Weekly Wrap Up

Dear Neighbor,

It was another full week in Washington, and I am glad to share this update with you.

This week, the business of the House was generally focused on a series of bills relating to efficiency standards for home appliances and efforts to undo actions of the Biden administration.

First, the House considered the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act, H.R. 6192, which, if enacted, would amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) to hinder the Department of Energy’s (DOE) ability to issue energy efficiency standards for certain household appliances. Under current law, DOE energy efficiency standards must be cost-effective and result in significant savings, and must be technologically feasible and economically justified. The bill, which we considered in the Energy & Commerce Committee, adds duplicative requirements for standards-setting that would slow down and hamper a process that already takes place over a number of years, allows future administrations to roll back existing standards, and prohibits states from setting their own in the absence of federal guidance.

I voted against this bill in committee, and I had the opportunity this week to offer the motion to recommit the bill to committee on the House floor. You can watch my remarks.

In short, I argued, that instead of focusing on rights for refrigerators and liberty for laundry, we should spend the precious time we have to legislate passing meaningful legislation for the rights and liberty of Americans. This procedural motion allows the minority party to offer an amendment to a bill on the floor and send it back to committee for consideration. My amendment would have replaced the text of the original bill with the text of my bill H.R. 782, the Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act, which affirms the constitutional right to travel across state lines for the purposes of obtaining reproductive health care. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, my amendment failed by a vote of 206-202. I voted no on the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act bill, which passed by a vote of 212-195.

The House also considered a bill to override President Biden’s veto of a prior congressional resolution disapproving of a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule setting a standard for determining joint employer status (H.J.Res. 98), which, if passed, would nullify the NLRB’s rule. The House originally passed the resolution in January and President Biden vetoed it last week. I voted against the resolution in January and against this effort to override the President’s veto, which failed to pass by a vote of 191-214.

And the House considered a resolution (H.J.Res.109) under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) that would overturn accounting guidance concerning crypto assets from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), known as Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121. SAB 121 only applies to companies holding crypto assets on behalf of their clients, and achieves two things: first, it advises companies on how they should disclose crypto assets that they hold, providing transparency for investors and the public; and second, it advises companies on how to record these crypto assets on their balance sheets, which ensures companies have sufficient capital to secure these assets for the user against loss, theft, or financial misuse. H.J.Res.109 would not only overturn SAB 121, but also prohibit the SEC from issuing similar guidance in the future. Since the SEC is one of the main agencies cracking down on noncompliance in the crypto industry, the resolution would also undermine the SEC’s work to oppose bad actors as well. For these reasons, I voted against the joint resolution, which passed the House with a vote of 228-182.

The House also considered the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act of 2024, H.R. 2925, which would give mining companies the right to use, occupy, and conduct operations on any public lands—including to permanently store mining waste—without a valid mineral claim, a central requirement of mining law for more than 150 years. This legislation would essentially allow private mining companies to influence the use of public lands with little to no mineral potential and potentially allow them to slow solar, wind, or transmission projects simply by filing a claim and paying a nominal fee. In addition, this legislation would negatively impact the growing need for responsibly sourced critical minerals to meet our energy and infrastructure goals. For these reasons, I voted against the bill, which passed the House with a vote of 216-195.

Finally, the House considered the Equal Representation Act, H.R. 7109, a bill that would require a question about citizenship status on the Census and would exclude noncitizens from the count that determines the seats in the House of Representatives are apportioned to the states. This bill is unconstitutional. Excluding noncitizens from the apportionment count violates the Fourteenth Amendment, which requires a count of all persons living in the country, regardless of citizenship status, and threatens the success of future censuses by undermining the Census Bureau’s ability to collect accurate population counts. For these reasons, I voted against H.R. 7109, which passed the House with a vote of 206-202.

During the debate on this bill, my colleague Kathy Manning offered a motion to recommit that, like mine, would substitute the text of the bill with her Right to Contraception Act (H.R. 4121), which asserts an individual's right to access – and a health care provider's right to provide – contraception and information related to contraception. I voted for this motion, as well, but it failed.

