** HYR Weekly
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** A NEWSLETTER FROM THE HOUSTON YOUNG REPUBLICANS
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** (View this email in your browser ([link removed]) )
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** MAY. 04
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Welcome to this week’s newsletter, !

In Washington, President Trump made a “yuge” deal with Ukraine, as his Cabinet, increasingly steered by Secretary Rubio, continued to make waves. In Congress, yet another House Democrat filed futile articles of impeachment, and managed to get egg on his face in spectacular fashion doing so.

In Texas, Governor Abbott secured a long awaited and hard fought win for his education agenda in our state.

We break it down below.


** Matt Murphy
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** Political Director
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** Inroads with Ukraine
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On Wednesday, the White House secured a significant mineral rights agreement with Ukraine. The deal establishes an economic partnership between the two nations–giving America access to more than 20 different natural resources critical to our economy, domestic manufacturing capabilities, and national defense. The 50/50 sharing agreement will last for a decade, and can be paid down by the US in the form of additional military aid to Ukraine.

A pending down payment on the military aid front was announced Friday, as the State Department approved a $310M Pentagon proposal to sell Ukraine a program to train, maintain, and bolster Ukraine’s F-16 fighter jet wing (pun intended) of their military.

The announcement, made shortly after President Trump’s discussion with Zelensky at the funeral of Pope Francis, marks a long awaited diplomatic development in de-escalating the war ravaging Eastern Europe. Whether Russia decides to come to the negotiating table has yet to be seen.


** Marco’s Many Hats
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Embattled Cabinet member Mike Waltz was relieved of his National Security Advisor duties this week by President Trump, and promptly reassigned to the position of U.N. Ambassador–where his foreign affairs expertise will better serve the administration.

Rubio was named Acting National Security Advisor in wake of Waltz’s departure. For those of you keeping track–Rubio is now serving as: Secretary of State, Acting National Security Advisor, Acting Administrator of USAID, and Acting Archivist of the U.S.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Secretary Rubio’s scheduling team.


** Sanity Prevails at HHS
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HHS Secretary RFK announced his agency will be taking up a few common sense initiatives to better the physical, mental, and fiscal health of our country.

RFK announced he’s working with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to ban food stamp funded purchases of soda and candy. ~38% of kids in America are diabetic or pre-diabetic, and trillions of taxpayer dollars are spent fighting and researching the obesity epidemic in our country; our money is being burned on both ends of the equation, and this proposal would (in part) alleviate the issue at the source.

Additionally, HHS issued a best practices report directing healthcare providers to treat children with therapy as opposed to “gender affirming” (i.e. irreversible chemical castration/transgender surgery) care. This shouldn’t even be a point of debate in America, let alone one requiring Executive Branch guidance–but it’s not a radical opinion to say that children neither old nor mentally mature enough to get a tattoo shouldn’t be able to get irreversible and life-altering medical procedures on their genitals. Adolescent angst and emotional speedbumps are a teenage rite of passage; kids need guidance and counseling–not “affirmational” coddling of fixable mental health issues and puberty blockers.


** Tariffs and Trade Trajectory
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President Trump announced that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and pertinent federal representatives are in negotiations with over 200 countries to rehash and reform the foundational nature of our international trade relationships.

“Liberation Day” sent shockwaves throughout global financial markets, but the announcement has seemingly quelled the uncertain fiscal waters of late. This week, the S&P 500 matched their longest consecutive “green streak” (i.e. closing the day with stock valuations on the rise) in ~21 years.

It’s worth noting that a Senate bill to claw back tariffing authority from the Executive Branch and into Congress’ wheelhouse narrowly failed on a 49-49 vote this week. Hilariously, had Democrat Senate leadership simply postponed the vote, they probably would have passed the proposal; Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse [D-RI] was in Korea for a planned event and would have tipped the scales against the White House had he been present to vote.


** Articles of Impeachment: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
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Rep. Shri Thanedar [D-MI-13], a man whose Congressional portrait ([link removed]) invokes the grace and hairstyle of Justin Bieber’s childhood and a litany of mid-2000’s emo rock bands, introduced seven different articles of impeachment against President Trump. Thanedar’s “I Can’t Believe It’s Not A Toupee Party-MI-13” articles are dead on arrival and purely a window dressing maneuver, but his performative politicking even managed to piss off his colleagues in the House Democrat Caucus.

Thanedar officially introduced an article of impeachment which initially listed four co-sponsors (i.e. members of Congress who formally sign on to a bill/measure to publicly signify their support). All four co-sponsors hastily withdrew their signatures from the motion, and implied that Thanedar had added their written endorsement without their knowledge based upon casual conversation.

