Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Chip Roy (R-TX)

Washington, D.C. — Today, Representatives Chip Roy (TX-21), Lucy McBath (GA-06), Andy Biggs (AZ-05), and Steve Cohen (TN-09) re-introduced the “Count the Crimes to Cut Act of 2025” that would require the Department of Justice and federal agency heads to compile a comprehensive report detailing all federal criminal statutes and regulations entailing criminal penalties.

Congressman Roy, Chairman on the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, said:“Freedom is just an illusion when the government buries its own citizens under ridiculous and never-ending criminal laws. Almost any adult in this country could be indicted for some kind of infraction at any given time, whether or not they were even aware they were in violation. This needs to change; getting a proper accounting is a necessary first step to fixing this problem and ensuring Americans are not in the crosshairs of overcriminalization.”

Congresswoman McBath, Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, said:“My first priority in Congress has always been maintaining the safety and well-being of my constituents. With the Count the Crimes to Cut Act, Americans will no longer have to fear being excessively punished and criminal justice professionals can better protect the public. I’m proud to take up this bill, and I thank my colleagues for their collaboration as we seek to expand safety and justice for the American people.”

Congressman Biggs, Chairman on the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, said: “An estimated 4,000 federal criminal offenses is dwarfed by an estimated 300,000 federal regulatory offenses, but no government agency can even provide an official count. We have a duty to protect Americans’ right to liberty, and this begins with scaling down the massive overreach in federal criminal offenses.”

Congressman Cohen, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, said: “Apparently no one knows how many federal crimes there are. Our founders warned of laws being too ‘voluminous’ or ‘incoherent’ that they could not be understood. The Count the Crimes Act simply seeks to request that information from the Department of Justice as a starting point for future reform. I am pleased to work with Congressman Roy and others on both sides of the aisle to pass this necessary legislation.”

The Count The Crimes to Cut Act of 2025 would:
Require the Attorney General, in cooperation with the agency heads, to produce a full report of all federal criminal statutes and federal regulations with criminal penalties.  For each offense, the report is required to provide the following details:

• The elements of each offense.
• The potential penalties for each offense.
• The number of prosecutions brought in the last 15 years for each offense.
• The mens rea required for each offense.

The legislation is endorsed by Families Against Mandatory Minimums, the Due Process Institute, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the R Street Institute, and Right on Crime. 

Read the full legislation here.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Chip Roy (R-TX)

Rep. Chip Roy (TX-21) issued the following statement after the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1968, to continue funding the government through September 30th, 2025: 

“Today, I voted to effectively freeze spending levels for six more months and to give runway for the Trump Administration to continue its efforts to root out wasteful spending. House Republicans and President Trump are moving quickly to clean up the mess left by Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden, who refused to pass a budget or any appropriations bills – despite the House GOP passing five off the floor, and all 12 out of committee.

Notably, this “continuing resolution” excludes earmarks, modestly reduces year-over-year spending, and most importantly, prevents Democrats from purposefully shutting down DOGE, President Trump, and Russ Vought from uncovering the billions in waste, fraud, and abuse that has been going on for decades.  The American people are now seeing that this whole town – THE SWAMP – has been wasting their money on absurd expenditures.

But this is just one more step, of many, in the spending fight.  

Now, our focus must be on supporting the President’s efforts to impound and rescind unnecessary spending, passing appropriations bills for FY26 at a low topline including many of the DOGE-identified cuts, and then finalizing a conservative reconciliation package We must cut the massive inflation tax resulting from rampant spending by working to deliver on spending reductions ABOVE the $2 trillion FLOOR the House passed in our budget along with making tax cuts permanent.

It’s now our never.”

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Chip Roy (R-TX)

• In July 2024, Rep. Roy sent a letter to the Biden Administration asking for an updated list of recalcitrant countries. Here is December 2024 list.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Chip Roy (R-TX)

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07)

Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) led 30 of her Democratic colleagues in a letter to U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum urging him to resume cleaning up orphaned wells across the country as authorized and funded in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

In June 2021, Congresswoman Fletcher introduced the bipartisan Revive Economic Growth and Reclaim Orphaned Wells (REGROW) Act, H.R. 3585, to clean up orphaned oil and gas wells.  In November 2021, she voted for the IIJA, which included the REGROW Act.  President Biden signed the bill into law later that month.  And in February 2022, she announced that the State of Texas would receive $343,695,029 in federal funds to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells as a direct result of her legislation.

