** HYR Weekly
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** Political Update
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** A NEWSLETTER FROM THE HOUSTON YOUNG REPUBLICANS
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** FEB. 28
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Welcome to this week’s newsletter—let’s get into it!

In wake of the first full Cabinet meeting of the new administration, the White House is going scorched earth on federal agencies. The Senate had a relatively quiet week, but continues to confirm Trump-appointees at a record pace. And the House, in arguably the most significant development in DC this week, passed a budgetary framework by the skin of their teeth.

In Texas, the new Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court laid out his vision for the Texas Judiciary in great detail.

We break it all down below.


** Matt Murphy
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** Political Director
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** President Trump’s Cabinet Cracks Down
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Transparency from the Executive Branch is a welcome change of pace; President Trump’s Cabinet fielded questions for nearly an hour ([link removed]) at their first gathering—and President Trump himself has already answered more than 1000x more inquiries ([link removed]) from the press than Joe Biden did in his first month as president. President Trump’s Cabinet officials began throwing their weight around and making full use of the powers at their disposal this week—and shedding some light on some truly disturbing things in the process.
* At the DOJ: AG Pam Bondi announced the release of the first round of files regarding prolific pedophile and human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein (who as the Senate’s in-house comedian John Kennedy [R-LA] so eloquently put ([link removed]) , definitely didn’t kill himself). These files detail Epstein’s client list, and have documented more than 250 victims of his abhorrent operation. The Bondi DOJ has already begun circulating hard copies of the files to right wing social media influencers, and indicated criminal prosecution cases are coming down the pipe ([link removed]) . These prosecutions might be more cut and dry were feds in New York not withholding thousands of pages ([link removed]) of additional Epstein files from the DOJ; Bondi has vowed to acquire and make
public every piece of evidence she feasibly can. Here’s hoping the wheels of justice move with a swift vengeance—regardless of the political affiliations of those on Epstein’s client list.
* At Various Intelligence Agencies: Investigative journalist Chris Rufo broke a truly repulsive story ([link removed]) this week (reader discretion highly advised) detailing logs from a chatroom in which NSA, CIA, and DIA employees discussed a litany of degenerate, R-rated material, much of it transgender-centric—all on taxpayer time. In response DNI Tulsi Gabbard fired every federal employee involved ([link removed]) in the chatroom and revoked their security clearances, more than 100 of them, immediately. Just a reminder, these people were tasked with safeguarding our national security and state secrets; not exactly confidence inspiring for the state of American intelligence.
* At the FBI: Kash Patel has been tasked with cleaning up the FBI, and it’s been rough sledding so far ([link removed]) . 38,000 FBI employees are under performance review, and Patel has been met with significant backlash from tenured FBI workers accordingly. Nonetheless, Patel has persisted, and moved forward with plans to de-centralize FBI power in DC, announcing his intent to relocate ~1,500 agents and staffers to 55 field offices across the country. As if reforming the FBI wasn’t enough of a workload, President Trump has named Patel as acting director of the BATF ([link removed]) (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms—which many Texans have joked should be a store instead of a federal agency). Godspeed.

Note: We are aware Trump is meeting Zelenskyy today—at time of writing we don’t know enough to provide an adequate analysis and summary. We’ll cover it next week need be.


** Nominations Continued
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Daniel Driscoll was confirmed to serve as Army Secretary by a 66-28 vote margin. Driscoll was previously a senior policy advisor ([link removed]) to then Sen. JD Vance—the two met at Yale Law School. Driscoll ran for Congress during the 2020 election cycle, but lost his primary to former one-term Rep. Madison Cawthorne [R-NC].

Former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer [R-OR-5] advanced out of committee by a 13-9 margin to serve as President Trump’s Labor Secretary. Three Democrats, Maggie Hassan [D-NH], Tim Kaine [D-VA], and John Hickenlooper [D-CO] voted for her; Rand Paul [R-KY] did not. As predicted in a prior edition of this newsletter, her final Senate confirmation appears on track due to both Democrats and Republicans breaking rank from party lines.


** Mike Johnson: Miracle Worker
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Late Tuesday evening Speaker Johnson [R-LA-4] spearheaded the most significant legislative victory of his tenure, passing the House budget package with a two-vote margin. In a move very on brand for the MIT grad and staunch fiscal conservative, Rep. Thomas Massie [R-KY-4] was the lone dissenting Republican to vote against the measure.

Several days ago, it was questionable whether the House budget reconciliation bill even had the votes to pass out of committee—much less pass a floor vote with such tenuous margins.

