In addition to the government funding issues addressed below in the Votes this Week section, people in Washington were also talking about other news and developments.

Court Blocks Trump Administration from Ending TPS for Haitians.  This week, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians, which was originally set to expire this Wednesday, February 3.  This ruling brings temporary relief for more than 350,000 Haitians across the country from losing their ability to live and work in the United States, and return to ongoing humanitarian, economic, and political crises back in Haiti.  But Congress needs to act, too.  This week, I signed my name to Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley’s (MA-07) discharge petition to extend the TPS designation for Haitians for three years.

Additional Releases from the Epstein Files.  On January 31, 2026, 42 days after the enactment of the law requiring the Department of Justice to produce all of the Epstein Files, the Department released 3 million pages of the Epstein files, out of the total 6 million pages they collected related to Jeffery Epstein and his crimes.  After months of defying both the Oversight Committee subpoena and the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the Trump administration and its Department of Justice have now made it clear that they intend to withhold roughly 50% of the Epstein files while claiming to have fully complied with the law.  The more than three million pages of documents released, however, demonstrate the scope and scale of Epstein’s activities.  They also show that the DOJ has exposed survivors’ names, photos, and details of their abuse while hiding and protecting the names of some of the men who abused them.  It is critical that every victim and survivor gets justice and every co-conspirator is held to account. 

Trump-UAE Quid-Pro-Quo.  This week, Washington was focused on reports that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) bought a 49 percent stake in President Trump’s family cryptocurrency company for $500 million just four days before President Trump’s inauguration last year.  Months later, the Trump administration announced it would authorize exports of the United States’ most advanced AI chips to the UAE, despite massive national security concerns.  It appears President Trump is selling out American national security in the interest of personal gain.

As you know, we began the week in a partial government shutdown.  The first major issue the House took up was the issue of government funding.  On Tuesday, the House voted on government funding (appropriations) bills for certain federal agencies and government programs for Fiscal Year 2026, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, H.R. 7148.  This funding package included five separate funding bills wrapped into one bill for consideration, including funding for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS) and Related Agencies, the Department of Defense, and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies (THUD), Financial Services and General Government, and National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs.  This package also included a Continuing Resolution (CR) to continue funding Homeland Security (including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)) for two weeks while Senators revise the funding bill to add reforms that House and Senate Democrats—and, more important, American citizens—are demanding.

I appreciate the work that my Democratic colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee did to improve these bills—including funding for critical programs and for some measures of accountability for the Trump administration.  They do include some important protections, restore some critical funding, and reassert the power of Congress, not the White House, to direct federal spending.  They even include funding for projects I requested.  But, in light of what is happening in our country at this moment, they do not do enough. For these important reasons, I voted against this bill, which passed the House by a vote of 217-214.

On Tuesday morning, I spoke on the House floor in opposition to advancing the bill.  You can watch the whole speech here:

For those who prefer to read, here are my remarks as delivered:

Mr. Speaker, in the nearly two weeks since the House last met, people across America witnessed the execution of another American citizen, Alex Pretti by agents of the United States government, Border Patrol agents operating far from the border in Minneapolis. People across the country watched in horror as federal agents executed him, and then immediately tried to assassinate his character, lying about who he is and what he was doing. The American people see through these lies, just as they see that this administration is taking actions every single day against its own people that are unconstitutional, un-American, and unconscionable.

Everywhere, people are talking about it. In our House Democratic Caucus, we're talking about what we can do about it. The only place that we're not talking about it is here, in this chamber, on the floor of the United States House of Representatives.

As Mr. McGovern just noted, once again, the Republicans that control what comes to the floor blocked any amendments to the bill, stopping not just the policy proposed, but the policy debate about the potential solutions and the problems that they address altogether. And now they say we'll address them in two weeks. Mr. Speaker, we don't need two weeks. We don't have two weeks. When Americans are being killed, detained, harassed, and silenced by their government, there should be no higher priority for the U.S. House of Representatives and for the entire Congress than protecting the people that we represent and protecting the Constitution that gives us all of our rights. It is being violated daily by this administration and by officials who have sworn an oath to protect it, just as we have as members of Congress. But we are not doing that here today. And that's why I'm voting no on this rule and urge my colleagues to do the same.

Separate from the issue of government funding, the House also considered a bill relating to taxes in the District of Columbia.  On Wednesday, the House passed a resolution Disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the D.C. Income and Franchise Tax Conformity and Revision Temporary Amendment Act of 2025, H.J.Res. 142.  I voted against this bill, consistent with my prior votes and my view that the House should not undermine the self-determination of nearly 700,000 residents in Washington, D.C. and impede the D.C. government’s ability to govern through its elected representatives.  This bill passed the House 215-210.