There are more than 157,000 documented orphaned oil and gas wells across the country.  The REGROW Act aims to plug every documented orphaned well in the country by investing $4.6 billion toward cleaning up these sites, creating tens of thousands of energy jobs for skilled oil and gas workers.

“On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy that directed agencies to pause distribution of IIJA funding,” the members wrote.  “Your Order 3418 on February 3, 2025, directs your Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget to determine how to issue IIJA funding in accordance with President Trump’s priorities.  To date, we have seen no clear, public guidance from DOI regarding the implementation of paused IIJA funding.

“As of September 2024, $3.4 billion in IIJA funding remained available for orphaned well remediation,” the members continued.  “This funding represents thousands of jobs for people who work in the oil and gas industry.  In fiscal year 2024 alone, DOI’s IIJA orphaned well obligations supported more than 6,000 jobs and contributed $861 million to the economy (an approximate 140% return on investment rate).  This program has also led to many workforce development initiatives and partnerships, creating new opportunities in high-paying careers.  Communities where well remediation service providers are based also benefit from increased demand for supporting industries like contract materials, food services, and lodging.  Pausing this funding with no clear guidance for impacted parties will harm our economies and the skilled energy workers whose jobs depend on DOI maintaining a dependable and transparent process.  We have already begun to hear from IIJA funding recipients impacted by this pause who now face an uncertain future after DOI issued a stop work order on their orphaned well remediation projects.

“We urge you to resume distribution of this Congressionally directed funding immediately,” the members concluded.  “It protects our communities, cleans up our environment, and builds our economy.  Should you have any questions or wish to discuss this issue, we would welcome the opportunity to do so.”

Congressmembers Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03); Nanette Barragán (CA-44); Julia Brownley (CA-26); Troy Carter (LA-02); Sean Casten (IL-06); Joaquin Castro (TX-20); Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05); Jim Costa (CA-21); Sharice Davids (KS-03); Diana DeGette (CO-01); Christopher Deluzio (PA-17); Lloyd Doggett (TX-37); Veronica Escobar (TX-16); Cleo Fields (LA-04); John Garamendi (CA-08); Sylvia Garcia (TX-29); Vicente Gonzalez (TX-34); Jared Huffman (CA-02); Sara Jacobs (CA-51); Julie Johnson (TX-32); Ro Khanna (CA-17); Teresa Leger Fernandez (NM-03); Mike Levin (CA-49); Kevin Mullin (CA-15); Joe Neguse (CO-02); Scott Peters (CA-50); Brittany Pettersen (CO-07); Ritchie Torres (NY-15); Gabe Vasquez (NM-02); and Marc Veasey (TX-33) joined Congresswoman Fletcher in this letter request.

To read the full text of the letter, click here.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07)

Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07), Congressman Marc Veasey (TX-33), and Congressman Lloyd Doggett (TX-37) led their colleagues in the Texas Democratic Delegation in a letter to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Acting Director Dr. Susan Monarez expressing concern over the measles outbreak in Texas and across the country.  The lawmakers requested an urgent, detailed report on the CDC’s efforts to contain the outbreak, combat vaccine misinformation, and assess the impact of workforce reductions on the outbreak response.

The Texas Department of State Health Services has reported 279 confirmed cases of measles, including 34 hospitalizations and the tragic death of an unvaccinated school-aged child. The outbreak has disproportionately impacted school-aged children.

“As local pharmacies report shortages of MMR vaccine doses, the Administration has shipped doses of Vitamin A to Texas, endorsing its use in addition to cod liver oil to reduce the outbreak, neither of which are scientifically proven to reduce the spread of the disease,” the members wrote.  “We are concerned that, while the CDC has explicitly stated its efforts are “science-based” and “data-driven,” recent actions have suggested otherwise.