Ample credit goes to House Republican leadership for shepherding this budgetary framework across the finish line, a massive win for the House GOP Conference which seemed unfeasible just weeks ago.

Even long time Congressional media pundits were flabbergasted ([link removed]) at the way floor proceedings unfolded. In a 10-minute span(!), House leadership canceled the budget vote and advised voting members to go home, then reversed course and put the bill back on the floor for a successful final vote.

Safe to say there were some concessions and heated conversations exchanged in the Republican cloakroom (i.e. the room attached to the House floor where members have private discussions over pending legislation and floor action).

The big question: what comes next? The federal government runs out of money on the 14^th, and if a patchwork funding vehicle is not enacted by then the government will shut down. It’s looking increasingly likely ([link removed]) Congress is going to have to fall back on yet another Continuing Resolution/CR (i.e. keeping the current budget as is; friendly reminder we’re still operating under the CR passed in December during the lame-duck session from the Biden administration) to keep the government funded through September.

There are a few key factors to consider moving forward.
1. House and Senate leadership will need to come to an agreement on a compromise budgetary framework that can pass muster on both sides of Capitol Hill. Godspeed.
2. Speaker Johnson has indicated he wants to have a budget package ready for President Trump to sign into law in early May. Complicating matters, the House will need two new Republican Representative-elects from Florida to hold onto their tight voting margin, and they won’t be sworn in until early April.
3. Senate Republicans will not relent on their demand that the tax cuts instituted under President Trump’s first term be made permanent—the House budget proposal doesn’t allow for that as it’s currently written.

Tuesday evening was a huge win for the House and cause for celebration (perhaps even relief), but Republicans should pump the brakes on a victory lap for now. There’s still much to be decided and ironed out--rest assured we’ll keep you posted as developments arise.

Miscellaneous Updates
* Update: Maine’s Governor, who defiantly rejected President Trump’s executive order on men in women’s sports, got a brutal reality check ([link removed]) just 6 hours later.
* MSNBC has fired Joy Reid. I’ll personally miss her unique brand of hysteria ([link removed]) , and the ammo she gifted conservative pundits. The network has hired an… eccentric ([link removed]) anchor in wake of her departure, a self-professed “Kamala Harris expert,” and “walking Beyoncé encyclopedia. And no, this is not actually an elaborate Key & Peele sketch ([link removed]) .
* USAID workers began tearfully cleaning out their desks this week ([link removed]) .
* The state of Connecticut’s Psychiatric Review Board decided to grant conditional release ([link removed]) for a murderous cannibal after serving 10 years in a psych ward. He killed a homeless man and ate his brains and eyeballs ([link removed]) ; rest easy though—he’s pinky promised ([link removed]) if he feels any cravings for human flesh he’ll reach out for help.
* Tim Walz announced he will not be seeking the Senate seat soon to be vacated by Tina Smith [D-MN] in 2026, and will instead be running for a third term as Governor ([link removed]) .
* Rep. Rich McCormick [R-GA-6] skateboarded ([link removed]) back to his office from the Capitol.
* Former Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and bowtie aficionado ([link removed]) , Patrick McHenry [R-NC-10] is joining Andreesen Horowitz (a Silicon Valley venture capitalist firm with $45B at their disposal) as a senior adviser.
* CNN anchor Jake Tapper has, ironically, published a book detailing ([link removed]) how the establishment media covered up Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. Tapper was on the front lines of that very effort; when even Cenk Uygur (leftist political commentator and host of The Young Turks podcast) likens this book ([link removed]) to OJ Simpson’s “If I Did It,” you’ve jumped the shark.
* Illegal immigration is down 90% ([link removed]) .
* Steak N’ Shake has replaced seed oils with beef tallow to cook their fries—RFK is beaming ([link removed]) somewhere.
* Chicago’s radical Mayor Brandon Johnson [D], who won his election in a run-off, bolstered by teachers’ union activists, has plummeted to a 6.6% approval rating ([link removed]) .
* Eric Swalwell [D-CA-15], who was famously compromised by a romantic relationship with a Chinese Communist Party spy ([link removed]) , went viral again ([link removed]) this week for alleged misconduct. The accusations levied against him may very well be unfounded—baseless accusations are unfortunately common practice in politics after all. However, if the social media post in question has provable legitimacy to it, it’s certainly not a good look. HYR will neither defend nor pile on Rep. Swalwell without further concrete information, but it’s a development worth flagging for our readers.
* My Houston Cougars have clinched their 2^nd straight Big 12 basketball conference championship, in just their 2^nd year in the conference, a feat which hasn’t been done in ~102 years ([link removed]) . There are no political implications here, I’m just unbelievably stoked.



