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

Welcome to this week’s newsletter–and we hope you had a wonderful Independence Day and weekend. Our thoughts are with central Texas, and everybody impacted by the devastating flooding which claimed dozens of lives, decimated exponentially more livelihoods, and upended our state.  

Congress finally managed to pass a budget. The nationwide debate over immigration continued to boil over. Elon Musk has a new pet project. 

State Democrats are in legal trouble as they scramble for viable Congressional candidates. 

We break it down below.

Despite Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries [D-NY-8] effectively filibustering the last vote for nearly 9 hours (a maneuver he’s described as “unconstitutional” and a “Jim-Crow relic” when Republicans do it), the House GOP squeaked their budget over the finish line just in time for the 4th of July. 

So what made the final cut to be enshrined into law? A lot of conservative, populist policy priorities: 

• No taxes on tips or overtime (up to a certain income threshold).

• Permanent extension of the 2017 tax cuts implemented during the first Trump administration. 

• $4.5 trillion in total tax cuts. 

• $325 in new funding for the Pentagon and border/homeland security; ICE’s new $175B budget is now bigger than that of Russia’s entire military. 

• Removing illegal aliens from and implementing work requirements for both SNAP (food stamps) and Medicaid benefits. ~42 million people are on food stamps (~12.5% of Americans). If taxpayers are footing the cost of your grocery bill and healthcare you shouldn’t be here illegally, nor should you be perpetually unemployed if you’re able of body and mind. Democrats decried these common sense fiscal policies, claiming over ~17M people will lose Medicaid coverage–strangely, they never define who exactly these people are. 

• The return of Space Shuttle Discovery to its rightful home in Houston, a proposal introduced by Texan Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.  

Passage of this bill marks a cornerstone of the early White House agenda, and should hopefully act as jet fuel for the economy (particularly amongst the middle and working class) and historically bolster our national defense and border security endeavors. Are you tired of winning? 

Immigration policy dominated the newscycle in a variety of fashions this week. 

We kick off with the opening of “Alligator Alcatraz,” (or Gator Gitmo, if you will) an illegal alien detention and deportation facility constructed in the isolated swamps of Florida–surrounded by gators to deter alien escape attempts. Senior White House Advisor Stephen Miller publicly encouraged other red state governors to follow Gov. DeSantis’ re-immigration blueprint; how soon can we get Rattlesnake Rikers going Gov. Abbott? 

But in arguably the most significant development of the week President Trump announced his intent to re-do the census and remove illegal aliens from the population count. There are logistical and perhaps legal hurdles to making this happen–but doing so would end the long running practice by blue states of artificially inflating their number of seats in the House and votes in the Electoral College (both are determined by state population).

For sake of brevity we’ll only touch upon these next few storylines:

• ICE has arrested 130 Iranian nationals across the country over concerns of terrorist sleeper cells. 

• Border Czar Tom Homan confirmed AOC is under federal investigation for employing a criminal alien on her Congressional staff, and instructing them on evading ICE (lmao). 

• The DOJ is now revoking the citizenship of naturalized individuals upon being criminally charged. Citizenship is a gift, behave like it. 

• Rioters in LA unlawfully assembled outside the city federal building, and got into it with DHS and the National Guard.   

• A police officer in the DFW area was shot in the neck outside of an ICE detention facility. The shooter and several other individuals were apprehended and taken into custody. The officer was treated and released from the hospital. 

• Riots and protests transpired across Mexico, hilariously, in protest of Americans in Mexico gentrifying their country and refusing to culturally assimilate. The irony is palpable.

• One third of our entire southern border is now under military protection. 

• A last parting thought on the recent state of immigration discourse in America. 

In Other News

• The economy is steadily strengthening. The most recent jobs report beat expectations by tens of thousands of jobs, and unemployment has dropped to 4.1%, despite predictions it was rising. The best part: the new jobs are going to Americans–native born workers gained 830k jobs, as foreign born workers lost 348K over the same period.  

• Californian legislators voted to increase their already astronomical state gas tax; they celebrated the occasion with a totally-not-out-of-touch and well choreographed Tik-Tok dance. 

• Not to be done by the insanity of other west coast blue state legislators, Washington is on the verge of implementing one of the most destructive and radically progressive proposals this country has ever seen: state supplied prescriptions for illegal narcotics.  

• Tim Walz’s state is beyond parody.

• Sen. John Kennedy [R-LA], one of the great poets and wordsmiths of our time.  

• CNN begrudgingly admitted President Trump’s first 5 month approval rating is higher than Ronald Reagan. 

• UPenn has been utterly defeated for their hell-bent support of transgender athletes. 

• The Brits are still mad, 249 years later. 

• MMA fans rejoice, the UFC confirmed a title fight will be held at the White House next summer. 

• [Disclaimer: this next sentence is not for the faint of heart or stomach]. The male to female transgender industry is apparently propped up by the urine of and abortions of horses. Wish we were making this up. 

• Our Houston Astros just swept the powerhouse (and godless) Los Angeles Dodgers—owners of the highest payroll in MLB history. Despite leading the league in injuries, we’re now 13-2 against division leaders. Grit. Heart. America’s Team.

The charged individuals constitute a who’s who list of liberal activists in the area–ranging from the County Judge, multiple Mayors, City Council Members, and even a Precinct Commissioner (full list here). Actions have consequences, here’s hoping they throw the book at them. (Read more here). 

Former Congressman Colin Allred [D] announced he’s running, yet again, for US Senate. Allred lost his last campaign for Senate by nearly a million votes. Polling indicates the incumbent Sen. John Cornyn would fare better in a general election against Allred than his primary opponent AG Ken Paxton (who’s investigating the aforementioned ballot harvesting Dems). Whoever emerges from what’s shaping up to be a dogfight of a Republican primary won’t be losing much sleep over the prospect of facing Allred. 

In Houston, George Foreman IV, the son of a famous Houstonian and boxing champ (also named George Foreman), has announced a campaign for Texas’ 18th Congressional District. The seat was vacated with the untimely passing of Sylvester Turner, and previously held by Sheila Jackson Lee. Foreman will be running as an Independent. If he fights like his dad, he’ll be a formidable candidate. 

As we reflect on this whirlwind week in politics, we end where we began: with our hearts in central Texas. The catastrophic flooding in the Hill Country has left a deep scar on our state. In some areas, the Guadalupe River surged more than 26 feet in just 45 minutes, and it happened in the dead of night. Homes were swallowed, roads disappeared, and entire communities were left underwater almost instantly. 

To the first responders and volunteers working around the clock, we thank you. And to those asking how to help, we encourage donations to vetted local efforts aiding survivors and communities in recovery.

We are praying for the 82+ lives lost, the dozens still unaccounted for, and every family now facing the unimaginable.

Texans are resilient and we know this to be true. In times like these, we don’t just talk. We show up.

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