The House did, however, pass some important legislation on a bipartisan basis this week. As I mentioned last week, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization is expiring. On Wednesday, the House passed a short-term reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, the Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2024, Part II, H.R. 8289. The House already passed a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration last July, but the Senate has just completed consideration of its own version of the bill, which we will consider next week. Until then, this short-term reauthorization is necessary to avoid a lapse in authorization, and it passed by a vote of 385-24-1.

We also voted on several bills under suspension of the rules, which all passed with broad bipartisan support, including the Information Quality Assurance Act, H.R. 7219, which requires agencies use the best reasonably available information and evidence when formulating rules and guidance and necessitates timely disclosure of certain types of information prior to agency actions, the Special District Grant Accessibility Act, H.R. 7525, which requires federal agencies to recognize special districts as local government for the purpose of Federal financial assistance determinations, the Fire Grants and Safety Act, S. 870, which reauthorizes vital fire and emergency services grant programs, and the National Construction Safety Team Enhancement Act, H.R. 4143, which funds building and structural failure investigations at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. I voted in favor of all of these bills.

You may have seen that on Wednesday evening, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14) asked for a vote on her motion to vacate, which would remove House Speaker Mike Johnson (LA-04) from his role and which she has been threatening to do for many weeks. Rather than vote on the motion to vacate, however, the House considered a motion to table the request, a procedural vote to suspend consideration of the motion to vacate. The motion to table passed the House with a vote of 359-43-7. I voted in favor of the motion to table, as did the majority of Democrats and Republicans. Representative Greene’s motion is not only unserious it is unhelpful to the proper functioning of the House and the Congress. In fact, her principal criticism of Speaker Johnson is that he is not advancing an extreme agenda and has relied on the votes of Democrats to pass legislation, including the national security supplemental appropriations bill to aid our allies and provide humanitarian assistance in conflicts around the world, to pass the long-delayed budget for this year, and to keep the government from shutting down. In my view, she is not only overstating her case against Speaker Johnson she fundamentally misunderstands how Congress should work and the responsibilities of governing.

As a reminder, you can always find a list of all of the votes I have taken for the district on my website.

On Tuesday, I joined my colleagues and President Biden in the U.S. Capitol for the annual national commemoration of the Days of Remembrance, which the Congress established as the country’s annual Holocaust commemoration. Each year, we come together to remember the victims of the Holocaust, honor the survivors, and pay tribute to the liberators. It was a deeply moving ceremony. First, I had the honor and privilege of escorting a Holocaust survivor into the ceremony. And all in attendance rose to honor the 36 U.S. Army divisions that liberated the Nazi concentration camps. You can see the flags for each division—infantry, armored, and airborne—encircling the President in the photo above. The moving program included remarks from leaders in Congress, Holocaust survivors, and President Biden, who spoke forcefully against the rising tide of antisemitism today in the United States and abroad. Noting that did not begin or end with the Holocaust, President Biden reminded us to remember our nation’s principles, to learn the lessons of history so it is not repeated, and to give hate no safe harbor. Antisemitism, he said, “continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world, and it requires our continued vigilance and outspokenness.” (You can read the full text of President Biden’s remarks here.)

In our own community, we have unfortunately seen that rise in antisemitism and hatred in recent years. We must work together to defeat it, remembering our history and our vow: never again.

With no hearings or markups filling my calendar this week, I was able to participate in several meetings relating to legislative priorities and collaborative efforts.

I was glad to lead a roundtable discussion with members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus to discuss cosmetic safety issues. Every day, millions of people across our country use cosmetic products of all kinds. We often do not know much about chemicals used in these products and the risks they may pose. In December 2022, Congress made strides in addressing the gaps in regulation of the cosmetics industry by passing the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA), which expanded FDA oversight and regulation of the industry. There are still significant gaps, however, that need to be addressed.

We met with Dr. Namandje Bumpus, the Principal Deputy Commissioner at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, who previously served as the FDA Chief Scientist, as well as Melanie Benesh, Vice President of Government Affairs at the Environmental Working Group who provides legislative and regulatory analysis of federal food, cosmetics, farm and chemical laws, and Mona Vand, a pharmacist and wellness educator and entrepreneur focused on sharing health information in a relatable way.

