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Dear Neighbor,
When I returned to Washington last week, I did so armed with input I had recieved from thousands of constituents I spoke with during my recent District Work Period. As always, I kept your words and experiences at the forefront of my decisionmaking. Please continue reading to learn more about my efforts on your behalf.
Making Washington Work for You
Providing Tax Relief for Florida's Families and Small Businesses: Small Businesses are the backbone of our country, and like all Americans, they have suffered under disastrous Democrat policies. To help them continue to grow our economy, I voted to extend the Trump Tax Cut for Small Businesses. Doing so will save 2,411 jobs in Florida alone. This package will also provide desperately needed relief for Florida’s working families by enhancing the child tax credit.
Securing our Border: Last week, I spoke on the House Floor about the crisis that is raging along the southern border. December marked the highest number of illegal immigrant encounters in history –with 331 persons on the Terror Watch list entering the country since President Biden took office. In November 2023 alone, 4,797 Chinese nationals were encountered at the Southwest Border. This is an 800% increase from the previous November. It is clear that our adversaries are taking advantage of Biden’s weak border policies – and it is jeopardizing our national security.
President Biden falsely claimed recently that he needs Congress to act to give him the authority to take control over the border and endorsed the watered-down version of a border security measure the Senate is currently pursuing. Let me be perfectly clear, President Biden has the authority to close the border today. He can simply direct his staff to enforce existing laws and reverse the 64 Executive Actions he has taken to worsen the border crisis since coming to office. I’ll continue using every single tool at my disposal, including the power of the purse, to force President Biden to enact meaningful border security reform, such as the following key provisions we passed as part of HR 2:
- Forcing the Biden Administration to restart construction of the border wall,
- Deploying technology to the Southern and Northern border,
- Increasing the number of Border Patrol agents and provide bonus pay,
- Requiring transparency regarding illegal crossings from the Department of Homeland Security,
- Strengthening current laws to protect unaccompanied children from human trafficking,
- Ending catch and release,
- Ending abuse of executive immigration authority,
- Strengthening and streamlining the asylum process.
Any action short of immediately securing our border leaves our nation in peril and our citizens in jeopardy. While the weak Senate plan is dead on arrival in the House because it does not immediately require the President to secure the border, the House did pass three additional commonsense measures to ensure that illegal immigrants who commit crimes when they are here are deported and ineligible for future asylum claims.
The Protect our Communities from DUI’s Act makes illegal migrants who have been convicted of DUI inadmissible and deportable. Currently illegal migrants are free to stay in the US pending an appeal for asylum – even if they are convicted of DUI – despite the fact that they’ve jeopardize American lives. This is wrong!
Protecting our nation's borders is grueling and dangerous work, especially under the Biden Administration's policies that encourage throngs of people to illegally enter without adequately funding the resources needed to effectively do the job. The Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act would impose criminal penalties for illegal migrants who evade American law enforcement officers, with progressively stronger penalties if the evasion leads to injury or death of the law enforcement agent. If he or she is found guilty, they would be immediately deported and ineligible for immigration benefits such as asylum.
The Consequences for Social Security Fraud Act creates a new rule: if an illegal migrant is convicted of or admits to committing social security fraud or identification document fraud, he or she will be deported and no longer eligible for immigration benefits or asylum.
Ending Biden’s Relentless Pursuit of Radical Green Energy Plans at the Expense of Americcan Consumers: Shame on President Biden for once again putting election-year politics over American interests. His recent decision to ban LNG exports means fewer American jobs, increased global carbon emissions and less energy security for the U.S. and our allies, all so Biden can claim a win for the far left. Click here to learn more as my colleagues are working to block this latest radical green energy plan.
Additionally, my colleagues and I are pushing back against the Biden Administration as it continues to wage war on gas powered cars. Click here to read about our efforts.
Lowering Healthcare Costs for All Americans: In last week’s Health Subcommittee Hearing, we examined how dramatic increases in healthcare costs have become unsustainable for patients, employers and taxpayers. Click here to watch my exchange with the panelists as we discussed potential, patient-centered solutions.
