As children start filling classrooms this week - school safety is on everyone's minds. This year, I have introduced four bills to better protect our children in schools.

H.R. 2476, the Protect Our Children’s School Act, would allow schools to redirect unobligated federal funds originally allocated to the Secretary of Education for coronavirus measures to secure their campuses. Each school could use this money at their discretion, whether to hire school resource officers, install more secure locks on doors, deploy security cameras, or anything else that would help the school be safer.

H.R. 2477, the Protect Against School Shootings (PASS) Act, would allow certain active and retired law enforcement officers to carry a concealed firearm in a school zone. This would only apply to individuals who are legally allowed to conceal carry currently and would help amplify a school’s response to a threat. As y’all know, it takes a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun.

H.R. 2478, the School Resource Officer Compensation Act, would provide an exclusion from gross income for compensation of school resource officers. Under this legislation, these school resource officers would be retired law enforcement officers. This is a win-win situation, as it would provide job opportunities to well-trained retired police officers and make the school a safer place for students and staff.

And the fourth bill I introduced is H.R. 2479, the Securing Our Schools Act of 2023, which would enhance school security, including doubling school resource officers, hiring more school-based mental health counselors, and expanding the nonprofit security grant program. 

I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to ensure that these meaningful pieces of legislation are passed and enacted into law. I am proud that TX-14 has some of the best schools in all of Texas, and for that matter, the United States, and that is a message that I’m not shy about sharing with my fellow lawmakers.

To all the students, teachers, staff, and parents, welcome back to school and have a great school year!

When the DNC coronated Vice President Kamala Harris as their candidate for president, they hoped we would forget her abysmal track record on the border. When Republicans called out “Border Czar” Harris for her absolute dereliction of duty, the media told us not to believe our lying eyes.

Fortunately, we have receipts.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said as recently as July 25 that Vice President Harris “was never a border czar,” a claim that is immediately debunked by the White House’s own transcript from March 24, 2021. In those remarks, President Biden says in no uncertain terms that Vice President Harris was to “help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border.” The media will say she was actually placed in charge of addressing the “root causes” of immigration from the “Northern Triangle” of South America (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador) and not in charge of the southern border itself. The semantics don’t matter: Kamala Harris has failed her assignment no matter what standard you judge her by.

During the last full year of the Trump Administration, Customs and Border Protection agents arrested 104,000 illegal immigrants from the Northern Triangle at the southern border. The CBP is on track this year to arrest 418,600 from the same area. If Vice President Harris’s responsibility was to address the causes pushing people from the Triangle to our border, she has utterly failed.

It’s also appropriate to remind everyone about H.R. 6477, the Migrant Protection Protocols Permanency Act (MPPPA). My bill would reinstate President Trump’s “Return to Mexico” policy, which would return illegal aliens across the border while they await the results of their asylum applications. This commonsense bill would force the administration to do its job and do it right.

As I often say, our district is THE energy capital of the world. Among the many sectors that call TX-14 home, the Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) export facilities have been under relentless attack by the energy-loathing Biden-Harris Administration. Desperate to appease their radical environmentalist base, they announced a ban on U.S. LNG exports in January. While we in the House of Representatives passed legislation, H.R. 7176, on a bipartisan basis in February, the fight to support our LNG industry is far from over.

In March, I introduced the LNG Coordination Act of 2024 to streamline and enhance cooperation among regulatory agencies. This vital legislation is included in both the Transportation & Infrastructure and Energy & Commerce’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety reauthorization bills. I am committed to seeing this package move swiftly through Congress and signed into law to support our growing LNG industry.

Additionally, 45 of my colleagues have joined me in sponsoring a resolution condemning the blatantly politically motivated export ban of LNG by this administration. The House of Representatives must officially denounce this reckless action, and I will push for this resolution to be brought to the floor for a vote.

Legislation cosponsored:

• H.R. 2584 - SAVE Act
• H.R. 9158 - To require an institution of higher education that becomes aware that a student having nonimmigrant status under subparagraph (F)(i) or (J) of section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)) has endorsed or supported a foreign terrorist organization to notify the SEVIS, and for other purposes.
• H.R. 9160 - To impose sanctions with respect to the system of compensation of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority that supports acts of terrorism.
• H.R. 9163 - To prohibit actions recognizing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and for other purposes.
• H.R. 9034 - To prohibit the use of Federal funds for the salary of the Director of the United States Secret Service.
• H.R. 9080 - To direct the Director of the United States Secret Service to implement a uniform fitness standard for Secret Service Special Agents and Uniformed Division Officers.
• H.Res. 1369 - Remembering the life of Corey Comperatore who passed away on Saturday, July 13, 2024.
• H.Res. 1374 - Honoring the dedication, bravery, and professionalism of correctional officers across the United States.
• H.R. 5073 - Promoting Domestic Energy Production Act

It is a privilege to represent our district in Congress.  While we’ve faced many challenges in recent years, through strength and prayer, we have persevered. 

Please know that we are always a resource for you.  Call or stop by any of the offices (YOUR offices, we work for you), whenever you need assistance or want to talk about an issue before Congress.

For assistance or more information, please call or go online to visit us at weber.house.gov.

God Bless you and God Bless Texas!