The House also considered the Critical Mineral Dominance Act, H.R. 4090, a bill requiring the Department of the Interior (DOI) to identify, prioritize, and accelerate domestic mining projects on federal lands.  The legislation also directs the DOI to rescind agency actions that impose an undue burden on domestic mining projects, giving the Trump administration broad authority to eliminate any agency action that it determines imposes an “undue burden” on domestic mining.  This bill does not onshore important American supply chains or encourage mining competition with China, but just gives the Trump administration free reign to cut regulations without any safeguards to protect federal lands.  I voted against this bill, but it passed the House 224-195.

The House also voted on two bills under suspension of the rules.  Consistent with my message to you last week, I voted against the process of passing bills in this manner before addressing the lawless actions of the Trump administration.  To the extent that passing bills under suspension of the Rules gives the impression or message that Congress is working diligently and functioning as it should, I again voted no, using my vote to make clear that it is not.  Congress is failing to do the work it should and failing to respond to the threats to our communities, our country, and our Constitution.

As a reminder, you can always find a list of all of the votes I have taken for the district on my website.

On Thursday, I introduced the Freeze ICE Act, H.R. 7392, to stop the rapid recruitment of unvetted individuals at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which, if enacted, would impose an immediate hiring freeze at the agency until Congress decides otherwise.

Over the past year, ICE has hired more than 12,000 new personnel—more than doubling the size of the agency—but it has failed to provide sufficient information about their recruitment, vetting, and training.  We know that ICE has ramped up recruiting while slashing agent training from 22 weeks to just 47 days and we have seen multiple examples of errors in ICE's vetting process.  As Americans across the country express deep concerns that masked federal agents are failing to meet the requirements of the Constitution for searches and seizures and engaging with the public, a hiring freeze at the agency is needed until there is accountability, transparency, and procedural reform to ensure the safety of the American people.

On Tuesday, two of my subcommittees on the Energy & Commerce Committee held hearings at the same time: the Energy Subcommittee and the Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations. 

In our Energy hearing, all five commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) testified before the committee.  The FERC plays a vital role in ensuring that Americans have affordable electricity and a reliable electric grid in the face of skyrocketing power demand.  Right now, our energy system faces unprecedented challenges.  Energy demand is at record-breaking levels, and extreme weather events that put strain on the grid and energy infrastructure are increasingly common.  Addressing these challenges will take vision and experience, not politicizing these issues.  Unfortunately, the Trump administration has made it a priority to dismantle independent commissions across the federal government and concentrate power in the White House. And the administration has arbitrarily fired thousands of career experts across the federal government.  We covered these issues and more in the hearing.

Upstairs, the Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee held a hearing to examine fraud in Medicare and Medicaid.  It became apparent quickly that the hearing was not designed to conduct meaningful oversight of Medicaid and Medicare fraud but rather to provide justification for the Trump Administration to claim fraud in state programs to deploy ICE agents, cut necessary funding, and make fraud prevention and detection more difficult.  You can see my full remarks below. 

On Wednesday, the Energy Subcommittee held a markup of five bipartisan cybersecurity bills. Cyber threats can come from nation-state actors like Russia and China, sophisticated terrorist organizations, or hacking groups, all genuine threats to the reliability of the power grid that Americans rely on every day.  The bills the Subcommittee marked up represent an attempt to reduce our vulnerability to cybersecurity risks and an important step forward.

Before I returned to Washington, I was glad to participate in a town hall meeting with Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones at Hastings Ninth Grade Center, in TX-07 and Precinct 4 in Alief.  It was great to be with Commissioner Briones as well as Alief ISD Superintendent Dr. Anthony Mays and Harris County Tax Assessor Collector and Voter Registrar Annette Ramirez and to hear the issues on the minds of our neighbors.  Thanks to everyone who came out, asked questions, and made your voices heard.  We need your participation now more than ever.

In Washington, Team TX-07 held nearly two dozen meetings with constituents and groups advocating on their behalf, including MENTOR, Rice University, and Arts Connect Houston, pictured below.  Back home in the district, our team was out and about across the district, helping constituents and attending community events, including the Shandong Fellowship Association of Southern USA Annual Gala and the USPS Lunar New Year Stamp Commemoration Ceremony, pictured below.

The 2026 TX-07 Congressional Art Competition is underway!  This is a great opportunity for high school student artists who live in TX-07 to compete to have their art displayed in the U.S. Capitol.  Submissions are due March 31.  Find more details and how to submit your art here or by clicking the image below.