Defending Our Southern Border

Since the start of the fiscal year 2024 on October 1, our border patrol agents have encountered nearly more than 18,500 illegal immigrants with criminal histories — including 248 known gang members. They have also apprehended 76 known or suspected terrorists at our southern border.

The Biden administration’s failure to secure our border has clearly increased the threats to U.S. national security. FBI Director Wray recently warned that the United States is at its greatest risk of a terrorist attack on U.S. soil since September 11, 2001, adding that he sees "blinking lights everywhere."

As a lifelong Texan, a former federal prosecutor, and a national security chairman, I am extremely concerned by these risks to our homeland.

That’s why, this week, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner and I introduced a bill to provide federal grant funding for qualifying states to construct, repair, maintain, or improve physical barriers along the southern border.

This bill will mitigate President Biden’s dangerous border crisis and help curb the flow of illegal immigrants, especially those who pose national security threats.

Click here to read more about the bill.

Countering the Chinese Communist Party

The threat from Chinese Communist Party continues to grow as its tentacles reach every corner of the globe.

China's malign influence is growing exponentially, and its encroachment into the Western Hemisphere, Africa, and beyond poses a clear and present danger as it implements its Belt and Road Initiative—masquerading as a friend to developing nations before saddling them with unsustainable debt.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) was created to counter the CCP's Belt and Road Initiative by expanding American influence and projecting U.S. friendship and strength abroad.

This week I questioned the DFC CEO on the agency's efforts to counter China, including the need for reforms and updates as the House Foreign Affairs Committee works to reauthorize the DFC.

Click here to watch my remarks.

Demanding Answers on the Abbey Gate Bombing

As the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I am dedicated to uncovering the truth in the Biden administration's disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. A recent report from CNN showed apparent discrepancies between newly reported footage of the Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan and the conclusions of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) investigations. This week Congressman Mike Waltz and I wrote a letter the U.S. Secretary of Defense General Lloyd Austin, demanding clarity on these discrepancies.

According to the CNN report, the helmet camera of a Marine on the ground in Kabul reportedly recorded multiple bursts of gunfire immediately after the suicide bomber at Abbey Gate, with further gunfire in the minutes following the attack as well. Nearly three years later we still have the same questions that the very U.S. servicemembers captured in the video, including who was firing the rounds.

The Abbey Gate attack took the lives of 13 servicemembers and left 170 Afghans wounded. Our Gold Star families and servicemembers deserve answers, and I will not rest until I deliver them.

Click here to learn more.

Bolstering Our National Security

As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, our adversaries such as the Chinese Communist Party are trying to exploit it against the United States.

The U.S. government has the tools it needs to keep national security hardware out of the hands of adversaries, but we don’t have those same clear tools to keep the software that powers advanced technology, such as AI, from them.

This week, my colleagues and I introduced the Enhancing National Frameworks for Overseas Critical Exports Act (ENFORCE Act). This bipartisan piece of legislation would give the Commerce Department the authority to enforce export controls on Artificial Intelligence and other national security-related technology — ensuring our adversaries cannot take advantage of it.

For information click here.