Friend,

My Republican colleagues said the quiet part out loud last week; they would rather fight about challenges on our southern border than fix them.

Over the last few months, Democrats (led by Connecticut’s own Senator Chris Murphy) and Republicans have been working collaboratively to address humanitarian issues at the border. But just as those talks were culminating in a bipartisan agreement, former President Trump instructed his MAGA followers on Capitol Hill to pull the plug.

Since we've entered an election year, Trump and his party decided they would rather talk about problems than solve them. As Rep. Troy Nehls, my Republican colleague from Texas summarized, Republicans are “not willing to do too damn much right now to help a Democrat and to help Joe Biden’s approval rating.”

I’m proud of my record of collaborating with Republican colleagues and achieving bipartisan results. But collaboration is only possible when our friends on the other side of the aisle are serious about doing their jobs. How can our Congress function properly when one party is more interested in politics than solutions?

I’ll keep looking for rational partners on the other side of the aisle. But with your help this November, we can flip control of the House and get serious about solving problems.

— Jim