url,title,date,year,month,party,chamber,state,member_name,bioguide_id,domain,scraper,source,date_source,text,has_text,collected_at,updated_at http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5539,Sen. Cruz: This Year Highlighted the Resilience of Texas and the Vigor of the American Spirit,2020-12-31,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"HOUSTON, Texas - In a year marked by unique challenges, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) proudly fought for more economic opportunity for millions of Texans, security for America and her allies, and freedom for all Americans to live, work, and worship as they choose. WATCH: Sen. Cruz: This Year Highlighted the Resilience of Texas and the Vigor of the American Spirit Reflecting on the past year, Sen. Cruz said: ""Texans are strong and resilient and the American spirit has always been marked by courage and generosity. That spirit was on full display throughout this year as we dealt with the massive economic and public health crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. We dealt with enflamed racial division and a polarized political environment. ""Despite all of these difficulties, Texans and Americans alike rose to the challenge to help our neighbors and those in need by supporting our brave health care workers, first responders, grocery store clerks, and other critical workers on the front lines of this crisis, truly making a difference in our communities. People across this great nation exercised their fundamental rights to further the promises this nation was founded upon - freedom and equality. I am confident that we will come out of these troubled times stronger, more united, and renewed in pursuit of freedom and opportunity for every American. ""As we look ahead to 2021, I am deeply honored to continue representing the great state of Texas, and I will continue fighting to reopen our economy and to get millions of Americans safely back to work, back to school, to strengthen America's national security, and to protect the religious liberty and the constitutional rights of each and every American."" Sen. Cruz's 2020 Highlights: Combatting the Coronavirus Pandemic SIGNED INTO LAW: Helped secure passage of three coronavirus emergency response packages to address the public health crisis and deliver real relief for the American people. Launched the #CombatCOVID19Challenge, a social media challenge to encourage Americans to continue supporting their communities as we all work to combat this pandemic. Sen. Cruz kicked off the challenge by delivering food to the Houston Police Officers' Union. Introduced the Reinvigorating the Economy, Creating Opportunity for every Vocation, Employer, Retiree & Youth or RECOVERY Act, a comprehensive legislative package designed to help small businesses re-hire their employees and create jobs, help kids get back to school safely, allow Americans to catch-up on their retirement savings, and help find cures for COVID-19 while increasing testing. Introduced the Creating Capacity for Communities in Need Act, legislation to increase healthcare capacity and to speed up FDA approval for certain vaccines and therapeutics. PASSED THE U.S. SENATE: Led the fight to pass legislation to enhance partnerships between companies in the United States and Israel to develop innovative medical projects aimed at detecting, treating, and curing COVID-19. Introduced the Equal Access to Care Act and the Right to Test Act, legislation to expand healthcare access and make testing more available. Introduced the Bring Entrepreneurial Advancements to Consumers Here In North America or BEAT CHINA Act to incentivize pharmaceutical, medical device, and supply manufacturers to relocate to the United States. Introduced the Ending Chinese Medical Censorship and Cover Ups Act, legislation to sanction Chinese officials involved in the ongoing suppression of medical experts, journalists, and political dissidents, amid Chinese censorship of its citizens that helped fuel the coronavirus pandemic. Introduced the Coronavirus Emergency Education Grants Act, legislation designed to empower all families with the resources needed to provide for their children's public, private, or homeschool education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Introduced the COVID-19 Vaccine Protection Act to prevent the Communist Chinese Party (CCP) from stealing or sabotaging American COVID-19 vaccine research. Introduced the Addressing Missed-savings Opportunities for Retirement due to an Epidemic or AMORE Act to allow individuals facing financial challenges and who are unable to make contributions to their tax-advantaged retirement accounts in 2020 to make ""catch-up"" contributions to these accounts in the coming years. Delivering for Texas INFLUENCED THE ADMINISTRATION: Protected small and independent refiners facing bankruptcy because of the pandemic by working with the administration to make sure these energy producers had access to critical capital. Sen. Cruz also worked to ensure that banks were not discriminating against energy producers so that they could keep their wells producing, their doors open and their employees on the payroll. INFLUENCED THE ADMINISTRATION: Successfully pushed for the Federal Reserve to establish a new lending facility to provide immediate emergency liquidity for oil and gas businesses, a request they granted by altering their Main Street Lending Program to allow energy companies to qualify for much-needed relief. INFLUENCED THE ADMINISTRATION: Led the fight in the Senate to help secure an agreement for Saudi Arabia and Russia to significantly cut oil production amid this emergency. These efforts held Saudi Arabia and Russia accountable for engaging in predatory oil pricing during the pandemic, which greatly impacted Texas energy producers. SIGNED INTO LAW: Worked to secure passage for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) which was signed by President Trump, a decisive victory for farmers, ranchers, businesses, and manufacturers to ensure greater economic opportunities for all Americans. This trade agreement puts American jobs first, including the 2.2 million jobs in Texas directly dependent on international trade. PASSED THE U.S. SENATE: Led the fight as chair of the Aviation and Space Subcommittee to unanimously pass in the Senate the NASA Authorization Act, legislation that gives NASA the resources it needs to face a new era of space exploration and enhances our presence in low-Earth orbit. The bill will also help Americans safely return to the moon and will bring us closer to an American taking the first step on the surface of Mars. In addition, Sen. Cruz's legislation to permanently protect the Apollo landing sites on the moon also passed the House and Senate. Led efforts to urge the U.S. Air Force to designate Port San Antonio and Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA) as the location for the U.S. Space Command Headquarters (USSPACECOM HQ). SIGNED INTO LAW: Led efforts in the Senate to pass legislation authorizing the Daughters of the Republic of Texas to establish a memorial commemorating the Republic of Texas Legation in Washington D.C. which was signed into law in December. Boosting Jobs, Jobs, Jobs Confirming Constitutionalist Judges and Protecting Our Independent Judiciary As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Cruz led the fight to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, the third Supreme Court justice he has helped confirm since 2017. Justice Barrett is a principled constitutionalist with impeccable credentials and her confirmation was a great victory for every American who cares about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and our fundamental liberties. In 2020, the Senate confirmed 48 federal judges, while celebrating the 200th federal judicial nominee confirmed by the Senate since the election of President Donald J. Trump. These 234 judges will faithfully interpret and apply the law as part of an independent judiciary, and their addition to the federal courts will benefit all Americans who value the Constitution and individual liberties for decades to come. Led the fight in the Senate to preserve the integrity and independence of the Supreme Court by introducing two proposals, including the ""Keep Nine"" constitutional amendment, to maintain the number of justices on the bench and protect Americans' constitutional liberties. Standing with the Brave Men and Women of Law Enforcement Took a stand against Antifa and introduced the Restitution for Economic losses Caused by Leaders who Allow Insurrection and Mayhem or RECLAIM Act, legislation to hold state and local officials liable when rioters establish lawless autonomous zones' and officials abdicate their duty to protect their citizens. Sen. Cruz also delivered a speech on the Senate floor condemning the violent groups that hijacked the peaceful and just protests honoring George Floyd, and calling for strong leadership to stop the riots and restore law and order. Signed Heritage Action's Police Pledge to reaffirm his support for the men and women of our nation's law enforcement and his commitment to ensuring the safety and security of our communities. Introduced legislation to rename the U.S. Border Patrol Station in Rocksprings to honor Agent Donna M. Doss, who proudly served in the U.S. Border Patrol for more than 15 years and was killed in the line of duty. Chaired a hearing titled ""The Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble: Protecting Speech by Stopping Anarchist Violence,"" examining how groups like Antifa and other anti-American anarchists exploit peaceful protests and engage in political violence. Took action to protect Americans by re-introducing Kate's law, legislation to impose a mandatory minimum prison sentence on illegal aliens with serious felony convictions who illegally reenter the country. Introduced the National Child Identification Act, legislation that would authorize the use of federal grant funds from the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 to provide child identification kits to local law enforcement for distribution to parents of children who attend kindergarten or elementary school. These kits remain with parents, who may provide the kit to law enforcement in the tragic event that their child is missing. SIGNED INTO LAW: Led efforts to rename a U.S. Post Office in Houston, Texas the ""Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal Post Office Building,"" to serve as a lasting tribute to Deputy Dhaliwal's trailblazing legacy for Sikh Americans and religious minorities in law enforcement. This legislation passed the U.S. Senate and was signed into law in December. Holding Big Tech Accountable Fought to subpoena both Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on political censorship and election interference and questioned them at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Called for a criminal investigation into Twitter for violating our laws prohibiting Americans from providing services to sanctioned Iranian individuals. Sent two letters - one to Google and one to Facebook - slamming the companies for their separate announcements regarding their decisions to limit or block election advertising. Joined Parler, a pro-free-speech social media platform. Questioned the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook, and Google at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing regarding Big Tech's repeated political censorship and their attempts to interfere in the 2020 election, as well as the need to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Protecting Our Religious Freedom Introduced the Safeguarding Americans from Coronavirus and Religious Exercise Discrimination or SACRED Act, legislation that would block federal funding for COVID relief to state and local governments that discriminate against religious individuals or institutions, violating their First Amendment rights. INFLUENCED THE ADMINISTRATION: Called on the Department of Justice to investigate state and local officials who target and discriminate against religious communities under the guise of protecting public health, which resulted in a rebuke of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Sent a letter urging the Secretary of Defense to protect religious freedom within the Department of Defense after reports that the Army has censored military chaplains and harmed their ability to provide religious services during the coronavirus pandemic - access that is not only essential for many service members, but also mandated by the Constitution. Joined an amicus brief on behalf of 34 Senators supporting the Capitol Hill Baptist Church's lawsuit against Muriel Bowser, the Mayor of Washington, D.C., after she permitted and participated in several mass protests but issued COVID-19 regulations prohibiting a religious gathering of more than 100 individuals outdoors. Penned an op-ed warning against the dangers of ""pandemic authoritarianism"" and urged state and local leaders to protect Americans' civil liberties as we all work together to combat COVID-19. Protecting Life Sent a letter to the Small Business Administration (SBA) requesting a full investigation into the 37 Planned Parenthood affiliates who applied for and improperly received a total of $80 million in loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Called on the administration to maintain pro-life protections during the search for COVID-19 treatments and cures. Urged the FDA to classify the abortion pill Mifeprex as a hazard to public health. Honoring Our Veterans Introduced the Limiting and Enabling Gathering Awards Commemorating Yesteryear or LEGACY Act to facilitate the repatriation of medals, including the Congressional Medal of Honor (MoH), into the United States for display in museums and for educational purposes. Cosponsored the National Purple Heart Honor Mission Commemorative Coin Act, legislation that would direct the Treasury Department to issue $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins, and half-dollar clad coins in 2022 honoring Purple Heart recipients and the work of the National Purple Heart Honor Mission. SIGNED INTO LAW: Led efforts in the Senate to pass legislation that would give the president authority to award posthumously the Medal of Honor to Texas's own Sergeant First Class (SFC) Alwyn Cashe. This legislation was signed into law in December. SIGNED INTO LAW: Led efforts to rename a U.S. Postal Office located in Castroville, Texas as the ""Lance Corporal Rhonald Dain Rairdan Post Office,"" as a memorial to Lance Corporal Rairdan and his fellow soldiers who fell in the line of duty. This legislation passed the U.S. Senate and was signed into law in December. Defending Our Second Amendment Rights Urged the ATF to ensure that law-abiding citizens are not deprived of their constitutional right to keep and bear arms during the coronavirus pandemic. Raised concerns to the Attorney General and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) about the ATF's practice of relying on non-public standards in its regulation of the importation of ArmaLite Rifle (AR) styled pistols and pistol stabilizing braces. Standing Up to America's Enemies and Adversaries While Standing With Her Allies Russia PASSED THE U.S. SENATE: Led a congressional push to halt construction of Vladimir Putin's Nord Stream 2 pipeline by clarifying and expanding sanctions. If completed, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline would reward Russia's aggressive expansionism and economic blackmail, hold our European allies' energy security hostage to Russia, and undermine America's national security interests. These efforts passed the U.S. Senate. INFLUENCED THE ADMINISTRATION: Led the fight for the United States to exit from Cold War-style treaties that constrain American capabilities while providing advantages to Russia or China, such as the Open Skies Treaty and outdated nuclear treaties. Middle East Attended the White House signing ceremony for the Abraham Accords, historic agreements to normalize relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors, the achievement of which validated Sen. Cruz's long-running advocacy that unapologetically standing with Israel would unite our allies across the region. INFLUENCED THE ADMINISTRATION: Led the fight to end the catastrophic Obama-Iran nuclear deal, including by revoking the remaining civil-nuclear waivers stemming from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and calling for the deal to be ended once and for all by invoking UN snapback sanctions, restoring all international sanctions on Iran and preventing the United Nations Arms embargo on Iran from expiring. Introduced the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act, a bill that urges the U.S. State Department to use its statutory authority to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Introduced the Stop Sending American Taxpayer Money To Governments Controlled By Terrorists Act aimed at creating accountability related to the use of American funds in Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon. PASSED THE U.S. SENATE: Following the successful mission that killed Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force and a designated terrorist, Sen. Cruz introduced and the Senate passed in February an amendment recognizing and applauding the president and the brave men and women involved in the mission. Fought against and introduced a resolution condemning the International Criminal Court for unjust, politicized prosecutions against American and Israeli citizens. China Sen. Cruz's leadership against the CCP's human rights atrocities and political oppression led to his being repeatedly sanctioned, something he calls ""a badge of honor."" Led efforts to end U.S. dependence on China for rare earth elements and other critical minerals by introducing the Onshoring Rare Earths or ORE Act, legislation that would establish a supply chain in the U.S. for minerals used to manufacture defense technologies and other high-tech products. INFLUENCED THE ADMINISTRATION: Led the fight to combat the CCP's propaganda by introducing the Blocking Evasive Attempts to Manipulate Signals or BEAMS Act, legislation to prevent the CCP from exploiting Federal Communications Commission (FCC) loopholes to propagandize to Americans from radio stations in Mexico or Canada, including through stations entangled with Chinese state-owned media outlets such as Phoenix TV. This legislation resulted in the Trump Administration blocking the license to these stations. Introduced the Stopping Censorship, Restoring Integrity, Protecting Talkies or SCRIPT Act, legislation cutting off Hollywood studios from assistance they receive from the Department of Defense if those studios censor their films for screening in China. Introduced the Sanctioning and Highlighting Authoritarian Medicine and Eugenics or SHAME Act, legislation sanctioning CCP officials for systematic ethnic cleansing, including through forced abortions and other coercive population control measures in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Introduced the Strongly and Unambiguously Sanctioning Proliferators Exploiting Nuclear Diplomacy or SUSPEND Act, legislation imposing sanctions on the defense sectors of China and Russia unless those countries reverse violations of their obligations under international arms control treaties. Introduced the Protecting America from Spies Act, legislation that would allow the Department of State to deny visas to individuals who have committed acts of espionage or intellectual property theft against the United States. Stood with our friends in Taiwan by introducing the Taiwan Symbols of Sovereignty Act, allowing diplomats and service members in the Taiwanese military to display their flag and wear their uniforms while in the United States on official businesses, and fighting against the exclusion of Taiwan from international forums such as ICAO at the behest of Communist China. Western Hemisphere Fought to ensure deep and robust relations between the United States and our Mexican partners, including working with the Trump administration to protect supply lines running between the two countries and recently calling on the Departments of State and Justice to prevent the Mexican government from undermining our countries' security and law enforcement relationship. Introduced a bipartisan resolution to rename the street outside the Cuban Embassy in Washington D.C. as ""Oswaldo Pay Way,"" casting a light on the Cuban regime's human rights atrocities. Introduced a bipartisan resolution expressing support for the people of Nicaragua. Continued working to bring home Americans unjustly held by the Maduro regime in Venezuela, including calling for sanctions against officials involved in the imprisonment of the CITGO 6. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=video&id=5538,Sen. Cruz: This Year Highlighted the Resilience of Texas and the Vigor of the American Spirit,2020-12-31,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"Central TX (512) 916-5834 300 E 8th Suite 961 Austin, TX 78701 Email North TX (214) 599-8749 Lee Park Tower II 3626 N. Hall St. Suite 410 Dallas, TX 75219 Email Southeast TX (713) 718-3057 The Mickey Leland Federal Building 1919 Smith Street Suite 9047 Houston, TX 77002 Email South/Cen. TX (210) 340-2885 9901 IH-10W Suite 950 San Antonio, TX 78230 Email East TX (903) 593-5130305 S. Broadway Suite 501 Tyler, TX 75702 Email South TX (956) 686-7339 200 S. 10th St Suite 1603 McAllen, TX 78501 Email Washington, D.C. (202) 224-5922 127A Russell Washington, DC 20510 Contact",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5537,"Sen. Cruz Condemns Jailing of Chinese Journalist Who Documented Wuhan Coronavirus Outbreak, Vows to Reintroduce Sanctions Bill Against Chinese Medical Censorship",2020-12-30,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"HOUSTON, Texas - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today issued the following statement in response to reports that China will jail journalist Zhang Zhan for four years, in retaliation for Zhan's efforts in early 2020 to document the emergence and spread of COVID-19, and announced his intention to reintroduce the ""Ending Chinese Medical Censorship and Cover Ups Act,"" legislation to sanction Chinese officials involved in the ongoing suppression of medical experts, journalists, and political dissidents trying to disseminate medical information: ""In the early days of the pandemic, the Chinese Communist Party did everything it could to cover up the severity of the outbreak, from lying about the origin of the virus and how it was being transmitted, to destroying evidence, to silencing the brave whistleblower doctors, scientists, journalists, and activists who tried to warn the world and prevent a global public health crisis. Had the CCP acted responsibly, there's a very real possibility the coronavirus could have been contained as a regional outbreak. Almost a year later, the CCP is continuing and deepening its repression of those whistleblowers. ""The consequences of this censorship continuing are deadly - not just for those in China but for Americans and people around the world. That's why at the start of the next Congress I will reintroduce a version of my bill from the 116th Congress, the Ending Chinese Medical Censorship and Cover Ups Act, legislation to impose visa bans and asset blocks on those who punish or censor Chinese citizens for reporting accurate information about a disease. COVID-19 went global because of this sort of malign behavior, and it is imperative that those who conduct it are held accountable."" Sen. Cruz has been leading the charge in the Senate to fundamentally reassess the U.S.-China relationship and counter Chinese censorship in the wake of the CCP coronavirus coverup. In May, Sen. Cruz first introduced the ""Ending Chinese Medical Censorship and Cover Ups Act"" after he delivered remarks on the Senate Floor highlighting the acute need to counter Chinese propaganda and hold China accountable for the types of medical and political censorship that helped fuel the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Sen. Cruz has: Led efforts to end U.S. dependence on China for rare earth elements and other critical minerals by introducing the Onshoring Rare Earths or ORE Act, legislation that would establish a supply chain in the U.S. for minerals used to manufacture defense technologies and other high-tech products. Introduced the Blocking Evasive Attempts to Manipulate Signals or BEAMS Act, legislation to prevent the CCP from exploiting Federal Communications Commission (FCC) loopholes to propagandize to Americans from radio stations in Mexico or Canada, including through stations entangled with Chinese state-owned media outlets such as Phoenix TV. This legislation resulted in the Trump Administration blocking the license to these stations. Introduced the Stopping Censorship, Restoring Integrity, Protecting Talkies or SCRIPT Act, legislation cutting off Hollywood studios from assistance they receive from the Department of Defense if those studios censor their films for screening in China. Introduced the Sanctioning and Highlighting Authoritarian Medicine and Eugenics or SHAME Act, legislation sanctioning CCP officials for systematic ethnic cleansing, including through forced abortions and other coercive population control measures in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Sen. Cruz's leadership against the CCP's human rights atrocities and political oppression led to his being repeatedly sanctioned, something he calls ""a badge of honor."" READ: Sen. Cruz on FoxNews.com: China Is Expanding Its Malign Influence All Over the World ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=403002,Burgess: Presidents should be in command of our troops,2020-12-29,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, released the following statement after voting against overturning President Trump's veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The President of the United States is the Commander in Chief and should have the ability to bring our troops home. President Trump committed to America that he would end the endless wars our country has been fighting. Over the last four years, he has kept his promise. The NDAA placed restrictions on the President's ability to bring troops home from commitment overseas. Rather than restrict the President's authority, Congress should do more to see how we can support our troops as they defend this great country while evaluating how to swiftly remove them from harm's way, said Burgess.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=403003,Burgess: Vote puts Americans First,2020-12-29,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, released the following statement after voting in support of the CASH Act. Americans are hurting. This Coronavirus has affected more than our physical health. Americans have suffered from job and financial losses. When putting together the appropriations for this year and the next COVID-19 response legislation, the priority should have been to help the American people. Congress should have gone through each of the appropriation bills in a bipartisan way so that we were not left at the end of the year having to cram everything in one bill. When Speaker Pelosi decided to combine the two bills, there should have been cuts to other parts of our budget to ensure we could have included more money going directly to Americans first. Through this pandemic, Congress' focus should be America's needs, said Burgess.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/washington-dc-wric-americans-are-hopeful-covid-19-vaccines-will-make-2021,ABC News8: Congressman calls for FDA to continue vaccine trials,2020-12-29,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Lloyd Doggett,D000399,doggett.house.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. (WRIC) Americans are hopeful that the COVID-19 vaccines will make 2021 a better year than 2020. However, there are concerns that Pfizer and Moderna will stop their clinical trials and immediately treat everyone in their placebo group. Some scientists, doctors and now a Congressman argues that can be dangerous because they said there is still so much unknown about the vaccines. Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas wrote a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging for the clinical trials to continue. the continuation of clinical trials is critical to our understanding of the efficacy and length of immunity the vaccines offer, Doggett wrote. In the letter, Doggett said while the initial results received from Pfizer and Moderna are showing positive results, it's not definitive given the limited data. Clinical trials have suffered from a lack of diverse participant enrollment and evaluation of subpopulations, Doggett said. Including individuals with comorbidities, children, pregnant and breastfeeding patients, long-term care residents and individuals with diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Diana Zuckerman, President of the National Center for Health Research, a non-partisan think tank in Washington D.C., agrees that the clinical trials should continue. She said healthcare workers who volunteered for the clinical trials should have immediate access to the vaccine if they want it. Like most public health experts, I've been very concerned that Pfizer and Moderna told the FDA that they want to stop their clinical trials of the COVID vaccine and instead immediately inoculate everyone in their placebo groups, Zuckerman said. While I understand the desire to reward the clinical trial volunteers for their service, it would be a huge loss of information from a public health point of view. Losing the placebo group means we'd have no way to scientifically determine which of the vaccines if any have 95% efficacy rates that last more than 2 or 3 months. Or how long the vaccine works on people over 75. Zuckerman added the people who volunteer for the clinical trials shouldn't be vaccinated before those in priority groups such as teachers, essential workers, etc. Since many of the study volunteers are young and healthy, it also seems unfair for them to cut in line for a vaccine while healthcare workers and others at high risk are still waiting their turn, she said.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://cuellar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=406003,"Rep. Cuellar Votes to Increase Economic Impact Payments to $2,000",2020-12-28,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Henry Cuellar,C001063,cuellar.house.gov,,,legacy,"Rep. Cuellar Votes to Increase Economic Impact Payments to $2,000 Washington, D.C.Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) voted for the Caring for Americans with Supplemental Help (CASH) Act of 2020 to increase the amount of money struggling Americans receive in a second round of direct payments to $2,000. Millions of Americansare struggling to put food on the table, to pay their rent or mortgage, or to keep up with medical bills that they have accumulated over this difficult year, said Congressman Cuellar. I voted to pass the CASH Act to put $2,000 into the pockets of Americans in need and help alleviate some of the economic hardship they are currently facing. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to bring this important legislation to the floor before the legislative session ends. As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, I will continue to fight for the additional support that Americans require as we continue to battle the COVID-19 crisis. After the President changed his mind last week and decided to support Democrats' call for increasing direct payments to $2,000, HouseDemocrats immediately went to the Floor to askfor Unanimous Consent to bring a stand-alone bill to increase the payments. On Christmas Eve, House Republicans blocked the request depriving the American people of the increased $2,000 check that the President supported. The CASH Act: Increases the value of the economic impact payments (EIPs) provided in the end-of-year COVID relief package so that each eligible family member receives $2,000, up from $600. Applies the same, broader eligibility established in the end-of-year package to mixed-status families where one spouse has a Social Security Number (SSN). As specified in the latest COVID relief legislation, these families are eligible for the EIP amount for each family member with an SSN, and can claim the corresponding amount for the first round of economic impact payments when they file their 2020 taxes.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://gohmert.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=399897,Rep. Gohmert Issues Statement on Pence Lawsuit,2020-12-28,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Louie Gohmert,G000552,gohmert.house.gov,,,legacy,"Congressman Louie Gohmert (TX-01) released the following statement regarding the lawsuit filed against the Vice President: The 2020 presidential election was one we'd expect to see in a banana republic, not the United States of America. In fact, the rampant fraud and unconstitutional actions that took place were so egregious that seven contested states-- Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin all sent dueling slates of electors to Congress. This puts Vice President Mike Pence in a position where some argue he has to choose between morality and the law. That is not the case. It is also critical to note that as many formerly in the mainstream media, now the Alt-Left media, continue to say that every court has said there is no evidence of fraud. That is disingenuous, deceitful, and flat out dishonest. The truth is that no court so far has had the morality and courage to allow evidence of fraud to be introduced in front of it. We continue to hold out hope that there is a federal judge who understands that the fraud that stole this election will mean the end of our republic, and this suit would insure that the Vice-President will only accept electors legitimately and legally elected. There must be an opportunity for a day in court when fraud was this prevalent. It is for this reason that I and other plaintiffs have filed a complaint for expedited declaratory and emergency injunctive relief to seek judgement from the court on the Vice President's authority when presiding over the Senate during the Joint Session of Congress. We are asking the court to uphold the powers laid out in the United States Constitution which grant the Vice President the exclusive authority and sole discretion in determining which electoral votes to count. As outlined in the filing, the Electoral Count Act is unconstitutional because it directs Vice President Pence to legitimize electoral votes in violation of the Electors Clause and limits or eliminates his Twelfth Amendment authority to determine which slates of electors should be counted and which, if any, may not be counted. This is fundamental because no statute can constitutionally supply rules to the extent that such statute violates the U.S. Constitution. Thanks to spineless politicians, corrupt state officials and a coordinated effort to undermine the will of the American people in favor of business as usual in the D.C. swamp, we now find ourselves in a place where a stolen election becomes just another one of the miscarriages of justice this town refuses to remedy. The D.C. elites want to sweep these electoral injustices under the rug, just as they have done with countless other scandals such as the Russia-collusion hoax, the Biden-Ukrainian quid-pro quo, and Hillary Clinton's mishandling of classified information, to mention only a few. For the sake of the future of our Republic, come January 6th, Vice President Pence must be authorized to uphold the legal votes of millions of Americans and preserve our nation's great experiment in self-governance.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5536,Sen. Cruz Applauds Trump Administration for Providing Emergency Learning Scholarships,2020-12-28,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today issued the following statement applauding the administration's move to expand educational opportunity: ""With far too many Democrat officials flexing their authoritarian instincts, millions of families across the country are hurting right now. Arbitrary shutdowns of public and private K-12 schools have left a generation of students behind. I'm grateful the administration has taken this step to provide emergency learning scholarships for students, empowering parents with the resources they need to support their children's education during these unprecedented times. I'll continue working with my colleagues to reopen the economy, and get Americans safely back to work and school."" Read the executive order here. Sen. Cruz has fought to provide American families with the resources needed to provide for their children's public, private, or homeschool education during the COVID-19 pandemic. In July, Sen. Cruz introduced the School Choice Now Act with Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), legislation that ensures all students will return to their pre-pandemic educational institutions. In September, three of Sen. Cruz's education proposals were included in the Senate Republicans' targeted COVID-19 relief bill. Throughout his career, Sen. Cruz has led the fight to expand school choice and educational opportunities for American students. Learn more about his efforts here and here. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://algreen.house.gov/press-release/congressman-al-green-votes-yes-2000-stimulussurvival-checks-american-people,"Congressman Al Green Votes Yes to $2,000 Stimulus/Survival Checks for the American People",2020-12-28,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Al Green,G000553,algreen.house.gov,,,legacy,"(Washington, D.C.) On Monday, December 28, 2020, Congressman Al Green released the following statement after the passage of H.R. 9051: Tonight's vote will mark where we stood when the American people needed the government to act. After nine months of an economic and health crisis that has gripped the nation, leaving many jobless, threatening homelessness and exposure to this deadly coronavirus, House Democrats and Republicans voted to put money in the pockets of Americans at a time when they desperately need it, Congressman Al Green stated. By voting to increase direct stimulus payments to $2,000, we do more than stimulate the economy; we do the essential task of our government by helping those suffering from a pandemic-induced economic crisis survive. Congressman Green added, The President has indicated that he will sign H.R. 9051, Caring for Americans with Supplemental Help Act of 2020, into law. The only question left to be answered is will the Senate give hardworking Americans the same kind of help given to the very wealthy by way of tax breaks, or will the Senate conclude that the wealthy need more to do more and that workers in need can do more with less?",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://algreen.house.gov/press-release/congressman-al-green-votes-yes-override-president-trump%E2%80%99s-harmful-ndaa-veto,Congressman Al Green Votes Yes to Override President Trumps Harmful NDAA Veto,2020-12-28,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Al Green,G000553,algreen.house.gov,,,legacy,"(Washington, D.C.) On Monday, December 28, 2020, Congressman Al Green released the following statement after voting YES' to overriding President Trump's veto of the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA): By overriding the President's veto of the NDAA, we have done more than send a message to the President that bipartisanship can prevail. We have in fact sent a message to our troops that we will protect them not only while they are on the battlefield; we will protect them when they return to the home front, Congressman Al Green stated. It is our duty to assure them that we will do all that we can to provide them with more than the weaponry needed to win wars; we must provide them with good housing, good health care, and good pay when they are serving on active duty as well as good housing, good health care, educational opportunities, and good jobs when they leave active duty. This is the least a grateful nation can do for those who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice because, in truth, either we will protect our protectors, or we won't have protectors to protect us. Congressman Green who in a Christmas Eve press conference indicated his readiness to return to Washington, D.C., and cast his vote to override President Trump's veto added, A successful veto of this bill would have meant: risking family leave for our civilian VA employees; foregoing a 3% increase in pay for our troops; losing suicide prevention and resilience resources; upholding the memorialization on military bases of the legacies of men who fought to defend our nation's original sin slavery. Allowing this veto to prevail would only harm our nation's veterans and active duty personnel and would contradict the ideals our nation fights abroad to uphold. Our veterans and active duty personnel deserve more, and it is our government's duty to deliver.""",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/doggett-trump-delayed-approval-disgraceful-relief-bill,Doggett on Trump Delayed Approval of Disgraceful Relief Bill,2020-12-28,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Lloyd Doggett,D000399,doggett.house.gov,,,legacy,"***For Immediate Release*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 28, 2020 Contact:Kate Stotesbery 202-494-4620 Doggett on Trump Delayed Approval of Disgraceful Relief Bill Washington, D.C. One week ago today, President Trump's designated representative approved the COVID relief bill including $600 in direct payments to eligible Americans. The next day, Trump condemned that bill as a ""disgrace."" Yesterday, he finally signed the same ""disgraceful"" bill. After voting this afternoon to increase relief payments to $2,000, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) released this statement: All that Trump's chaotic delay has accomplished is the denial of one week of unemployment compensation to millions of desperate Americans, unemployed through no fault of their own.Other than a few tweets and harsh words, Trump has done nothing to increase direct relief payments, which the House is approving today over Republican objections and which the Republican Senate Leader will block. ### Follow Congressman Doggett Facebook:https://www.Facebook.com/RepLloydDoggett | Twitter: @RepLloydDoggett| Instagram: @RepLloydDoggett",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://gonzalez.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-gonzalez-helps-secure-critical-funds-coronavirus-relief-bill,Congressman Gonzalez Helps Secure Critical Funds in Coronavirus Relief Bill,2020-12-28,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Vicente Gonzalez,G000581,gonzalez.house.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON On Sunday evening, President Trump signed the bipartisan coronavirus compromise relief bill into law. Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) fought for fundsto supportvaccine distribution,maintainunemployment insurance,expandbroadband access, andassist education institutionsinCentral andSouth Texas. Our most important job as members of Congress is to make sure that we take care of the American people.$600 is not enough and this new law lacks funding for state and local governments which will impact how we pay salaries for our law enforcement officers, teachers and frontline workers,said Congressman Gonzalez.While far from perfect,thisbipartisanagreementdoesgive working familiesand small businesses asmalllifeline.We oweit toour frontline workers and all of those impacted by the coronavirus to get this right. Ilook forward to working with the incoming Biden-Harris administration to deliver more relieftothe American people. The agreement includes: Acceleration of vaccine distribution andcombatingthe coronavirus:$69 billion in critically needed funding for COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, vaccines, mental health, and support for health care providers. Included in this funding is $22 billion for testing, contact tracing, surveillance and mitigation, $19 billion for vaccines and therapeutics, including the manufacture, production, and purchase of vaccines, therapeutics and ancillary supplies, and nearly $9 billion in additional funding to support distribution of lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines that will help bring an end to the pandemic. Education and childcare:The agreementprovides$82 billion in funding for colleges and schools, including support for HVAC repair and replacement to mitigate virus transmission and reopen classrooms, and $10 billion for child care assistance to help get parents back to work and keep child care providers open.Texas is estimated to receivea totalof$7,555,750infunds composed oftheGovernor'sEducation Emergency Fund,Elementary and SecondarySchool Emergency Fund and the Higher EducationEmergency ReliefFund. Delivers More Affordable Broadband Access:The agreement invests $7 billion to increase access to broadband, including a new Emergency Broadband Benefit to helpSouth and Central Texasstudents, families and unemployed workers afford the broadband they need during the pandemic.This includes expanded access for rural communities, with more than $730 million in the expansion of broadband service to provide economic development opportunities and improved education and health care services. Direct payment checks:Congressman Gonzalez was instrumental in securing a new round of direct payments worth up to $600 per adult and child, also ensuring that mixed-status families receive payments. Strengthened Earned Income Tax Credit & Child Tax Credit:The agreement helps ensure that families who faced unemployment or reduced wages during the pandemic are able to receive a strong tax credit based on their 2019 income, preserving these vital income supports for vulnerable families. Supports paid sick leave:The agreement provides a tax credit to support employers offering paid sick leave, based on the Families First framework. Employee Retention Tax Credit:The agreement extends and improves the Employee Retention Tax Credit to help keep workers in the jobs during coronavirus closures or reduced revenue. Enhanced Unemployment Insurance benefits:Added a $300 per week UI enhancement for Americans out of work. Rental assistance:$25 billion in critically needed rental assistance for families struggling to stay in their homes and an extension of the eviction moratorium. Strong Support for Small Businesses:The agreement includes over $284 billion for first and second forgivablePaycheck Protection Program(PPP) loans, dedicates set-asides for very small businesses and lending through community-based lenders like CommunityDevelopment FinanceInstitutions and Minority DepositoryInstitutions, key modifications to PPP to serve the smallest businesses and struggling non-profits and better assist independent restaurants, $15 billion in dedicated funding for live venues, independent movie theaters, and cultural institutions and $20 billion for targetedEconomic Injury Disaster LoanGrants which are critical to many smaller businesses on Main Street. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://williams.house.gov/media-center/newsletters/a-season-of-hope,A Season of Hope,2020-12-24,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Roger Williams,W000816,williams.house.gov,,,legacy,"Though we've faced tough years in American history and this one is certainly no different, we have always celebrated Christmas and the meaning of this season. It is a time to thank the Lord for His blessings during the year and a time to remind ourselves we're a nation of Judeo-Christian principles that our founders fought to secure deep in our foundation. Often during the usual hustle and bustle of the season, we forget the true meaning of Christmas that was brought to earth on a holy night over two thousand years ago:the gift of Hopewas given to mankind to save us for all eternity. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Luke 6:38, which says, Give, and it shall be given unto you."" The word ""give"" is active; Jesus is telling us that when we are generous toward those around us, we will in turn reap reward, similar to what is known as the 'Golden Rule.' We have an opportunity every day to do better than the one before, and it is our responsibility to strive to imitate the goodness and love of our Savior toward our neighbors. I can think of no better year in recent memory when we have the distinct opportunity to share the message of hope through our generosity or simply giving of our time, whether virtually or in person. We also look toward this next year filled with the hope of recovery and new growth. While the challenges we face may seem insurmountable,the bond that unites us as Americans will always prevail. To all of our military servicemen and women and their families, thank you for protecting our communities so we can sleep safe at night. Our prayers are with you as you celebrate this season away from home. To our front line workers who will spend these days healing and caring for patients, we thank you for your selflessness. My goal as your Congressman is to represent the 25th District of Texas to the very best of my ability and I look forward to serving you in this next year. I pray you all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! In God we trust, Roger Williams Member of Congress",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=403000,Burgess: Trump granted the Slough familys Christmas wish,2020-12-23,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, put out the following statement after President Trump issued a pardon for TX-26 resident Paul Slough. This is a Christmas miracle for the Slough family, said Burgess. Paul, along with three other team members, were sentenced to a mandatory minimum of thirty years in prison after being found guilty of firearms offenses under 18 U.S.C. 924 (c), a statute enacted in the 1980s to reduce violence during the height of the war on drugs. It is unthinkable that civilian contractors, who are required to carry weapons by the U.S. government to protect U.S. personnel overseas, have faced unintended consequences of this statute.In 2007, Paul Slough and his team members, employed as State Department contractors during Operation Iraqi Freedom, were escorting a U.S. diplomatic convoy through Baghdad when an oncoming suspicious vehicle failed to stop. The team opened fire to defend the convoy, unfortunately resulting in 14 Iraqi deaths after engaging in a fire fight. These brave men were sentenced for discharging their firearms under a statute that was never meant to apply to U.S. federal government employees defending Americans overseas. To ensure this never happens again, I introduced legislation to exempt overseas federal contractors from mandatory minimum sentencing requirements under 18 U.S.C. 924(c).I appreciate President Trump for righting this wrong, and I hope that Congress will take up my legislation to ensure this doesn't happen to other Americans.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=403001,Burgess introduces legislation to promote U.S. energy leadership,2020-12-23,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Burgess introduces legislation to promote U.S. energy leadership Washington, D.C. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, introduced the American Nuclear Leadership Commission Act. Consumers are seeking energy sources with lower emissions, and nuclear power must be part of that mix. Right now, America's leadership in civilian nuclear power is being challenged by Russia and China who want to corner the market. Burgess said. This legislation will create a bipartisan commission to examine the future of the civilian nuclear power industry in the United States and investigate the challenges ahead. I believe this commission will shine a spotlight on those challenges and provide the answers necessary to ensure our nation's continued leadership in nuclear energy.Bill Summary: This legislation creates a bipartisan commission within the Department of Energy (DOE) to study the status of the civilian nuclear power industry today and in the future. The bill directs the commission to explore: How a nuclear reactor is brought from development to commercialization Potential market opportunities for advanced reactors The problems of the nuclear fuel cycle from beginning to end The industrial capacity of the US to design and build nuclear reactors The competitiveness of US nuclear reactors in export markets How advanced reactor designed may be able to reduce the cost of nuclear power The environmental benefits of civilian nuclear power What regulations and laws exist that limit the expansion of civilian nuclear power This commission will be chaired by the DOE Secretary, requires evenly split party membership, and would last up to 2 years. Once the commission completes its study, it will provide a report to Congress on its findings and provide policy recommendations to address obstacles to America's nuclear leadership in the 21st Century.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://cuellar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=405995,Rep. Cuellars Statement on Vote to Increase Economic Impact Payments,2020-12-23,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Henry Cuellar,C001063,cuellar.house.gov,,,legacy,"Rep. Cuellar's Statement on Vote to Increase Economic Impact Payments Washington, D.C.Congressman Henry Cuellar released the following statement in support of a vote by Unanimous Consent to increase the economic impact payments to $2,000: House Democrats and I have been fighting for more direct payments to the American people since the beginning. In May, I voted for the Heroes Act, which provided up to $6,000 in direct payments per household, because we recognized these payments are a critical lifeline during this crisis. However, during negotiations, Republicans refused to say the highest number that the President would accept for checks and would never go above $600 and in some cases $500. Since the President has agreed with House Democrats to increase direct payments to $2000, we now are waiting for Republican leadership to support our Unanimous Consent request. Families across the country are still hurting and they deserve additional relief immediately. I am ready to increase direct payments to save the lives and livelihoods of the American people. I am calling on my colleagues across the aisle to join. Enough time has been wasted. It's time for action- let's vote.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://gohmert.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=399894,CJWC Members Celebrate President Trumps Pardons for the Biden Four,2020-12-23,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Louie Gohmert,G000552,gohmert.house.gov,,,legacy,"**For Immediate Release** December 23, 2020 Contact: Lauren McLaughlin Lauren.McLaughlin@mail.house.gov CJWC Members Celebrate President Trump's Pardons for the Biden Four Members of the Congressional Justice for Warriors Caucus released the following statements in light of the wonderful news of President Trump's pardons for U.S. veterans and former government security contractors Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nick Slatten and Paul Slough: President Donald J. Trump has delivered the most wonderful Christmas gift in the form of pardons for the members of the Biden Four. These decorated veterans served their country honorably and put themselves in harm's way to defend U.S. diplomats only to be repaid by our government with a corrupted judicial process and prison sentences. I am so thankful that President Trump exercised his superb judgment in granting relief for these menan action that I do not think any other president would have had the political or moral courage to do. To Dustin, Evan, Nick and Paul: I wish you the most blessed and merriest of Christmases as you are reunited with your loved ones. -Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01), Chairman The Obama Administration, in its zeal to attack America first, railroaded four of our Iraq warriors, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nick Slatten, and Paul Slough. Convicted by perjurious witnesses and corrupt prosecutors, they were each granted full pardons by President Donald J. Trump. These decorated veterans will now get to spend Christmas at home with their families. Welcome home boys. -Rep. Paul Gosar (AZ- 4) The Congressional Justice for Warriors Caucus advocates for unjustly convicted and confined servicemembers and military contractors who made split second decisions in combat situations and found themselves second guessed by unscrupulous and over-zealous prosecutors. The Biden Four are among the most egregiously maligned and abused of all. They are all military veterans and were serving as Blackwater security teams. Forty-two Blackwater security personnel were killed protecting high value targets, yet Blackwater never lost a single person under their protection. Four of the 42 were killed on the road to Umm Qasr where they had escorted me the day before. I remember their faces to this day. It pains me that the Biden Four have been put through so much by second-guessing politicians like Biden and Hillary who persecuted them and ginned up additional prosecutions. We as Americans think of our warriors as always going on offense, but in this case, they were attacked and acted in self-defense. Unfortunately, they were aggressively prosecuted by overzealous government prosecutors, and then by Hillary and Biden. If ever there was a justifiable set of pardons, President Trump has delivered it tonight. God Bless President Trump for righting these egregious wrongs and Merry Christmas to the Biden Four! -Rep. Steve King (IA-4) I commend President Trump for his action tonight to pardon the Biden Four-- Dustin, Evan, Nicholas, and Paul. Following a firefight that resulted in the tragic death of a number of Iraqis, the media shamelessly portrayed these men as killers. Yet, the corruption and prosecutorial misconduct that has since been uncovered paints a very different picture. These Americans were abandoned by their own government after an emergency response to secure the safe return of an American diplomat turned deadly. Looking forward, I hope the Congressional Justice for Warriors Caucus will continue to work on behalf of unfairly convicted patriots like the Biden 4 and others who should have the same Constitutional protections that are available to every other American."" -Rep. Bill Flores (TX-17) Thank you, President Trump, for standing up for these four veterans and righting this wrong. I am thrilled they can now be with their families for Christmas. We owe our military and veterans a debt we can never repay. -Rep. Daniel Webster (FL-11)",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5535,"Sen. Cruz: 'The Prince of Peace, Born in Bethlehem, Came So That We May Know Him and His Enduring Love, Joy, and Redemption'",2020-12-23,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"HOUSTON, Texas - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) issued the following statement in advance of Christmas Day: ""This Christmas, as so many families grapple with the challenges posed by the coronavirus, it is more important than ever to find renewed hope in celebrating the birth of Jesus. The Prince of Peace, born in Bethlehem, came so that we may know Him and his enduring love, joy, and redemption. May this Christmas be a joyous and hopeful season where we reflect on the promise of salvation. ""Heidi and I wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. May God continue to bless the great state of Texas and the United States of America."" ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/pelosi-dear-colleague-unanimous-consent-request-increase-economic-impact,PELOSI -- Dear Colleague on Unanimous Consent Request to Increase Economic Impact Payments,2020-12-23,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Lloyd Doggett,D000399,doggett.house.gov,,,legacy,"Dear Democratic Colleague, Just when you think you have seen it all, last night, the President said that he would possibly veto the bicameral agreement negotiated between Republicans and Democrats. He said he would do so, unless the economic impact payments were increased to $2,000. In the bipartisan negotiations, Leader Schumer and I repeatedly asked Republicans what would be the highest number the President would accept for direct payments, and they responded with Sphinx-like silence. In the negotiations, they would never go above $600 and in some cases, proposed $500. Yesterday, I said that Democrats would go to the Floor and ask for Unanimous Consent to bring up a standalone bill to increase the payments. To do so requires the agreement of the Republican Leader. This agreement is necessary in the House and in the Senate. If the President truly wants to join us in $2,000 payments, he should call upon Leader McCarthy to agree to our Unanimous Consent request. We are scheduled to go in for a pro forma session tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. We are awaiting word from Leader Hoyer as to whether Leader McCarthy will agree to or reject our Unanimous Consent request. The entire country knows that it is urgent for the President to sign this bill, both to provide the coronavirus relief and to keep government open. Let us pray! Nancy",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402999,Burgess: Congress can do better,2020-12-22,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, released the following statement after Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power of the purse. It is our responsibility to ensure the federal government is funded, but we must do so thoughtfully, said Burgess. Yesterday afternoon when I entered the Rules Committee for what was to be the only hearing on the combined appropriations and relief bills, I was shocked there was not a copy of the legislation available for the Majority or Minority Members. This was a 5,500 page bill that we were going to vote on in less than five hours. There were many parts of the bill - in fact some policies I have fought for, for decades - which were reasonable, and I could support. I am grateful for the diligent work by members and staff who put in long hours to get a reasonable result, but ultimately the process was so flawed that I could not support the final product. There were also several items that could have had a deleterious effect on our doctors and health professionals. The labors of our front-line medical personal should not be rewarded with reduction of reimbursement, but I was concerned this would be the inevitable result. In my 20 years in Congress, I have watched additions to legislation at the last minute that ultimately prove detrimental. The 26th District of Texas sent me here to represent them, and I need to ensure that what I am voting on does just that. My hope is that with the beginning of a new year and a new Congress, legislators will get back to the business of legislating through regular order. It is irresponsible to push off our work on behalf of the American people to the point that we are scrambling at the end of the year.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://cuellar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=405984,Rep. Cuellar Secures Passage of Reauthorization of Donations Acceptance Program,2020-12-22,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Henry Cuellar,C001063,cuellar.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C. Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) secured the passage of the Donations Acceptance Program Reauthorization Act of 2020 in both the House and Senate. The Donations Acceptance Program (DAP) enables U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to explore, create and facilitate partnerships for improvements on port of entry infrastructures and technology, with the investment made by the local entities. Congressman Cuellar was able to pass this legislation as part of the emergency coronavirus relief and 2021 spending package. The Donations Acceptance Program is a critical method to invest and expedite improvements at ports of entry in the United States, said Congressman Cuellar. I established this program in 2013 and worked hard to expand it to create jobs, support trade industries and tourism, reduce border wait times, and increase border security. This reauthorization will only further expand our economic growth and security throughout our nation by making necessary improvements to our ports of entry. As the representative of the busiest land port of entry, I am committed to improving our infrastructure to improve the safe and efficient flow of legitimate trade and travel. The Border Trade Alliance offers tremendous thanks to Congressman Cuellar and Senator Cornyn for their successful bipartisan leadership to extend the DAP program that has proven to be an effective tool for the public and private sectors to work together to modernize border infrastructure, Border Trade Alliance President Ms. Britton Mullen said. We look forward to working with Congress and the administration over the next year to strengthen this already successful program. The reauthorization of DAP will extend to December 16, 2021. The goal of DAP is to work with communities along the border to help equip CBP's frontline officers and trade specialists with the tools and capabilities they need to operate more effectively. Accepted donations may be used in support of a wide array of CBP operations and may include new lanes, inspection booths, inspection technologies, intellectual property rights enforcement tools, and more. In 2013, Congressman Cuellar successfully added legislative language in Appropriations Act that authorized a pilot program in which CBP could enter into agreements to receive donations of property or non-personal services at ports of entry. In 2016, Congressman Cuellar and Senator John Cornyn passed H.R. 875, the Cross-Border Trade Enhancement Act of 2016, which built on this pilot program. Since its inception, the DAP has entered into 40 partnerships, leveraging investments worth $219 million in POEs, primarily on the southwest border.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://flores.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=401353,Congressman Bill Flores Statement Regarding Consolidated Appropriations Act,2020-12-22,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Bill Flores,F000461,flores.house.gov,,,legacy,"U.S. Representative Bill Flores (R-Texas) issued the following statement regarding the passage of H.R. 133, the Consolidated Appropriations Act to fund the government through fiscal year 2021 and provide relief to hardworking American families and businesses who have been adversely affected by COVID-19:Despite delays and distractions by Democrats, H.R. 133 is a clear victory for Republicans and President Trump. It is also a stunning defeat for Nancy Pelosi, who held up aid to small businesses and workers, delayed funding for vaccine procurement and development, all in an effort to hurt President Trump. Her strategy backfired instead, Republicans were able to secure almost all of our priorities in this legislation, while denying Democrats their socialist defund, dismantle, and destroy wish list. Some of the major accomplishments in this legislation include: $900 billion in total COVID-19 relief for Americans. This includes an extension of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the extremely successful program created by Congress which has saved an estimated 50 million jobs nationwide. Allows businesses that previously received a PPP loan to apply again, while making it easier for businesses to deduct the expenses paid with loan proceeds. Improves the distribution of vaccines approved as a result of Operation Warp Speed. It includes $20 billion for the purchase of vaccines to ensure that any American who wants a COVID-19 vaccination can get one for free. Includes $48 billion for vaccine development, and an additional $20 billion to assist states with COVID-19 testing. Continues increased unemployment benefits through March of next year and includes a stimulus payment of $600 each to Americans making below $75,000. Fully funds our military and domestic programs, including a 3 percent pay raise for our troops, and $1.375 billion in new funding for the border wall to keep our country safe and secure. Protects American families from surprise medical billing. Includes 21st-Century Energy provisions, providing for affordable energy and reduced emissions. Preserves pro-life protections and other conservative provisions that Democrats tried to remove, such as prohibiting federal funds from being used to pay for abortions. Finally, it blocks Democrat demands to bust earlier bipartisan budget-cap and spending agreements. The legislation also includes provisions and/or funding to address over 60 of my priorities to help the 17th Congressional District of Texas, including the following key examples: Report language and funding to provide for the Army Corps of Engineers to cooperate with the City of Waco to make crucial repairs to Lake Shore Drive. The Army Corps of Engineers, despite owning the land around Lake Shore Drive, did not have clear statutory authority to make repairs to avoid potentially catastrophic damage to this road and surrounding area. Continued levels of enhanced funding for the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority (BARDA) which is responsible for accelerated pandemic vaccine manufacturing resources and activities at Texas A&M University. Increases in funding for basic research to assist our research-oriented universities including those in Central Texas and the Brazos Valley. The bipartisan Advanced Nuclear Fuel Availability Act, which establishes a public-private solution to develop, manufacture, and transport High Assay, Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU) the next generation fuel required to power the advanced nuclear reactors of tomorrow. These important advancements will ensure that zero-emission nuclear power continues to provide a meaningful portion of our country's always-on, baseload' electricity used in our homes and businesses. Report language instructing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assist counties and communities, such as eastern McLennan County, meet revised EPA clean water standards. $390 million for new Multi-Mission Vessels for Texas A&M University Galveston and other state maritime academies to train our next generation of maritime workers and improve safety in the Gulf of Mexico. Finally, just as important as what's in the bill is what was not included. It does not include hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out blue states who have mismanaged their budget for decades to pay off their union bosses, checks for illegal immigrants, or a massive federal prisoner release. It eliminated a potential slush fund to states by preventing the Federal Reserve from providing emergency lending by future White House administrations. Finally, it did not include Democrat demands for more abortions on-demand, decreased funding for our servicemen and women, and efforts to defund police.Despite the many wins, the legislation we voted on yesterday is an example of continuing dysfunction in Washington. Legislative relief for Americans who are struggling because of COVID should have passed months ago. Unfortunately, Nancy Pelosi decided that she would rather withhold the aid to hurt President Trump. Because of this strategy, tens of thousands of Americans have lost their jobs, their livelihoods, their businesses, and their lives. Americans should never forget how Speaker Pelosi and her Democrat colleagues deemed that their families and paychecks were less important than the election of a Democrat President. Nancy Pelosi's deliberate obstruction also forced Congress to compress a legislative timeline that would normally take months into a matter of days right before Christmas. Facing a government shutdown, Congress had to pass multiple critical pieces of legislation that were rolled into a huge package and negotiated behind closed doors, with no chance for debate or amendment. This is the Washington Swamp that disgusts every American. It forces Members of Congress to vote on legislation that was finalized only hours earlier. The rushed process also means that there may be critical errors and mistakes that will have to be addressed moving forward.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5531,"Sen. Cruz: Badly Needed COVID Relief Should Have Passed as Standalone Bill Months Ago, Not in Taxpayer Funded Spending Spree",2020-12-22,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today issued the following statement after voting against the multi-trillion dollar end-of-year spending package: ""Though the mainstream media and lobbyists will hail this legislative monstrosity as a tremendous victory, make no mistake: urgently-needed COVID-19 relief was tied to a $1.4 trillion wasteful end-of-year spending bill and countless pet projects that will escape close scrutiny because three times, congressional Democrats rejected good faith efforts to pass targeted relief. ""With new shutdown orders targeting small businesses and disproportionately affecting minority and low-income workers, many Americans remain out of work and unable to make ends meet. According to one study, one in four small business owners will close their doors if economic conditions don't improve soon. Had this bill been solely focused on re-opening the economy, getting Americans back to work, and jump starting a recovery, it would have had my enthusiastic support. For example, the final COVID-19 package rejects Democrats' misguided attempts to bail out blue states' underfunded pension plans and replenishes the Paycheck Protection Program - which will go a long way in helping small businesses keep their doors open and employees on the payroll. ""It also includes funding for vaccine procurement and distribution, and will support states in their efforts to expand testing. With two vaccines already distributed to Americans across the country, these are meaningful developments as we work to defeat this virus, re-open our country, and continue to grow our economy. But they should have been passed in a standalone bill months ago, instead of in a bloated package thrown together during the annual year-end taxpayer funded spending spree. ""Unfortunately, this behemoth did not end there. ""Generations of Americans are already stuck with a $27 trillion national debt, and Washington politicians are indiscriminately adding to the tab. This nearly 5,600-page spending package fails to make any meaningful spending cuts and instead advances the interests of the radical Left, special interests, and swamp lobbyists, with funding going towards expanding authority for more H-2B visas for foreign workers while a near record number of Americans remain unemployed, as well as laying the ground work for Democrats to implement the Green New Deal' by claiming a need' to meet the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, or zero-emission energy sources. ""Unfortunately, in addition to badly needed coronavirus relief, Democrats held hostage important national security and military measures to pass their liberal wish list, including support for weapons systems like the F-35 and B-21 bomber programs, which I have consistently fought for, as well as missile defense technologies that we work with our Israeli allies to develop for our mutual safety. Finally, this legislation included several measures related to international diplomacy that I have championed, from ensuring that our allies in Europe, Middle East, and Western Hemisphere have the resources to defend themselves, all the way to requiring that the State Department revisit its guidelines that undermine our Taiwanese allies by, among others things, prohibiting them from displaying symbols of their sovereignty. ""I would have also enthusiastically voted for the Water Resource Development Act, which is critical for the construction of the Port of Houston's ship channel expansion project, a port that supports roughly 3.2 million jobs. ""These are important proposals and they should not have been muddied by this multi-trillion dollar mess. Like I've said before, this haphazard spending process is yet another example of the brokenness of Congress. ""Far too many parents also remain unable to send their children to school. An entire generation of students' education has been put on hold, as children and teachers alike have been left to navigate the challenges of distance learning. And yet this bill does nothing to expand school choice or empower families with the flexibility they need to support their children's education. In fact, just the opposite - in a bad sign for America's kids and the state of the U.S. education system during the pandemic, this bill delays NAEP, the national school assessment testing. ""Simply put, Democrats exploited the need for relief to advance their political agenda instead of working on legislation that puts our nation on the path to recovery. Now more than ever, our focus should be on providing parents and families support for their children's education as they're struggling with school disruptions during this pandemic, empowering small businesses to re-hire their employees and re-open their doors by cutting taxes and rolling back burdensome federal regulations, and reining in out of control spending that further exacerbates the economic challenges we're currently facing. These are the priorities I'll continue to fight for in the Senate, because these are the priorities of the American people."" ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5532,Sen. Cruz Calls on Trump Administration to Submit Obama-Biden Iran Nuclear Deal & Paris Climate Agreement to Senate as Formal Treaties,2020-12-22,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, this week called on the Trump administration to submit both the Iran Nuclear Deal and Paris Climate Agreement to the Senate as formal treaties. In a letter to President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Sen. Cruz slammed the Obama-Biden administration for undermining the Senate's constitutional role in both the Iran Nuclear Deal and Paris Agreement negotiations, writing: ""Multiple previous administrations [...] have undermined the Senate's constitutional role by negotiating significant international agreements and then refusing to submit them to the Senate for its advice and consent. Most recently-and most egregiously-President Obama refused to submit either the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the Iran Deal'), or the United Nations Paris Climate Agreement (the Paris Agreement') to the Senate as a treaty."" He continued: ""These agreements could and should have been submitted as treaties given their sweeping scope and immense implications for American foreign and domestic policy. The Paris Agreement, for example, was lauded as the most ambitious climate change agreement in history.' The Iran Deal, meanwhile, was situated as the most consequential foreign policy debate that our country has had since the invasion of Iraq.'"" He concluded, urging the Trump administration to submit both agreements to the Senate as formal treaties: ""Your administration has rightly changed course as a matter of substantive policy by withdrawing from both the Iran Deal and the Paris Agreement. This was a great accomplishment for the American people. ""I urge you now also to remedy the harm done to the balance of powers by submitting the Iran Deal and the Paris Agreement to the Senate as treaties. Only by submitting them to the Senate will the Senate be able to satisfy its constitutional role to provide advice and consent in the event any future administration attempts to revive these dangerous deals."" Sen. Cruz has led the fight against the Obama-Biden Iran Nuclear Deal since it was first negotiated. Since the U.S. withdrawal, he has pushed for an end to oil waivers, an end to nuclear waivers, and for invoking the U.N. snapback mechanism to restore international sanctions on Iran. In September, Sen. Cruz applauded the Trump administration for enforcing snapback sanctions on Iran and finalizing the end of the Iran Nuclear Deal. Learn more about his fight here. In 2017, Sen. Cruz urged President Trump to act on his campaign promise to ""rip up"" the Paris Climate Agreement in an op-ed on CNN.com, where he wrote, ""We simply cannot afford an agreement that puts thousands of Americans out of work, increases their energy costs and devastates our core industries."" Read Sen. Cruz's op-ed here. Shortly thereafter, President Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the agreement. Read the full letter here and below. December 21, 2020 The Honorable Donald J. Trump President of the United States The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, D.C. 20500 The Honorable Michael Pompeo Secretary of State U.S. Department of State 2201 C. Street NW Washington, D.C. 20230 Dear President Trump and Secretary Pompeo, The Constitution grants the Senate a significant, unique, and indispensable role in developing American foreign policy through treaties. Specifically, Article II, Section 2, Clause 2, provides that the President ""shall have the Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur."" Multiple previous administrations, however, have undermined the Senate's constitutional role by negotiating significant international agreements and then refusing to submit them to the Senate for its advice and consent. Most recently-and most egregiously-President Obama refused to submit either the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the ""Iran Deal""), or the United Nations Paris Climate Agreement (the ""Paris Agreement"") to the Senate as a treaty. These agreements could and should have been submitted as treaties given their sweeping scope and immense implications for American foreign and domestic policy. The Paris Agreement, for example, was lauded as the ""most ambitious climate change agreement in history."" The Iran Deal, meanwhile, was situated as ""the most consequential foreign policy debate that our country has had since the invasion of Iraq."" That is why numerous Senators demanded that the administration submit both agreements to the Senate for advice and consent. Thirty-four Senators co-sponsored a resolution ""expressing the sense of Congress that the President should submit the Paris climate change agreement to the Senate for its advice and consent."" Because Obama refused to do so, Senator Risch, the current Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, later issued a joint statement with Senator Crapo stating: ""There are many reasons the Paris Climate Accord was a bad deal. Not the least of which is that it was agreed to unilaterally by the Obama Administration, violating our Constitution's requirement that all treaties be passed by a two-thirds vote in the Senate."" Similarly, in an interview addressing the Iran Deal, Senator Risch stated that President Obama ""needed to submit it to the United States Senate for ratification under the Constitution. It was a treaty."" The only reason the Obama administration refused to submit these agreements to the Senate as treaties was that it knew that the agreements were deeply unpopular and doomed for defeat. Then-Secretary of State John Kerry was shockingly candid about this end-run around the Senate's Constitutional prerogative. When asked by Rep. Ribble of Wisconsin why the deal was not considered a treaty, he replied: ""I spent quite a few years trying to get a lot of treaties through the United States Senate, and frankly, it's become physically impossible. That's why. Because you can't pass a treaty anymore."" The same was true for the Paris Agreement. The New York Times in 2014 reported that ""the Obama administration is working to forge a sweeping international climate change agreement to compel nations to cut their planet-warming fossil fuel emissions, but without ratification from Congress"" because there was ""no chance"" that the ""Senate [would] ratify a climate change treaty in the near future."" The Obama administration attempted to justify its decision to sideline the Senate by structuring the agreements in a way that allowed it to publicly assert that the agreements were not legally binding and therefore not treaties subject to the Senate's advice and consent-even though an Obama-era State Department legal memorandum determined the Paris Agreement ""does contain legally binding obligations that would apply to the United States,"" and then-President Obama himself contextualized the Iran Deal by saying that ""[a]s was true in previous treaties, it does not resolve all problems."" But this strategic restructuring is itself a significant threat to the separation of powers and the Senate's constitutional role in foreign affairs. As the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service wrote in a canonical 2001 study of the treaty power prepared for the United States Committee on Foreign Relations: The main threat of erosion of the Senate treaty power comes not from the international agreements that are submitted as treaties, however, but from the many international agreements that are not submitted for its consent. In addition to concluding hundreds of executive agreements, Presidents have made important commitments that they considered politically binding but not legally binding. Maintaining the Senate role in treaties requires overseeing all international agreements to assure that agreements that should be treaties are submitted to the Senate. Simply put, a President does great damage to the separation of powers if he arrogates the treaty power entirely to himself by altering the terms of an agreement so that most or all of the provisions are not legally binding, even as they politically and practically commit United States to a course of action opposed by Congress. See 11 F.A.M. 723 (listing criteria for determining whether an agreement is a treaty, including ""the extent to which the agreement involves commitments or risks affecting the nation as a whole"" and the ""preference of the Congress""). Your administration has rightly changed course as a matter of substantive policy by withdrawing from both the Iran Deal and the Paris Agreement. This was a great accomplishment for the American people. I urge you now also to remedy the harm done to the balance of powers by submitting the Iran Deal and the Paris Agreement to the Senate as treaties. Only by submitting them to the Senate will the Senate be able to satisfy its constitutional role to provide advice and consent in the event any future administration attempts to revive these dangerous deals. Sincerely, /s/ ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=video&id=5533,Sen. Cruz: Hong Kong Dissidents' Powerful Stories Need to Be Heard,2020-12-22,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"Central TX (512) 916-5834 300 E 8th Suite 961 Austin, TX 78701 Email North TX (214) 599-8749 Lee Park Tower II 3626 N. Hall St. Suite 410 Dallas, TX 75219 Email Southeast TX (713) 718-3057 The Mickey Leland Federal Building 1919 Smith Street Suite 9047 Houston, TX 77002 Email South/Cen. TX (210) 340-2885 9901 IH-10W Suite 950 San Antonio, TX 78230 Email East TX (903) 593-5130305 S. Broadway Suite 501 Tyler, TX 75702 Email South TX (956) 686-7339 200 S. 10th St Suite 1603 McAllen, TX 78501 Email Washington, D.C. (202) 224-5922 127A Russell Washington, DC 20510 Contact",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/doggett-legislation-expanding-student-eligibility-pell-grants,Doggett Legislation Expanding Student Eligibility for Pell Grants & Simplifying FAFSA Approved by Congress,2020-12-22,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Lloyd Doggett,D000399,doggett.house.gov,,,legacy,"***For Immediate Release*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 22, 2020 Contact:Kate Stotesbery 202-494-4620 Doggett Legislation Expanding Student Eligibility for Pell Grants & Simplifying FAFSA Approved by Congress Washington, D.C. As this year's January 15 FAFSA deadline approaches, legislation authored by U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) to expand access to federal financial and simplify the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) was included in the COVID relief package, just approved by Congress. He released this statement: Most every family helping a student prepare for college goes through the time-consuming and often confusing task of completing the FAFSA.This process is so burdensome that $2.6 billion in free student aid has gone unused because manyparticularly low-income or first-generation college studentsdecide not to apply. For more than a decade, I have been trying to simplify that task and open financial aid to more students. This relief package contains a number of provisions that, working with Austin nonprofit College Forward, I proposed in theEquitable Student Aid Access Act that I first filed in 2015. By simplifying the FAFSA and making more students eligible to receive the Pell Grant, we can remove financial obstacles so more students can secure all of the education for which they are willing to work. I salute retiring Senator Lamar Alexander for his bipartisan leadership on FAFSA and other higher education provisions in this bill. Austin Buchan, Chief Executive Officer of College Forward, shared: After arguably the most difficult academic year in the last century, we are thrilled to see FAFSA simplification included in the latest stimulus package. Students from economically disadvantaged and first generation families have endured historic challenges on their paths to and through college. This move to dramatically simplify access to federal financial aid will open doors to millions of students in our hardest hit communities. We are grateful to Representative Doggett, Senator Lamar Alexander, and countless others who have made this a top policy priority for years, and share in this victory with College Forward's community of 15,000 students and their families. TheEquitable Student Aid Access Act will ensure that any student receiving a number of a federal means-tested benefits is eligible for the simplified needs test, putting students on track to receive the Pell Grant and ensuring the FAFSA is more simple for low-income families. The bill also increases the household income threshold used to determine whether a student qualifies for the full Pell Grant, ensuring that our most vulnerable students have access to the resources they need. Finally, the bill ensures students can begin filling the FAFSA on October 1 by allowing families to use necessary tax information. This major legislative progress comes in the middle of FAFSA season for families; the deadline to complete the FAFSA for students planning to attend a public college or university in Texas is fast-approaching, as the priority deadline for the 2021-2022 school year is January 15, 2021. Particularly in the continuing economic hardship of this pandemic, it is critical that families of future first-generation college students and current students can access financial aid. Families who need assistance completing their FAFSA can get support from a number of local partners throughout central Texas: Click here to sign up for financial aid workshops and individual appointments hosted by the Austin Chamber of Commerce, Austin Community College, and Red Kite Click here sign up for virtual financial aid advising sessions hosted by Cafcollege ### Follow Congressman Doggett Facebook:https://www.Facebook.com/RepLloydDoggett | Twitter: @RepLloydDoggett| Instagram: @RepLloydDoggett",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://hurd.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/serrano-hurd-bill-establish-national-museum-american-latino-included,"Serrano, Hurd Bill to Establish National Museum of the American Latino Included in Omnibus Package",2020-12-22,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Will Hurd,H001073,hurd.house.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON With bipartisan support, Congress yesterday approved a year-end funding package, which included Reps. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.) and Will Hurd's (R-Texas) legislation, the National Museum of the American Latino Act. The bill takes the first step in establishing the National Museum of the American Latino within the Smithsonian Institution. To fully understand American history, we have to understand all our history. That includes the contributions of the many Latinos, past and present, who have had a tremendous impact on our nation's history and culture, said Hurd. After more than 20 years of work, we were able to get this bill unanimously through the House, and today we reach another milestone with its approval through this year's funding bill. I am proud to be a leader in this effort, and I look forward to the day when the stories of my constituents are forever memorialized for millions of expected visitors from all over the world to see. As lead Republican cosponsor on the bill in the House, Hurd ushered its unanimous passage in July. Hurd has long been a strong proponent of establishing a museum of the American Latino to permanently honor the contributions Latinos have made to our nation. In November, Hurd wrote a letter with Serrano to the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration urging passage of the legislation. Earlier this year, Hurd testified before the Committee on House Administration on the need for a National Museum on the American Latino, and, in September of last year, Hurd penned a column during Hispanic Heritage Month urging passage of this legislation. Once the bill becomes law, it will mark Hurd's 18th piece of legislation signed into law.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://olson.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/olson-secures-key-victories-for-texas-in-end-of-year-spending-bill,OLSON SECURES KEY VICTORIES FOR TEXAS IN END OF YEAR SPENDING BILL,2020-12-22,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Pete Olson,O000168,olson.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, DC - Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX) last night voted in support of the FY2021 Omnibus Appropriations Bill that includes many key Olson victories for Texas. Included in the bill was Olson's DSH Cuts and Delays Act, which provides a critical delay in scheduled cuts to Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments for three years and allows hospitals to stay open and continue caring for our most vulnerable citizens.The bill also includes two critical priorities Olson fought for on the energy and environment side. One allows the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to address a shortage of regulators to review pending energy infrastructure projects by paying more competitive wages. The bill also includes a hard-fought environmental win that includes a 15 year phase down of the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), coolants primarily used in air conditioning and refrigerators, in favor of more environmentally sound alternatives supported by the manufacturing industry. The package authorizes $1.4 trillion in government funding through September 2021 and provides an additional $900 billion in a second round of COVID stimulus aid for families and businesses struggling in this global pandemic. This package includes five of Olson's bills. I'm relieved that congressional Democrats have finally set their partisan agenda aside to fund the government and provide critical financial relief for struggling American families and businesses. Many of the provisions I was proud to secure in this package were the result of years of hard work and will truly help folks in TX-22 and across America, Rep. Pete Olson said. The healthcare provisions will help ensure quality care for low-income folks across Texas and America. The phase down of HFC's will also improve air quality in America and ensure our manufacturers stay competitive in the global economy. As I depart Congress, I'm proud of the work that my colleagues and I have accomplished in a small, but important way to ensure continued healthcare for some of our most vulnerable neighbors and work in a bipartisan manner to improve our environment and American competitiveness. I'm glad the Senate also passed this package and immediately sent it to President Trump's desk for final passage. Disproportionate share funds (DSH) serve a vital role in funding safety net hospitals such as OakBend Medical Center. Typical of most safety net hospitals, OakBend runs a deficit in more years than not. Without safety net funding such as DSH we would have to shut our doors, leaving the poor and elderly of our community without access to hospital services. We appreciate Congressman Olson's efforts to delay cuts to the DSH program.- Joe Freudenberger, CEO of Oak Bend Medical Center Congressman Olson knows well how much the nation's safety net hospitals rely upon critical supplemental payment programs, such as the Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH), given that providers caring for Medicaid patients are only reimbursed at approximately one-half of the cost of care provided. Our system and providers across the country applaud the Congressman's and his colleagues' tenacity in gaining a three-year delay in the imposition of these cuts, particularly at a time when providers have suffered significant financial impacts responding to COVID-19. Freddy Warner, Chief Government Relations Officer, Memorial Hermann Health System Medicaid DSH payments are critical to children's hospitals. Congress created the Medicaid DSH program to provide financial help to hospitals that treat a large number of Medicaid and uninsured patients. Unfortunately, Medicaid reimburses children's hospitals at an average of only 80% of the cost of providing care, and Medicaid reimbursement to children's hospitals would fall even lower without crucial DSH payments. These DSH payments help children's hospitals sustain specialized pediatric care services and pediatric training programs that benefit all patients. Texas Children's Hospital is grateful for Congressman Olson's leadership to ensure a delay in cuts to a critical funding source for Texas Children's, and all children's hospitals especially as we navigate challenges due to COVID-19. Weldon Gage, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Texas Children's Hospital COVID-19 Relief Package Highlights: Provides over $280 billion to reopen and strengthen the PPP program. Nearly $20 billion for the production of vaccines and therapeutics, covering the cost for everyone who needs it. $8.75 billion for distribution of vaccines. This includes cold chain, advance freezers, and supporting state efforts. $600 stimulus checks per individual/child ($1200 per married couple). $10 billion in Child Care and Development Block Grant Program (CCDBG) Increases the PPP loan amount for Restaurants and Hotels from 2.5x payroll to 3.5x, providing an extra month's worth of payroll support $45 billion in transportation assistance. $13 billion in support to farmers, ranchers, and the agriculture sector Background on TheDSH Cuts Delay Act, H.R. 3054: Reps. Pete Olson and Dan Crenshaw introduced the Improving Low-Income Access to Prescription Drugs Act, which would require a delay to scheduled cuts to Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments for two years.Medicaid DSH payments help sustain hospitals that serve a disproportionate number of low-income and uninsured patients. In doing so, these hospitals incur tremendous uncompensated costs. Medicaid DSH payments help make up for those losses and, in turn, allow hospitals to keep their doors open and continue caring for our most vulnerable citizens. This bill provides more time for Congress to develop a more sustainable, permanent solution to enable these hospitals to continue operating. Congressman Olson was able to secure a temporary delay in the CERTS Act of 2020 for the 2020 fiscal year. If these cuts go into effect, 186 Texas hospitals will be affected and will lose an estimated $450 million in state and federal funding. Rep. Olson and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY)sent a letter, signed by 300 Members of Congress, to Congressional leaders requesting a delay to Medicaid cuts. Additional Olson Bills Included in the 2021 Omnibus Spending Bill: The AIM Act, H.R. 5544: Reps. Paul Tonko and Pete Olson introduced the American Innovation and Manufacturing Leadership Act, a bipartisan bill that would phase down the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), coolants primarily used in air conditioning and refrigerators, in favor of more environmentally sound alternatives supported by the manufacturing industry. The bill will provide a responsible phase down of HFC's and will stimulate additional economic benefits by creating an additional 33,000 manufacturing jobs, improving the U.S. trade balance in equipment and chemicals by $12.5 billion annually and increasing exports by $5 billion. Studies forecast the overall contribution to the HVACR industry will be 2.5 million jobs and $621 billion in economic output by 2027. The Timely Review of Infrastructure Act, H.R. 1426: Reps. Pete Olson and Mike Doyle introduced the Timely Review of Infrastructure Act, which allows the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to address a shortage of regulators to review pending energy infrastructure projects like the LNG export terminals in Texas and Louisiana. Salary is a critical component in deciding where to work and the private sector can pay significantly higher salaries, leaving a shortage of regulators to review the viability of projects creating a backlog. This bill allows FERC to pay competitive salaries to ensure the oversight and review process can continue in a timely manner. The Shop RX Act of 2019, HR 3408: Reps. Pete Olson and Jodey Arrington introduced the Shop RX Act, which requires prescription drug plans to offer real-time benefit information to Medicare beneficiaries. Real-time benefits allow providers to see the cost of a drug and its alternatives before they prescribe it to their patients. By incorporating price transparency tools, both patients and their providers can have more informed, productive conversations about their health care options. Improving Low-Income Access to Prescription Drugs Act, HR 3029: Reps. Pete Olson, Nanette Diaz Barragan, Kenny Marchant, and John Lewis introduced the Improving Low Income Access to Prescription Drugs Act, which would permanently authorize the Limited Income Newly Eligible Transition (LI NET) Program. This Program provides temporary prescription drug coverage for low-income beneficiaries, eliminating gaps in coverage while they apply for Medicare Part D drug coverage. In 2018, the LI NET Program helped almost 800,000 Americans, including 41,350 Texans. Read the full text of the omnibus spending bill here. ### Media Contact | MacKenzie Morales",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://cuellar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=405985,"Rep. Cuellar Secures Passage of Bipartisan, Bicameral Bill Promoting US-Mexico Economic Partnership",2020-12-21,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Henry Cuellar,C001063,cuellar.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C.-- Today, Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) secured the passage of H.R. 133, the United States-Mexico Economic Partnership Act. This bill, which passed both the House and the Senate, served as vehicle for the emergency coronavirus relief and 2021 omnibus package. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation will bolster professional development and economic growth in both countries with a focus on the energy, health, entrepreneurship, and education sectors. The goal of the bill is to promote a bilingual workforce that can better serve both sides of the border and increase economic development in the region. In 2019, Mexico became the largest trading partner of the United States. Every day, $1.6 billion worth of trade crosses our southern border, directly supporting American and Mexican businesses, farmers and jobs, said Congressman Cuellar. I introduced the United States-Mexico Economic Partnership Act so we can continue to deepen our relationship with Mexico both through economic integration and educational programs. Increasing academic exchanges in the energy, business, education, and health sectors will increase economic prosperity in both nations and allow us to further capitalize on the strengths each country has to offer. As the Chair of the U.S.-Mexico Inter-Parliamentary Group, I am committed to expanding our economic partnership through increased cooperation, interconnection, and integration of ideas. I want to thank Senator Cornyn for his help in ushering support in the Senate. According to the Institute of International Education, in the 2015-2016 academic year, more than 56,000 U.S. students studied in other countries in the Western Hemisphere, while more than 84,000 non-U.S. students from the region studied in the U.S., but only 5,000 of those United States students studied in Mexico and only 16,000 of those non-U.S. students were from Mexico. Increasing Bilateral Economic Integration Both countries have benefited from bilateral, mutually beneficial partnerships focused on advancing each country's economic interests. Under the United States-Mexico Economic Partnership Act, the State Department would create a strategy to further support economic relations between the U.S. and Mexico through academic and professional programs to contribute to this goal. Expanding Professional and Educational Exchange Programs The measure will require the State Department to develop a plan that expands educational and professional exchange programs with Mexico through the framework of the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative, The Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI), Jvenes en Accin (Youth in Action), Fulbright Foreign Student Program, and Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program. Specifically, it will: 1. Encourage more academic exchange programs at the secondary, post-secondary, and post-graduate levels; 2.Encourage academic institutions and businesses to collaborate to support entrepreneurs and joint business initiatives; 3.Promote energy infrastructure coordination through vocational-level education, internships, and exchanges; 4. Require the State Department to assess the feasibility of facilitating partnerships between universities and medical and nursing programs in both countries. Read the bill texts of the United States-Mexico Economic Partnership Act here.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://algreen.house.gov/press-release/congressman-al-green-votes-yes-hr-133,Congressman Al Green Votes Yes on H.R. 133,2020-12-21,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Al Green,G000553,algreen.house.gov,,,legacy,"(Washington, D.C.) On Monday, December 21, 2020, Congressman Al Green released the following statement on the passage of H.R. 133: Similar to my legislation H.R. 6868, to establish a Community Capital Investment Program, H.R. 133 includes $9 billion to fund an Emergency Capital Investment Program (ECIP) administered by the Department of the Treasury. Funds may be used: (1) to provide direct and indirect capital investment in minority depository institutions (MDIs) as well as community development financial institutions (CDFIs); and (2) by eligible financial institutions to provide loans, grants, and forbearance to small businesses, minority-owned businesses, and consumers, particularly in low- and moderate-income (LMI) areas and underserved communities that may be disproportionately impacted by the pandemic's economic effects, stated Congressman Al Green after voting YES' to H.R. 133, the relief package and omnibus passed by Congress. Repayment will be deferred for at least five years, and participants must maintain or significantly expand lending or investment activity to LMI minority communities. Congressman Green, who has been a strong proponent of MDIs and CDFIs for their work in often underbanked LMI communities, added, I am enormously thankful for the inclusion of this language, and I wish to thank Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters for her steadfast support of these vital institutions that serve so many communities that large banks would leave behind. It is because of Chair Waters' advocacy and the dedication of the Committee staff that this critical program has been incorporated into this final legislative package of 2020. H.R. 133 provides a second round of direct economic relief payments, expanded unemployment insurance, $325 billion in small business assistance, $25 billion in rental assistance, a federal eviction moratorium, $13 billion in nutrition assistance, as well as paid sick leave for workers infected with coronavirus or impacted by school closures due to coronavirus. Congressman Green concluded, saying, While I am aware that this combined COVID-relief/omnibus package does not do nearly enough to eliminate the suffering that our nation is experiencing during this unprecedented crisis, I do believe this is a good faith effort to help remove some of the pain.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/so-much-virus-need-relief-package-too-little-too-late,"With So Much Virus & Need, Relief Package is Too Little, Too Late",2020-12-21,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Lloyd Doggett,D000399,doggett.house.gov,,,legacy,"***For Immediate Release*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 21, 2020 Contact:Kate Stotesbery 202-494-4620 With So Much Virus & Need, Relief Package is Too Little, Too Late Washington, D.C. U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Chairman of the House Ways & Means Health Subcommittee, released this statement on the upcoming House vote today on the COVID relief package and government funding: With so much virus and so much need, this 5,593-page, complex bill really is too little, too late! Modest help for many who are struggling, important funding for vaccine distribution, but some sorry provisions and many omissions. This results not from a failure by Congress,' but specifically from a prolonged refusal by Republicans in Congress to negotiate and their rejection of the amount and types of assistance necessary to meet growing needs.Hopefully, we at least are providing the limited assistance required by those most in need to make it until we have a new, humane Administration. ### Follow Congressman Doggett Facebook:https://www.Facebook.com/RepLloydDoggett | Twitter: @RepLloydDoggett| Instagram: @RepLloydDoggett",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://cuellar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=405981,Rep. Cuellars Statement on Coronavirus Relief and Omnibus Agreement,2020-12-20,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Henry Cuellar,C001063,cuellar.house.gov,,,legacy,"Rep. Cuellar's Statement on Coronavirus Relief and Omnibus Agreement Congressman will vote on Monday to save the lives and livelihoods of the American people Washington, D.C.Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) released the following statement after Congress reached an agreement on coronavirus relief and omnibus package: It is my top priority to ensure that American families and communities are safe, healthy and financially secure as we continue to battle this pandemic, said Congressman Cuellar. I will be voting for this package tomorrow so we can get working families, small businesses and front line workers the relief they desperately need. The cost of inaction is far too high. This bipartisan legislation takes bold, far-reaching steps that the coronavirus crisis demands and that the American people deserve. As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, I will continue to provide support and fund the necessary resources to working families in my district, my state, and across the nation as we address this public health and economic crisis. Accelerating vaccine distribution and crushing the coronavirus: The package provides billions in urgently need funds to accelerate the free and equitable distribution of safe vaccines to as many Americans as possible as soon as possible, to implement a strong national testing and tracing strategy with billions reserved specifically for combating the disparities facing certain communities, and to support our heroic health care workers and providers. Ends surprise billing: The package includes bipartisan, bicameral legislation that will end surprise billing for emergency and scheduled care. Strong support for small business: The agreement includes over $284 billion for first and second forgivable PPP loans, expanded PPP eligibility for nonprofits and local newspapers, TV and radio broadcasters, key modifications to PPP to serve the smallest businesses and struggling non-profits and better assist independent restaurants,and includes $15 billion in dedicated funding for live venues, independent movie theaters, and cultural institutions. The agreement also includes $20 billion for targeted EIDL Grants which are critical to many smaller businesses on Main Street. Community Development Financial Institutions and Minority Depository Institutions: The agreement includes dedicated PPP set-asides for very small businesses and lending through community-based lenders like Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs); $9 billion in emergency U.S. Treasury capital investments in CDFIs and MDIs to support lending in low-income and underserved communities, including persistent poverty counties, that may be disproportionately impacted by the economic effects of the COVID19 pandemic; and $3 billion in emergency support for CDFIs through the CDFI Fund to respond to the economic impact of the pandemic on underserved low-income and minority communities. Rental assistance: $25 billion in critically needed rental assistance for families struggling to stay in their homes and an extension of the eviction moratorium. Strengthens the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit: The package enhances the LIHTC to help increase affordable housing construction and provide greater certainty to new and ongoing affordable housing projects. Direct payment checks: A new round of direct payments worth up to $600 per adult and child, also ensuring that mixed-status families receive payments. Strengthened Earned Income Tax Credit & Child Tax Credit: The agreement helps ensure that families who faced unemployment or reduced wages during the pandemic are able to receive a strong tax credit based on their 2019 income, preserving these vital income supports for vulnerable families. Supports paid sick leave: The agreement provides a tax credit to support employers offering paid sick leave, based on the Families First framework. Employee Retention Tax Credit: The agreement extends and improves the Employee Retention Tax Credit to help keep workers in the jobs during coronavirus closures or reduced revenue. Enhanced Unemployment Insurance benefits: Averts the sudden expiration of Unemployment Insurance benefits for millions and added a $300 per week UI enhancement for Americans out of work. Nutrition assistance for hungry families: $13 billion in increased SNAP and child nutrition benefits to help relieve the historic hunger crisis that has left up to 17 million children food insecure. Education and childcare: The agreement provides $82 billion in funding for colleges and schools, including support for HVAC repair and replacement to mitigate virus transmission and reopen classrooms, and $10 billion for child care assistance to help get parents back to work and keep child care providers open. Historic expansion of Pell Grants: The package includes the largest expansion of Pell Grant recipients in over a decade, reaching 500,000 new recipients and ensuring more than 1.5 million students will now receive the maximum benefit. Broadband access: The agreement invests $7 billion to increase access to broadband, including a new Emergency Broadband Benefit to help millions of students, families and unemployed workers afford the broadband they need during the pandemic. Fights the climate crisis: The agreement includes sweeping clean energy reforms, R&D enhancements, efficiency incentives, and extends clean energy tax credits to create hundreds of thousands of jobs across the clean economy. The package also phases out superpollutant HFCs, positioning the U.S. to lead the world in avoiding up to 0.5 degree Celsius of global warming.