“We are further concerned that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has undertaken reckless actions that are obstructing the CDC’s public health response,” the members continued.  “On February 13, 2025, your agency announced the mass layoff of 1,300 CDC employees.10 To date, at least 750 employees have been laid off, which include key scientists tasked with helping state and local officials respond to outbreaks like the one Texas is experiencing right now.  We believe these indiscriminate mass firings have weakened the nation’s ability to contain the current measles outbreak. Despite a small number of CDC employees being asked to return, looming layoffs impart uncertainty for remaining CDC employees, which may cause officers to seek out other jobs, further reducing our capacity to respond in real-time to disease outbreaks.

“Additionally, we are deeply troubled by the CDC’s delayed and insufficient updates on the scope of the current measles outbreak,” the members concluded.  “On January 31, 2025, several critical CDC webpages were taken down.  The agency’s decision to temporarily provide monthly updates, rather than weekly, resulted in delayed information necessary to stop case spread.  While the agency has returned to weekly reports, a month of no information or guidance hampered local efforts to contain the outbreak. These delays and discrepancies are not merely technical failures; they reflect a broader problem of insufficient transparency.  Timely reporting is critical for controlling outbreaks, and the inability to respond in real time to the urgent needs of communities only delays crucial interventions.”

Congressmembers Al Green (TX-09), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), Julie Johnson (TX-32), Vicente Gonzalez (TX-34), and Greg Casar (TX-35) joined Congresswoman Fletcher, Congressman Veasey, and Congressman Doggett in this letter request.

To view the full text of this letter, click here.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07)

Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) visited the HOPE Clinic for a roundtable discussion with health care providers about the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans’ proposed cuts to the Medicaid program. 

“People across our district, our state, and our country rely on Medicaid for essential health care.  Today, I met with health care providers to talk about what cutting the program would mean for their patients.  It is devastating—for patients who have health care coverage through Medicaid and for all patients in a health care system that relies on Medicaid payments,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.  “The proposed cuts would hurt children, seniors, people with disabilities, and hardworking Americans, reducing the quality and availability of health care services.  In the state with the highest uninsured rate in the country, and one of the highest uninsured counties in Texas, we should not be making it harder for people to get the care they need. 

“People may not realize that Medicaid covers 50 percent of births in Texas,” continued Congresswoman Fletcher.  “Cutting Medicare will block access to care for pregnant women across the state—both Medicaid beneficiaries and others who rely on the funds to keep hospital labor and delivery departments open. 

“The damage cutting Medicaid will cause for women, children, and people across Texas is almost too great to imagine,” concluded Congresswoman Fletcher.  “But if President Trump and Congressional Republicans get their way, this funding for essential health care will be cut to pay for a tax cut for Elon Musk and MAGA billionaires.”

In Texas’ Seventh Congressional District, 32 percent of children rely on Medicaid.  In Texas, 61 percent of people living in nursing homes rely on Medicaid.

In addition to payments for services provided to Medicaid managed care plan enrollees, Texas hospitals received nearly $8.3 billion in Medicaid payments in 2023.  Texas mental health facilities, nursing facilities, and intermediate care facilities for people with disabilities received nearly $1.8 billion in Medicaid payments in 2023.

Since her first term in Congress, Congresswoman Fletcher has been a consistent advocate of expanding affordable health care access.  In 2021, she introduced the Expand Medicaid Now Act to incentivize states like Texas to expand Medicaid access.  Her bill was included in the American Rescue Plan Act, which President Biden signed into law.

Last month, she voted against House Republicans’ blueprint to guide Congressional action on budget-related legislation this year that calls for at least $1.5 trillion in government spending cuts, including $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid.  And, during a House Energy & Commerce Committee hearing, she asked an expert witness about the impacts these cuts would have on Texas and in states across the country. 

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07)

Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) and Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen (CO-07) reintroduced the Pink Tariffs Study Act, which would require the U.S. Department of Treasury to conduct a study on potential gender bias and regressivity within the U.S. tariff system and report the findings to Congress.  The reintroduction of this legislation follows reports that the U.S. tariff schedule places higher import taxes on women than men for the same or similar products, including razors and clothes.

“While often hidden from public view, tariffs have a significant impact on the prices Americans pay in stores every day.  Women disproportionately pay, on average, three percent more in tariffs than men, but the difference is sometimes even greater,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.  “Now, as President Trump has imposed tariffs and started a trade war with our trading partners, it is even more important that we understand how higher tariffs will raise costs for everyone, and women in particular.  I am glad to reintroduce this legislation with Congresswoman Pettersen to help make sure we understand the impacts of tariffs and have the tools to ensure a fairer tax system.”