Although we often assume that the personal care and beauty products we use are safe, there is little to no regulation or oversight of these products. Many of the care, beauty, and salon products sold across our country contain toxic chemicals. That is why I partnered with my colleague Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky to introduce the Toxic-Free Beauty Act (H.R. 3619) to protect the health and safety of Americans by banning the use of certain hazardous chemicals from personal and professional care, beauty, and salon products sold in the United States. We discussed our bill as well as others to require fragrances to disclose chemicals on their product labels and websites; fund research, resource materials, education and outreach, and the development of safer chemicals to protect the health of women of color and salon workers; and create supply chain transparency.

As Chair of the New Democrat Coalition (NDC) Trade Task Force, I hosted a meeting with the NDC Immigration Task Force with the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico (AmCham Mexico). We discussed trade issues, the current and anticipated business environment in Mexico, and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) review in 2026 as well as the overall challenges and opportunities in the region and bilateral relationship.

And I also participated in a Regional Leadership Council meeting with Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. We discussed the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) role in implementing the Investing in America Agenda and its “Good Jobs Initiative,” which is a core component of the agenda working to help direct federal investment programs toward communities and recipients that will improve job quality and opportunities. Acting Secretary Su also discussed DOL’s training and pathways grant programs, which include programs focused on reentry services for young people and adults, Job Corps IT training, apprenticeships, farmworkers, and older workers. Several award announcements are expected in the coming weeks.

Much of our legislative work this week focused on finalizing submissions to the appropriations committee, and I’ll have a full report on that next week. I also co-sponsored several bills this week, including the

H.R. 5324 - the Housing Survivors of Major Disasters Act, to codify FEMA’s policy of accepting additional forms of documentation to verify occupancy and ownership requirements for disaster assistance;
H.R. 1077- the Congressional Tribute to Constance Baker Motley Act of 2023, to provide, posthumously, a Congressional Gold Medal to Constance Baker Motley, in recognition of her decades of service in advancing civil rights as a lawyer, elected official, and judge; and
H.R. 1831 - the Billie Jean King Congressional Gold Medal Act, to award a Congressional Gold Medal to Billie Jean King, in recognition of her life devoted to championing equal rights for all, in sports and in society.

I also joined my colleagues in sending two letters on issues important to our community, including:

a letter to House and Senate Leadership urging Congressional leaders to include funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program in the upcoming FAA Reauthorization legislation; and
a letter to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure urging CMS to reject Texas’ request to extend its freedom of choice waiver authority in their final approval of the Healthy Texas Women program.

As always, I enjoyed seeing Houstonians on the Hill this week, including the opportunity to visit in the office with representatives of the Asian Real Estate Association of America and the National Electrical Contractors Association.

In Washington, Team TX-07 met with nearly two dozen constituents and groups, including representatives from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association; Refugee Council USA; General Aviation Manufacturers Association; American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association; Texas Land and Title Association; Houston Association of Realtors; Windstream Communications; Flight Aware (which is headquartered in #TX07!); BP Energy; and Texas Society for Respiratory Care.

And in Houston, Team TX-07 was out and about, including attending neighborhood meetings, the Houston Police Department’s Day of Prayer Ceremony with Assistant Chief Yasar Bashir, and SBA Houston’s annual awards.

This weekend, people across our district and across the country will celebrate and honor mothers and mother figures. I am wishing all the mothers, grandmothers, stepmothers, and mother figures who have raised, guided, nurtured, believed in, encouraged, loved, and inspired us, in our district and beyond, a very happy Mothers’ Day.

The House will be back in session next week, where we expect to take up legislation related to border security and the full FAA reauthorization. I will, of course, report back to you and other work we do in next week’s wrap up.

As always, I am proud to represent you and I am here to help you. Please call my office at (713) 353-8680 or (202) 225-2571 or email here at any time to ask for assistance or share your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,