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5529,"Sen. Cruz: 'We Urgently Need To Have a Real, Substantive, Bipartisan Conversation About Countering the Chinese Communist Party'",2020-12-19,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, this week took to the Senate Floor to object to Senate Democrats' shameless exploitation of the crisis in Hong Kong to undermine our immigration laws, which would recklessly enable Chinese espionage in the United States. Sen. Cruz instead offered Senate Democrats an opportunity to act against the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) propaganda by passing his SCRIPT Act. Senator Cruz also addressed China's human rights atrocities and spoke of the need to pass another one of his bills, the SHAME Act. During the debate, Democrats objected to the request to pass the SCRIPT Act. Watch Sen. Cruz's full remarks here. Excerpts are included below. WATCH: Cruz Calls Out Democrats for Exploiting Crisis in Hong Kong to Advance Political Agenda On Senate Democrats' efforts to exploit the crisis in Hong Kong to undermine existing U.S. immigration law, Sen. Cruz said: Today, we have good news and bad news. The good news is that our Democratic colleagues are finally discovering that the Chinese communists are not our friends. They are finally acknowledging that the Chinese communists are murdering, torturing, oppressive tyrants and our Democratic colleagues are likewise discovering that Hong Kong is a beacon for democracy, a beacon for liberty. That is indeed good news. The bad news is the bill that they have put forth is not designed to do anything about it. This is not a Hong Kong bill. It is instead a Democratic messaging bill, because House Democrats made, I think, a cynical decision to try to exploit the crisis in Hong Kong to advance their long standing goals [of] changing our immigration laws. On how Senate Democrats' partisan agenda threatens our national security, Sen. Cruz said: This bill [...] would dramatically lower the standards for both refugee and asylum status to the point where individuals would qualify even if they cannot establish an individualized and credible fear of persecution. [] There is particular risk when doing so we [because] we know [it] would be used by the Chinese communists to send even more Chinese spies into the United States. [] Last I checked, when the Chinese communist government sends spies into our country, they're quite willing to concoct a bogus background portfolio of materials. [] We just recently had news of Chinese spies targeting members of Congress, targeting prominent Democrats. This is an espionage threat America faces of our adversaries taking advantage of our laws and targeting our leadership. The truth also is that China has confiscated passports and I'm told, stopped issuing exit visas to persons deemed problematic. As a result, China is highly unlikely to let actual dissidents leave Hong Kong. [] We urgently need to have a real substantive bipartisan conversation about countering the Chinese Communist Party, about defending the United States of America, about standing up and winning this battle. This bill doesn't advance that objective. On the need to push back on the CCP's widespread censorship and propaganda efforts by passing the SCRIPT Act, Sen. Cruz said: The Chinese Communist Party spends billions and billions of dollars to mislead Americans about China, and to try to shape what we see, what we hear, and think. All of these activities are part of China's whole-of-state approach to amass influence around the world through information warfare. We need to stand together to stop it. [] The only reason the SCRIPT Act isn't passing is because the Senate Democrats are objecting. It should not be lost on anybody that the Hollywood billionaires who are enriching themselves with this Chinese propaganda are among the biggest political donors to today's Democratic Party. On the need to act against the CCP's human rights atrocities by passing the SHAME Act, Sen. Cruz said: The SHAME Act focuses in particular on human rights atrocities. It focuses on over a million Uyghurs in concentration camps and other religious minorities [like] the Falun Gong practitioners, who are captured and murdered and whose organs are harvested. [] My Democratic colleagues like to say on the question of abortion, they are pro-choice. Well, the Chinese government right now is engaging in forced sterilizations and forced abortions taking Uyghur mothers and forcing them to abort their children against their wills. Whatever the Democrats' views on abortion in the United States is a matter of a woman's choice, surely, they must be united in saying a government forcing a woman to abort her child, to take the life of her unborn child, is an unspeakable atrocity. The SHAME Act does something very simple it imposes sanctions on the Chinese Communist government leaders responsible for implementing this horrific 1984' style policy of forced sterilizations and forced abortions. Background: In October, Sen. Cruz introduced the Sanctioning and Highlighting Authoritarian Medicine and Eugenics (SHAME) Act, legislation sanctioning CCP officials for systematic ethnic cleansing, including through forced abortions and other coercive population control measures in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The legislation also requires the publication and maintenance of data about those officials, including their human rights records. Read the full text of the SHAME Act here. Earlier this year, Sen. Cruz introduced the The Stopping Censorship, Restoring Integrity, Protecting Talkies Act or SCRIPT Act, legislation to cut off Hollywood studios from assistance they receive from the United States government if those studios censor their films for screening in China. This legislation is part of Sen. Cruz's comprehensive push to combat China's growing influence over what Americans see and hear, which includes legislation targeting information warfare from the Chinese Communist Party across higher education, sports, films, radio broadcasts, and more. Read the full text of the SCRIPT Act here. Sen. Cruz is leading the charge to fundamentally reassess the U.S.-China relationship and counter Chinese censorship in the wake of the CCP coronavirus coverup. In August, the CCP announced their second set of sanctions against Sen. Cruz for speaking out against the horrific human rights abuses occurring in the authoritarian state. READ: Sen. Cruz on FoxNews.com: China Is Expanding Its Malign Influence All Over the World ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=video&id=5530,Cruz Calls Out Democrats for Exploiting Crisis in Hong Kong to Advance Political Agenda,2020-12-19,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"Central TX (512) 916-5834 300 E 8th Suite 961 Austin, TX 78701 Email North TX (214) 599-8749 Lee Park Tower II 3626 N. Hall St. Suite 410 Dallas, TX 75219 Email Southeast TX (713) 718-3057 The Mickey Leland Federal Building 1919 Smith Street Suite 9047 Houston, TX 77002 Email South/Cen. TX (210) 340-2885 9901 IH-10W Suite 950 San Antonio, TX 78230 Email East TX (903) 593-5130305 S. Broadway Suite 501 Tyler, TX 75702 Email South TX (956) 686-7339 200 S. 10th St Suite 1603 McAllen, TX 78501 Email Washington, D.C. (202) 224-5922 127A Russell Washington, DC 20510 Contact",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402994,Burgess: Moderna vaccine adds dose of hope for the new year,2020-12-18,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health,released the following statement after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved an Emergency Use Authorization for Moderna's novel Coronavirus 2019 vaccine. There is something special about this time of year and having a second Coronavirus vaccine approved for emergency use adds to the joy of the season, said Burgess. In a span of one week, we have witnessed two vaccines receive Emergency Use Authorizations from the FDA. This is a shining example of American resourcefulness and the successful work done through Operation Warp Speed. I want to thank President Trump for putting American innovation first, our scientists and medical community, and the countless volunteers who have stepped up during this pandemic to serve on the front lines. This second vaccine is a signal that we are nearing the end of this pandemic, but we cannot stop taking the proper precautions especially now that cold and flu season is in full swing. Please continue to wash your hands thoroughly, wear a mask if you are unable to properly social distance, and stay home if you are sick. At the start of this pandemic, America declared that we are in this together and together we will reach the end.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402995,E&C Republican Leaders: Second EUA is a Testament to American Ingenuity,2020-12-18,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"E&C Republican Leaders: Second EUA is a Testament to American Ingenuity Washington, D.C. Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader for the 116thCongress Greg Walden (R-OR), Republican Leader for the 117thCongress Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Health Subcommittee Republican Leader Dr. Michael Burgess (R-TX), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Republican Leader Brett Guthrie (R-KY) released the following statement after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its second emergency use authorization (EUA) for a COVID-19 vaccine, this time authorizing Moderna's vaccine for distribution. In just one week, we've gone from zero authorized vaccines to two that have both exceeded the strong safety and efficacy standards set by the FDA. This is a true testament to American ingenuity and the work of President Trump's Operation Warp Speed, the scientific and public health communities, and the patients who have volunteered their time to participate in clinical trials. This week, all Americans felt hope when we saw brave front line health workers receive the first vaccines. As we said last week, this is the beginning of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we owe it to every essential worker to continue handwashing and wearing masks. The United States of America will lead the world out of this pandemic, but we must continue doing our part to keep each other safe, said Walden, Rodgers, Burgess, and Guthrie. The EUA follows a strong 20-0 vote by a panel of non-political scientific experts tasked with reviewing Moderna's clinical trial safety and efficacy data. Last Friday, the Republican Leaders commented on the authorization of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine. Read that statement here. To read more about FDA's EUA process for vaccines click here. Read more about Operation Warp Speed here",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://cuellar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=405974,Rep. Cuellars Statement on Decision to Restrict Public Attendance to Presidential Inaugural Ceremony,2020-12-18,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Henry Cuellar,C001063,cuellar.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C. Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) issued the following statement regarding the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) decision to restrict broad public attendance at the upcoming Presidential Inauguration Ceremony: My office has received many ticket requests from constituents throughout the district for the upcoming Presidential Inaugural Ceremony. I deeply appreciate the patience that has been shown to us as my office awaited more information from the inaugural committee. However, it has been confirmed that the upcoming inauguration will not include a broad public audience due to the ongoing pandemic. On January 20th, our nation as well as the world will witness an innovative and reimagined historic event as President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris are sworn-in to office; all while ensuring the health and safety of Americans. This was a decision made by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies in close consultation with public health, medical experts, and the Presidential Inaugural Committee. I applaud the decision to put Americans' safety first, and while I always look forward to having guests for inaugurations, we must be proactive in protecting the health of our community. To all those who have reached out to my office, I apologize for this inconvenience. Thank you again for your patience and may God bless the United States of America.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5526,"Sens. Cruz, Cornyn Applaud Senate's Passage of Bill Honoring Pearland Mayor Tom Reid",2020-12-18,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) today issued the following statements after the Senate passed their bill to rename a post office in Pearland, Texas, after Mayor Tom Reid, the city's long-serving mayor: I am proud that my colleagues and I in the Senate passed this bill to honor such a dedicated public servant, exceptional Texan, and American patriot, Sen. Cruz said. He served his community and our country with such distinction and this honor will ensure he is never forgotten. I congratulate Mayor Reid on his much earned retirement this past month. Thank you for your four decades of work for the city of Pearland and your service to our country. Mayor Reid's record of service to his nation and to Pearland deserves to be celebrated, and I'm proud to honor him with this recognition, said Sen. Cornyn. BACKGROUND In October, Sens. Cruz and Cornyn sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in support of U.S. Rep. Pete Olson's (R-Texas) bill to rename a Pearland, Texas post office after Mayor Reid. In addition to their letter, the senators sponsored and introduced the Senate companion bill. Houston native Tom Reid is a World War II veteran of the United States Navy and a former manager and supervisor at the Johnson Space Center on projects including Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and the Space Shuttle Program. He then served as a Pearland city counselor before first being elected Mayor in 1978. Mayor Reid's exemplary public service to the city of Pearland spans more than 40 years, and he officially retired in November. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5527,"Sen. Cruz on Senate Floor: 'On the Question of America Leading the World in Space, the United States Senate Speaks With One Voice'",2020-12-18,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation and Space, today issued the following statement after the Senate unanimously passed the bipartisan NASA Authorization Act, legislation he authored with Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.): ""As chairman of the Aviation and Space Subcommittee, I'm proud to once again lead this bipartisan legislation that continues to ensure America remains on the cutting edge of innovation and the manned exploration of space. I am grateful America's leadership in space remains an issue of such broad bipartisan agreement. A few months ago we witnessed the launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon, the first launch of American astronauts from U.S. soil in nearly a decade, on the first commercially-created spacecraft in American history. That successful mission was a bright moment in an otherwise difficult and tumultuous year, and has united and inspired Americans to further human potential. ""These next 50 years in space have the potential to be even more consequential than the last 50 years, and the legislation we've passed today gives NASA the resources and direction it needs to face this new era, and the challenges that will come with it, with boldness. Not only will this legislation enhance our presence in low-Earth orbit, but will help Americans safely return to the moon, and put America's dreams of taking the first step on the surface of Mars directly on our horizon. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to strengthen America's leadership in the final frontier."" WATCH: Cruz on Senate Floor Celebrates Unanimous Passage of Bipartisan NASA Authorization Act Moments before the Senate approved the bill, Sen. Cruz delivered remarks on the Senate Floor praising the bipartisan collaboration that went into the legislation, and thanking his colleagues for passing the NASA Authorization Act unanimously. Watch his remarks here. Read his remarks below. ""Mr. President, in a few moments, I'm going to ask unanimous consent for the Senate to pass S. 2800, which is the bipartisan NASA Authorization Act. Before doing so, I want to make some brief remarks about how important this legislation is to American leadership in space and to our continued space exploration efforts. ""Well over a year ago, I joined with Chairman Wicker, Ranking Member Cantwell, and Aviation and Space Subcommittee Ranking Member Sinema, and we began writing the NASA Authorization Act. Using as a foundation the bipartisan bill that I had previously authored with Senators Cornyn, Rubio, Markey, and then-Senator Bill Nelson from the last Congress as our starting point, we solicited input from hundreds of stakeholders, from individuals and academics, to industry partners, and even our international allies. ""Hundreds of pages of suggestions, proposed edits, and comments were submitted. And over many months, our staffs worked diligently through each and every submission, trying to incorporate the feedback to the greatest extent possible. What resulted is this bill which was marked up last year and unanimously reported. What we have achieved together is legislation that enjoys deep and broad bipartisan support and that sets bold goals for NASA and the United States in space. It provides the direction and the infrastructure necessary to meet them. ""I'm very proud of the work that we've done together and of this legislation that we've assembled. And I want to express particular thanks to Senators Wicker, Cantwell, and Sinema, and to their staffs for their hard work. ""Our bill strengthens the United States' leadership in space, ensuring that we remain the default space exploration partner of the world. It extends the life of the International Space Station through to 2030, and it challenges us to be the international leader for Lunar and Mars exploration, and to reach new horizons. ""It's not just human exploration, though, Mr. President. By working in a collegial and good-faith manner, we were able to craft a product that strengthens all of NASA's core missions, something which benefits not just states with strong NASA equities, but every American. ""It is amazing what strong, unified leadership can do to bring the members of this body together - working to pass vitally important legislation that advances science, technology, national security, and the interests of our nation. ""So, Mr. President, I want to say again how grateful I am to my colleagues who worked on this bill with me and to state just how proud I am that the Senate is speaking with one unified voice in passing this legislation. This is following a tradition that we have seen [in] the past eight years I have served in this body, where on the question of space, we have seen over and over and over again strong bipartisan cooperation. Even at a time when partisan division pulls us apart in so many other areas, on the question of America leading the world in space, the United States Senate speaks with one voice. We have a real opportunity here to boldly shape the nation's space exploration efforts, to inspire new generations of little boys and little girls gazing up at the stars and wondering what's out there, and to make the United States a true space-faring nation. ""While this bill is not going to pass the House of Representatives during the remainder of this Congress, I look forward to the beginning of the next Congress where we can use this unanimously approved legislation as the starting point to move quickly to pass a comprehensive NASA Authorization Act across the finish line and get it signed into law. Therefore, Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 525, S. 2800."" BACKGROUND: The NASA Authorization Act would: Support NASA's human spaceflight and exploration efforts to return American astronauts to the Moon and prepare for future journeys to Mars. Extend authorization for the International Space Station (ISS) through 2030 and direct NASA to take steps to grow the ""space economy."" Require the United States to maintain a continuous human presence in low-Earth orbit through and beyond the useful life of the ISS. Support NASA's leadership in coordinating the development of next generation spacesuits. Leverage private sector investment to bolster human space exploration. Authorize NASA's Enhanced Use Leasing (EUL) authority. EUL allows companies to lease vacant or underutilized buildings owned by NASA with lease proceeds helping to fund capital improvements at the NASA centers. Provide rapid acquisition authorities similar to those that have proven successful at the Department of Defense and other agencies. Direct NASA to maintain and upgrade irreplaceable rocket launch and test infrastructure. Support vital life and physical science research to ensure that humans can live in deep space safely. Direct NASA to improve upon its planetary defense measures in order to protect Earth from asteroids and other near-Earth objects. Affirm NASA's commitment to aeronautics research by supporting a robust X-plane program as well as work on efficient propulsion concepts and advanced composites. Support NASA's STEM education and workforce efforts. Read the full text of the bill here. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=video&id=5528,Cruz on Senate Floor Celebrates Unanimous Passage of Bipartisan NASA Authorization Act,2020-12-18,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"Central TX (512) 916-5834 300 E 8th Suite 961 Austin, TX 78701 Email North TX (214) 599-8749 Lee Park Tower II 3626 N. Hall St. Suite 410 Dallas, TX 75219 Email Southeast TX (713) 718-3057 The Mickey Leland Federal Building 1919 Smith Street Suite 9047 Houston, TX 77002 Email South/Cen. TX (210) 340-2885 9901 IH-10W Suite 950 San Antonio, TX 78230 Email East TX (903) 593-5130305 S. Broadway Suite 501 Tyler, TX 75702 Email South TX (956) 686-7339 200 S. 10th St Suite 1603 McAllen, TX 78501 Email Washington, D.C. (202) 224-5922 127A Russell Washington, DC 20510 Contact",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://cuellar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=405973,Rep. Cuellar Announces Vaccine Distribution to Local Hospitals in Laredo,2020-12-17,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Henry Cuellar,C001063,cuellar.house.gov,,,legacy,"Laredo, TXCongressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) released the following statement regarding the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines of Laredo Medical Center and STAT Specialty Hospital: It is great to see the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrive to Laredo Medical Center and STAT Specialty Hospital today. By the end of the year, Texas is expected to receive 1.4 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine. An effective COVID-19 vaccine was rapidly developed due to the tireless efforts of our researchers and scientists, as well as billions in federal funding. As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, I worked hard to secure almost $10 billion in federal resources, which have been invested in these efforts, including funding from the CARES Act. However, it is critical that Congress pass a subsequent COVID-19 relief package to provide additional funding for vaccine distribution, before the close of the year.This will ensure that the treatment is safely and rapidly transported to all communities in the United States. This past year has been difficult for all Americans, but I promise you this: we will prevail. Today marks a turning point in our nation's battle against this virus. I want to thank all of our health care workers who have been working since day 1 to protect our communities and slow the spread of the virus. In the photo: COVID-19 vaccines at Laredo Medical Center.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5522,"Sens. Cruz, Peters Applaud House Passage of Their Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Apollo Landing Sites",2020-12-17,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation and Space, and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) to permanently protect the Apollo landing sites on the moon. The One Small Step to Protect Human Heritage in Space Act would enact first-of-its-kind legal protections for the Apollo sites by making NASA's preservation recommendations a requirement for future activities on the Moon. The bill reflects an agreement with the authors of a companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives: Committee on Science, Space & Technology Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) and Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), as well as Subcommittee on Space Chairwoman Kendra Horn (D-Okla.) and Ranking Member Brian Babin (R-Texas). The final version of the bill now heads back to the Senate, which passed Sen. Cruz's original bipartisan bill in July 2019, for approval. Read Sens. Cruz and Peters' original bipartisan bill here. Upon House passage of the One Small Step to Protect Human Heritage in Space Act, Sen. Cruz said: As we look forward to new expeditions to the moon and placing American boots where they have never gone before on Mars, it is crucial to safeguard the history of American exceptionalism and ingenuity in space, from Apollo 11 to the upcoming Artemis program missions. As the chairman of the Aviation and Space subcommittee and as a Texan, I am honored to help preserve these historic human heritage sites, while continuing to maintain a dominant presence in low-Earth orbit and beyond. Sen. Peters said: As a child, I watched the achievements of the Apollo missions with excitement about what is possible when we come together with a common goal. I was proud to author this bipartisan legislation to preserve for all of humanity the incredible achievements of the Apollo astronauts on the Moonand also to honor the 400,000 people around the world who made it possibleincluding the now famous African American Hidden Figures who were crucial in calculating trajectories that got astronauts to and from the Moon. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said: As we go forward to the Moon with the Artemis Program, NASA has been clear that we must do so sustainably. As part of the Artemis Accords agreements signed with partner nations, NASA has emphasized that protecting historically significant sites is critical, and I applaud the leaders of this legislation for their commitment to ensuring that future lunar science and exploration is done in a safe and transparent manner. Chairwoman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Eddie Bernice Johnson said: I am pleased that the House passed the One Small Step to Protect Human Heritage In Space Act' today. Apollo remains a beacon of inspiration and a symbol of what we, as a nation, can accomplish. I have long advocated for the preservation of the Apollo artifacts, which hold deep cultural, historical, and scientific value for not only the United States, but for all of humanity. It is important that NASA and the United States lead the way in guiding responsible behavior in space, and this legislation to preserve our human heritage in space is, itself, one small step in practicing that leadership. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Ranking Member Rep. Frank Lucas said: The Apollo landing sites mark one of humanity's greatest achievements: the first time we were able to do more than look up at the sky, but actually leave our planet and visit another world. The One Small Step Act maintains these historic sites while encouraging the spirit of exploration that got us to the Moon. I'm proud to sponsor this bill to honor our historical achievements, and I look forward to the time when we can return humans to the Moon and continue the mission of discovery and learning that the Apollo astronauts began. Dr. A.W. Tony England, an astronaut during the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs and Professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, said: As a former astronaut in the Apollo program, it is fitting that one of humanities' greatest collective achievements should be preserved for future generations to learn about and be inspired by. I am grateful for the efforts of Senators Peters and Cruz as well as Congressmen Johnson, Lucas, Horn, and Babin for their bill that will honor Apollo's invaluable legacy of innovation, collaboration, and determination and preserve it for future generations. Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford, USAF (Ret.), Commander, Apollo 10, added: As one of the original Apollo astronauts, I saw Apollo bring out the best of America and the best of humanity. The efforts of Senators Peters and Cruz and Congressmen Johnson, Lucas, Horn, and Babin will help ensure the achievements of the Apollo program serve as a beacon of inspirationnot just for America but for people all over the world for generations to come. BACKGROUND: The legislation directs NASA to require future moon activities to follow its preservation recommendations and honors the over 400,000 scientists, designers, and researchers who contributed to the Apollo programs, including NASA's Hidden Figures like Katherine Johnsonan African American mathematician who worked at NASA for 35 years and calculated the trajectory of the Apollo 11 flight to the moon as well the trajectories for the spaceflights of astronauts John Glenn and Alan Shepard. Sens. Cruz, Peters, and the other bill authors worked closely with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine who negotiated a similar provision in the Artemis Accords and expressed his support for protecting the historical lunar sites in a 2019 Senate hearing just before the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing. Sen. Cruz has long fought to preserve critical history from the Apollo missions. In August 2018, Sens. Cruz, Ed Markey (D-Mass.), John Thune (R-S.D.), and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) introduced the Hidden Figures Way Designation Act in honor of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson who were featured in the movie Hidden Figures, as well as all women who have dedicated their lives to honorably serving their country, advancing equality, and contributing to the space program of the United States. In June 2019, Sen. Cruz participated with Administrator Bridenstine, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, and author Margot Lee Shetterly in a ceremony designating the street in front of the NASA Headquarters as Hidden Figures Way. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5524,"Sen. Cruz Discusses Overwhelming Bipartisan Support for Stopping Putin's Pipeline, Predicts Rush to Withdraw Investments from Nord Stream 2 Project",2020-12-17,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, this week participated in a panel discussion with the Atlantic Council about Russia's construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and his efforts to halt the project in its tracks. Highlights from Sen. Cruz's discussion may be viewed below. WATCH: Sen. Cruz Speaks With the Atlantic Council on How To Stop Russia's Nord Stream 2 Pipeline On his work to secure bipartisan Nord Stream 2 sanctions: The first sanctions that we passed were designed to operate very much like a scalpel. They were narrowly structured to target any companies laying the deep sea pipeline necessary to complete Nord Stream 2. And there were only a handful of companies on planet Earth that had the technology to do so. [] Once it was clear it was going to pass, the next wave of disinformation was that, well, the sanctions would take time to go into effect. And so the pipeline could be completed before the sanctions would go into effect. That was categorically false. Yes, the first wave of statutes allowed a wind down period, but that did not allow additional construction. And the point that I made to the CEO, and I am sure to the general counsel of the company, is that if the company continued constructing the pipeline for even one minute after the president signed the legislation, the sanctions would be mandatory and crippling, and I do not think it was coincidental that roughly 15 minutes before the sanctions were signed, the company announced they were immediately halting. And the ship, the Pioneering Spirit, was lifting anchor and setting sail. Now, what did the Russians do? Nobody expected the Russians just immediately to surrender. The Russians now are trying to use their own ships to do it. They don't have the technology. They're trying to retrofit it. And so the second wave of sanctions is designed to cut off this second effort from the Russians to complete this pipeline. And the second wave of sanctions that has now passed both houses of Congress is really targeted at the big three. It's targeted at pipeline activities, it's targeted at insurance and reinsurance, and it's targeted at certification. And one of the important things about certification is under the terms of the permits that have been granted, a third party certification is required. And this again is designed to be surgical, to make clear this project will not be completed. [] I'm actually quite optimistic on a couple of fronts. Number one, under the first sanctions legislation that has already passed into law, a report is due from the administration in the coming days of any companies that have committed sanctionable activities. And so I am eagerly awaiting that report. I expect this administration to provide that report to Congress. And under the terms of the sanctions, any company listed on that report, sanctions are mandatory. They're not discretionary. They are mandatory. On Russian disinformation and the effectiveness of U.S. sanctions: To the surprise of no one who has followed this issue, the Russian foreign ministry is engaged in disinformation. [] And, you know, it's worth remembering, right about a year ago is when we passed the first Nord Stream 2 sanctions, and at the time the Russians were engaged in the exact same disinformation campaign. [] The Russians were saying over and over again, These sanctions will never pass. There's no way they can pass and the pipeline can't be stopped.' We now know definitively, as a matter of fact, that was false. [] And construction on the pipeline halted minutes before the sanctions were signed into law. They have had, in effect, halting the pipeline in its tracks and the second wave of sanctions will be will soon be signed into law. They've now passed through both houses of Congress, and that will ratchet up the pressure even further. On the bipartisan support for U.S. sanctions: You know, the European Parliament voted 433 to 105 to condemn the Nord Stream 2 project. [] Europe understands [this would be] putting billions in the pocket of Putin and giving Putin control over a lifeline. We've already seen Putin is willing to cut off energy in the middle of a cold winter. That's bad for Europe and it's bad for security. And that's why we've seen such widespread agreement not only in Europe with an overwhelming super majority condemning the project, but also in the United States with an enduring and durable bipartisan majority. [] We have had consistently for two years now strong bipartisan support, virtually unanimous bipartisan support. You know, your last question was something to the effect of, Isn't this all about Texas oil and gas?' You know, the last I checked, Nancy Pelosi is not a big defender of Texas oil and gas. Chuck Schumer is not a big defender of Texas oil and gas. And yet, Nancy and Chuck and Democrats throughout the Senate and the House have stood united on this. [.] It's a recognition of the power of the merits of the arguments, because I spent a lot of time meeting in person with my colleagues in the Senate, with Republicans, and Democrats. [] And we were able to keep the focus not on any potential political distractions concerning Ukraine and impeachment, but instead keep the focus on Russia and let's not send billions of dollars to Putin that he will use to undermine safety and security in Europe and across the world that there was a strong bipartisan commitment to. WATCH: Putin's Pipeline Must Never Be Completed BACKGROUND Sen. Cruz has led a bipartisan and bicameral fight to stop Putin's pipeline. In June of 2020, Sens. Cruz and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) introduced bipartisan legislation clarifying and expanding sanctions they led to passage last year that has now halted the pipeline for the last six months. In September 2019, during a foreign policy address at the Hudson Institute, Sen. Cruz warned against the dangers of failing to act and stop the pipeline. In September and November 2019, during Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings, Sen. Cruz raised his concerns about the pipeline. In October 2019, following Denmark's approval of Nord Stream 2 construction through the Danish seabed, Sen. Cruz once again urged his colleagues to pass his bipartisan bill to halt the pipeline. In November 2019, as the window to act grew tighter, Sen. Cruz released a video about the dangers of Putin's pipeline and urged his colleagues to act. In December 2019, during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Sen. Cruz directly called on the administration to use its statutory authority to stop Russia's Nord Stream 2. In December 2019, once the bill to impose devastating, targeted sanctions was included in the FY 2020 NDAA, Sen. Cruz delivered remarks on the Senate floor urging the administration to immediately begin working on implementing the sanctions upon becoming law. In December 2019, shortly before President Trump signed the NDAA into law, Sens. Cruz and Johnson sent a letter to the CEO of Allseas Group S.A. (Allseas), putting the company on formal legal notice, warning they would face crippling sanctions that could devastate the financial viability of the company if they continued installing deep-sea pipes for Russia. Read more about Sen. Cruz's ongoing fight below. Houston Chronicle: Inside Sen. Ted Cruz's big play to block Vladimir Putin's pipeline A bipartisan coalition led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has enacted sanctions against businesses that help Russia's state-owned company Gazprom build the pipeline, scaring off contractors, halting the project and keeping Akademik Cherskiy in port. The success of the sanctions marks a potential turning point in U.S. efforts to reduce Europe's reliance on Russian energy. While no one is counting out Gazprom or Russian President Vladimir Putin, Cruz and the sanctions he championed have boxed the Russians into a corner from which there is no obvious escape. The Wall Street Journal: U.S., Russia Race to Outflank Each Other on Russian Pipeline In November, Congress approved the new sanctions for inclusion in the next NDAA. The legislation is due to be approved before the current congressional session ends. A pipeline that is 95% complete is a pipeline that is 0% complete,' Mr. Cruz said. Right now, it's just a piece of metal at the bottom of the ocean.' ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5525,"Sen. Cruz, Colleagues Send Letter Urging Trump Administration to Waive Late Filing Penalties for Taxpayers",2020-12-17,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), John Kennedy (R-La.