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HYR Weekly Political Update

February 21st, 2025

TRUMP’S FEDERAL PURGE BEGINS

Welcome to This Week's HYR Political Update—let’s get into it!

The Trump administration is charging ahead, slashing government bloat and sprinting ahead with their America first agenda. The Senate is done waiting on the House to get its act together on the budget and is busy confirming key nominees. The House is in recess, but when they return, they’re gearing up to wipe out Biden’s disastrous energy and environmental regulations. Stay tuned!

In Texas, the battle over school choice continues.

Thank you for being part of HYR, and we look forward to keeping you informed and connected.

Matt Murphy
Political Director, Houston Young Republicans

The White House
The Purge Continues

It’s been a whirlwind of activity from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue since the inauguration. In case you need a summarizing refresher, I’d encourage you to read this article.

  • In a major judiciary victory, a federal judge has ruled President Trump can move forward with the mass firings of federal workers.
  • Between 6,000 to 6,700 (depending on media accounts) IRS employees will be laid off.
  • Sec. Def. Hegseth reportedly has a list of generals and Pentagon officials on the chopping block for their DEI endeavors.
  • The National Security Agency (NSA), America’s preeminent technocratic-intelligence/spy-craft agency, has identified ~4,000 employees on probationary status also on the chopping block.
  • The Trump administration has ordered FEMA to compile a comprehensive list of employees tasked with climate change or equity centric roles for review. Quite likely many of them won’t survive the professional scrutiny.
  • The National Park Service has not been spared from the chopping block either; I love our National Parks, but when operational competency amongst the federal workers who staff them is so bad the one set of bathroom keys to an entire park is a casualty of layoffs, just maybe staffing changes are reasonably justified.
More executive orders: President Trump signed and EO terminating the flow of taxpayer dollars to illegal immigrants. In a move that will be extensively debated by courts, constitutionalists, and legal scholars alike—President Trump indicated his desire to turn over governance of Washington DC to Congress, a move that would eliminate Washington DC’s local government; a stark contrast to the push to establish DC as the 51st state under the Biden administration.
 
The White House Abroad
There has been significant movement on the foreign affairs front this week under White House leadership—particularly regarding the Russia/Ukraine conflict. At time of writing the situation is still far too fluid to address with any certainty. Just know that negotiations are ongoing to bring an end to the war, and the European Union is pissed they don’t have a seat at the table, a conundrum of their own making given their lackluster NATO footprint and inability to reach a strategic consensus. We’ll address this further next week should anything concrete or actionable develop.

The Senate
Mitch’s Last Dance

Mitch McConnell [R-KY] has formally announced he will not be seeking reelection in 2026. Many conservatives have mixed emotions on McConnell, who has served seven terms in the Senate since 1985, 18 of those years as either Minority or Majority Leader. I’ll spare our readers my take on “Cocaine Mitch” for the sake of brevity, but at the very least, controversial votes aside, McConnell will be remembered as a titan of parliamentary procedure for preventing a world where Supreme Court Justice Merrick Garland (Biden’s Attorney General) was a reality.

His seat will be hotly contested next federal election cycle. Reps. Thomas Massie [R-KY-4] and Andy Barr [R-KY-6] may be eyeing a run at replacing McConnell. Former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, and incumbent Governor Andy Beshear [D] will also likely throw their hats in the ring. One thing is certain, it will be an expensive and contentious campaign cycle in the Bluegrass State.  

The Senate takes budget reconciliation into their own hands: In a 10-hour vote-a-rama session on the Senate floor featuring 25 amendment offerings, which ended at 4:46 this morning, the Senate passed their own rendition of framework for the federal budget. The bill provides for a $340 billion budget; it passed almost on party lines with a 52-48 margin. Rand Paul [R-KY] was the lone dissenting Republican, likely because he thought it didn’t slash enough.

As discussed in prior editions, the Senate and House have been on different wavelengths regarding their approach for nailing down the national budget. The Senate passing this framework takes the wind out the sails of the House, and creates a fork in the road for Congressional Republicans—however, President Trump has publicly stated he prefers the House budget bill over the Senate version, which has not yet passed, but looks like it will next week.  We’ll see how it all shakes out.

Confirmations Continued
  • Kash Patel was confirmed to head the FBI—bad news for Sen. Adam Schiff [D-CA-Lizard People Party]. Patel was confirmed on a 51-49 vote margin, a stark contrast to prior DC establishment nominees.
  • Howard Lutnick was confirmed to head the Commerce Department. Lutnick has notably indicated he intends to fully carry out President Trump’s agenda, including a directive to abolish the IRS.
  • Former Senator Kelly Loeffler [R-GA] was confirmed to lead the Small Business Administration.

The House

Recess, Reset, Ready!

Despite being in recess, and the Senate taking the air of their sails with budget reconciliation, House leadership is still getting things done. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise [R-LA-1] announced the GOP Conference intends to roll back 10 Biden era mandates using the Congressional Review Act/CRA (arguably the most important tool Congress has to halt Executive Branch overreach). The regulatory issues in question—several birthed by the “Inflation Reduction” Act:

• The California Clean Air Act waiver. This waiver pegged federal regulations on emission standards to those determined at a state level by the California legislature.