“Women continue to pay more than men when it comes to everyday needs like clothes, razors, and even personal hygiene products,” said Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen. “These costs can add up fast – especially for working moms and families – and Trump’s reckless trade war threatens to drive these prices up even more and hurt regular people who are already struggling to make ends meet. This legislation takes an important step forward in addressing gender inequalities in our tariff system and making sure women don’t unfairly face higher prices than men. I’m thankful for the partnership of Congresswoman Fletcher and will keep working to lower costs and end ‘pink tariffs.’”

“The New Dem Trade Task Force is proud to endorse the Pink Tariffs Study Act at a critical moment in the history of American trade policy,” said New Democrat Coalition Trade and Tariff Task Force Chair Don Beyer.  “At a moment when the nation reckons with the sweeping impacts of President Trump’s tariffs on consumers and businesses, it is all the more important to understand how these taxes disproportionately impact women.  We are grateful to our New Dem colleagues Representatives Fletcher and Pettersen for leading this effort, and for endeavoring to build a more equitable tax system on behalf of all Americans.”

“As Representatives Fletcher and Pettersen introduce the Pink Tariffs Study Act today, they are rightly going beyond pure – and fully justified – opposition to Mr. Trump’s tariff increases. By helping alert policymakers to unequal tariff taxation of American women, and tariff rates biased against lower-income families, their bill will help us design a better and fairer system,” said Ed Gresser, Vice President and Director for Trade and Global Markets at the Progressive Policy Institute.

“Economists have long known that tariffs are a poor form of taxation. As taxation of purchases of goods, they tax hourly-wage families more than wealthy households, and impose greater cost burdens on goods-using industries like retail, manufacturing, farming, restaurants, and homebuilding than on services- and investment-heavy industries,” continued Gresser.  “Even within this context, the U.S. tariff system is far more regressive than those of most of our trading partners – for example, by taxing polyester clothes more heavily than silks, and cheap stainless steel silverware more than sterling silver. And it appears to be unique in the world in taxing women’s clothes more heavily than directly analogous men’s clothes. This gender bias in the two clothing chapters likely costs women at least $2.5 billion per year.

“The Pink Tariffs Study Act directs the Treasury Department to conduct a formal study of the U.S. tariff system for gender bias and regressivity – something neither the Treasury Department nor other trade agencies with tariff powers, such as Customs and Border Protection or the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, have ever done,” concluded Gresser.  “This would give Congress the data and information it will need as it reasserts its Constitutional authority over tariff policy and begins to undo the harms Mr. Trump’s policies are causing. We are proud to applaud and endorse their work.”

The tariff system generates about $100 billion annually in U.S. federal tax revenue.  Apart from a few academic studies in recent years, the U.S. tariff system has received little scrutiny of its role as a form of taxation.  President Trump, however, has indiscriminately imposed tariffs on imported goods, which are expected to exacerbate existing gender inequalities. 

Research has also shown that tariff rates on U.S. consumer goods are systematically regressive, affecting underserved families the hardest, with tariffs higher on cheaper material, mass-market goods than on higher-end or luxury items.  The consequence is that as a form of taxation, tariffs fall most heavily on women and underserved communities.

To understand the compounding effects of President Trump’s tariffs, an analysis of the gender bias within the U.S. tariff system is needed.  The Pink Tariffs Study Act would require the U.S. Treasury to conduct a study on which types of products carry the highest tariffs, which segments of the population bear most of the system’s cost, and whether an important element of the U.S. tax code contains gender discrimination. 

The New Democrat Coalition Trade and Tariffs Task Force, the Democratic Women’s Caucus, and the Progressive Policy Institute have endorsed the Pink Tariffs Study Act.

To view the full text of the bill, click here.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07)

Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher Votes Against Republican Resolution To Cut Medical Research, Flood Infrastructure Projects, and More

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Chris Pappas (D-NH)

The Republican budget resolution paves the way for GOP to add $4 trillion to the national debt while ripping away health care from over 200,000 Granite Staters and ending Medicaid expansion in NH