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), and Tom Carper (D-Del.) sent a bipartisan letter this week to U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Charles Rettig, urging the Trump administration to waive late filing penalties for taxpayers whose filing delay is caused by COVID-19. In the letter, the senators wrote: Many taxpayers are facing economic hardships and business closures due to COVID-19. Taxpayers expect fair treatment from their government, and the current unwillingness to provide an expedited process for taxpayers and their advisors to request pandemic-specific relief places an undue burden on them. We ask that you move to address these issues immediately so the American people can receive the relief they urgently need. Background: This letter urges the Trump administration to take a number of actions, including to: Create a special COVID-19 First Time Abatement option for taxpayers eligible for normal First Time Abatement where one can attest to filing difficulty directly caused by the pandemic; Provide written guidance directing IRS Customer Service Representatives to grant reasonable cause and COVID-related abatement requests liberally; Develop and advertise specific COVID-related examples that qualify for reasonable cause abatement; and Create a dedicated telephone number, or dedicated prompt, for taxpayers and their advisors to call to request COVID-related penalty relief. The full text of the letter can be viewed here and below: December 15, 2020 Dear Secretary Mnuchin and Commissioner Rettig: The pandemic has created unique challenges for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), tax practitioners, and taxpayers alike. It is clear that Americans need a concerted effort by the IRS to work in good faith with them to address the challenges facing taxpayers during this pandemic. We write because more action is needed to alleviate the burdens placed on taxpayers and their advisors, and we urge you to direct the IRS to take the following additional actions immediately to provide late filing and payment relief to taxpayers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic: Create a special COVID-19 First Time Abatement option for taxpayers eligible for normal First Time Abatement in which the taxpayers or their representative can attest to filing difficulty as a direct result of the pandemic and keep the normal First Time Abatement available for future use, and provide IRS Customer Service Representatives examples of such difficulties, such as no Volunteer Income Tax Assistance available; Provide written guidance directing IRS Customer Service Representatives to grant reasonable cause and COVID-related abatement requests liberally and reaffirming that these requests should be resolved orally when possible in order to provide targeted relief to taxpayers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic without the need for written requests; Develop specific coronavirus-related examples that qualify for reasonable cause abatement and share these examples with all IRS Customer Service Representatives through interim guidance; and Develop a dedicated telephone number, or dedicated prompt, for taxpayers or their advisors to call to request coronavirus-related penalty relief. We appreciate the efforts the IRS has taken to resolve the mail backlog, although it still stands at approximately 3 million pieces. We urge the IRS to consider stopping the practice of issuing Notices of Intent to Levy and other compliance correspondence until the mail backlog is resolved at all IRS processing centers to limit taxpayer confusion and reduce unnecessary correspondence with the IRS. Many taxpayers are facing economic hardships, and business closures due to COVID-19. Taxpayers expect fair treatment from their government, and the current unwillingness to provide an expedited process for taxpayers and their advisors to request pandemic-specific relief places an undue burden on them. We ask that you move to address these issues immediately so the American people can receive the relief they urgently need. Sincerely, /s/ ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=video&id=5523,Sen. Cruz Speaks With the Atlantic Council on How To Stop Russia's Nord Stream 2 Pipeline,2020-12-17,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"Central TX (512) 916-5834 300 E 8th Suite 961 Austin, TX 78701 Email North TX (214) 599-8749 Lee Park Tower II 3626 N. Hall St. Suite 410 Dallas, TX 75219 Email Southeast TX (713) 718-3057 The Mickey Leland Federal Building 1919 Smith Street Suite 9047 Houston, TX 77002 Email South/Cen. TX (210) 340-2885 9901 IH-10W Suite 950 San Antonio, TX 78230 Email East TX (903) 593-5130305 S. Broadway Suite 501 Tyler, TX 75702 Email South TX (956) 686-7339 200 S. 10th St Suite 1603 McAllen, TX 78501 Email Washington, D.C. (202) 224-5922 127A Russell Washington, DC 20510 Contact",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://algreen.house.gov/press-release/congressman-al-green-speaks-house-human-rights-commission-calls-endsars-resolution-be,"Congressman Al Green Speaks Before House Human Rights Commission, Calls for #EndSARS Resolution to Be Brought to Floor for Vote",2020-12-17,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Al Green,G000553,algreen.house.gov,,,legacy,"(Washington, D.C.) On Thursday, December 17, 2020, Congressman Al Green released the following statement calling for H.Res. 1216 to be brought to the House Floor for a vote: I must thank Congressman McGovern, Chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, for inviting me to speak before the Commission regarding my resolution, H.Res. 1216. Introduced by myself and Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20) five weeks ago, this resolution supports the #EndSARS peaceful protest movement in Nigeria and condemns the violent crackdown on peaceful protesters by Nigeria's security forces, expressed Congressman Al Green. Today, as I speak before the Human Rights Commission, I am reiterating that condemnation. Because H.Res 1216 concerns life and death issues, I will call for this resolution to be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote. Congressman Al Green continued, By passing H.Res. 1216, our nation will send a powerful message to the world, and especially to the people of Nigeria, that our voices will not be muted when such gross violations of human rights are taking place. According to Nigerian, African, and international law, Nigerians have a right to assemble and peacefully protest. Black lives matter wherever they may be in the world, and it is up to all of us to stand in solidarity with these peaceful protesters so they can safely exercise this right. Congressman Joaquin Castro, Vice Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, added, Congress should immediately pass this resolution and send a powerful message to the people of Nigeria that we stand in solidarity. Both here in the United States and around the world, we must work toward ending police brutality.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://gonzalez.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-gonzalez-announces-biden-presidential-inauguration-ceremony-be-held,Congressman Gonzalez Announces Biden Presidential Inauguration Ceremony to Be Held in Accordance with CDC Guidelines,2020-12-17,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Vicente Gonzalez,G000581,gonzalez.house.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON Today, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) announced to constituentsthat in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) guidelines and the advice of medical experts, there will be no large gatherings or public ticketing for the 59thInaugurationof President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Congressman Gonzalez encourages constituents of the 15th District of Texas not to travel to Washington, D.C.,and instead commemorate this event virtually. Safety is the top priority, said Congressman Gonzalez. This year's ceremonies and events will be different, but it reflects President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris' commitment to address this pandemic and help our economy recover. I look forward to hearing President-elect Biden share his vision for America's future in what will a be a historicinaugurationand much-needed breathe of fresh air. This will be a historic event that brings Americans from all walks of life together and honors inaugural traditions Americans have always known -- an official outdoor swearing-in ceremony, iconic images of President-elect and Vice President-elect, virtual celebrations that bring the country together, a reimagined parade, and socially distanced community service events. The residents of the 15th District of Texas should plan to participate in new and innovative ways. It is expected to an exciting event that showcases the strength and diversity of our nation and that every American can enjoy from their home. There will be more details and information about how to participate in the coming weeks. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://gonzalez.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-gonzalez-statement-members-carrying-firearms-capitol-grounds,Congressman Gonzalez Statement on Members Carrying Firearms on Capitol Grounds,2020-12-17,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Vicente Gonzalez,G000581,gonzalez.house.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON Today, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) issued a statement on Members of Congress carrying firearms on Capitol Grounds: ""TheCapitol Police and House and Senate Sergeant-at-Arms do an outstanding job keeping allMembers, staff, and visitors from around the country and the world safe. I trust and respect their decisions allowing Members of Congress who choose to carry firearms on the Capitol Grounds. There is a clear history of Members of Congress being targeted with violence. And if we want to carry for an added layer of protection, we should be able to do so.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402989,Burgess calls for the removal of Rep. Swalwell from House Intelligence Committee,2020-12-16,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Burgess calls for the removal of Rep. Swalwell from House Intelligence Committee Washington, D.C. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi to ask the removal of Eric Swalwell from his position on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) for his relationship with a Chinese intelligence official. Members of HPSCI are entrusted with our nation's most sensitive information. There can be no question of loyalty to the United States. Congressman Swalwell's reported interactions with a Chinese intelligence official, and subsequent withholding of these interactions from HPSCI, poses a serious and immediate national security threat, Burgess wrote in the letter.Thus far, Congressman Swalwell has either refused to comment on this information or claimed he was a victim of a foreign intelligence operation. Members of Congress, and other officials with access to sensitive information, are constantly targeted by hostile foreign states, most notably China and Russia. I urge you to also consider providing counter elicitation training for Members of Congress to recognize and report these threats. At the very least, Congressman Swalwell should immediately be removed from his position on HPSCI and provide an explanation for his past interactions with a known Chinese intelligence official.Read the full letter here.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402990,"E&C Republican Leaders Applaud HHS Rule to Assess Regulations, Request Additional Information from Trump Administration",2020-12-16,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"E&C Republican Leaders Applaud HHS Rule to Assess Regulations, Request Additional Information from Trump Administration Washington, D.C. Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader for the 116thCongress Greg Walden (R-OR), Republican Leader for the 117thCongress Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Health Subcommittee Republican Leader Dr. Michael Burgess (R-TX), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Republican Leader Brett Guthrie (R-KY) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar expressing support for a proposed rule on regulatory review announced on November 4, 2020. We write to express strong support for the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) November 4, 2020 notice of proposed rulemaking entitled Securing Updated and Necessary Statutory Evaluations,' and to seek further information about this effort, wrote Walden, Rodgers, Burgess, and Guthrie. Under the proposed rule, HHS would assess its regulations every ten years to determine whether they are subject to review under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). Regulations found to be subject to the RFA would then be analyzed to determine whether the regulation is still needed, working as intended, or having the appropriate effects. Regulations not assessed appropriately every ten years would expire. In the letter, the E&C leaders also underscored the proposed rule's impact on jobs. HHS regulations have a real-world impact on jobs, the quality of life, and the cost of living of the American people. As a matter of good government, it is important that regulations are monitored to find out if they are actually achieving their projected benefits. The proposed rule would incentivize HHS to conduct retrospective regulatory reviews to ensure regulations are delivering the projected benefits rather than measuring the effectiveness of the implementation of the regulation, the members added. The leaders requested additional information about the proposed rule, including: when the planning and drafting of this proposed rule began; what effects can regulatory reviews, suspensions, or updates have on the health care industry, or the economy more broadly; and a list of regulations already suspended by HHS because they imposed unnecessary costs impeding the pandemic response. HHS has until December 30, 2020 to respond. Read the full letter here.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://cuellar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=405971,Rep. Cuellar Expresses Concern on Mexicos Legislation Curtailing Joint Security Coordination,2020-12-16,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Henry Cuellar,C001063,cuellar.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C.Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) released the following statement regarding his concerns on legislation that was quickly passed in Mexican Congress, while the United States was in the middle of a transition, that would put tough restrictions on foreign agents operating in the country, including those fighting violent transnational organizations: I respect Mexico's sovereignty in passing their own legislation. However, after speaking with U.S. law enforcement and Mexican officials, I am concerned this legislation would threaten the security of our nations as well as put U.S. law enforcement officials at danger. The implementation and interpretation of the bill is vital. The United States and Mexico have developed an extraordinary level of collaboration and coordination when addressing criminal and terrorist threats. This bill jeopardizes this partnership and therefore, public safety, said Congressman Cuellar. As the Chairman of the U.S.-Mexico IPG and Vice Chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Appropriations, I have worked closely with our southern neighbor to create bilateral law enforcement policies that safeguard both our nations. This undermines our efforts.We should focus on our long-term partnership, instead of short-term tensions, and continue to work together to address our current security threats. The National Security Law includes the following limitations/ burdens on United States officials: Foreign agents may only carry out intelligence exchange liaison activities with Mexican authorities in terms of the provisions in the accreditation that would've been issued to such agent; Foreign agents may not engage in activities reserved for Mexican authorities; Foreign agents must refrain from carrying out direct operations before any authority other than the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs or relevant agencies in accordance with international cooperation conventions entered into by the Mexican State regarding security and contributing to the preservation of National Security; Foreign agents must communicate to Mexican authorities, through the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs, any intelligence they may come across while performing their duties, through the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs; Foreign agents must submit before the secretariats of Foreign Affairs and Security and Civil Protection a monthly report regarding matters related to the bilateral cooperation conventions entered into by the Mexican State regarding security and contributing to the preservation of National Security; Foreign agents may not carry out or induce anyone else to carry out arrests, actions involving deprivation of liberty, enter private property or any other act that may violate the Political Constitution of the United States of Mexico and applicable national laws; Foreign agents must refrain from carrying out activities that may compromise their physical integrity. Consequently, they shall be subject to criteria determined by the Secretariat of Security and Civil Protection, and Foreign agents may only carry firearms authorized by the Secretariat of National Defense.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5520,Sen. Cruz Warns Mexican Government is Undermining Security and Law Enforcement Relationship with United States,2020-12-16,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees, today sent a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressing concern over the recent efforts to undermine the security and law enforcement relationships between the United States and Mexico. This letter comes after recent actions by the Mexican government that undermine the critical counter narcotics work conducted by both American and Mexican agents. In the letter sent to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. State Department, Sen. Cruz wrote: I write to applaud you on your sustained efforts to deny Mexican drug cartels access to the United States and more broadly, to deepen the security and law enforcement relationships between our country and Mexico. I also write to express concern about the Mexican government's recent efforts to undermine those relationships."" [] This month, the United States designated Mexican national Lucio Rodriguez Serrano as a drug kingpin, expanding the ability of our nation's law enforcement and that of our partners to combat drug trafficking globally. Unfortunately, there are increasingly influential voices in the Mexican government who are at odds with that mission. [] United States' diplomats and officials should utilize their voices and the influence of the United States to make it clear to the Mexican government that attacking or undermining the DEA is unacceptable, and that such action calls into question the strength of the U.S.-Mexican relationship, which might have to be reevaluated. BACKGROUND Sen. Cruz is committed to ensuring deep and robust relations between the United States and our Mexican partners. Most recently, he has worked with the Trump administration to ensure that supply lines running between the two countries are maintained and that Mexico meets its obligations under the 1944 Water Treaty. Read Sen. Cruz's full letter here and below. December 16, 2020 Attorney General Barr and Secretary Pompeo, I write to applaud you on your sustained efforts to deny Mexican drug cartels access to the United States and more broadly, to deepen the security and law enforcement relationships between our country and Mexico. I also write to express concern about the Mexican government's recent efforts to undermine those relationships. The Trump administration has taken new and specific steps to counter Mexican drug cartels, including through potential and actual designations. In March, for instance, the United States Department of Treasury designated multiple businesses for links to cartels, denying them needed access to the United States' financial system. This month, the United States designated Mexican national Lucio Rodriguez Serrano as a drug kingpin, expanding the ability of our nation's law enforcement and that of our partners to combat drug trafficking globally. Unfortunately, there are increasingly influential voices in the Mexican government who are at odds with that mission. The government of Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador recently secured the transfer of Mexico's former Secretary of National Defense, General Salvador Cienfuegos from United States custody. Cienfuegos had been indicted in New York and arrested in Los Angeles on charges linked to his support of the notorious H-2 Cartel. His arrest was an important achievement in the battle to end global narcotics trafficking and before his transfer, he was the most senior Mexican official charged in the United States in this context. The premise and promise of his release was that the Obrador administration would investigate and, if appropriate, charge Cienfuegos under Mexican law. They have not. Instead, they have Called for the additional transfer of Genaro Garca Luna, Mexico's former Secretary of Public Security, who is currently on trial in the Eastern District of New York for charges related to bribery and cocaine trafficking for the Sinaloa Cartel. Moved, in recent days, to further undermine the Drug Enforcement Agency's (DEA) capabilities in Mexico, including by forcing our agents to disclose highly sensitive information and by denying them the legal immunity for carrying out their duties. I urge you to strongly reject and respond to these requests and efforts. Given the Mexican government's conduct around the Cienfuegos case, transferring Garca Luna should be a nonstarter. Moreover, United States' diplomats and officials should utilize their voices and the influence of the United States to make it clear to the Mexican government that attacking or undermining the DEA is unacceptable, and that such action calls into question the strength of the U.S.-Mexican relationship, which might have to be reevaluated. The Mexican government's intransigence increasingly endangers the national security of the United States, as well as the safety and health of Americans, just as they do for Mexico and Mexican citizens. The United States and Mexico share a land and various maritime borders plagued by illicit drug trafficking and destabilizing violence. Mexican drug cartels attack citizens on both sides of the border. I urge you to secure assurances from the Mexican government that their promises regarding the transfer of Cienfuegos will be met, and more broadly that they will cease targeting the critical counter narcotics work conducted by American and Mexican agents combatting drug cartels in Mexico. As always, I stand ready to provide the necessary resources to enable you to carry out these tasks. Sincerely, /s/ ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5534,Sen. Cruz: Hong Kong Dissidents' Powerful Stories Need to Be Heard,2020-12-16,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, participated in a subcommittee hearing examining how the United States' refugee policy supports Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement. Sen. Cruz, who also sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, reaffirmed his support for political dissidents and the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong: ""I want to welcome each of the witnesses. Thank you for being here. Thank you for speaking out for liberty. Thank you for speaking out for democracy. Thank you for speaking out for Hong Kong and for the world. In October of last year, I traveled to Hong Kong and had the opportunity to meet with many pro-democracy activists, meet with brave dissidents, young men and women putting their lives on the line to stand up to the dark hand of oppression coming from the Chinese communist government. ""At the time, I did a Sunday show interview by satellite from Hong Kong, dressed in all black to stand in solidarity with the democracy protesters, to show visually the reality that Americans and people all over the world were inspired by the courage that we saw in the streets of Hong Kong. I think the power of the stories of dissidents, the power of the stories of heroism and courage and persecution and strength - those stories need to be heard."" Sen. Cruz then asked each of the witnesses to share their testimonies of fighting for freedom and liberty. Watch Sen. Cruz's remarks and full line of questioning here. Last year, Sen. Cruz introduced the Hong Kong Policy Reevaluation Act of 2019, which requires the State Department to report on whether China was eroding Hong Kong's autonomy, and to alter U.S. policy if it was. A version of the bill was signed into law in November 2019 as part of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. In October 2019, as part of his Indo-Pacific Friends and Allies' tour, Sen. Cruz met with pro-democracy activists, dissidents, and protest leaders in Hong Kong and expressed his support for those fighting to protect Hong Kong's autonomy, free speech, and basic human rights. Sen. Cruz has called for a fundamental reassessment of the U.S.-China relationship, and has introduced numerous bills to unwind the United States from China. Read more about Sen. Cruz's comprehensive push to reassess the United States' relationship with China here. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://gonzalez.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-gonzalez-s-missing-persons-and-unidentified-remains-act-passes,Congressman Gonzalezs Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains Act Passes House,2020-12-16,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Vicente Gonzalez,G000581,gonzalez.house.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON Today,S.2174, the Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains Actpassed the U.S. House of Representativesby voice vote.This bill was introduced in the House byCongressmen Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) and Will Hurd (TX-23) as a companion bill toSenator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Vice President-Elect Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA)'slegislation that passed the U.S. Senate.Themeasurewill now go to the President to be signed into law. This bipartisan and bicameral legislationwillenhancelocal jurisdictions'ability to record and reportmissingpersons and unidentified remains foundin South Texasand elsewhere along the U.S.-Mexico border. Border communities are currently shouldering the costs of identifying and recovering the remains of migrants who tragically perish while migrating to the United States,said Congressman Gonzalez.This legislation will provide much needed aid for South Texas municipalities, sheriffs, farmers and ranchers to address this critical issue. The Missing Persons andUnidentifiedRemains Act is a necessary step forward, but a band aid on a much largerCentral Americanmigration problem that we must tackle. I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their effortsto passthis bill and a special thanks to all of thecounty judges,sheriffs, mayors, and advocates who pushed for this legislation. I will continue to work in a bipartisan way to see this bill signed by the President. Our communities along the border experience unfortunate consequences that reflect the perilous journey north from Central American countries,saidHurd, who represents more of the U.S.-Mexico border than any other Member of Congress.The Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains Actwill not only provide additional resources to Customs and Border Protection for rescue efforts, but also reduce the burdens placed on state and local governments to identify perished individuals. Rep. Gonzalez and Sen. Cornyn have been great partners in providing a solution for this very real challenge faced by many communities across my district, and I am proud of our bipartisan work that will give families the peace of mind they deserve. I urge the president to sign this bill into law swiftly. S. 2174is endorsed bythe Southern Border Communities Coalition, the South Texans' Property Rights Association, the Texas Border Coalition, the National Criminal Justice Association, the Consortium of Forensic Science Organizations (including the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, the International Association for Identification, the National Association of Medical Examiners, the Society of Forensic Toxicologists and American Board of Forensic Toxicology), the National Immigration Forum, the Colibri Center for Human Rights and the CaliforniaLeague of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). TheMissing Persons and Unidentified Remains Actwill: Expand eligibility for grants to allow applications from State and local governments; accredited government-funded Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) forensic laboratories; medical examiners; accredited publicly-funded toxicology, crime, and university forensic anthropology center laboratories; and nonprofit organizations who have collaborative agreements with State and county forensic offices for entry of data into CODIS or NationalMissingand Unidentified Persons Systems (NamUS). Require reporting to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and NamUS regardingmissing persons and deceased individuals found in each applicant's jurisdiction. Add privacy protections for biological family reference samples that will be uploaded into CODIS by precluding disclosure of such information to Federal or state law enforcement agency's for criminal law enforcement purposes. Authorize the use of grant funds to cover costs for the: transportation, processing, identification, and reporting ofmissingpersons and unidentified remains; hiring of additional DNA case analysts and technicians, fingerprint examiners, and forensic odonatologists and anthropologists needed to support identification; and purchase of state-of-the-art forensic and DNA-typing and analytical equipment. Expand U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) legal authorities to allow for the purchase of additional self-powering 9-1-1- cellular relay rescue beacons to mitigate deaths in places where CBP determines are appropriate. Add reporting requirements for the NamUS Program regarding the number of unidentified person cases, anthropology cases, suspected border crossing cases and associations made. Add reporting requirements for CBP and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on unidentified remains and use of rescue beacons. Congressmen Gonzalez and Hurd originallyintroduced this billin the 115th Congress.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5519,Sen. Cruz Leads Bipartisan Letter Urging U.S. Air Force Secretary to Designate San Antonio as U.S. Space Command Headquarters,2020-12-15,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation and Space, along with 31 of his colleagues, this week urged U.S. Air Force Secretary Barbara M. Barrett to designate Port San Antonio and Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA) in San Antonio, Texas as the location for the U.S. Space Command Headquarters (USSPACECOM HQ). In a letter sent to Secretary Barrett yesterday, the Texas delegation members wrote: We write in support of Port San Antonio, a rapidly expanding technology and innovation complex, and Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA) as the future basing location for the U.S. Space Command headquarters. Better known as Military City USA, San Antonio has a long and distinguished record of support for our nation's armed forces as well as their family members and veterans. With San Antonio's outstanding defense and aerospace industry, low cost of living, and access to some of the best higher education in the country, it is easy to see why this is the nation's second fastest growing city in 2019. Similarly, the rapid growth over the last two decades at Port San Antonio has produced a robust industrial base with over 13,000 employees among more than 80 public and private companies specializing in aerospace, defense, robotics, cybersecurity, logistics, and other high-tech industries. [] Statewide, Texas legislators from all parties and chambers are unparalleled in their support and advocacy for the military. There is no state in the union that can compare with the tenacity of Texas legislators and our broad, bipartisan, and bicameral delegation as we fight to support the men and women of the military. We are excited to continue in that support and look forward to extending it to the service members and families of U.S. Space Command, right here in Military City USA. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), Chip Roy (R-Texas), Will Hurd (R-Texas), Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), John Carter (R-Texas), Mike Conaway (R-Texas), Roger Williams (R-Texas), Randy Weber (R-Texas), Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), Kay Granger (R-Texas), Ron Wright (R-Texas), Pete Olson (R-Texas), Brian Babin (R-Texas), Lance Gooden (R-Texas), Kevin Brady (R-Texas), Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Bill Flores (R-Texas), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Kenny Marchant (R-Texas), Michael Burgess (R-Texas), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), Collin Allred (D-Texas), Michael Cloud (R-Texas), Filemon Vela (D-Texas), Van Taylor (R-Texas), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), and Sylvia Rodriguez Garcia (D-Texas)cosigned the letter. BACKGROUND Sen. Cruz has long been a leading advocate for creating a U.S. Space Command and Space Force, specifically working to give Texas a leading role in training and innovation for the branch. In August, Sen. Cruz urged the U.S. Air Force Secretary to designate one of three Texas cities as U.S. Space Command Headquarters (USSPACECOM HQ). Following Sen. Cruz's letter, the Pentagon announced San Antonio, Texas as one of six finalists to be chosen for the coveted location in November. This month, Sen. Cruz congratulated the first U.S. Space Force trainees for graduating Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, a monumental first step in a new frontier for American exceptionalism in space. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation and Space, Sen. Cruz has championed America's leadership in space and been a fierce advocate for commercial space development activities, including securing a provision to bolster U.S. commercial remote sensing and introducing legislation that created the position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy in the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Read Sen. Cruz's full letter here and below. December 14, 2020 Dear Secretary Barrett, We write in support of Port San Antonio, a rapidly expanding technology and innovation complex, and Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA) as the future basing location for the U.S. Space Command headquarters. Better known as Military City USA, San Antonio has a long and distinguished record of support for our nation's armed forces as well as their family members and veterans. With San Antonio's outstanding defense and aerospace industry, low cost of living, and access to some of the best higher education in the country, it is easy to see why this is the nation's second fastest growing city in 2019. Similarly, the rapid growth over the last two decades at Port San Antonio has produced a robust industrial base with over 13,000 employees among more than 80 public and private companies specializing in aerospace, defense, robotics, cybersecurity, logistics, and other high-tech industries. Just five miles north of this technology campus is the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) which compliments Port San Antonio's capabilities with innovative space research and design. SwRI and nearly two dozen other companies and universities in the area have secured more than 200 NASA contracts over the last five years to support the nation's space exploration, travel, and launch endeavors. Additionally, Port San Antonio and the historic Kelly Field, one of the birthplaces of military aviation and host of the longest runway in the region, facilitate comprehensive logistical solutions for the nation including a new operation for mass distribution of personal protective equipment to military and civilian medical facilities across the nation. It should be no surprise that the state of Texas and many of its cities consistently rank among the top places to live in the U.S. With no state income tax, affordable real estate, and exceptional education ranging from elementary through post-graduate schools, San Antonio will provide the men and women of U.S. Space Command as well as their families a high quality of life with low cost of living. In 2019, military spouses with professional licenses from another state were granted reciprocity for licensure in Texas alleviating one of the more significant burdens that accompany military families as they move to the state. Similarly, the state of Texas emphasizes quality education through a variety of programs and benefits including early childhood education, pre-kindergarten, and early registration for military children. Military members also have several child development center facilities available for use at both Port San Antonio/Kelly Field as well as at the neighboring Lackland AFB. The local governments of Bexar County and San Antonio also have a great relationship with JBSA and work closely with JBSA leadership to ensure the community is able to support the military members, their families, and local veterans. Bexar County Military and Veterans Services Center assists service members transitioning from the military to civilian life through employment and benefit advice and counseling services. Working in tandem with Bexar County, the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Council works directly with military leaders in the region to ensure the service members at JBSA are adequately supported by the community as well as recognized and celebrated for the sacrifices they have made and the honor they have earned. Beyond all this, it is important to highlight that the support service members and their families receive in Texas is not unique to a political party. Statewide, Texas legislators from all parties and chambers are unparalleled in their support and advocacy for the military. There is no state in the union that can compare with the tenacity of Texas legislators and our broad, bipartisan, and bicameral delegation as we fight to support the men and women of the military. We are excited to continue in that support and look forward to extending it to the service members and families of U.S. Space Command, right here in Military City USA. Sincerely, /s/ ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5521,"Sens. Cruz, Menendez Lead Bipartisan Call Demanding Ortega Regime Respect Nicaraguan Civil Society and Press Freedoms",2020-12-15,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today led a bipartisan letter calling on U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua Kevin K. Sullivan to leverage all diplomatic tools to ensure the safety of journalists, civil society, and political leaders in Nicaragua. In their letter to Ambassador Sullivan, the senators expressed concern about recent actions to codify press censorship and further restrict activities of civil society and political opponents ahead of November 2021 elections, including the recent passage of the so-called Foreign Agents Law and the Special Law on Cybercrimes: These efforts by the Ortega government represent a clear attempt to stifle political opponents and restrict citizen mobilization. We are deeply concerned that the recently enacted legislation constructed to silence voices critical of the Ortega government will lead to increased arrests and persecution of political opponents. The senators also raised concerns about the harassment of independent news media in Nicaragua, including the recent seizure of assets belonging to the owner of Nicavision Canal 12 one of only two independent channels still on open air in the country: Since April 2018, Nicaraguans have witnessed arbitrary detentions of journalists and censorship of outlets such as 100% Noticias and Nicavision Canal 12, while Ortega allies maintain control over the majority of domestic news media. Cosigners joining Sens. Cruz and Menendez on the letter include Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and John Cornyn (R-Texas). BACKGROUND In December 2018, President Trump signed into law the NICA Act, authored by Sens. Cruz and Menendez and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.). The NICA Act imposes targeted sanctions and conditions U.S. approval of international loans to the Government of Nicaragua, ensuring the Ortega regime will be held accountable for its systemic corruption, human rights violations, and assault on democratic order. In July 2019, Sens. Cruz and Menendez sent a letter to Secretary Pompeo identifying a series of Nicaraguan government officials for the administration to impose sanctions pursuant to the NICA Act. In March, to mark the two year anniversary of the enactment of the NICA Act, Sens. Cruz and Menendez introduced a Senate resolution (S. Res 525), expressing continued support for the people of Nicaragua as they fight to restore democracy. Read the full text of letter here and below. December 15, 2020 Dear Ambassador Sullivan: We write to express our concern regarding the Ortega government's harassment of Nicaragua's political opposition, civil society, and independent media. Respect for fundamental freedoms is essential for the preservation of a vibrant democracy, and the exercise of free speech requires that opposition members, activists, and journalists be permitted to operate in a safe environment. We are particularly troubled that, ahead of November 2021 elections, Nicaraguan legislators have begun to codify press censorship and further restrict activities of civil society and human rights groups. Recently, members of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in the Nicaraguan Congress passed legislation that mandates civil society, nongovernmental organizations, and citizens who receive funds originating from abroad to register as foreign agents and bars them from engaging in domestic political activities. The Nicaraguan Congress also approved a Special Law on Cybercrimes, which would allow the Ortega government to prosecute individuals accused of spreading false and/or misrepresented information at its discretion. These efforts by the Ortega government represent a clear attempt to stifle political opponents and restrict citizen mobilization. We are alarmed by these efforts to provide legal justification to harass and criminalize any entity critical of the Ortega government. Moreover, despite early 2019 commitments to release all political prisoners, at least 113 political opponents remain incarcerated as arbitrary detentions and kidnappings continue. We are deeply concerned that the recently enacted legislation constructed to silence dissent will lead to increased arrests and persecution of political opponents. The enactment of these laws is deeply concerning, especially in light of the fact that harassment of the independent news media in Nicaragua has increased dramatically in recent years. Since April 2018, Nicaraguans have witnessed arbitrary detentions of journalists and censorship of outlets such as 100% Noticias and Nicavision Canal 12, while Ortega allies maintain control over the majority of domestic news media.