Understanding Federal Communications Practices: In last week’s Communications & Technology Subcommittee Hearing we reviewed federal rules that impact national sports media practices. Click here to listen to me discuss my concerns about how recent changes in policies are impacting consumers.
Learning from You Here at Home: It was great to meet with some members of my Hernando Advisory Board. They raised important concerns about harmful government intervention in the free market, the importance of preserving community pharmacies, the need to improve care and services for Veterans, and the urgent need to secure our border. I believe the best ideas come from those I serve. If you are interested in becoming a member of my local advisory board for your area, please contact my office.
While in Hernando, it was refreshing to spend some time with the members of the Leadership Hernando Class of 2024. These local leaders are doing great work and they passionate about making a positive impact on their community. Their enthusiasm was contagious!
I also met with two local entrepreneurs who have recently received a patent for technology that would harness the power of Artificial Intelligence to stop robocalls and electronic scams through multiple platforms. Each year millions of dollars are lost by vulnerable Americans who are scammed and its great to see a local company stepping forward to create an innovative solution to the problem.
And, I always enjoy talking with my friend and local Veteran, Maryann Keckler, about the needs of female Veterans throughout our community. I appreciate her tireless advocacy on behalf of her fellow Veterans and look forward to working with her on the issues she raised.
Additionally, I recently met with two local Veterans, Kendra Simpkins and Jerrod Klein, who are utilizing an innovative approach to help Veterans who are struggling with Post Traumatic Stress and anxiety. The non-profit founded by Ms. Simpkins, Operation Warrior Resolution, has recently expanded is scope to treat Veterans throughout Pasco County and is seeing impressive results. I look forward to continuing to work with them as they seek to serve more Veterans throughout Florida’s 12th Congressional District.
Celebrating Success: Congratulations to Rohil Agarwal for once again winning the 12th Congressional App Challenge. After winning as part of a team last year, he submitted a new app he developed, PhysiFun, which is designed to engage students who are struggling to understand key concepts in physics. Rohil is a senior at Land O’ Lakes High School and plans to pursue a degree in Computer Science when he graduates this year. He is a bright young man and I am confident he will continue to achieve great things!
Community Connection
I am fortunate to have a team of dedicated staff who regularly attend events throughout our community, especially when I am required to be in Washington, DC. Through their collective efforts, I am better able to stay connected to the issues that matter most to my constituents. As part of my commitment to developing a better understanding of the issues facing constituents in Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties members of my team attended several events last week. Here are a few highlights.
My team participated in an American Legion Forum entitled: A System Worth Saving. The input being collected by Veterans around the country in these sessions will be presented to Congress.
My team also attended a VA mental health workshop in New Port Richey to bring together community stakeholders to identify how they could improve collaboration in order to ensure all Veterans have access to quality mental health treatment.
Additionally, my team participated in dedicated of a new Habitat for Humanity home for the Pici-Anderson Family. Congratulations and best wishes for you in your new home!
Constituent Corner
My office recently received this message from a constituent after my team successfully helped him resolve a problem he was having with the IRS.
I had been fighting back and forth with the IRS through letters for the past 11 months because I couldn't ever get anyone to answer the phone when I called them - no matter what time of day it was. The whole experience was so frustrating. When I stopped in to your office to complain, I was treated with the utmost professionalism. A nice young man had me fill out a form and then told me my caseworker would get with me the next day. As promised, I recieved a call from the caseworker who told me a Taxpayer Advocate would be in touch with me shortly. Much to my surprise that actually happened and the Taxpayer Advocate resolved the who issue within 48 hours. Thank you so much for the help - and for finally putting an end to me having to go back and forth with the IRS.
This is just one example of the work we do each day. Constituent services are a critical element of our congressional office. The federal government is a massive operation, and my office is available if you ever need assistance in navigating the bureaucracy or cutting through red tape. We are here to serve you! |
