April 28th, 2023: Weekly Newsletter

Watch my remarks on the House Floor.

This week the House passed my resolution, H.Res. 90, demanding the immediate release of Mark Swidan, who is being unjustly detained by Communist China.

Mark Swidan has been detained in China for 10 years under false accusations and suffered egregious human rights violations in the process. Pushing for his release and bringing him home has been a priority of mine. By passing this resolution in the House, on a bipartisan basis, we are sending a clear message that we will defend Americans who are wrongly imprisoned by authoritarian regimes. This will also put pressure on the CCP to end his captivity and hopefully put additional pressure on the Biden administration to place a stronger priority on his case. I was honored to help lead the effort. 

Moving forward, it is critical for the Administration to use every tool at its disposal to secure Mark’s release. The human rights abuses that Mark Swidan and his family have been subjected to for the last 10 years must end and this Administration should take the necessary steps to facilitate his immediate release.

The full text of the resolution can be found here.

Watch my questioning of Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers.

This week, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic held a hearing with Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, to investigate her influence over the CDC’s reopening guidance of schools.   

From very early on in the pandemic, we knew children were not at risk of severe illness due to COVID-19. Despite this, the federal government used AFT’s guidance to prolong school closures. This came with massive consequences. Remote learning has resulted in devastating effects on our children’s education and is a major reason why many parents are choosing to take their children out of public schools. 

Instead of addressing this, AFT is focused on political issues like abortion and Ukraine. I used this hearing as an opportunity to expose how the AFT operates as a political operation.  Political unions using their power to keep schools closed is simply unacceptable and should never happen again.

To be clear, teachers are not the issue here. As the husband of a school teacher, I am particularly grateful for the contributions teachers make to the success of our nation. However, it’s clear that policies advocated by Ms. Weingarten and politically motivated teachers’ unions were to the detriment of students – not their benefit. That has to change.

Watch my remarks at the Financial Services and General Governance Subcommittee.

This week, the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Governance held a hearing with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan. 

The FTC recently proposed a rule prohibiting non-compete clauses, alarming many small business owners in the district. These clauses protect sensitive information of companies, ensuring information is not shared with competitors upon an employee's departure. Dangerous, one-size-fits-all solutions from the government rarely work, and we must do our due diligence to protect small business owners.

Another one of the FTC’s many duties is enforcing COPPA (the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) to protect children from harmful exposure on the internet via data collection. I used this hearing to question Chairwoman Khan about this.

Companies like TikTok accumulate an extraordinary amount of data on their users, including minors. This is incredibly concerning as the data can be used in targeted advertising and promoting certain content over others, including political indoctrination, graphic material, violence, and even content promoting suicide. Under no circumstances should this be allowed. Companies cannot be permitted to harvest data and indoctrinate kids.

This week, I hosted the Taiwanese delegation here in Victoria. Taiwanese investment has been a driving factor in the growth of Texas’s 27th district — one example being Formosa Plastics in Calhoun County.

It is crucial that we continue to strengthen our economic and strategic partnership with Taiwan as we work to maintain a position of peace through strength in the face of China’s threats to that peace.

• Prior to the hearing, I joined Fox and Friends First to discuss the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic hearing with Randi Weingarten.

• Stay Tuned for the winner of the Art Competition!

God Bless,

Rep. Michael Cloud

Member of Congress

Sign up for my newsletter to get updates on this issue and others!

Visit my website to learn more!
www.cloud.house.gov

Contact Me