HYR Weekly Update

A NEWSLETTER FROM HOUSTON YOUNG REPUBLICANS

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JUNE 01

Welcome to this week’s edition of the HYR newsletter, !

In Washington, a key advisor to President Trump was targeted in a chilling cyber-attack. Congress is out of session, but foreshadowed their fiscally conservative agenda for the days ahead.

In Texas, the State Legislature greenlit a budget, and made good on their promise to address property taxes.

We break it down below.

Matt Murphy

Political Director

Wiles’ Wild Week

The FBI has opened an investigation into a clandestine operation against White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. In recent weeks, high-profile power brokers in both the public and private sector have received texts and phone calls from an entity or individual impersonating one of the most powerful women in America.

The texts/calls in question were not actually from Wiles. She informed her White House colleagues she suspected her personal (not government issued) phone was hacked and compromised. Unfortunately, it appears she was right.

The FBI suspects, but can’t publicly confirm during an active investigation, that the offending individual or organization used AI to mimic Wiles speech patterns and voice–and is not affiliated with a malign foreign nation. Here’s hoping whoever did this enjoys the scenic views of Guantanamo Bay, or becomes part of the inaugural class of Alcatraz inmates.

Extreme Makeover: State Department Edition

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is making good on his April promise to overhaul the federal agency he oversees. On Thursday, the State Department issued a formal notice to Congress outlining plans to take up their largest organizational restructuring since the Cold War.

The proposal aims to streamline the department’s efforts to rapidly respond to international incidents, while cutting unnecessary bureaucratic bloat. The proposal would merge or slash 311 domestic offices, and eliminate ~15-20% of the State Department’s workforce. The reformational blueprint also entails constructing nine new strategically located outposts, and modernizing agency efforts to address threats originating from AI and hypersonic/space-borne weapons.

The move is long overdue. As we highlighted last edition with Rubio’s recent Senate testimony, the State Department had become obsolete and irrelevant in terms of rapid response to international crises. With war enveloping the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and the increasing threat of an adversarial China, a streamlined and fast-acting State Department is crucial to the success of the Trump administration.

Congressionally Codifying Cost Cuts

The White House will send a recissions (i.e. budget slashing) package to Capitol Hill this week, aiming to cut ~$9.4B in federal spending. The framework of the budgetary proposal addresses some of the worst instances of waste, fraud, and abuse uncovered by DOGE.

Staunch fiscal conservatives argue the measure doesn’t achieve nearly enough, and falls short of the trillions of dollars in spending DOGE aspired to reclaim for taxpayers. Good news: Congress can pass this proposal and significantly more reductions in federal expenditures through the budget reconciliation package the Senate has taken up.

Speaker Johnson [R-LA-4] expressed his intent to move the rescission package forward quickly, and codify more DOGE-inspired spending cuts–a critical task for Congress. With the budget bill in the hands of the Senate, the House must press forward in its GOP-spearheaded efforts to end the waste, fraud, and abuse DOGE has exposed. The legislative branch holds the power of the purse; this is a good first step Congress can take to signify the purse is shut until America can get its finances in order.

In Other News

We’re praying hard for (Houston’s own) 13-year-old DJ Daniel–one of President Trump’s guests of honor at the State of the Union, and staunch supporter of law enforcement. DJ is battling against three newly revealed tumors. A reminder, not a single Congressional Democrat stood up to applaud him in his fight against his insidious prognosis.
Skittles: Taste the Titanium Rainbow.
Last week we touched upon the FBI raiding a Minnesota non-profit for exorbitant Covid-fraud. Turns out Tim Walz’s constituency made sure our taxpayer dollars can’t be reclaimed.
Judicial law-fare has been an early theme of the second Trump administration; suffices to say there’s a double standard in this vein.
Stephen Miller continued to dance rhetorical circles around establishment media pundits defending illegal immigration.
Disgraced former NY Congressman Anthony Weiner (“Pervert alert”) is attempting a political comeback. He appeared on The View to discuss his “redemption,” and was applauded for “overcoming” his “issue” of preying upon underage women. Someone get Chris Hanson on the line ASAP.
Meritocracy is a villain to Democrats. This week, San Francisco public school officials unveiled plans to implement an “equity” driven agenda into their formal curriculum–it reads like satire.

This Week in Texas

Mark McCaig

The Texas Voice

The Texas House and Texas Senate approved the conference committee report on Senate Bill 1 – the state budget – on Saturday. Coming in at $338 for the biennium, the budget passed the Senate 30-0 and 107-21 in the Texas House.

“This budget reflects conservative principles of fiscal responsibility and prioritizing the needs of Texans,” said State Senator Joan Huffman, the author of Senate Bill 1 and Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. “Through months of diligent work and principled negotiations, we have crafted a balanced budget that adheres to our constitutional and statutory spending limits while addressing the challenges of our growing state. Despite pressures from population growth and global economic uncertainties, this budget ensures Texas remains the premier destination for families, businesses, and opportunity, thanks to the Legislature’s steadfast commitment to fiscal discipline and the well-being of our citizens.”

GOP Leaders Applaud $10.3 Billion Property Tax Relief Package

During his State of the State address earlier this year, Governor Greg Abbott prioritized property tax relief, urging lawmakers to pass $10 billion in property tax relief.

The legislature delivered on that mandate, passing a $10.3 billion property tax relief package. That package includes proposals to be decided by voters in November to raise the homestead exemption to $140,000, with an increase to $200,000 for Texans who are over 65 years old or disabled. The state budget also included additional funding for buying down school district property tax rates, known as compression.

In a joint statement, Governor Greg Abbott, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, and Speaker Dustin Burrows applauded the passage of property tax relief.

“Never before has the Texas Legislature allocated more funds to provide property tax relief than they did this session,” said Governor Abbott. “I thank Lieutenant Governor Patrick, Speaker Burrows, and the members of the Texas House and Senate for providing Texans with badly-needed property tax reductions. I will sign these bills into law to deliver lasting relief for Texans and their families, and I urge Texans to approve the new increases in the homestead and business property tax exemptions this November.”

“When I became Lieutenant Governor in 2015, the homestead exemption was a tiny $15,000,” said Lieutenant Governor Patrick. “Since then, we have increased it to $100,000, and with the passage of Senate Bill 4 and Senate Bill 23, it is now $200,000 for seniors and $140,000 for non-seniors. The average senior homeowner will no longer pay any school property taxes for the rest of their life as long as they live in their home. Homeowners under 65 years old will now see almost 50% of their school taxes cut. Nearly 25% of our all state funds budget this year is going to property tax relief. We have come a long way in the last 10 years, when only a small percentage of our budget went to property tax relief.”