[1] That year, journalists documenting protests throughout the country faced intimidation, theft of personal property, and assault. In one tragic case, journalist ngel Gahona was killed while broadcasting live on the events of April 2018. The Ortega government's violent response to these protests reportedly resulted in upwards of 325 deaths, more than 2,000 injured, and prompted at least 70 journalists to flee Nicaragua.[2]Following a raid of the digital newspaper Confidencial and a series of threats, respected journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro was forced to seek safety in Costa Rica in January 2019 for nearly a year. More recently, a Managua court ordered the seizure of assets belonging to Mariano Valle Peters, the owner of Nicavision Canal 12which is one of only two independent channels still on open air in Nicaragua.[3] Dating back to 2011, Mr. Valle's outlet has experienced repeated theft of equipment, police intimidation and assault of reporters, as well as frequent tax auditsall of which seems to be targeted intimidation toward the channel. We urge you to utilize all diplomatic tools to ensure the safety of journalists, civil society, and political opponents. In closing, we reaffirm our solidarity with the Nicaraguan people. Press freedom and freedom of expression are integral to the preservation of democracy, and we call on the Ortega government to respect democratic ideals and the fundamental human rights of all Nicaraguans. Sincerely, /s/ ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402992,"The Ripon Advance: Burgess, Kinzinger unveil bill to spur advanced aviation technology manufacturing",2020-12-14,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"The Ripon Advance: Burgess, Kinzinger unveil bill to spur advanced aviation technology manufacturing by Ripon Advance News ServiceU.S. Reps. Michael Burgess (R-TX) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) on Dec. 10 proposed a bipartisan bill to modernize a federal incentive program for manufacturing clean, environmentally friendly aviation technology. This legislation will help foster electric vehicle startups, including electric airplanes, by providing them the resources they need to get off the ground, Sen. Burgess said. I hope others will join in supporting this bipartisan cause. Ultimately, it is the marketplace that will determine the value of new technologies. Rep. Burgess and Rep. Kinzinger are original cosponsors of the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) Modernization Act, H.R. 8933, which they introduced with bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Tony Crdenas (D-CA) to update the ATVM Incentive program by expanding eligibility under the U.S. Energy Department's ATVM loan program to include American-made, energy-efficient aircraft. While the program has shown success in the past by fueling the advanced automobile manufacturing sectors, it still has billions of dollars in loan authority, said Rep. Kinzinger. It's time to put that money to good use for the next wave of advanced transportation technologies, including those in aviation and that's what our bill aims to do. This same loan program can be attributed for the success of electric automobiles and will expand to other modes of transportation, added Rep. Burgess. Rep. Kinzinger noted that while the United States leads the world in research, development and innovation, the nation continues to be a net importer of advanced technology products. The Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program is designed to steer American innovation and ingenuity into real-world manufacturing capabilities, thereby creating jobs and benefiting the environment, he said. H.R. 8933 has been endorsed by Joby Aviation, Beta Technologies, Kitty Hawk Corp., the Urban Air Mobility Division of Hyundai Motor Group, Uber Technologies, and Rolls-Royce North America Inc.Published here.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5518,Sen. Cruz Issues Statement on Resignation of Attorney General Bill Barr,2020-12-14,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today issued the following statement on the resignation of Attorney General Bill Barr: ""Bill Barr is a friend and patriot. Despite the vilification in the media, the political targeting, and attacks against his character, Bill stepped forward to lead the Department of Justice with integrity and fidelity to the rule of law. He has served his country with honor and distinction. He shed light on the weaponization of the Department of Justice under the Obama-Biden administration and sought to restore confidence in our justice system. Bill has not been a Republican Attorney General or a Democrat Attorney General; he's been an Attorney General dedicated to following the law and defending the Constitution. His retirement - though a loss for the country - is well deserved. I wish him and his family well in this next chapter."" ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402991,Denton Record Chronicle: Denton Housing Authority awarded over $170k for voucher assistance for homeless vets,2020-12-13,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"by Paul Bryant The Denton Housing Authority has been awarded more than $170,000 to provide vouchers to veterans facing homelessness from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Veterans risked everything on our behalf, Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Davis said. So, if they fall into homelessness, it is only right for us to do everything we can to lift them out. These vouchers are a key component in our efforts to end homelessness in Denton. We've made significant progress toward this goal since Mayor [Chris] Watts announced it in 2014, and we're almost there. According to data provided by United Way of Denton County, of the 412 actively homeless in Denton County as of the end of November, 36 are veterans. In October, that number was 30 of 408 actively homeless. The federal voucher program assesses veterans experiencing homelessness before they are referred to local housing agencies in this case, the Denton Housing Authority. It includes rental assistance the vouchers provide and case management that Veterans Affairs medical centers offer, according to a news release. I'm thrilled to hear this, but it's not nearly enough to meet the current need, at-large Place 5 council member Deb Armintor said. But our local vets need everything they can get right now. I'm celebrating it while pushing for more. Armintor is an advocate for people experiencing homelessness in Denton. She's been critical of landlords or property managers who might frown upon using vouchers to house tenants. The award of these vouchers to our community shows that we have not only a need but a proven track record of meeting the need, Davis said. I am so thankful to our city staff, the [Denton] Housing Authority and Congressman [Michael] Burgess' office for working so hard to secure this support for our veterans. Denton Housing Authority CEO Sherri McDade did not return a message seeking comment. Veterans in the federal voucher program rent privately owned houses and apartments, generally contributing no more than 30% of their income to rent, the news release shows. The Denton Housing Authority was awarded $170,354 in assistance. The federal award may be particularly helpful after the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs in November softened its position on a rule that would have made it more difficult for homeless veterans in Denton to receive housing assistance. Officials from that agency, The Texas Tribune reported, dropped language in the proposal blocking people with convictions for nonviolent felonies and Class A misdemeanors from living in new developments financed by Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. Initially, the rule would have prevented prospective tenants from obtaining housing if they had convictions for nonviolent offenses including third offenses of DWI, credit card abuse or Class A misdemeanors such as possession of marijuana and criminal trespass. Chief Frank Dixon of the Denton Police Department told the Denton Record-Chronicle in November that it isn't fair to block veterans from receiving housing assistance merely because they have misdemeanor convictions for possession of marijuana. I don't know if that's the best use of that [rule], Dixon said at the time. All of the other factors in this coming back from combat tours, having PTSD, and whether they are taking medications or self-medicating by using marijuana or other drugs I think all of those have to be taken into consideration. However, the agency still plans to ban prospective tenants who have committed some violent felonies and drug-related offenses for three to seven years after their convictions, according to the Tribune. Published here.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5515,Sen. Cruz Delivers Virtual Commencement Address for Texas Southmost College,2020-12-13,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"HOUSTON, Texas - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) yesterday delivered the virtual commencement address for the fall 2020 graduates of Texas Southmost College, located in Brownsville, Texas. Watch Sen. Cruz's commencement address for Texas Southmost College here and read his full remarks below. ""Welcome to Fall 2020 Commencement. It is a privilege and honor to speak to the graduating class of Texas Southmost College today. I'd like to thank President Dr. Roberto Rodriguez for having me, and for his leadership during these unprecedented times. I'd also like to thank Mayor Trey Mendez, Chair of the Board Adela Garza, the board of trustees, and the faculty here at Texas Southmost College. ""Thank you all for your generous contributions to this community. The city of Brownsville and the lower Rio Grande Valley has a long history of showcasing the exceptionalism of Texas, and I have no doubt that today's graduates will continue that legacy. ""The trials of this year have changed all of our lives, especially the lives of the students graduating today. Y'all have persevered and overcome these unique challenges, and for that, I congratulate you. And I think I can speak for every professor who helped you adapt to a new learning environment and every family member who supported you along the way, in saying that y'all are graduating with skills that will benefit you for the rest of your lives as each of you works to achieve the American dream. ""We are blessed to live in a nation that is unique in the history of the world. There has been no nation that has allowed so many people to come here with nothing and to achieve anything. What is so extraordinary in the United States is that your success doesn't depend on who your parents are and it doesn't depend on the color of your skin, your race, your ethnicity, or your religion. ""Your success instead depends on your talent, your passion, your perseverance, and critically, on the content of your character. That is an extraordinary legacy and it's one I know firsthand in my family. As Americans, we value freedom and opportunity above all else, so let me encourage you to defend liberty and to keep making a difference in the lives of others. ""As you leave here and enter a new phase of your lives in what can feel like a very uncertain time, it is important to remember that Texans are resilient. Americans are resilient. And so thanks to exceptional young people like each of you, we can keep going, we can keep moving forward, and together, we can and we will emerge even stronger than before. ""Congratulations, God bless you, and go Scorpions!"" ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=video&id=5516,Sen. Cruz Delivers Virtual Commencement Address at Texas Southmost College,2020-12-13,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"Central TX (512) 916-5834 300 E 8th Suite 961 Austin, TX 78701 Email North TX (214) 599-8749 Lee Park Tower II 3626 N. Hall St. Suite 410 Dallas, TX 75219 Email Southeast TX (713) 718-3057 The Mickey Leland Federal Building 1919 Smith Street Suite 9047 Houston, TX 77002 Email South/Cen. TX (210) 340-2885 9901 IH-10W Suite 950 San Antonio, TX 78230 Email East TX (903) 593-5130305 S. Broadway Suite 501 Tyler, TX 75702 Email South TX (956) 686-7339 200 S. 10th St Suite 1603 McAllen, TX 78501 Email Washington, D.C. (202) 224-5922 127A Russell Washington, DC 20510 Contact",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://cuellar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=405970,Rep. Cuellars Statement on FDAs Emergency Use Authorization of First Coronavirus Vaccine,2020-12-12,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Henry Cuellar,C001063,cuellar.house.gov,,,legacy,"Rep. Cuellar's Statement on FDA's Emergency Use Authorization of First Coronavirus Vaccine Washington, D.C. Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) released the following statement regarding the FDA's first emergency use authorization for a coronavirus vaccine in the United States: This incredible and hopeful news is due to our nation's scientists, researchers, and doctors who produced an effective vaccine in record time. Now, it is critical that we ensure distribution of vaccines is rapid, fair and equitable. I am committed to fighting for our vulnerable communities, including Hispanic populations, that have been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a nation, we must continue to practice health guidelines- wearing a mask, social distancing, & staying home- so we can save thousands of lives while we wait for distribution.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://gohmert.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=399882,Rep. Gohmert Announces 2021 Congressional Art Competition Winners,2020-12-12,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Louie Gohmert,G000552,gohmert.house.gov,,,legacy,"Rep. Gohmert Announces 2021 Congressional Art Competition Winners Congressman Louie Gohmert (TX-01) has released a video announcing the winners of the 2021 Congressional Art Competition for Texas' First District.Please click HERE to watch the announcement. Thank you to all the students who participated and to the teachers who trained and prepared them.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402985,Burgess: Pfizer EUA is the essence of American Innovation,2020-12-11,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, released the following statement when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an Emergency Use Authorization for the Pfizer/BioNTech novel Coronavirus 2019 vaccine. It is a great day to be an American, said Burgess. To have a safe and effective vaccine not even one year from learning about the existence of this virus is an outstanding accomplishment. This is a true testament to the dedication, hard work, and brain power of American scientists. I said from the beginning of this pandemic that it would be because of American innovation we would defeat this virus, and this Emergency Use Authorization proves it. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://cuellar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=405962,Rep. Cuellar Secures Over $51.9 million in Authorization Funding for the Chacon Creek Restoration Project,2020-12-11,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Henry Cuellar,C001063,cuellar.house.gov,,,legacy,"Laredo, TXCongressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) secured $51,973,000 in authorization funding for the Chacon Creek Restoration Project in the Water Resources Development Act of 2020. The Chacon Creek Restoration Project will focus on flood management, ecosystem restoration and recreational amenities, from Lake Casa Blanca, through Laredo, to the Rio Grande. This legislation passed the House and Senate and will now head to the President's desk for his signature. Green spaces are an integral part of a happy, healthy city, said Congressman Cuellar. That's why for the last 16 years, I have been working hard to secure full authorized funding of Chacon Creek Restoration Project. This project will help our community better withstand flooding as well as create new recreational and educational parklands, including biking and hiking trails, that our community will enjoy for future generations. As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, I will continue to ensure we receive the necessary funds to complete this important project so we can build a space that will create jobs, stimulate the economy and improve the quality of life for our community. I want to thank the City of Laredo, including Mayor Pete Saenz, City Manager Robert Eads, Assistant Manager Riazul Mia, Director of Environmental Services John Porter and City Council, for their efforts in highlighting the project's importance for our community The Chacon Creek Restoration Project The Chacon Creek Restoration Project consists of two components: flood risk management and ecosystem restoration. The flood risk management component will consist of the permanent evacuation of 73 residential structures along Chacon Creek.Upon completion of the proposed improvements, 250 homes will be elevated from the flood plain. The additional vacated flood risk management lands will be used for recreational amenities. The ecosystem restoration component will include 16.75 acres of wetland restoration and 401 acres of riparian restoration; this will accentuate green spaces and preserve the creek's natural course and minimize impact on wildlife and wetlands. Securing Millions for Chacon Creek In the 2021 House Appropriations Committee passed spending bill, Congressman Cuellar helped secure $2.62 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers Construction account, which will contribute federal funding to projects like Chacon Creek. In 2006, Congressman Cuellar delivered $3.3 million directly to the Chacon Creek Hike and Bike Trail project, a component of the overall project plan. To see Congressman Cuellar speak on the House Floor in support of the funding for the Chacon Creek Restoration Project, click here. To read Congressman Cuellar's language in the Water Resources Development Act of 2020, click here. To see a map of the proposed Chacon Creek Restoration Project, click here.In the picture:Congressman Cuellar, City of Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz, Assistant City Manager Riazul Mia, City of Laredo Director of Environmental Services John Porter and RGISC Board President Melissa Cigarroa.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5512,Sen. Cruz: Big Tech Believes There Is No Power That Can Constrain Them,2020-12-11,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in a hearing this week slammed Big Tech's brazen abuses of power and discussed the need for legislation to address Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides companies such as Twitter, Facebook, Google, and YouTube with special protections from liability, after YouTube announced it will remove content that alleges widespread election fraud. Watch Sen. Cruz's full remarks here. Excerpts below. WATCH: Sen. Cruz: Big Tech Believes There Is No Power That Can Constrain Them ON YOUTUBE'S REMOVAL OF ANY CONTENT ALLEGING VOTER FRAUD ""Silicon Valley believes there is no power on Earth that can constrain them. We saw the latest illustration of this just yesterday, where YouTube announced that it is going to remove any content online that alleges widespread election fraud. [...] YouTube said that it's going to pull down, it's going to block, content, that misleads people by alleging widespread fraud or errors change the outcome of the presidential election.' They're not even pretending anymore."" ON THE AMERICAN PEOPLE'S VIEWS ON THE ELECTION RESULTS ""Reuters polling shows that 39 percent of the American people believe this election was rigged. That should make all of our hearts ache. That is not good for democracy when nearly half of Americans believe an election is rigged. Now, the members of this committee may have meaningful, substantive dispute about the extent of voter fraud, how widespread it is, what forms it comes in. When Jimmy Carter and James Baker formed a bipartisan commission to study voter fraud, they concluded it was a significant and serious problem that needed to be confronted, and last I checked, Democratic President Jimmy Carter is not some crazed right-wing nut job. And yet [...] apparently, if you sat online and read the Carter Baker commission out loud, YouTube just might well block you."" ON BIG TECH'S LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY ""Even if you happen to temporarily like the politics of Big Tech today, I ask my colleagues on the Democratic aisle, do you really want to submit total control of the public debate to a handful of Silicon Valley billionaires, modern day oligarchs? With money and power and no accountability? They are not elected by your voters. They are not elected by my voters. They're not elected by anyone."" ON THE IMPORTANCE OF FREE SPEECH ""I am not asking you to pull down liberal content. I'm not asking you to pull down socialists. I'm not asking you to pull down communists. I disagree with liberal content and socialists and communists, but I believe in free speech. It is only one side that is demanding of Big Tech that they censor the views they disagree with."" ON BIG TECH'S ABUSE OF SECTION 230 ""The purpose [Section 230] served when these were nascent companies has long since passed, these are the most powerful companies on the face of the Earth and they feel zero accountability to any elected official. For all of us who care about free speech, that should worry us greatly. YouTube's latest policy is ridiculous. And by the way, if they disagree with someone saying there's widespread election fraud, there's a mechanism for that, which is they can share their own views. You can counter it, you can say, I think this is all baloney. That's fine. That's called free speech, but simply exercising monopoly power to say the views that I don't like shall disappear and have never existed, that should scare everyone."" Sen. Cruz has long warned that Big Tech censorship is ""the single greatest threat to democracy."" As chairman of the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on The Constitution, Sen. Cruz is leading the fight in the Senate to hold Big Tech accountable to the American people. Read more about Sen. Cruz's efforts to demand answers below: Questioned the CEOs of Twitter and Facebook at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Questioned the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook, and Google at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing. Sent a letter to Twitter and Facebook regarding their blatant censorship of The New York Post's reporting on corruption of Joe and Hunter Biden in China and Ukraine. Fought to subpoena both Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, and Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on this political censorship and election interference. Chaired multiple hearings with representatives from Twitter, Facebook, and Google, where he raised his concerns about the technology companies engaging in a disturbing pattern of political censorship. Heard testimony from Dennis Prager of PragerU, whose videos are routinely censored on YouTube, and Dr. Robert Epstein, a psychologist who testified that Google's biased search results swung a minimum of 2.6 million votes to Hillary Clinton in 2016. Sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, urging him to remove language in U.S. trade agreements similar to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides ""near -blanket legal immunity"" to technology companies. Wrote an op-ed in The Hill in response to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's announcement last week banning all political ads from the platform, calling the move ""profoundly harmful."" Sent a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai raising concerns about Google's latest actions to censor political speech with which it disagrees. Called for a criminal investigation into Twitter for blatant and willful violation of U.S. sanctions on Iran. Sent two letters - one to Google and one to Facebook - slamming the companies for their separate announcements regarding election advertising. Joined Parler, an unbiased social media platform. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5514,Sen. Cruz: Democrats Played Politics With This NDAA At The Expense of Our Armed Forces,2020-12-11,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today issued the following statement after voting against the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA): The annual NDAA is one of the most important bills that Congress takes up. The version passed by the Senate this year was no different, and contained a number of important provisions I fought hard to have included, such as my bipartisan bill with Sen. Shaheen (D-N.H.) to clarify once and for all that those involved in Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline will be subject to crippling and immediate American sanctions, and my legislation with Sen. Coons (D-Del.) to expand medical partnerships with our friend and ally Israel as we work together to develop coronavirus treatments and medications. When the Senate passed the NDAA this summer, it was a strong bipartisan measure that fulfilled our Constitutional responsibility to provide for the national defense, it provided our troops with a well-deserved pay raise, and it invested in the next generation of innovative technology, equipment, and weaponry. But Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats have cynically taken advantage of this must-pass legislation to secure a host of partisan projects unrelated to national security and in conflict with the Constitution, including requiring the Department of Defense to rename our military bases in a political effort to erase our nation's history and restricting the ability of law enforcement to protect our communities during violent riots, which over the last several months have taken the lives of far too many Americans. Additionally, the bill interferes with the President's Article II authority related to overseas deployments, significantly diminishing our ability to execute military strategies that protect our national interests and to wind down endless wars. Furthermore, this NDAA imposes onerous new business reporting requirements that I strongly opposed. These requirements would especially hurt small business owners and job creators, who would also lose important privacy protections. And in light of Big Tech's mounting and flagrant abuses of power to suppress free speech, silent dissent, and undermine the integrity of our elections and the future of democracy, this legislation was also a missed opportunity to advance much-needed reforms to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, as called for by the President. For 59 consecutive years, Congress has been able to set aside partisan bickering and come together to strengthen America's national security. Sadly, Democrats simply could not deny the temptation to use the NDAA to score political points. The NDAA should serve to strengthen our national security, and it is imperative that Congress respects and upholds this vital function. The men and women of our military deserve no less, and I remain committed to fighting each and every day for the men and women who steadfastly defend our nation. In July, Sen. Cruz secured 21 wins in the NDAA that championed Texas military communities as a pillar of America's national security and advanced America's defense capabilities against our adversaries including China and Russia. Since then, Democrats have included several concerning aspects into the final NDAA, including provisions limiting law enforcement's ability to quell riots, arbitrarily stalling troop reductions in Germany, wasting taxpayer dollars on a second assessment of whether Russia was paying bounties for American troops a debunked theory with no factual backing delaying the operation of a 5G network by allowing the Department of Defense to thwart the Federal Communications Commission's management of spectrum band, and the addition of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), a provision that significantly favors Wall Street and hurts small businesses. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5517,Sen. Cruz Commends Department of Energy's Extension of Seven LNG Export Authorizations,2020-12-11,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today issued the following statement commending the Department of Energy's decision to extend seven liquefied natural gas (LNG) export authorizations through 2050. Following the announcement of the extension, Sen. Cruz said: The Department of Energy's extension of these seven LNG export authorizations is good news for the thousands of blue-collar energy workers who rely on a vibrant energy industry. This extension will ensure Texans in Southeast Texas and Brownsville have good paying jobs, and will keep energy costs low as we continue working to strengthen America's energy independence. Sen. Cruz has long called for the expansion of LNG exports, a key component to the American Energy Renaissance Act that he introduced in 2015. In 2017, Sen. Cruz introduced the Natural Gas Export Expansion Act, eliminating the arduous process that discourages LNG trade and increase LNG exports by facilitating permits to non-Free Trade Agreement (FTA) counties. In 2018, Sen. Cruz applauded the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for issuing environment schedules for 12 LNG export projects, six of which were in Texas. Last year, Sen. Cruz applauded the FERC's final approval of four LNG export projects in the state of Texas, three of which were in Brownsville, and one in Corpus Christi. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=video&id=5513,Sen. Cruz: Big Tech Believes There Is No Power That Can Constrain Them,2020-12-11,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"Central TX (512) 916-5834 300 E 8th Suite 961 Austin, TX 78701 Email North TX (214) 599-8749 Lee Park Tower II 3626 N. Hall St. Suite 410 Dallas, TX 75219 Email Southeast TX (713) 718-3057 The Mickey Leland Federal Building 1919 Smith Street Suite 9047 Houston, TX 77002 Email South/Cen. TX (210) 340-2885 9901 IH-10W Suite 950 San Antonio, TX 78230 Email East TX (903) 593-5130305 S. Broadway Suite 501 Tyler, TX 75702 Email South TX (956) 686-7339 200 S. 10th St Suite 1603 McAllen, TX 78501 Email Washington, D.C. (202) 224-5922 127A Russell Washington, DC 20510 Contact",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://gonzalez.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-gonzalez-calls-congressional-leadership-include-stimulus-payments,Congressman Gonzalez Calls on Congressional Leadership to Include Stimulus Payments in COVID-19 Relief Package,2020-12-11,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Vicente Gonzalez,G000581,gonzalez.house.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON Today, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) sent a letter to House and Senate leadership urging them to include stimulus payments in the next COVID-19 aid package. As it stands, Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has signaled that he is not in favor of this proposal. The Congressman in the letter writes: As you continue to negotiate a coronavirus relief package, I write to you today on behalf of the constituents in the 15th District of Texas and urge you to include a direct stimulus payment for those suffering from the adverse effects of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Millions of Americans are without a job, others are struggling to pay their bills, put food on the table or buy prescription drugs. We owe it to them to come together and pass another round of Economic Impact Payments. In his letter, the Congressman cites startling statistics that Hidalgo County represents only 3% of the state of Texas, but accounts for approximately 10% of COVID-related deaths. Additionally, the entire Rio Grande Valley, comprised of Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy counties, represents 4.75% of the state population and approximately 17% of COVID-related deaths in Texas. The Washington Post recently reported that nearly 12 million renters will owe an average of $5,850 in back rent and utilitiesby January. Last month, 9 million renters said they were behind on rent, according to a Census Bureausurvey. The letter is available here and below: December11, 2020 The Honorable Mitch McConnell Majority Leader United States Senate U.S. Capitol Building, Room S-230 Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Chuck Schumer Minority Leader United States Senate U.S. Capitol Building, Room S-224 Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House United States House of Representatives U.S. Capitol Building Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Kevin McCarthy Minority Leader United States House of Representatives U.S. Capitol Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader McCarthy, Majority Leader McConnell,andMinority Leader Schumer: As you continue to negotiate a coronavirus relief package, I write to you today on behalf of the constituents in the 15th District of Texas and urge you to include a direct stimulus payment for those suffering from the adverse effects of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Millions of Americans are without a job, others are struggling to pay their bills, put food on the table or buy prescription drugs. We owe it to them to come together and pass another round of Economic Impact Payments. The future of our country may depend on your choices in the coming days. There is no need for additional evidentiary support for the dire circumstances many Americans find themselves in. Hardworking Americans who were once gainfully employed now, through no fault of their own, are facing eviction, and have lost their sources of income due to the widespread effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 15th District of Texas is home to Americans, Republican and Democrat both, who need not suffer while we workto resolve ourpolicy differences. Let us not overlook thesefamilieswho are in need.Since April 2020, Hidalgo County, the southernmost county in the 15th Congressional District of Texas, has lost 2,030 residents to COVID-19. The population of Hidalgo County represents only 3% of the state of Texas, but accounts for approximately 10% of COVID-related deaths. The entire Rio Grande Valley, comprised of Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy counties,represents 4.75% of the state population and approximately 17% of COVID-related deaths in Texas. Experts continue working to fully understand the factors that make South Texans so uniquely susceptible to the novel coronavirus. However, we can infer several factorsincluding:high rates of comorbidities, poverty, uninsured patients, and multigenerational housing. The Rio Grande Valley has increased rates of chronic illnesses known to increase the severity of a COVID-19 case such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Unlike demographically similar regions such as San Antonio, Texas or El Paso, Texas, Rio Grande Valley residents are less likely to have health insurance; the uninsured rate in Texas is 17%, while the uninsured rate in the Rio Grande Valley is 32% - almost double the rate of the entire state. Additionally, South Texans also experience poverty at more than twice the rate of Texans, 30% as compared to 13% statewide. The district I represent iscomprised of a majority Hispanic population, one of the hardesthitby COVID-19 pandemic which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.Today, more than ever, Americaand its people need you.Please do the right thingand provide a directstimuluspayment to all who need one. /s/ ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://williams.house.gov/media-center/columns/operation-warp-speed,Operation Warp Speed,2020-12-11,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Roger Williams,W000816,williams.house.gov,,,legacy,"A vaccine to protect Americans from COVID-19 has taken another monumental step under the leadership of President Trump, Vice President Pence and Operation Warp Speed. After more than nine months of maximizing efficiency and removing unnecessary barriers and delayswithout sacrificing safetythis Administration harnessed the full power and strength of public-private partnerships across the nation. American researchers, scientists and manufacturers have dedicated the better part of this past year to delivering a viable defense against this invisible enemy. As of this writing, Pfizer and BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine has just been recommended by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use, marking the last step before the FDA gives final authorization to distribute the first doses. I am working with my colleagues in Congress to ensure that Texans who wish to take the vaccine can have access to it as quickly and easily as possible. While health care workers and first responders will rightly be among the first in line to receive an initial dose, we must ensure that it extends equally to our rural areas. It is critical for our collective recovery that people in rural communities receive the same access to the vaccine as that of their urban counterparts. I've spearheaded efforts in Congress throughout the pandemic to ensure Texas' rural health care facilities receive relief funding during a time when they are facing historic losses and I have worked across the aisle to fight on their behalf. I remain committed to partnering closely with our 25th District health care providers moving into this next phase to deliver the resources they need to best serve Texans. While COVID-19 has affected us all in different ways, we must always keep in our prayers the more than 290,000 Americans who lost their lives, and the loved ones they leave behind. We must see this fight through to the end and remain vigilant. Betterdays are ahead.