U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins was on Capitol Hill for the Republican Study Committee's (RSC) member meeting this week. Under her leadership, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has put American farmers and ranchers first by expanding markets, rooting out fraud and abuse in the SNAP program, and protecting American farmland from foreign adversary ownership.
But once again we were impressed by Pennsylvania's Democratic Senator John Fetterman, who had the backbone to say he regrets there wasn't a more bipartisan pursuit of the truth about the virus and even expressed some long overdue apologies to the small businesses that were ruined during COVID lockdowns. Not a peep from the other Democrats.
Governor Greg Abbott today attended the grand opening of Bob’s House of Hope and toured the nation’s first safe house exclusively for male survivors of human trafficking. Bob’s House of Hope provides a secure residential environment, trauma-informed care, and support services tailored to adult male survivors. The facility fills a critical gap in the national response to commercial sexual exploitation and strengthens Texas’ efforts to protect victims and hold traffickers accountable.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins today announced a new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) initiative to recruit veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses into mission-critical careers that protect America’s food supply, strengthen rural communities, and defend the nation’s agricultural security. USDA’s 100 Hires in 100 Days initiative, a department-wide effort to accelerate the hiring of veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses across the Department.
Through more than 1,000 pages, Dr. Anthony Fauci – who not long ago headed the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases – revels in a high regard for himself. Recall, he once said, "I represent science. I am science." That testimony of self-importance is also now reflected in his claim to be an "international celebrity." He loved having his picture taken with celebrities (like Barbra Streisand.) He claimed to have appeared before Congress more than anyone else. We all are born with an ego - most can control it. Some give it free rein.
The 82nd Texas Legislature established the Emergency and Trauma Care Education Partnership (ETEP) program in 2011 to support partnerships between hospitals and graduate medical programs in an effort to increase the number of emergency medicine and trauma care physician residents and fellows. ETEP also supports partnerships that enhance training for registered nurses pursuing graduate degrees or certificates.
As Unleash Prosperity research has previously shown, Americans enjoy the cheapest generic drugs in the world, and our drug pricing system is much better than most nations. Drugs are the only thing in health care that always eventually get less expensive. But biotech drugs, which are complex living organisms, are different. We have "biosimilars," which are the closest thing to generics for these drugs, but they are expensive.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy, sent a bipartisan letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent outlining a strategy to counter illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing conducted by China’s distant-water fleet. The letter identifies vulnerabilities in China’s IUU fishing fleet linked to its reliance on a relatively limited number of support vessels, calls for the imposition of sanctions on such vessels, and specifically identifies 29 currently unsanctioned vessels.
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more advanced, we must be more prepared than ever to defend our nation from cyber warfare. For years, China-backed actors have looked for any vulnerability to target our government and civilian networks and attack our critical infrastructure — including the successful data breach of four million federal government workers in 2015 and the Salt Typhoon attack in 2024. Now, advanced AI models have supercharged these threats.
In January 2011, during my year as chairman of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, we welcomed Sen. Lindsey Graham for a public conversation at Pearl Stable. More than 300 Business & Community Leaders filled the room. The discussion was thoughtful, substantive – and focused on finding practical solutions for the country. As the event closed, Graham said: “I am not going to create a bill to help my party with Hispanics. I’m going to create a bill to help America.”
Governor Greg Abbott today released the response from the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to his June 10 directive that shows they are already taking concrete steps to protect residential ratepayers from the costs of data center expansion. Governor Abbott will continue to work with the Legislature to codify these protections and ensure data centers do not come at the expense of Texas ratepayers.
House Republicans stepped up last week to responsibly fund the Federal Government through mid-December with the passage of a clean Continuing Resolution (CR) – while working to finalize the remaining Appropriations Bills with conservative policies at the forefront. The Senate must act swiftly to get this to the President's Desk, and avoid another costly and disruptive Democrat-driven Government Shutdown. Also, four pieces of legislation I've championed advanced out of the Committee on Energy & Commerce.
The Improving America’s Literacy Act ensures Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) grants cannot be used on the three-cueing model, directing those funds instead to evidence-based reading instruction grounded in the five key pillars of Science of Reading. Additionally, this legislation strengthens accountability for improvement in literacy outcomes by ensuring that the Director conducts research to identify and evaluate the improvement in student literacy outcomes at the State and local levels.
Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched investigations into popular products to protect women’s health. The OAG is investigating a number of feminine care and cosmetic product brands, including lip balm, lipstick, and other product manufacturers. These industry-wide investigations will determine whether companies are deceiving consumers about the presence of toxic chemicals in their products.
I don’t know if social media created really horrible people blasting their insanity to the world, or if it simply provided the pathway for the insane to expose to the world that they were always there – but, neither answer is good. Just like it’s unclear if TDS actually broke people, or gave broken people the avenue they’d been seeking to purge their worlds of contrary or original thoughts. There's a disturbingly large percentage of our fellow Americans who are broken, possibly permanently. Maybe they always were and we just never noticed?
Last week I proudly voted for the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which is often referred to as the NDAA. Fully funding our military is a fundamental duty of Congress — and as America’s adversaries seek to undermine global stability, it's one that's never been more vital. This year's NDAA passed the House with several provisions I championed that will: Support our brave Servicemembers and their Families; Equip our Warfighters with the tools they need to win; and deter our adversaries’ aggression around the world.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that federal disaster assistance is available to the state of Texas to supplement State, Tribal & Local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from flooding beginning on July 12th. The President’s action authorizes FEMA to coordinate all federal disaster relief efforts to alleviate hardship and suffering caused by the emergency and provide assistance to save lives, protect property, public health – and to lessen or avert the threat of catastrophe.
Governor Greg Abbott today announced that Texas is extending the application period for the new federal Workforce Pell Grant program, giving more colleges and technical schools additional time to submit eligible short-term training programs. The extended window will expand access to affordable, short-term training that prepares Texans for good-paying, high-demand careers in construction, health care, information technology, advanced manufacturing, and other skilled trades that power the Texas economy.
