Update on the NIETC Energy Project | Strengthening the U.S. Against Chinese Threats

Headline: Reforming the Congressional Budget Office

.The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) plays an essential role in facilitating the work of Congress, but has too often failed to accurately score major pieces of legislation. In a Budget Committee hearing last week, I engaged CBO Director Phillip Swagel in a discussion about how to improve CBO’s operations and products. In particular, I highlighted a bill I’ve been working on that would require CBO to provide a comprehensive and centralized list of final executive actions in order to increase transparency and streamline information flow. You can watch our full exchange below.

This hearing is part of the Budget Committee’s longstanding efforts to improve CBO. Last week we made progress on that when the U.S. Senate passed H.R. 7032, the Congressional Budget Office Data Sharing Act by unanimous consent. Passage of this bill marks the first time that a bipartisan House Budget Committee bill has passed both the House and Senate unanimously. I was pleased to have cosponsored this legislation.

This bipartisan, common sense legislation will permanently expand CBO’s authority to access necessary data from the executive branch while maintaining legal confidentiality protections. Most importantly, it will strengthen lawmakers’ ability to make informed decisions regarding the fiscal impact of prospective legislation. The bill now heads to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law.

Headline: Strengthening the U.S. Against Chinese Threats

.Last week the House passed a number of bills to combat the threat of Communist China and protect American values and national security. In particular, we passed bills to safeguard our agricultural assets from foreign adversaries and ensure Congressional oversight in pandemic-related conventions of the World Health Organization (WHO).

H.R. 9456, the Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act, strengthens the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States’ capacity to inspect sales of American agricultural land to entities associated with foreign adversaries, including China. H.R. 1425, the No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act, requires that any pandemic-related convention of the World Health Organization (WHO) be considered and ratified by the U.S. Senate as a treaty before it can legally bind the U.S. This is an important step due to the vast reach of any such agreement, and because of lingering public distrust of the WHO, given its manipulation by the Chinese Communist Party’s deadly cover-up that contributed to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Headline: Celebrating National Aerospace Week

.As the representative of the Air Capital of the World and co-chair of the House Aerospace Caucus, I was proud to celebrate National Aerospace Week last week. I'm especially grateful to all of the hardworking men and women in south central Kansas who power this industry. I submitted remarks to the Congressional record, which you can read here, and participated in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Aerospace Summit. You can watch my full remarks below.

.I joined Newsmax last week for a discussion comparing the policies of the Biden-Harris administration to the Trump administration. In particular, I highlighted how we passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017 to boost the economy, which resulted in wage growth, economic growth and an increase in tax revenue. Through my work on the Ways and Means Committee and chairing its U.S. Innovation Tax Team, I’m working to extend key provisions of TCJA to once again deliver sorely-needed economic relief to Kansans.