While our country is in the middle of a recession, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin last week announced the Inflation Reduction Act, which will spend $433 billion primarily on climate initiatives while imposing a 15% minimum tax on large corporations. No amount of lies will hide the fact Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, and Joe Manchin want to raise taxes on Americans amid sky-high prices, out-of-control inflation, and the Biden recession.

I want to take a second to highlight a few provisions in the bill that will harm hard-working Americans.

• Despite a long history of IRS abuses, Democrats have revived their proposal to send 87,000 new IRS agents after you and your family-owned business on the belief that everyone is a tax cheat. The IRS has already been targeting lower and middle income earners, yet Democrats want to hire new IRS agents to audit individuals and small businesses. They’ve also promised to revive their invasive bank surveillance scheme.

• The 15% minimum tax on book income is a double tax on investment. When reporting book income, companies are prevented from deducting the cost of investments in equipment, structures, research and development and other projects that increase productivity. This would raise taxes on American companies by $313 billion—half of which would be borne by American manufacturers—and kill 27,000 jobs. At a time of 40-year high inflation, this tax would hit working class Americans even harder by worsening current supply chain problems and raising energy costs by disproportionately raising taxes on key industries such as coal, automobiles, and utilities.

• The bill would reduce American investment by increasing taxes on carried interest income by $14 billion. Carried interest is simply a share of the gains made in an investment fund that is paid to managers of those funds. Taxing these investments would kill jobs, cause pensions to lose billions of dollars, reduce wages for working class Americans, and make our current stagflation worse.
• The bill would institute a socialist price control regime to force certain drug manufacturers to accept whatever price the Biden administration thinks is reasonable, or face a potential 95 percent tax.  According to the CBO analysis, this provision would reduce the number of lifesaving drugs by 15% (?) over the next 30 years. The bill would institute so-called “inflation rebates”— another layer of price controls that will also kill development of life-saving drugs.
•  The bill would reauthorize expired tax subsidies and extend others that benefit green energy technologies almost exclusively.   

  
  

  
  

  
  

Last week, I voted against the "Assault Weapons Ban of 2022,” which would institute a ban on so-called semi-automatic assault weapons and outlaw “large capacity ammunition feeding devices,” capable of accepting more than 15 rounds.

The Constitution explicitly states that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The Far-Left’s dangerously flawed bill titled ‘assault weapons’ ban is yet another unwarranted attack on the Constitution. This bill also goes far beyond a so-called “assault weapons ban” and would make illegal numerous shotguns used by hunters and sportsmen. 

H.R. 1808, The Assault Weapons Ban of 2022:

The Supreme Court has stated that it is unconstitutional to restrict Americans access to firearms that are in “common use.” The firearms banned under this bill, including the more than 24 million modern sporting rifles sold in the U.S., are among the most common and popular firearms owned by Americans. This bill also goes far beyond a so called “assault weapons ban” and would make illegal numerous shotguns used by hunters and sportsmen. 

• This legislation criminalizes the import, sale, manufacture, or transfer of certain semiautomatic rifles and shotguns, including the most popular and widely owned firearms in the nation, largely based off cosmetic distinctions rather than functionality. 
• Semiautomatic rifles and pistols would be banned if they can accept a detachable magazine and have a single characteristic like a pistol grip, forward grip, or folding stock or if they can accept a magazine with a capacity greater than 15 rounds. 
• Semiautomatic shotguns, including many of the most popular hunting shotguns, would be banned if they have the capacity to accept more than 5 shotgun shells and have a single characteristic like a pistol grip, forward grip, or detachable stock.
• The bill would prevent modifications to a firearm that could make it easier for an individual with a disability to use the firearm.
• Prohibits rifles, pistols, and shotguns that have a pistol grip or forward grip, a critical piece for maintaining control and points of contact to accurately fire.
• Prohibits rifles and shotguns that have a detachable stock. Detaching the stock would be necessary to add a stabilizing brace or otherwise modify the firearm to make it possible for a person with a disability to use the firearm.
• Covered firearms legally owned at enactment may continue to be owned, but a transfer or sale of that firearm would require transfer through a Federal Firearms Licensee and a background check. 
• This new background check requirement would be ineffective or impossible to enforce without a national firearm registry. 

This week, I had the opportunity to address the 3rd Annual Texas Energy Forum with government leaders, senior energy executives, and industry experts to discuss future technologies, initiatives, and U.S. energy policies. America was the world's largest energy producer– gas was ACTUALLY affordable before President Biden halted new energy projects, shut down pipeline construction, and took every step to discourage American oil and gas production. But the folks here in Texas are equipped and stand ready to produce American energy. We need to become energy independent instead of energy-dependent.

I stopped by Riondo's Ristorante to congratulate them on 8 great years in business on Galveston Island. Small businesses are the backbone of our communities. 

This summer, Team Weber has been blessed with outstanding interns that have served TX14 well throughout the summer months. We're now eager to find highly motivated college students and recent graduates to intern in both our District and Washington, D.C. offices.

Congressional interns lead Capitol tours, answer phones, research legislation, and attend briefings. Students have the opportunity to gain invaluable work experience and an understanding of the inner-workings of Congress. If interested, please fill out the internship application on my website here. 

Legislation cosponsored:

• H.R. 7462 -  To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish in the Department of Homeland Security the Early Migration Alert Program
• H.R. 8461 - Promoting Free and Fair Elections Act
• H.Res. 1303 - Establishing the Marxist roots of critical race theory and detail the threat this divisive ideology poses to the American republic

God Bless you and God Bless Texas!