• Methane Emissions Oil and Gas Charge. The IRA implemented a fee on oil and gas (O/G) facilities for methane emissions—inherent to oil and gas proliferation in the first place.

• Water heaters. This rulemaking tightened environmental standards on gas powered water heaters; bill repealing this rule will receive floor consideration next week.

• Digital Payments. The Consumer Protection Financial Bureau (which may soon be eliminated) uses this reg to monitor apps like Venmo.

• Crypto sales. Simply put, federal taxes on cryptocurrency.

• General appliance standards. Adds bureaucratic tape to energy/pollution standards for home appliances, driving up costs for things like dishwashers and laundry dryers.

• Offshore O/G sulfur emissions. Weaponizes sulfur emissions standards for offshore drilling, raising gas prices.
Tire manufacturing. Chemical regulations on rubber tires.

• Marine O/G archaeology. Frivolous regulation requiring offshore O/G entities in the continental shelf to conduct and report an archaeological assessment, slowing O/G production.

• Carbon credit reporting. Institutionalized carbon emission market for energy producers.  

In summation, even during an off week, the House is targeting regulations preventing the “drill baby drill” agenda—and kneecapping pillars of the Biden administration legacy. Should these CRA resolutions receive votes on the House floor, it could make for some tough votes for politically vulnerable House Democrats.

 
Other Notable Developments and Updates
  • On this day in 1846, former president of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston, was elected Senator to the newly-minted state of Texas.
  • The Kennedy Center in Washington DC is under new management with the Trump administration. Liberal activists have taken to protest through interpretive dance. I’m sure that’ll do the trick.

  • The Governor of Maine, Janet Mills [D] openly defied President Trump to his face regarding his EO on men in women’s sports. It did not go well for her.

  • Mamba/MAGA mentality? President Trump has announced a statue of LA Lakers’ legend Kobe Bryant will be erected in the National Garden of American Heroes.
  • The men’s national hockey team lost a sudden-death overtime heartbreaker to Canada yesterday in the 4 Nations International Final. I personally will be adjusting my foreign policy regarding our neighbors to the north accordingly. Friendly reminder no Canadian teams have won an NHL title in 31 years.   

This Week in Texas

Mark McCaig

Legislative Priorities

Leaders in the Texas House of Representatives unveiled a package of priority legislation related to education yesterday, including a bill to create an Education Savings Account program that school choice advocates lauded.

House Bill 3, filed by State Representative Brad Buckley, would create a universal school choice program with initial funding of $1 billion from the state for Education Savings Accounts. Buckley serves as Chairman of the Texas House Public Education committee. 

A similar school choice bill, Senate Bill 2, passed the Texas Senate earlier this month. 

The Texas chapter of the conservative advocacy organization Americans for Prosperity also praised House Bill 3 and highlighted areas where it believes the bill offers improvements over the State’s Senate’s school choice bill.

The improvements cited by Americans for Prosperity include “a greater preference for low-income and disabled children,” “significantly more funding for students with disabilities,” “no testing requirement for homeschool students,” and a provision of the bill that ties the amount of the Education Savings Account paid by the state to the average amount of funding per student in a public school. This provision differs from Senate Bill 2, which sets the amount of the Education Savings Account at a set amount that would have to be adjusted by the legislature. 

Like the American Federation for Children, Americans for Prosperity was active in Republican primary elections last cycle. 

Despite some differences between the school choice proposals in the House and Senate, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick said that he was “encouraged” by the filing of House Bill 3.

“We are encouraged by the filing today of the Texas House version of School Choice, HB 3, by Rep. Brad Buckley and are excited to see it closely aligns with Senate Bill 2. This is our 6th time passing a school choice bill in the Texas Senate. We look forward to Speaker Burrows and Chairman Buckley to finally get it across the finish line in the House,” said a tweet posted by Lt. Governor Patrick’s office.

The tweet also included a statement from State Senator Brandon Creighton, who was the lead author of Senate Bill 2, commending the work of the Texas House on school choice. 

“Under Lt. Governor Patrick’s leadership, the Texas Senate passed a bold plan with Senate Bill 2 to establish universal ESAs that empower parents to choose the best education for their children. I commend Chairman Buckley and the Texas House for advancing school choice with HB 3. Both chambers are prioritizing low-income and special needs students, creating the largest school choice launch in the nation. I look forward to working with the House to finally deliver for Texas families,” said Creighton. 

Other bills in the House’s priority education package filed yesterday include:

House Bill 2, an omnibus school choice bill that provides $7.6 billion in new funding for public schools, including funding for teacher pay raises

House Bill 4, to eliminate the STARR test and reinstate the “A-F” school rating system

House Bill 6, to enhance options for schools to remove disruptive students from the classroom

House Bill 100, which would prohibit school districts from purchasing instructional materials that were rejected by the State Board of Education

House Bill 123, to create additional tools to ensure young children do not fall behind in reading and math. Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows says education, including school choice, will be a priority for the Texas House this session. 

 

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UPCOMING EVENTS

TYRF 2025 Legislative Dinner

Feb. 25 - Purchase tickets here

Consulate General of Israel Howdy Hour
Mar. 18 - RSVP here before March 11 to be entered in a Post Malone concert giveaway!
     

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