This was an egregious error on Thanedar’s part. Virtually every Congressional office has a procedural process or staff protocols in place to vet, clear, and approve co-sponsorship/sign offs on official letters and legislation. Thanedar’s stunt would be akin to a casual acquaintance asking you whether you love Houston and hate Dallas, and then (upon your obvious agreement) signing you on to a formal declaration of war against all of Dallas without your knowledge.

Lastly, Thanedar isn’t the kind of guy his “co-sponsors” are lining up to associate with in the first place. Prior to his election to Congress, Thanedar owned a pharmaceutical testing lab. His company went bankrupt in 2010, and instead of humanely dealing with the puppies and monkeys they were using as test subjects, Thanedar locked the door to his testing facilities and left the animals to die–as reported and corroborated ([link removed]) by the left-leaning Huffington Post.


** Daylight Savings Dilemma
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The Senate Commerce Committee voted on, but did not formally pass, a resolution to make daylight savings time permanent–ending the annual tradition of flip flopping our clocks twice a year. Too many Senators were not physically present for the committee vote, which will have to be repeated as a result.

The vote tally was a 16-12 margin. The issue of daylight savings, and the vote in committee, was a rare instance of Congressional debate which didn’t traditionally fall along party lines.


** Take It Down Act Triumphs
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A bill proposed by Houston’s own Sen. Ted Cruz [R-TX] has formally been approved by both chambers of Congress, and awaits President Trump’s inevitable signature to become federal law.

The Take It Down Act, which was publicly backed by First Lady Melania Trump and received overwhelming bi-partisan support, would crack down on non-consensual deepfakes and revenge porn. The legislation punishes and prevents the distribution of both authentic and AI-generated illicit images. Elliston Berry ([link removed]) is finally just a pen stroke away from some semblance of justice.

Note: There were numerous developments on the budget reconciliation front this week. For sake of brevity we will not elaborate at length, but Congress has set a tentative deadline for passage of a new federal budget around the 4th of July.

In Other News

* The Biden-era DHS knowingly released convicted sex offenders into America. You can read the insane thread and pertinent documents here ([link removed]) .
* The FBI agents who were photographed kneeling in solidarity with George Floyd have been reassigned/removed ([link removed]) from their positions.
* Remember Kilmar Garcia? The “Maryland Man” we discussed last week? Here’s proof ([link removed]) he committed human trafficking.
* Warren Buffett announced he will retire at the end of this year.
* Mark Carney, the new Prime Minister of Canada, who has been lauded as Canada’s liberal answer to President Trump–worked for Jared Kushner (Trump’s son-in-law) up until January of this year.



** School Choice Signed into Law
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By Mark McCaig

The Texas Voice

Senate Bill 2, which creates an Education Savings Account school choice program in Texas, was signed into law by Governor Abbott in a signing ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion on Saturday. The legislation was a top priority for the state’s Republican leaders and was strongly supported by President Trump.

“When I ran for re-election in 2022, I promised Texans that we will bring education freedom to every Texas family,” said Governor Abbott. “Today, Texas delivers on that promise. I am signing this law that will ensure Texas families, whose children can no longer be served by the public school assigned to them, have the choice to take their money and find the school that is right for them.”

President Trump has pledged to endorse the Republican members of the Texas House who voted for Senate Bill 2 ([link removed]) .


** Medical Freedom Legislation Advances in Texas House
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Texans for Medical Freedom, a leading organization on issues concerning individual rights on healthcare matters, praised the work of the Texas House Public Health Committee for passing three of the organization’s priority bills out of committee on Thursday.

“🚨 Today, THREE of Texans for Medical Freedom’s top legislative priorities were officially passed out of the Public Health Committee!

Here’s what’s moving forward:

✅ HB 1586 (Rep. Hull) – Creates an online vaccine exemption form for easier parental access

✅ HB 4076 (Rep. Leach) – Protects organ transplant access regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status

✅ HB 4535 (Rep. McQueeney) – Ensures true informed consent for COVID vaccines”


** Governor Abbott Holds Roundtable with Crime Victims in Support of Bail Reform
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On Wednesday, Governor Greg Abbott held a roundtable discussion with those personally impacted by violent crime. The roundtable, which was held at the offices of Crime Stoppers of Houston, is part of a push by the Governor to support a State Constitutional Amendment to reform the Texas bail system that would make it easier to deny bail to violent criminals ([link removed]) .

While a bail reform amendment to the Texas Constitution passed the Texas Senate earlier in the legislative session, it faces an uncertain path in the Texas House. At least 12 Democrats must join House Republicans to reach the two-thirds threshold needed to pass and bring the amendment to voters.


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Author: Matt Murphy, Political Director, Houston Young Republicans

Editor: Courtney Trevino, President, Houston Young Republicans

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