Culbersons District 7 Update

Congress just adjourned for the year and despite our minority status Republicans stuck together to achieve victory

I have great news to share with you during this holiday season. Congress just adjourned for the year and despite our minority status Republicans stuck together to achieve victory.

As a result Congress spent less money the border will be more secure 20 million Americans will be spared from an enormous tax increase and needy children will get to keep their health insurance.

Late Wednesday afternoon Congress passed a government funding bill that reduces federal spending by $22 billion from what the Democrat majority proposed. It also contains no restrictions or timetables on our men and women in uniform so our troops have the freedom they need to win the war in Iraq and come home as soon as they believe it is safe to do so.

My proudest accomplishment this week was obtaining $80 million in additional funds to significantly strengthen America’s borders.

Of this amount $15 million will be used to expand and support the zero tolerance program I helped implement on October 30 in the Laredo Sector.

Under "Operation Streamline" anyone who crosses our border illegally is arrested prosecuted and jailed.

In the Del Rio sector Operation Streamline reduced the crime rate by 76 percent and this year will see the lowest number of illegal border crossings in Del Rio since the Border Patrol started keeping records in 1972!

I expect to see zero tolerance implemented in the Tuscon Sector in January and my next target is the Brownsville Sector.

Since the bureaucrats in the Washington headquarters of the Department of Homeland Security have failed to secure our borders I have learned to bypass headquarters in order to get results along the border.

The Texas border county sheriffs will receive $5 million to work alongside Border Patrol agents. Last year I was also able to provide $5 million to Texas border sheriffs and they are using the money to put more deputies on the streets buy equipment and reduce illegal crossings.

In addition to the funds they are receiving from the State of Texas this is money well spent in the battle to defend our borders.

I also secured $60 million for a program called "Operation Stonegarden" with the help of my colleague Congressman Ciro Rodriguez. This funding will help border sheriffs and police chiefs reimburse local taxpayers for the costs of overtime or buying new equipment.

I will keep finding ways to get quick effective and lasting law enforcement results along our borders.

We passed a one-year patch for the Alternative Minimum Tax this week which will keep nearly 20 million working Americans from having to pay the AMT for the first time.

While Democrats pushed to raise taxes Republicans succeeded in making this a clean tax cut ensuring you will not have to hand over more of your hard earned dollars to the IRS. For the long term I am committed to abolishing the AMT outright and replacing the income tax with the Fair Tax a national retail consumption tax which would encourage savings investment and hard work.

I also voted to extend the State Children’s Health Insurance program to cover uninsured children who live within 200 percent of the poverty level.

I voted against an SCHIP expansion earlier this year because it would allow illegal immigrants and individuals well above the poverty level to receive subsidies at taxpayer expense.

Republicans created the SCHIP program in 1997 because we believe it is morally right to help needy families afford the high costs of health care but we simply cannot afford to expand the program. At our current level of spending every living American would have to pay $170000 to cover the obligations of the federal government.

When the next session begins in January I will continue working to control spending and balance the budget while also providing our law enforcement officers the resources they need to fully implement the successful zero tolerance policy.

I hope you and your family have a joyous holiday season and a healthy happy and prosperous new year. Thank you for entrusting me to represent you in the United States Congress.