** New Chief Justice Delivers State of the Judiciary Address
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WRITTEN by Mark McCaig, The Texas Voice

Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock delivered his first State of the Judiciary Address to a joint session of the Texas Legislature yesterday ([link removed]) , stressing the importance of a qualified and adequately compensated judiciary that will uphold the rule of law.

Blacklock, who has served on the Texas Supreme Court since 2018, was appointed Chief Justice last month by Governor Abbott. Nathan Hecht, who had served as Chief Justice since 2013, was forced to retire from the bench after reaching the mandatory retirement age.

The new Chief Justice’s remarks stressed his commitment to “Constitutional Originalism”, as opposed to the philosophy of a “Living Constitution” that is embraced by many liberal jurists.

“If we can all agree that judges shouldn’t replace the Legislature’s policy choices with their own, then surely we can agree that judges shouldn’t put their own policy choices into the Constitution, but that is exactly what the Living Constitution invites judges to do. For that reason, the Texas Supreme Court has repeatedly held that Originalism—not Living Constitutionalism—is the right way to interpret our Constitution. Hear me say this. In Texas, under this Supreme Court, the Living Constitution is Dead,” said Blacklock.

Judicial pay was also a significant focus of Blacklock’s speech.

Blacklock asked lawmakers for a 30% increase in the base pay for judges, citing a statistic that Texas ranks 48^th out of the 50 states in judicial pay. The last time that the Legislature raised the base pay of judges was in 2013. He warned that it was becoming difficult to attract and retain good judges due to the pay and noted that his request would only take Texas up to number 31 out of 50 states in judicial pay.

“If we want to attract and retain hard-working, rule-of-law judges who are qualified to wield the extraordinary power our Constitution gives them, it is absolutely essential that we raise judicial salaries significantly, this Session,” remarked the Chief Justice.

“And the bottom line is this: You get what you pay for. Higher pay means more highly qualified people will apply. It means more highly qualified people will stay in the job longer. That’s true of any job. If we’re serious about attracting and retaining great judges, salaries are not the only piece of the puzzle. But they are an essential piece, and we cannot continue to ignore it.”

Blacklock also discussed how the Texas Supreme Court was working to identify “problem judges” and expressed a willingness to utilize provisions of the Texas Constitution that allow for judges to be removed by the Texas Supreme Court for negligence and incompetence.

“Article 15, section 8 allows the Legislature, on the Governor’s recommendation, to remove a judge for several reasons, including willful neglect of duty or incompetence. Article 15, section 6 allows the Supreme Court, on the petition of 10 lawyers, to remove a district judge who “negligently fails to perform his duties as Judge; or who shall fail to execute in a reasonable measure the business in his courts.” These provisions show us, that the Framers of our Constitution knew, that judges have to be capable, qualified people who can manage a courtroom. The Framers also knew that elections might occasionally give us unqualified judges. Their answer wasn’t—tough luck, vote them out in four years. No. They gave us tools to fix these problems in the rare cases when they arise. And if we forget about these tools or we don’t use them because we’re afraid it will be difficult or we’ll be criticized for it, then we’re not allowing our Constitution to operate as it was designed.”

Although the Texas Supreme Court only had jurisdiction over civil cases, with the Court of Criminal Appeals having jurisdiction over criminal cases, Blacklock emphasized the importance of public safety and thanked State Senator Joan Huffman for her work on bail reform ([link removed]) .

In discussing Huffman’s proposals, Blacklock said, “One thing I know you’re considering is changing the law, and asking the People to change the Constitution, so that after these officers have risked their lives to take violent criminals off the streets, our judges are empowered—even required—to keep those violent criminals in custody, as they await a speedy trial. The Governor has made this an emergency item, and I want to thank Senator Joan Huffman for her leadership on this vital issue of public safety.”

Blacklock’s comments come as Democrat Harris County District Judge Hilary Unger has been criticized by victims’ rights advocates and law enforcement groups after she allowed a suspect charged with capital murder of a police officer to be released on bond.

Andy Kahan, Director of Victim Services and Advocacy with Crime Stoppers of Houston, told Houston television station KHOU ([link removed]) , “It’s a slap in the face to all law enforcement officers. It’s a definite slap in the face to the public,” adding, “I’ve never, ever in my career ever seen a defendant charged with capital murder of a police officer get out on bond.”

The post New Chief Justice Delivers State of the Judiciary Address ([link removed]) appeared first on The Texas Voice. ([link removed]) .

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