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402981,"Crdenas, Eshoo, Burgess, Kinzinger Introduce Legislation to Encourage Investment in Clean Aviation Technology",2020-12-10,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, DC Today, Representatives Tony Crdenas (D-CA-29), Anna Eshoo (D-CA-18), Michael Burgess, M.D. (R-TX-26), and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL-16) introduced the ATVM Modernization Act. This legislation would incentivize clean, environmentally friendly aviation technology development by expanding eligibility under the Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program to include American-made, energy-efficient aircraft. Climate change is a very real existential threat to our national security and economy, said Congressman Crdenas. We must curb our dependence on dirty fossil fuels and invest in cleaner, efficient technology so that we reduce our carbon footprint. As more and more people rely on air travel, the contribution of aircrafts to global gas emissions will increase at a commensurate rate which is why we must incentivize companies to invest in energy efficient technology. My commonsense bipartisan bill will encourage development of cleaner, fuel-efficient aircrafts. The federal government played a critical role in bringing electric vehicle manufacturing to the U.S., and the ATVM Modernization Act will build on this record of success by fostering innovation in clean aviation technology, Rep. Eshoo said. This legislation creates a win for our economy and our environment by supporting advanced manufacturing jobs, reducing carbon emissions, and continuing American leadership in clean energy innovation and the aviation sector. Americans are gravitating towards clean energy technologies. It is important that Congress provides sensible and thoughtful solutions to ensure continued innovation. This legislation will help foster electric vehicle startups, including electric airplanes, by providing them the resources they need to get off the ground. This same loan program can be attributed for the success of electric automobiles and will expand to other modes of transportation. I hope others will join in supporting this bipartisan cause. Ultimately it is the marketplace that will determine the value of new technologies, said Congressman Burgess, M.D. The United States leads the world in research, development, and innovation, but continues to be a net importer of advanced technology products, said Congressman Kinzinger. The Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) program is designed to steer American innovation and ingenuity into real-world manufacturing capabilities, thereby creating jobs and benefiting the environment. While the program has shown success in the past by fueling the advanced automobile manufacturing sectors, it still has billions of dollars in loan authority. It's time to put that money to good use for the next wave of advanced transportation technologies, including those in aviationand that's what our bill aims to do. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), aircrafts contribute 12 percent of U.S. transportation emissions, and account for three percent of the nation's total greenhouse gas production. Globally, aviation produced 2.4 percent of total CO2 emissions in 2018. Aviation is one of the fastest-growing sources of the greenhouse gas emissions driving global climate change. This bill has been endorsed by: Joby Aviation, Beta Technologies, Kitty Hawk Corporation, Urban Air Mobility Division of Hyundai Motor Group, Uber Technologies, Rolls-Royce North America, Inc.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402982,Burgess: FDA advisory panel recommendation puts us one step closer to a vaccine,2020-12-10,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Burgess: FDA advisory panel recommendation puts us one step closer to a vaccine Washington, D.C. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, released the following statement after the Food and Drug Administration Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee recommended that the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine be granted an Emergency Use Authorization.We are one step closer to the light at the end of the tunnel America has been waiting for, said Burgess. We are less than one year into this pandemic, and the speed at which we have achieved a highly effective vaccine is remarkable and highlights the power of American innovation. Thank you to the scientists whose tireless effort helped to get us to this point. I look forward to hearing the FDA's decision about the EUA in the coming days. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402983,Burgess responds to HHS rule modification to HIPAA,2020-12-10,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, released the following statement after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule.The Trump Administration continues its dedication to strengthening patient and physician access to health data in its proposed changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule, said Burgess. My experience as a physician and a patient provides me a unique understanding of the complexities of accessing data when it is critical to ensuring timely care coordination for a patient. In the midst of an emergency or following a difficult diagnosis, patients, their physicians, and their families should have access to certain tools and data to inform their medical decision making. Today's proposal brings us one step closer to better care coordination, especially during emergencies. It builds on the work Congress has done to address the opioid epidemic in aligning 42 CFR Part 2 with HIPAA and in 21st Century Cures to stop information blocking, increase interoperability of electronic health records, and clarify that a patient's medical data belongs to them. I appreciate the Trump Administration's efforts to enhance care coordination and reduce burden on physicians. Technology and data will continue to play a growing role in health care, and I look forward to building upon the work Congress has already done on these issues.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402984,Burgess: FDA advisory panel recommendation puts us one step closer to a vaccine,2020-12-10,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Burgess: FDA advisory panel recommendation puts us one step closer to a vaccine Washington, D.C. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, released the following statement after the Food and Drug Administration Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee recommended that the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine be granted an Emergency Use Authorization.We are one step closer to the light at the end of the tunnel America has been waiting for, said Burgess. We are less than one year into this pandemic, and the speed at which we have achieved a highly effective vaccine is remarkable and highlights the power of American innovation. Thank you to the scientists whose tireless effort helped to get us to this point. I look forward to hearing the FDA's decision about the EUA in the coming days.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5502,"As Businesses Flock To Texas, Sen. Cruz Remains Focused on Economic Opportunity",2020-12-10,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. - This week, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) welcomed Elon Musk to Texas, following his announcement that he has moved to Texas. Musk's move comes on the heels of Tesla's July announcement that it would build their new Semi and the Models Y and 3 at a plant in Austin, joining SpaceX's already robust Texas presence. Earlier this month, Silicon Valley giant Hewlett Packard Enterprise also announced its plan relocate their global headquarters from San Jose, California, to Spring, Texas. Announcements like these have become commonplace as businesses flee the crushing regulations and sky-high taxes of Big Government all too commonplace in states like California. Companies like Toyota, McKesson, Charles Schwab, the PGA of America, and countless others from a host of industries have moved their headquarters to Texas in the last few years - creating thousands of jobs for hardworking Texans. This fall, the Texas Governor's Office of Economic Development and Tourism stated that they were working on 196 active relocation or expansion projects. In Austin alone, 28 companies that have announced nearly 10,000 new Texas jobs just in 2020. Sam Houston's guidance to ""govern wisely and as little as possible"" has inspired Texas leaders for generations, making Texas the economic powerhouse it is today. Texas has consistently been ranked the number one best state for business, and its low taxes and regulations help keep Texas' cost of living affordable. This makes Texas an ideal location for employees, allowing hard working men and women to keep more of their well-earned paychecks. In addition, Texas offers more than just a business-friendly climate. A recent WalletHub study named Texas the second most diverse state in the United States and one of the top states for racial and ethnic diversity, linguistic diversity, and industry diversity. BOTTOM LINE: Sen. Cruz believes America can and should look a lot more like Texas. That's why his number one priority in the Senate has been fighting for more jobs and greater economic opportunity for Texans and all Americans. Sen. Cruz remains committed to advancing legislation that creates an environment where small businesses can prosper and expand, allowing more people to achieve the American Dream. READ: Sen. Cruz on CNBC: Here's How We Can Get the Economy Back up and Running WATCH: Sen. Cruz in PragerU's Fleeing California' ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5503,Sen. Cruz Congratulates First Space Force Trainees on Historic Graduation,2020-12-10,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today issued the following statement congratulating the first Space Force trainees on their completion of Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas: ""Today, Texas is once again playing a leading role in space history as the very first Space Force trainees graduate basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. As chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation and Space, I commend these pioneering men and women for taking up the mantle to renew American leadership and exceptionalism in space. I am also proud to see that the Lone Star State is continuing its work as a hub for air and space innovation, as well as its long history of military service to this great nation. ""The next 50 years in space have the potential to be even more consequential than the last 50 years. As we face this new era and the challenges that come with it, a new generation of patriots have answered the call to defend the nation, protect space commerce, and further our space exploration. Their commitment to service and to defending the liberties that Americans hold dear is inspirational for all of us as they complete their groundbreaking training. I am excited for the many opportunities ahead of them as they begin their careers with the U.S. Space Command."" In November, the Air Force announced that San Antonio, Texas has been selected as one of the of six finalist locations to host the U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM) headquarters following the evaluation phase of the selection process. Sen. Cruz has long been a leading advocate for creating a Space Force. In 2019, Sen. Cruz chaired a hearing that examined current approaches to civil-military coordination, cooperation, de-confliction activities, and related issues, and discussed future architectures for managing the space domain. In addition, a version of the legislation Sen. Cruz introduced that created the position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy was included in the final version of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. Sen. Cruz's provision helped ensure that the Space Force has sufficient influence and resources to address the challenges our nation will face as space increasingly becomes a domain of military competition. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation and Space, Sen. Cruz has championed America's leadership in space and been a fierce advocate for commercial space development activities, including just this year securing a provision in the NDAA to bolster U.S. commercial remote sensing. Sen. Cruz has also been working vigorously to ensure the U.S. remains the dominant leader in low-earth orbit and beyond by pushing to extend the life of the ISS through 2030 and grow our human exploration activities. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5505,"Sen. Cruz: The Anti-Money Laundering Act Helps Wall Street, Hurts Small Businesses",2020-12-10,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) today called for the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), a provision that significantly favors Wall Street, and hurts small businesses, to be excluded from the final National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021. In a letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the senators wrote: Under the AMLA, an estimated 11 million small business owners will be required to provide the Department of Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) with the personal information of all the beneficial owners of the business. Few small business owners are familiar with FinCEN and may be reluctant to provide their personal information to the federal law enforcement agency. Willful failure to provide completed and updated information to FinCEN, however, would be subject to significant civil and criminal penalties. These burdens and penalties would be imposed on America's small business community in an effort to fight money laundering and other financial crimes. We doubt actual criminals will voluntarily provide incriminating information to FinCEN or that the agency could effectively manage a database the Congressional Budget Office estimates would receive 25 to 30 million initial reports. On the other hand, millions of law-abiding business owners will be subject to new reporting requirements and penalties if they fail to keep their information current and accurate. The senators continued: The provision lessens privacy protections and threatens due process rights. Currently, the personal information of small business owners collected by the federal government is protected by a warrant or subpoena. This provision removes that protection, raising significant Fourth Amendment concerns. Read Sen. Cruz's full letter here and below. December 10, 2020 Leaders McConnell and Schumer, The undersigned Senators have serious reservations regarding the policy and the process of including the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AMLA) in the conference report accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA). This provision is outside the jurisdiction of the Armed Services Committee, has not been considered by the appropriate Senate Committees or the full Senate, creates a substantial regulatory burden on millions of small businesses, exposes business owners to significant financial penalties and jail terms, and it threatens their privacy and due process rights. Under the AMLA, an estimated 11 million small business owners will be required to provide the Department of Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) with the personal information of all the beneficial owners of the business. Few small business owners are familiar with FinCEN and may be reluctant to provide their personal information to the federal law enforcement agency. Willful failure to provide completed and updated information to FinCEN, however, would be subject to significant civil and criminal penalties. These burdens and penalties would be imposed on America's small business community in an effort to fight money laundering and other financial crimes. We doubt actual criminals will voluntarily provide incriminating information to FinCEN or that the agency could effectively manage a database the Congressional Budget Office estimates would receive 25 to 30 million initial reports. On the other hand, millions of law-abiding business owners will be subject to new reporting requirements and penalties if they fail to keep their information current and accurate. The provision lessens privacy protections and threatens due process rights. Currently, the personal information of small business owners collected by the federal government is protected by a warrant or subpoena. This provision removes that protection, raising significant Fourth Amendment concerns. Finally, this provision is outside the jurisdiction of the Senate Armed Services Committee and was not reported by the Senate Banking Committee, where it should have received a more thorough debate. For these reasons, we strongly oppose including the AMLA in the NDAA. Sincerely, /s/ ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5506,Sen. Cruz Introduces Legislation to Facilitate the Repatriation of Medals of Honor,2020-12-10,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today introduced the Limiting and Enabling Gathering Awards Commemorating Yesteryear (LEGACY) Act, legislation to facilitate the repatriation of medals, including the Congressional Medal of Honor (MoH), into the United States for display in museums and for educational purposes. Upon introducing this bill, Sen. Cruz said: ""Foreign sales of Medals of Honor harm the dignity and honor of all recipients. I'm proud to introduce this important legislation to ensure these medals return to U.S. territory. By creating a process for these medals to be donated to the military, museums, or educational institutions, future generations of Americans will be able to learn more about Medal of Honor recipients' heroic service and countless contributions to our country."" James Connors, CEO of the Medal of Honor Museum Foundation, said: ""The National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation has been at the forefront of defending the integrity of the Medal of Honor and the legacies of those who received it. When we learned of a Medal of Honor being sold in Germany earlier this year, we moved quickly to stop these American treasures from being auctioned off like common household goods. Senator Cruz immediately stepped forward as a champion. We are proud to stand with him in this noble cause."" David Bellavia, a Medal of Honor recipient, added: ""The Medal of Honor is part of the American fabric and the warrior ethos. It isn't just an object and those of us who wear it do so on behalf of all those who have fought for and defended our country. We are custodians of these priceless American treasures and I'm grateful to Senator Ted Cruz for protecting American valor by defending these Medals and keeping them from the black market."" Background: In May, Sen. Cruz sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging him to use the voice and influence of the United States to prevent a Munich firm from auctioning off a U.S. Medal of Honor. The Medal of Honor Museum Foundation is currently constructing a museum in Arlington, Texas. More than 80 individuals born or residing in Texas have received the Medal of Honor and more than 1.5 million veterans call Texas home. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5507,Sen. Cruz: Heidi and I Wish the Jewish People a Very Happy Hanukkah,2020-12-10,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"HOUSTON, Texas - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today issued the following statement marking the start of Hanukkah: As the sun sets this evening, the Jewish people across the world will light their menorah, beginning an eight day celebration of the historic triumph of the Maccabees, the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, and the ultimate liberation of Judea. In a year often filled with darkness, the Festival of Lights illuminates the need to protect the right of all Americans to worship freely according to our faith and the importance of our crucial partnership with Israel, an alliance that led to reinstating Jerusalem to its rightful place as the once and eternal capital of Israel just three years ago. Heidi and I wish the Jewish people a very Happy Hanukkah. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5508,"Sen. Cruz Calls on DOJ, FBI to Provide Transparency to James Comey & Andrew McCabe's Contradictory Testimony",2020-12-10,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. - Following former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe's contradictory testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the committee, today sent a letter calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI to provide ""any and all emails, records, communications, and any other documents relevant to determining whether Mr. Comey knew of and approved of the FBI's leak of information pertaining to the Clinton investigation to the Wall Street Journal."" WATCH: Sen. Cruz To James Comey: You Were Either Deliberately Corrupt or Woefully Incompetent In the letter, Sen. Cruz wrote: ""We now know that this leak was authorized by then-Deputy Director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe. Mr. McCabe initially told FBI agents under oath that he did not authorize the leak and did not know who did. But when confronted later with contrary evidence, he confessed both to knowing about and authorizing the leak. ""We do not know, however, whether and to what extent then-FBI Director Comey was aware of and authorized this leak after the fact."" He continued: ""Mr. McCabe says that he told Mr. Comey of the leak and that Mr. Comey approved-effectively authorizing the leak after the fact. Mr. Comey, on the other hand, has said that he neither authorized the leak nor knew of Mr. McCabe's involvement. ""One of them is lying under oath-a federal crime. [...] The American people deserve to know who. ""So that the American people may know the truth, please provide to the fullest extent possible any and all emails, records, communications, and any other documents relevant to determining whether Mr. Comey knew of and approved of the FBI's leak of information pertaining to the Clinton investigation to the Wall Street Journal."" WATCH: Sen. Cruz to Andrew McCabe: Crossfire Hurricane Investigation Was Bogus Political Persecution Read the full letter here and below. December 10, 2020 The Honorable William P. Barr Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice Washington, D.C. The Honorable Christopher Wray Director Federal Bureau of Investigation 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20535 Dear General Barr and Director Wray, Days before the presidential election in 2016, a Wall Street Journal article quoted an anonymous source confirming the existence of a probe into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State-an investigation that, up to that point, Mr. Comey and the FBI declined to confirm. We now know that this leak was authorized by then-Deputy Director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe. Mr. McCabe initially told FBI agents under oath that he did not authorize the leak and did not know who did. But when confronted later with contrary evidence, he confessed both to knowing about and authorizing the leak. We do not know, however, whether and to what extent then-FBI Director Comey was aware of and authorized this leak after the fact. Mr. McCabe has repeatedly stated that Mr. Comey knew of and effectively authorized the leak by approving it. He told the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that ""he and Comey discussed the October 30 WSJ article in person on October 31, 2016"" and that at that meeting ""he told Comey that he had authorized AD/OPA and Special Counsel to disclose the account of the August 12th call' and did not say anything to suggest in any way that it was unauthorized."" According to Mr. McCabe, Mr. Comey ""did not react negatively, just kind of accepted it,"" and ""thought it was a good' idea that they presented this information"" to the media. He again reiterated Mr. Comey's involvement at a hearing last month at the Senate Judiciary Committee. I asked Mr. McCabe: ""According to the Washington Times, April 18, 2018, Mr. McCabe insisted he told his boss that he had authorized disclosure about the Clinton investigation, but Mr. Comey has denied this claim, and Mr. McCabe told investigators that Mr. Comey knew he had authorized disclosure and agreed it was a good idea-is that accurate? Is that your testimony to this Committee?"" Mr. McCabe replied: ""That is my recollection."" Mr. Comey, however, has sworn under oath that he neither authorized the leak nor knew of Mr. McCabe's involvement. At a May 2017 hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Grassley asked Mr. Comey: ""Have you ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation?"" Mr. Comey replied: ""Never."" Senator Grassley then asked: ""Have you ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation?"" He replied: ""No."" And this October, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Mr. Comey testified in response to my questioning: ""I stand by the testimony that you summarized that I gave in May of 2017."" Mr. Comey's denial in front of the Senate is consistent with his statement to the OIG. He told the OIG that ""he recalled seeing this article but did not know how the disclosure about the PADAG call in the October 30 article happened. He said that he was very concerned' about that part of the article."" ""Comey told [OIG] he considered the disclosure about the PDAG call problematic' because it related to sensitive FBI information.'"" The OIG report continues, ""According to Comey, he discussed the issue with McCabe after the article was published, and at that time McCabe definitely did not tell me that he authorized' the disclosure of the PADAG call. Comey said that McCabe gave him the exact opposite impression."" Mr. Comey asserted that that he ""took from whatever communication [they] had that [Mr. McCabe] wasn't involved in [the leak]."" Mr. Comey and Mr. McCabe's statements are irreconcilably contradictory. Mr. McCabe says that he told Mr. Comey of the leak and that Mr. Comey approved-effectively authorizing the leak after the fact. Mr. Comey, on the other hand, has said that he neither authorized the leak nor knew of Mr. McCabe's involvement. One of them is lying under oath-a federal crime. 18 U.S.C. 1621. The American people deserve to know who. So that the American people may know the truth, please provide to the fullest extent possible any and all emails, records, communications, and any other documents relevant to determining whether Mr. Comey knew of and approved of the FBI's leak of information pertaining to the Clinton investigation to the Wall Street Journal. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5510,Sen. Cruz Applauds Trump Administration Plan to Expand The Naval Fleet,2020-12-10,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) issued the following statement on the Trump administration's announcement of a plan to increase the Navy's fleet of battle-ready ships to 355 ships in 10 years and to over 400 ships by 2045, in addition to unmanned vessels. Following the announcement, Sen. Cruz said: I have long called for increasing our number of battle-ready vessels and making sure our men and women in the Navy will be standing on the decks of the mightiest ships the world has ever known. Increasing the number of Navy ships will begin a process of filling a training and readiness gap that acutely endangers our national security and risks the lives of those who volunteer to serve this great nation. At a time when China seeks to lay claim over vast maritime areas and intimidate America and our allies out of the Pacific, we need to ensure our naval superiority now more than ever. I'm glad the Trump administration took this step and I will continue to advocate for a strong Navy as we look to advance America's leadership at sea. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5511,Sen. Cruz Applauds Morocco's Decision to Normalize Relations with Israel,2020-12-10,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today issued the following statement applauding Morocco's decision to normalize relations with Israel: ""Today is a wonderful day for Morocco and Israel. In just a few short months since the initial signing of the Abraham Accords, we've seen a growing number of our Arab allies willing to advance the cause of peace. I've long advocated that if the United States is unequivocal and clear that we stand with our Israeli allies and against our mutual enemies, our regional allies will come together to the benefit of our own national security and the safety of the American people. I applaud the Trump administration and our Israeli and Moroccan allies on this historic accomplishment. I look forward to working with my colleagues, the administration, and our allies to build upon this agreement, to strengthen our alliances, and to develop deeper diplomatic ties in the region."" In September, Sen. Cruz joined President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Emirati Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani at a White House signing ceremony for the Abraham Accords, historic agreements to normalize relations between Israel and Arab allies. In the past eight years, Sen. Cruz has resolved to be Israel's strongest defender in the Senate. Learn more about his leadership here. Sen. Cruz has also led the fight in the Senate to shred the Obama-Iran nuclear deal and has called for the collapse of the Iranian regime. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://olson.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/olson-applauds-house-passage-of-pearland-mayor-postal-bill,Olson Applauds House Passage of Pearland Mayor Postal Bill,2020-12-10,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Pete Olson,O000168,olson.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, DC Rep. Pete Olson (TX-22) today applauded his House colleagues for joining him to honor Pearland Mayor Tom Reid and great Texan by naming a Post Office in his honor. Mayor Reid first served in the Pacific Theater in WWII, then worked on the Space Shuttle Programs and various other projects at the Johnson Space Center.Reid has served as Pearland's mayor for 37 years and, to date, is one of the oldest serving mayors in the U.S. Among his many achievements over the decades include improving the community's infrastructure, promoting access to clean air and water for our expanding city and helping to establish Pearland's first public library. His leadership has resulted in Pearland being one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States. The Tom Reid Post Office will serve as a small token of appreciation for a lifetime of hard work and distinguished public service, Rep. Pete Olson said. Every time a resident visits the Post Office, they will be reminded of his public service and contributions. Mayor Reid dedicated his life to the city of Pearland, and his efforts have made our community, the great State of Texas and America a better place. I thank my House colleagues for joining me in celebrating this true Texan's contribution to our great state, especially Senator Cruz and Senator Cornyn for their public support of this bill. The Olson bill, H.R. 7810, would designate the U.S. Post Office located at 3519 East Walnut Street in Pearland, Texas as the Tom Reid Post Office Building. All 35 members of the Texas congressional delegation have cosponsored this bill and the next step is Senate passage of the bill. You can view Senator Cornyn and Senator Cruz's letter of support here.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://olson.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/olson-applauds-passage-of-his-bill-to-address-ferc-backlog-to-improve,Olson Applauds Passage of His Bill to Address FERC Backlog to Improve Federal Review of LNG Export Terminals,2020-12-10,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Pete Olson,O000168,olson.house.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, DC Rep. Pete Olson (TX-22) today announced that the House passed his bill H.R. 1426, the Timely Review of Infrastructure Act. This bill allows the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to address a shortage of regulators to review pending energy infrastructure projects like the LNG export terminals in Texas and Louisiana. Salary is a critical component in deciding where to work and the private sector can pay significantly higher salaries, leaving a shortage of regulators to review the viability of projects creating a backlog. This bill allows FERC to pay competitive salaries to ensure the oversight and review process can continue in a timely manner. America's dominance as an energy supplier continues to thrive, reducing allies reliance on hostile regimes around the world, Olson said. However, we struggle to meet the growing international demand for American energy due to barriers in the approval process by the federal government. FERC faces a serious backlog of projects awaiting approval, grinding the process almost to a halt. Our bill will allow FERC to remain competitive and attract high quality talent for specialized energy jobs to address this backlog and get energy to those who need it. Our Texas and American-made energy should be processed and shipped to markets that demand it. I thank my House colleagues for passing this bill and hope the Senate acts in a swift manner to pass this critical legislation. If the United States wants to continue to be a leader in energy production, it must ensure that new domestic projects are quickly approved with strong safety and environmental protections, Rep. Mike Doyle said. Unfortunately, the engineers that FERC needs to review the applications for new energy projects are in such great demand that normal federal government pay scales can't compete with the salaries offered in the private sector. If we want FERC to ensure that these facilities and projects include the necessary safeguards to protect nearby communities and the environment, then we have to make the pay for the engineers who review the applications more competitive. That's why I worked with Pete Olson to draft this legislation, and why I'm very pleased that the House passed it today. Our thriving American energy economy requires natural gs infrastructure, and that's why I've long supported this critical legislation, which will help FERC recruit and retain the skilled staff we need to process applications for key projects like liquefied natural gas export terminals, FERC Commissioner Neil Chatterjee said. Representatives Pete Olson and Mike Doyle and Senator Cassidy have shown tremendous leadership on this issue, and I laud their bipartisan efforts to support FERC and its mission. U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) have introduced similar legislation in the Senate. FERC's backlog of applications for these infrastructure projects is standing in the way of good-paying jobs for Louisiana families, Sen. Bill Cassidy said. FERC needs the expertise and manpower to speed up the review process and end long wait times for new natural gas terminals that benefit Louisiana workers and their families. Background: Under H.R. 1426, the Commission would have to consult with OPM to determine appropriate salaries. They would only be able to offer higher salaries for positions/roles where they can confirm a critical need, and would have to review that decision every five years. Under this bill, FERC is also required to submit a report to Congress with related job vacancies and compensation. Further, this bill is technology neutral and will help FERC adapt to changing needs in the future.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402974,Burgess: Providing for the Common Defense is essential,2020-12-09,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, released the following after the House passed the Conference Report for the National Defense Authorization Act. This year, we have seen all Americans step up, including the men and women serving in our Armed Services. It is the Constitutional responsibility of Congress to provide for the common defense. My vote was based on my strong sense of duty to protect our national security and ensure that our troops have the resources required to carry out their missions around the world and here at home, said Burgess.