Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you had a joyous holiday season. The second year of the 116th Congress kicked off this week with attention-grabbing headlines about war powers. More on that later. I wanted to share a few bills with you that did not get as much attention in the press:

H.R. 2881, the Secure 5G and Beyond Act of 2020 would require the President to develop a strategy to ensure the security of next generation mobile telecommunications systems and infrastructure in the United States and to assist allies and strategic partners in maximizing the security of next generation mobile telecommunications systems, infrastructure, and software. I am one of the 413 who voted yes for it. 

I have spoken with many community leaders in Omaha about how to ensure someone doesn’t return to prison after being released. The rate of recidivism is too high. The following two bills are part of a bigger picture to address that: 

H.R. 5078, the Prison to Proprietorship Act, directs the Small Business Administration, in coordination with the Bureau of Prisons, to require women's business centers and small-business development centers to provide entrepreneurship counseling and training services to individuals incarcerated in a minimum-, low-, or medium-security prison. I joined 369 of my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation.

H.R. 5065, the Prison to Proprietorship for Formerly Incarcerated Act amends the Small Business Act to provide re-entry entrepreneurship counseling and training services for formerly incarcerated individuals. This piece of legislation passed on a voice vote. 

Back to the headline-grabber of the week:

 War Powers Resolution:

I voted against H.Con.Res.83 directing the President pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran. I voted no on this because I feel the President is showing restraint in this situation.

 I knew who Soleimani was when I was in Iraq. We were targeted by rockets every single day from Iranian proxies trained in, funded and armed by Iran – and sometimes led by Iranian commanders. In fact, I lost a good friend and fellow service-member to the Quds Force commanded by Soleimani. You can watch my floor speech in opposition here and read my news release questioning Pelosi’s reasoning for the resolution.  

Have a great weekend and God bless America!

 Don