democrats can’t take the heat that they’re receiving in response to their botched “green energy” plan and tax and spend policies, so they’re trying to redefine the meaning of words in order to convince the American people that our economy is strong. Thursday morning, the Bureau of...

Greetings, Following a successful trip to the border, my boots are back on the ground in Washington, D.C. Better yet, this week I was accompanied by a very special guest, my daughter Catherine. As much as I enjoy visiting with Texans in our nation’s capital, nothing tops showing around one who calls me “Dad,” even if she steals my desk from time to time… As promised, I wanted to provide a more complete update on the situation at our southern border. President Biden has...

Greetings, The weeks of summer session are in full swing on Capitol Hill. Having just had the privilege to celebrate our 246th Independence Day, my resolve to preserve our freedoms and uphold the Constitution is as fervent as ever. This week, I had the privilege of meeting with Texans and standing for the enforcement of laws that protect Supreme Court Justices & Americans alike. The dereliction of enforcing laws on the books by the Biden Administration is part of why our border crisis...

Greetings,The NDAA is one of the most crucial pieces of legislation to come before Congress every year, and this year, my colleagues and I fulfilled our Constitutional duty to equip our Armed Forces with the resources they need to defend America’s national security interests at home and abroad, while also securing bipartisan victories for Texas military communities.The FY 2022 NDAA contains several provisions that I am proud to have championed, including millions of dollars in...

Greetings, This Veterans Day, I recognized Texas’ and America’s veterans for their dedicated service to our country at the City of Houston’s ‘Houston Salutes American Heroes Veterans Day Celebration.’ Texas has played a crucial role in defending our great nation, and my hometown of Houston has the second largest veteran population in the nation, with roughly one-fifth of Texas’ veterans. I am honored to represent the roughly 1.4 million veterans in the Lone...

Greetings, I want to fill you in on my final stops in the Lone Star State meeting with students, service members, and job creators before heading back to a busy work period in Washington. After wrapping up my border tour in South Texas, I headed to Abilene to meet with the local Military Affairs Committee and discuss aircraft operations at Dyess Air Force Base, ongoing and future upgrades, and the community impact of the base. Throughout my career in the Senate, I have been a champion for Dyess...

Greetings,   In the last seventh months alone, we've seen over a million people cross illegally into this country, and we are now on pace for over 2 million people for 2021. To put that into perspective, that is roughly the population of Houston, Texas crossing illegally into this country in just one year. The Biden administration has released over 7,000 illegal immigrants who tested positive for COVID. Since the population in McAllen, Texas is 141,000, roughly five percent of McAllen...

Greetings, As I continued my travels around the Lone Star State last week, I spent time with law enforcement and our servicemen and women who work to secure our communities and our country. Last Thursday, I traveled from Amarillo to Lubbock to meet with local law enforcement to discuss the needs of police and the challenges they are facing throughout West Texas. During our discussion on the impact the Biden Border crisis is having on West Texas communities, local law enforcement shared...

Greetings, I want to update you on my work in Texas this last week, hearing from agricultural producers, business owners, and community leaders on the needs of their communities and the Lone Star State's continued leadership in our nation's recovery. While the Texas economy was a theme during my meetings this week, the unfolding rushed and catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan has been a recurring concern for many Texans. I, along with countless other Texans and Americans, have condemned the...

Greetings, As a busy work period ends in Washington, I headed back to Texas this week to see firsthand the needs of Texas families, small businesses, and our servicemen and women. On Wednesday, I toured Envision Dallas, a company that works to improve the quality of life for blind or visually impaired people through employment, outreach, rehabilitation, education, and research. While there, I met with employees to discuss the needs of Texas businesses as they contribute to their communities and...

Greetings, Washington political theater and COVID mandates are at an all-time high this week, and I want to give you an update on my fight to defend the freedom of every individual to decide for themselves and their family the best way to protect their health. I know many of us worry that what is coming next is more shutdowns and government mandates. My view on this is simple: no mandates. There should be no mandates-no vaccine mandates, no mask mandates, no vaccine passports, no lockdowns, and...

Greetings, As summer begins, I want to give you an update on what's happening with the border crisis five months into the Biden-Harris Administration. President Biden has repeatedly made reckless policy decisions that have caused the crisis at our southern border-he halted construction of the border wall, he reinstated the failed catch-and-release policy, and he ended the Remain in Mexico policy, which was an international agreement President Trump negotiated with the government of Mexico where...

Greetings, Last week, I led a delegation of 18 of my Senate Republican colleagues to the southern border in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) of Texas to see firsthand the ongoing crisis. The first night, we went out with Border Patrol agents on their midnight patrol and witnessed a stream of people crossing into the country illegally, many young children and mothers, turning themselves in to agents. During the night patrol, we heard cartel members taunting us as we toured the border. They knew...