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402976,Burgess: Today is a monumental day for American kidney transplant patients,2020-12-09,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Burgess: Today is a monumental day for American kidney transplant patients Washington, D.C. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, released the following statement after the House passed H.R. 5534, the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2019 part of the H.R. 2477, the BENES Act of 2020. Today is a monumental day for American kidney transplant patients, said Burgess. A new kidney gives hope of a better quality of life to patients, and by requiring Medicare to cover the critically needed immunosuppressive drugs past 36 months for certain kidney transplant patients, we will help protect that kidney and prevent a return to dialysis. This simple policy change is something I have championed for nearly a decade and one kidney patients and their loved ones have been advocating for nearly twenty years. A kidney transplant is an investment that the government makes into the patient's future, and this policy allows us to keep that investment. Not only is this good policy for the patient, it's good for the taxpayer. Both the CMS Office of the Actuary and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at HHS have published reports on the benefits of extending Medicare coverage of immunosuppressive drugs, which include financial savings for the Medicare program. The passage of this legislation today provides hope. I urge the Senate to quickly take this up and send it to the President's desk.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402977,E&C Republican Leaders' Statement on House Passage of Health Bills,2020-12-09,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C. Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader for the 116thCongress Greg Walden (R-OR), Republican Leader for the 117thCongress Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Health Subcommittee Republican Leader Dr. Michael Burgess (R-TX) released the following statement on House passage of four health bills. We are proud that the House today has taken action to ensure patients have control over and access to their personal health information, make certain any federally-sanctioned marijuana research is done with the most stringent controls and protections, and protect Medicare beneficiaries from surprise medical bills after colorectal screenings. As we unite to protect some patients from surprise medical bills, we are reminded again of the work that remains to end this practice so all patients can rest assured knowing they will not receive unexpected outrageous bills after seeking care. We urge our colleagues in the House to come to the table to end surprise billing for once and for all, and we thank them for their bipartisan work on the important bills that passed today, said Walden, Burgess, and Rodgers. Today the House unanimously agreed to the following health bills: H.R. 3797, the Medical Marijuana Research Act; H.R. 1570, Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act; H.R. 7898, to amend the Public Health Services Act to provide the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Service certain authorities with respect to investigations of information blocking, and for other purposes, as amended; and, H.R. 1966, the Henrietta Lacks Enhancing Cancer Research Act of 2019.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402978,Burgess delivers remarks in support of Health IT legislation,2020-12-09,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, delivered the following remarks in support of H.R. 7898 and wished Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden farewell. As Prepared for Delivery: ""I rise today in support of H.R. 7898, a bill that clarifies enforcement and investigative authorities of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services with respect to health record information blocking. In 2016, Congress passed the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act, with the goal of closing the gap between innovation and our nation's regulatory process. Throughout the drafting of Cures, I made it a priority to address important health information technology issues, including interoperability and information blocking. As a physician and a patient, I am acutely aware of the frustrations surrounding the difficulty of accessing medical records. Patients should control their own records. Yet, if a patient and their doctor have difficulty accessing those electronic health records, the patient's care will suffer. In Cures, Congress provided the tools necessary for doctors and patients to better coordinate their care through the sharing of patient data. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology promulgated a rule that outlines what is permissible activity. This rule, which was finalized in May, aims to allow patients to seamlessly access their electronic health information. H.R. 7898 is needed in order to ensure a smooth and effective implementation and to allow for the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services to enforce the rule. Especially in the context of this coronavirus pandemic, I think we have all seen the importance of allowing efficient flow of a patient's medical records so that patients and their doctors can have informed conversations about their care plans. Also, of great importance is ensuring patient privacy is protected and information is secure. H.R. 7898 builds on the sections of Cures and encourages health care entities to adopt strong cybersecurity practices, which are critical in protecting patient data from bad actors. Finally, I would like to point to the bipartisan and bicameral support of H.R. 7898, which was included in Title V of the Lower Health Care Costs package in the Senate. Any time both chambers and both parties can come to an agreement is a positive stride, and certainly indicates the importance of this piece of legislation. It is for these reasons that I encourage my fellow members to vote in favor of H.R. 7898. Lastly, Iwant to take a moment to thank Mr. Walden for his service as the Republican Leader for Energy and Commerce. His leadership over the last four years set the standard for leading the committee and paved the way to end the opioid crisis and much more. It will be difficult to replace you, my friend.""",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://cuellar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=405960,Rep. Cuellar Leads Letter Calling for the End of National Emergency and Termination of Border Wall Contracts,2020-12-09,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Henry Cuellar,C001063,cuellar.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C.-- Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) led a congressional letter to President-Elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., calling his administration to rescind the national emergency declaration and reprogrammed funding; direct the Department of Justice to dismiss all condemnation suits; terminate for convenience all current and pending Army Corps of Engineer contracts; and rescind Homeland Security waiver authority relating to the construction of new border barriers. Working with the Biden administration, Congressman Cuellar will restore effective border security policies, which does not include any wasteful border barrier, as well as prioritize saving American lives and jobs during this pandemic. We must remedy the challenges border communities have faced over the last four years due to the Trump administration's insistence on constructing a wasteful border wall, said Congressman Cuellar. At a time when we continue to face major public health and economic crises, we are calling for the President-Elect to immediately halt all border wall construction, return unconstitutionally reprogrammed military funding, and restore private property rights. Our number one priority at this time should be preventing the spread of COVID-19, saving lives, and supporting working families. Federal funding must be invested in strong border security, Congressman Cuellar continued. We cannot give the impression that we have an open border, which would overwhelm our nation's capacity for humanitarian aid.We must focus on modernizing land ports of entry and improving our security infrastructure; hiring additional U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and support staff; bolstering U.S. Border Patrol equipment and technology; and coordinating these efforts with our neighbors to the south.As the Vice Chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Appropriations, I am committed to working with the Biden Administration to fund programs that effectively secure the U.S.-Mexico border. The letter urges the incoming Administration to prioritize the following actions: 1) Rescind Proclamation 9844, President Trump's presidential proclamation declaring a national emergency along the southern border. This proclamation allowed the current administration to reprogram congressionally appropriated funds from Defense and Military Construction accounts for a border wall. 2) Direct the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney General to dismiss all ongoing condemnation litigation, and related civil proceedings against private and public landowners. The Trump administration has utilized eminent domain, which refers to the government's power to obtain property for a public use while compensating the property owner, for wall construction. As of July 2020, DHS acquired or is working to acquire 1,009 tracts in the Rio Grande Valley Sector or the Laredo Sector. 3) Terminate for convenience all current and pending U.S. Army Corps of Engineer (USACE) contracts involving the acquisition of private land for border wall construction along the southwest border. When creating procurement contracts, federal agencies will add clauses that grants them the right to terminate for convenience, or ending all or part of the work under a contract when it is in the Government's interest to do so. 4) Prohibit the use of U.S. Department of Homeland Security to waiver authority relating to the construction of new border barriers and join us in seeking its repeal. The current administration waived numerous major environmental laws, including National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act, to build a wall and fencing along the border with Mexico. Co-Signers (35): Reps. Henry Cuellar, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Ben Ray Lujn, Joaquin Castro, Ral Grijalva, Nydia M. Velzquez, Linda T. Snchez, James P. McGovern, Barbara Lee, Veronica Escobar, Emanuel Cleaver, II, Sylvia Garcia, Pete Aguilar, Ruben Gallego, Vicente Gonzalez, Juan Vargas, Tony Cardeas, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Peter Welch, Darren Soto, Adriano Espaillat, David Cicilline, Jimmy Panetta, J. Luis Correa, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Steve Cohen, Grace Meng, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Jan Schakowsky, Dina Titus, Albio Sires, Norma J. Torres, Ann Kirkpatrick, Andr Carson, Danny K. Davis. Read Congressman Cuellar's letter to President-Elect Biden here. Watch Congressman Cuellar speak about the letter to President-Elect Biden here.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5500,Sen. Cruz Applauds Senate Confirmation of Sean Cooksey to Federal Election Commission,2020-12-09,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today issued the following statement after the Senate voted to confirm Sean Cooksey to the Federal Election Commission (FEC): ""I commend my colleagues in the Senate for swiftly confirming Sean Cooksey to the FEC. Sean is a friend, an exceptional lawyer, and a principled professional who will serve at the FEC with honor. Given his impeccable credentials and admirable career, including his public service clerking for Judge Jerry Smith on the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and serving as Deputy Chief Counsel for me, and then as General Counsel for my colleague Senator Hawley, I have complete confidence in his abilities. I look forward to seeing Sean excel in this new role and continue his career as a dedicated public servant."" Sen. Cruz delivered the opening remarks in the Rules Committee hearing for the nomination of Sean Cooksey. Read his full statement from November 18 here. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5501,"Sen. Cruz Votes Against Resolutions of Disapproval, Building on Progress in Middle East",2020-12-09,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today issued the following statement after voting against resolutions of disapproval that would have blocked the sale of F-35 jets and other arms to the United Arab Emirates (UAE): ""The U.S.-UAE alliance is crucial to maintaining our national security interests, countering Iran, and promoting peace in the region. That alliance was strengthened following the signing of the Abraham Accords - an historic agreement to normalize relations with Israel. ""As an enthusiastic supporter of our friend and ally Israel and the regional alliance President Trump has built, and after engaging in lengthy conversations with multiple agencies within our government to ensure this sale would not endanger Israel or America, I voted in favor of the U.S. sale of F-35 jets to the United Arab Emirates. This sale will also bolster America's industrial base and boost good-paying jobs in Texas, which is home to facilities where the F-35s are constructed. Most importantly - the sale sends a clear message to the world that America stands unshakably with our friends and allies."" In September, Sen. Cruz joined President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Emirati Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani at a White House signing ceremony for the Abraham Accords, historic agreements to normalize relations between Israel and Arab allies. In the past eight years, Sen. Cruz has resolved to be Israel's strongest defender in the Senate. Learn more about his leadership here. Sen. Cruz has also led the fight in the Senate to shred the Obama-Iran nuclear deal and has called for the collapse of the Iranian regime. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=5504,Sen. Cruz: The Arctic Circle Has Strategic Economic and Military Significance for the United States,2020-12-09,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Ted Cruz,C001098,www.cruz.senate.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Commerce Committee, this week participated in a subcommittee hearing examining the U.S. Coast Guard's (USCG) capabilities for safeguarding U.S. national interests and promoting economic security in the Arctic. There, Sen. Cruz questioned Admiral Charles Ray, Vice Commandant USCG, on the importance of the USCG's presence in the Arctic and the security threats posed by China and Russia's growing influent in the region. Watch Sen. Cruz's full line of questioning here. Excerpts below. WATCH: Sen. Cruz on Significance of Coast Guard's Presence in Arctic Region On combatting the geopolitical threat China poses to the United States and our allies by addressing its growing influence including the Arctic region, Sen. Cruz said: The Arctic Circle has strategic economic and military significance for the United States. And I want to thank the Coast Guard for your continued presence in the region, your leadership, working to protect America's interests. I've said for a long time that China is an adversary who would benefit from an American retreat all across the globe. President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party are investing heavily in the military as is Russia. On how the U.S. can address Chinese and Russian influence in the Arctic, Sen. Cruz asked: In your assessment today, who is the dominant power in the Arctic Circle? [...] In your assessment, what would be the effect to the United States if we were to cede control of the Arctic to the Russians and the Chinese? Admiral Charles Ray, responded: From the analysis that we've done, I mean, obviously, if you look at the planet from the north down, looking down at the North Pole, you can see the extensive shoreline that Russia has. You know that they are a force to be reckoned with just because of geography. They've got the geography and they've got the natural resources there. [] But we cannot ever take our eyes off the ball on China. I think that the behavior they're displaying in the Polar Regions, not just the Arctic but the Antarctic and not just the Alaska Arctic but by Greenland as well. They are displaying similar activity following, in my opinion analysis I've done, this is all unclassified, with regards to their -- following the same playbook they followed in the South China Sea and following the places they do everywhere else, get a toehold, start working in the name of science, in the name of other things. And the next thing you know, they're moving forward their agenda there. [] I would say we should be planning to be able to exert our sovereignty, protect our resources, provide support for those who need access and these are eco-tourists, they are Americans, a lot of them or also the folks who are Alaska natives who live and make their living up there. We need to be the same Coast Guard, I'm speaking from a Coast Guard perspective for them as I am for any other states in our country. Sen. Cruz also asked about the issue of Coast Guardsmen not receiving pay during the 2019 government shutdown: Admiral, the question you raised about the shutdown, that shutdown in 2019 was unfortunate. Senator Sullivan and I together teamed up on legislation to pay the men and women of the Coast Guard and took to the Senate floor trying to get the Senate to adopt it. Unfortunately, a Democratic Senator raised an objection and held the men and women of the Coast Guard hostage to that. So, I'm hopeful we don't see a reprise of that in the days and weeks to come. In 2019, Sens. Cruz and John Kennedy (R-La.) introduced a bill to provide paychecks for essential federal employees, including the men and women of the USCG, during the government shutdown. In response, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats cynically objected to that legislation and killed it on the Senate floor. Sen. Cruz has remained a strong supporter of efforts to ensure that federal employees, including Coast Guardsmen, who worked during the government shutdown receive backpay for their service. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://gonzalez.house.gov/media/press-releases/virtual-congressional-delegation-brings-together-us-and-mexican-businesses,Virtual Congressional Delegation Brings Together U.S. and Mexican Businesses,2020-12-09,2020,2020-12,Democrat,Senate,TX,Vicente Gonzalez,G000581,gonzalez.house.gov,,,legacy,"WASHINGTON Today, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) joined a first of its kind virtual bipartisan delegation, hosted by the Council of the Americas, that brought some 40 representatives of American and Mexican companies together to discuss trade and investment between the two countries. Congressman Gonzalez was joined by Congressmen Jodey Arrington and Rick Crawford. There are many challenges that Mexico and the United States must face together. The virtual delegation put together by the Council of Americas was an important medium to discuss the issues critical to South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley,said Congressman Gonzalez.Businesses on both side of the border depend on trade and tourism and are struggling as a result of the pandemic. It is vital to South Texas' and Mexico's economic interests that we continue to promote a business environment that is both safe and fair for workers and investors. I look forward to future discussions and improving the economic and diplomatic relationship between our two countries with the help of the incoming Biden administration. Eric Farnsworth, Vice President of the Council highlighted the innovative nature of the effort. We were pleased to host this virtual delegation to highlight the opportunities for trade and investment between Mexico and the United States. We are grateful for the leadership of Congressmen Crawford, Arrington and Gonzalez in paving the way for this type of virtual engagement, and plan to build on this success. I appreciate the efforts of the Council of the Americas to bring together my colleagues in Congress and representatives of the U.S. and Mexican business communities to discuss business and trade opportunities, especially as we continue to cope with the impact of COVID-19. Our two countries have a strong economic relationship, as exemplified by recent trade figures and the implementation of USMCA. It is important that we continue to explore ways to expand market access and supply chains that are mutually beneficial to our communities on both sides of the border, said Congressman Crawford. Congressman Arrington stated, The U.S.- Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was one of the biggest accomplishments of the 116th Congress. This historic trade deal has been a major win for our farmers, ranchers, and energy producers who feed, fuel, and clothe the world. I look forward to my discussion with the CODEL participants and continuing to improve and grow our mutually beneficial trade relationship with Mexico. ###",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z https://olson.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/olson-provides-rescue-support-for-local-responders-through-access-to,Olson Provides Rescue Support for Local Responders Through Access to Critical Military High Water Rescue Vehicles for Texas,2020-12-09,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Pete Olson,O000168,olson.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, DC Rep. Pete Olson (TX-22) recently acted to provide critical funding for our military and Texas first responders by voting in support of H.R. 6395, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021. This legislation authorizes vital funding for the Department of Defense to provide our military the resources they need to successfully defend our nation. It also includes critical resources to help first responders perform high water rescues during high flood events in the Texas Gulf Coast and other flood ravaged areas. NDAA passed the House by a vote of 335-78. Notably, the bill includes text from Olson's bill, the Lifting Up Our First Responders Act (H.R. 5407) which would allow the military to prioritize distribution of surplus high water rescue vehicles to our vulnerable Texas communities. Specifically, it helps emergency responders rescue individuals trapped by floods by restructuring the 1033 Program to prioritize the distribution of repurposed military vehicles to high-risk flood areas, especially Texas' 22nd congressional district. Olson has received strong local support on this legislative action. When Hurricane Harvey hit, our local first responders lacked needed equipment to rescue folks trapped in rising flood waters, Olson said. I've been working closely with local officials and here in DC to give our first responders needed equipment to protect our communities during hurricanes and floods. The provision I worked to include allows vehicles not needed by our Armed Forces to be sent to local communities where they will save lives. I'm proud of the bipartisan support, not only for this critical provision, but also needed resources to keep our military men and women defending the homeland safe and prepared against the dangerous threats we face around the globe. As a Navy veteran, I'm proud to support this bill and look forward to the Senate acting swiftly to send it President Trump's desk to keep Texans and all Americans safe. The City of Alvin acquired several surplus military vehicles. During Hurricane Harvey the City used two of the vehicles to make high water rescues of families trapped in their flooded homes. We also used a high water truck to deliver food and supplies to our neighboring City Manvel for several days. It traveled in water up to four feet deep. I applaud Congressman Olson's work to ensure our communities are able to obtain more of these vehicles. -Mayor Paul Horn, City of Alvin, TX Through the years, the 1033 Program, has provided critical, life-saving, surplus military equipment that includes high-water rescue vehicles, to the Houston Police Department and public safety agencies throughout the Nation. Thanks to the support of Congressman Olson and the members of Congress, who favor this critical program, we will be better prepared to respond to flooding events we are facing with an ever increasing frequency. -Chief Art Acevedo, Houston Chief of Police Our communities know all too well the impact of flooding and the importance for high water rescues. Congressman Olson's provision will support our Fort Bend County first responders as they save lives of our residents during major weather events. These resources such as high water rescue vehicles are needed swiftly and decisively for communities like ours on the Gulf Coast. -KP George, Fort Bend County Judge Background: The Lifting Up Our First Responders Act (H.R. 5407) allows the military to prioritize distribution of surplus high water rescue vehicles to communities that face a higher threat of flooding to help emergency responders rescue individuals trapped by floods. FY 2021 NDAA-Highlights: Authorizes $635.5 billion in appropriations to fund the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Authorize cap-exempt appropriations of: $69 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) $26.6 billion for the Department of Energy (DOE) and Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board $494 million for defense-related activities Creates a program to bolster the U.S.'s Indo-Pacific positioning and alliances Funds additional attack submarines to counter China's growing naval forces Creates a new director of cybersecurity position to fortify the U.S.'s cyber capabilities",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402971,ICYMI: Op-ed: The path to nuking carbon emissions goes through Yucca Mountain,2020-12-08,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, understands wecannot have a zero carbon future without considering nuclear energy, and thebiggesthurdle is a solution forspent nuclear fuel.In a Dallas Morning News Op-ed, Dr. Burgess explains the importance of Congress following through and funding Yucca Mountain. The path to nuking carbon emissions goes through Yucca Mountain By Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. Dallas Morning News December8, 2020 Congress' responsibility is simple: write, pass and ensure the faithful enactment of laws. When it comes to providing America with a clean energy future, Congress has fallen short of its responsibility. In 1987, through the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the Department of Energy was entrusted to build and operate a permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel. Fast forward through the years of studying a variety of locations, and Congress decided on Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Three decades later, Congress has yet to uphold its promise to fully fund operation of this site. America is demanding clean energy alternatives, and it is impossible to provide a zero-carbon future without including nuclear energy. Nuclear power accounts for 55% ofzero-emission,baseloadelectricity nationwide. The American nuclear industry is working to introduce new reactors that are safer, smaller and more affordable than ever. One issue yet remains: how to addressspent nuclear fuel. Uranium, the most common fuel, is used by nuclear reactors to achieve fission. This process produces heat to create steam. The steam is then used to turn turbines generating electricity. Eventually, this fuel is removed and stored in cooling pools and later put indry cask containers. While these containers are safe for decades, the only permanent way to dispose of this fuel is deep underground. Some countries have found success reprocessing spent fuels, which helps to reduce the volume of spent fuel. Some new reactor designs might also burn up more fuel. The fact remains that neither reprocessing nor higher efficiency can eliminate waste entirely. The fission process will always produce some amount of material that must be disposed of in a safe way for thousands of years. The best solution for a permanent repository is Yucca Mountain. Yucca Mountain was chosen by Congress and backed by science, but the Obama administration stripped funding for its licensing process, halting all development at the site. Years of scientific studies and engineering assessments have deemed the location and geology to be uniquely safe, but the administration turned its back on this clean energy solution for easy political points. Following the decision, Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., led a group of Energy and Commerce Committee members, including me, on a visit to the site to learn both sides of the debate. Without a doubt, the current licensing process is broken. To fix this process, we must pass the bipartisanNuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act, whichpassed the House Energy and Commerce Committee. This bill advances Yucca's licensing process, promotes interim storage facilities, integrates the federal government's waste management activities, and improves the federal government's engagement with local and state stakeholders. This would finally put Yucca Mountain on a path to open its doors. Despite this bill having wide bipartisan support, the Democratic leadership in the House continues to refuse to bring it up for a vote. If Congress is seriously considering ways to foster a cleaner future, it must fulfill its commitment to providing a permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel. It is time to vote on the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act. It is time to open Yucca.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402973,Burgess Announces 2020 Congressional App Challenge Winners,2020-12-08,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"Washington, D.C. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health,announces University of North Texas TAMS students John Li, Jerry Liu, Nathaniel Brown and Zach Tang as the 2020 Congressional App Challenge Winners for the 26th District of Texas.""The Congressional App Challenge provides students the opportunity to expand their imaginations and become the next generation of technology builders. This year's winners, University of North Texas TAMS students John Li, Jerry Liu, Nathaniel Brown, and Zach Tang, were inspired by the pandemic to create ""TAMSHub"" a centralized online platform to provide community to the student body. I appreciate their forward thinking and congratulate them on this success. Through this pandemic, we have seen American Innovation succeed and these students are just another example,"" said Burgess.Background: The ""TAMSHub"" app can be viewed here. The Congressional App Challenge (CAC) was created by the U.S. House of Representatives to encourage student participation in STEM, especially in computer science and coding. This nationwide effort afforded students the opportunity to compete alongside their peers by creating an app for desktop/PC, web, tablet, mobile, raspberry Pi, or other devices. Nationally, over 6500 students submitted applications for the 2020 challenge. The CAC is specifically designed to promote innovation and engagement in computer science and was open to all middle and high school students residing or attending school in the 26th Congressional District of Texas. Participating students were tasked with creating an app that would impress our panel of expert judges. Our judging panelists were Dr. Jennifer Moore, Associate Professor & School Librarian Certification Program Faculty Lead at Texas Woman's University School of Library & Information Sciences, Dr. Stephani Ludi, Professor, Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies & Co-Director of Research in Software Engineering Lab at the University of North Texas' Department of Science & Engineering, and Ms. Susan Svane, Division Chair, Information Technology and Computer Science at North Central Texas College.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402979,Healio: ACR commends reimbursement boost for cognitive care in 2021 Medicare Fee Schedule,2020-12-08,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"The American College of Rheumatology has praised CMS for approving long awaited updates to cognitive care reimbursements for Medicare, increasing the amount for evaluation and management services. In a press release, the ACR stated that the update, part of CMS' 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule, clears the way for much needed increases in Medicare reimbursement for E/M services, including examinations, disease diagnosis, risk assessments and care coordination. For many years, Medicare reimbursement did not adequately reflect the time and skill required toprovide high-quality cognitive care, including rheumatology care,David Karp, MD, PhD,president of the ACR, said in a press release. These updates are critical to the future of the rheumatology specialty and the continued delivery of high-quality rheumatology care for millions of Medicare beneficiaries. According to the ACR, CMS in 2018 proposed a code collapse that would have resulted in significant cuts torheumatology care for Medicare beneficiaries. However, after hearing concerns and recommendations from more than 170 medical groups and specialty societies, including the ACR and the American Medical Association, CMS reversed course, and later drafted and finalized the current update. The reimbursement increases take effect Jan. 1. These E/M improvements are the result ofyears of advocacy by rheumatologistsand patients that educated policymakers about the importance of time spent with patients for chronic disease management,Blair Solow, MD,chair of the ACR's Government Affairs Committee, said in the release. We commend CMS for recognizing the value of the care provided by rheumatologists and rheumatology health professionals. However, not all issues related to the fee schedule have been settled. To ensure that the E/M rate increases do not result in cuts to other medical specialties, such as physical and occupational therapists, the ACR is calling on Congress to passlegislation in the House of Representatives that would waive budget neutrality adjustments for 1 year. The bill, H.R. 8505, was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in October by Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL). It has been referred to the House committees on Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Appropriations. Budget neutrality via H.R. 8505 is a fair and reasonable approach to ensure needed cognitive care updates are not made at the expense of other specialties, Solow said in the release. We encourage congressional leaders to swiftly pass this legislation. Published here.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z http://burgess.house.gov/blog/?postid=402980,National Kidney Foundation Applauds House Passage of Landmark Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage Bill,2020-12-08,2020,2020-12,Republican,Senate,TX,Michael Burgess,B001248,burgess.house.gov,,,legacy,"by the National Kidney Foundation""The National Kidney Foundation applauds the passage of theComprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Actin the U.S House of Representatives earlier today. ""With transplant patients suffering disproportionately from the adverse effects ofCOVID-19, this legislation is more critical now than ever. Patients must be reassured that they will have access to their live-savingimmunosuppressive drugsand that they will not need to worry about skipping doses because they can't afford the costs. ""We sincerely thank RepresentativesRon Kind(D-WI) andMichael Burgess(R-TX) for working so closely with us to put patients first and for their efforts to extend the 36-month window of drug coverage provided by Medicare. We look forward to working with them to ensure the swift passage of the broader comprehensive bill. ""We also are very appreciative of the support and assistance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the immunosuppressive extension and applaud SpeakerNancy Pelosi(D-CA) and Minority LeaderKevin McCarthy(R-CA) for prioritizing this important legislation. ""We sincerely thank the NKF grass roots advocates from across the country who have written thousands of letters and attended hundreds of meetings with their Members of Congress urging that this life-saving legislation be enacted. These efforts helped generate 111 additional House cosponsors for the immunosuppressive legislation. ""This critical legislation will not only save lives, but multiple estimates from the Congressional Budget Office expect it tosave taxpayers millions of dollars. We look forward to passage in the Senate and the prompt enactment of this lifesaving legislation."" For a patient's perspective on how a lack of Medicare coverage for immunosuppressive drugs affects a family seeBobbie's story. About Kidney Disease Inthe United States, 37 million adults are estimated to havechronic kidney disease(CKD)and approximately 90 percent don't know they have it. 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. is at risk for chronic kidney disease.Risk factors for kidney disease include:diabetes,high blood pressure,heart disease,obesity,and family history. People who are Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian American, or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander are at increased risk for developing the disease.Black or African American people are almost 4 times more likely than Whites to have kidney failure. Hispanic or Latino people are 1.3 times more likely than non-Hispanic or non-Latino people to have kidney failure. Approximately 750,000Americans have irreversible kidney failure and need dialysis or a kidney transplant to survive. More than 500,000 of these patients receive dialysis at least three times per week to replace kidney function. Nearly 100,000 Americans are on the waitlist for a kidney transplant right now. Depending on where a patient lives, the average wait time for a kidney transplant can be upwards of three to seven years.Living organ donationnot only saves lives, it saves money.Each year, Medicare spends approximately$89,000per dialysis patientand less than half,$35,000, for a transplant patient. About National Kidney Foundation Living Organ DonationResources: THE BIG ASK: THE BIG GIVEplatform, which provides nationwide outreach, is designed to increasekidney transplantationthrough training and tools that help patients and families find a living donor. It includes direct patient and caregiver support through our toll-free help line855-NKF-CARES,peer mentoring from a fellow kidney patient or a living donor, online communities, an advocacy campaign to remove barriers to donation, and a multi-media public awareness campaign. All resources arefreeand designed to teach kidney patients, or their advocates, how to make a ""big ask"" to their friends, loved ones, or community to consider making a ""big give,"" a living organ donation.www.kidney.org/livingdonation. Published here.",1,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z,2026-03-30T12:14:52Z