MIL USHOR-2b Engine

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Bruce Westerman (AR-04)

From sea to shining sea, our nation’s landscapes boast wonders unmatched by anywhere else in the world. From the glaciers in Alaska to the mighty Sequoias in California and the abundant geothermal springs right here in Arkansas, we are incredibly blessed to call this land our home.

As the summer season kicks off, many will travel across the country to see our natural beauty on full display. The national park system draws over 300 million visitors annually. For many, this has been a time-honored tradition, with countless visitors checking off another destination from their national park bucket list.

To fully appreciate this land that has been set aside just for you and me, we must understand its origin. In 1832, Congress protected the thermal waters in Hot Springs, creating America’s first federal reservation of a natural resource and making Hot Springs the birthplace of “America’s Best Idea.”

50 years later, Yellowstone became our nation’s first national park. In a speech given for the laying of the cornerstone of the gateway to Yellowstone National Park, President Roosevelt expressed his thoughts on the role the American people should play for the longevity of our national parks. He said, “The only way that the people as a whole can secure to themselves and their children the enjoyment in perpetuity of what the Yellowstone Park has to give is by assuming the ownership in the name of the nation and by jealously safeguarding and preserving the scenery, the forests, and the wild creatures.”

On the cusp of our nation’s 250^th celebration of independence, Congress is assuming that ownership by introducing the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) 250. This legislation focuses on enhancing access, improving visitor experience, and creating new outdoor recreation opportunities across the country. The legislation also makes historic investments in and modernizes our national parks, public lands, and revitalizes the economies of rural gateway communities that depend on public lands tourism.

Hot Springs has benefitted greatly from the Great American Outdoors Act that was signed into law in 2020. Most notably, through the Legacy Restoration Fund, Bathhouse Row received critical safety updates and the restoration of iconic historic features to open its doors once again to the Hot Springs community for commercial use.

Last week, as Chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, I had the honor of holding a field hearing in the heart of Hot Springs to discuss the importance of this legacy bill. Hot Springs National Park served as the perfect backdrop for this hearing, demonstrating how GAOA 250 investments can spur new public-private partnerships, create jobs, and sustain billions of dollars in spending within rural and gateway communities.

Our patriotism is often associated with our thankfulness to our armed forces and the military heroes who have sacrificed to protect our freedom. But I’d wager that a lot of our national pride also stems from the incredible beauty of our land. It’s a great privilege to work in Congress to ensure that “America’s Best Idea” – our national parks and public lands – are modernized and maintained for generations to come.

Published on July 4, 1895, by Katharine Lee Bates, “America the Beautiful” was the result of a recent trip to Pikes Peak in Colorado. Struck by its beauty, Bates penned the famous words that still resonate with us today and serve as a reminder of the gift we have been given and should continue to conserve. “O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee. And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!”

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jared Huffman Representing the 2nd District of California

Previous Article

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Joaquin Castro (20th District of Texas)

Source: United States House of Representatives – Reprepsentative Kathy Castor (FL14)

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL-14) released the following statement after Congress passed the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act:

“This week, the Congress passed meaningful, bipartisan legislation that will help make home ownership more attainable for hard-working neighbors across the Tampa Bay area who have seen the dream of homeownership move farther out of reach due to high costs,” said Rep. Kathy Castor. “The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act includes several policies I championed, including limiting the ability of hedge funds to buy a large number of homes while driving costs through the roof. The bipartisan bill also incentivizes the permitting and construction of new homes and residences. Homes are for people, not for hedge fund managers. I am particularly pleased that, through this legislation, we will improve Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Relief (CDBG-DR), which has delivered billions of dollars in disaster recovery funding to Tampa Bay communities and neighbors impacted by recent hurricanes. I’m proud of the bipartisan work accomplished through this legislation to address a real, significant challenge in the Tampa Bay area and beyond.

“The President’s last-minute decision today to cancel the signing of the critical 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to push a bill to limit access to the ballot box ignored the real needs of American families and young people trying to buy a home in an increasingly unaffordable economy. I urge President Trump to reverse course and sign the bill to rein in the cost of housing for American families.”

The bipartisan and bicameral 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act represents the most comprehensive housing reform legislation in decades to jumpstart the construction of homes people can actually afford.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act would:

• Remove barriers to expedite the building of new homes
• Codify the CDBG-Disaster Relief initiative, which will expedite funds to my neighbors rebuilding from storms
• Responsibly rein in corporate landlords, banning large institutional investors from purchasing up single-family homes
• Improve transparency for Veteran homebuyers

View a one-page summary of the legislation here.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (8th District of New York)

Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries held a press conference with Democratic leadership, the Reproductive Freedom Caucus, the Democratic Women’s Caucus and advocates to mark four years since the Supreme Court’s disastrous Dobbs decision that rolled back reproductive rights for millions of American women.

LEADER JEFFRIES: I’m so thankful for the extraordinary leaders who are here today, leaders within the House Democratic Caucus and leaders on reproductive freedom across the United States of America. The Dobbs decision was unjust, unacceptable and un-American, and has endangered the health, safety and well-being of millions of women across the United States of America,disproportionately impacting Black women across this country. As Democrats, we believe in a woman’s freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions.It’s a decision that should be between a woman, her family and her doctor, not right-wing officials trying to jam their extreme ideology down the throats of women throughout the United States of America and their families. And as House Democrats, we will continue to push with the fierce urgency of now to protect the reproductive freedom of women, to stand up and forcefully advocate for the Women’s Health Protection Act and all other enlightened pieces of legislation designed to ensure that we are protecting the health and well-being of the women throughout the United States of America. 

This fight isn’t over, it’s just getting started. Republicans have decided that since they cannot get things done legislatively that undermine the will of the American people, they’ve been legislating from the bench with their extreme right-wing justices. And we’re committed to reversing the Dobbs decision the first opportunity that we get upon taking back control of the House and of the Senate. We know we stand on the right side of this issue. We know the American people believe in a woman’s freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions. We know the American people are opposed to government-mandated pregnancies and this command and control effort by extreme right-wing forces to decide the fate of women and families in America. And we’re committed to doing everything to push back against it.

Full press conference can be watched here.

###

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Bill Foster (11th District of Illinois)

Washington, DC — Today, Representatives Bill Foster (D-IL) and Brad Sherman (D-CA) led Members on the House Financial Services Committee in calling on the Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Paul Atkins, to explain what oversight, guidance, and investor protections are in place as brokerage firms begin allowing AI agents to make autonomous trades on behalf of retail investors, and whether the agency has evaluated the risks these systems pose to market integrity and consumer protection.

The letter also asks Chairman Atkins to provide clarity on the legal responsibilities of broker-dealers, AI developers, and AI agents themselves, and whether existing securities laws are sufficient to regulate agentic trading or if additional action from Congress would be needed.

In the letter to Chairman Atkins, the Members wrote:

“While generative AI and associated agents have the potential to help investors make faster and better-informed decisions, the facilitation of agentic trading by retail brokerage platforms raises serious questions for investor protection, broker-dealer responsibilities, market integrity, and the accountability of AI developers.

“The AI firms developing and deploying these agents have thus far operated largely outside the securities regulatory framework, even though their systems are making or enabling consequential investment decisions on behalf of retail investors.

“It is essential that this technology be delivered in a manner that preserves the protections investors expect in regulated financial markets, and not as a tool to conceal conflicts of interest, evade broker-dealer responsibilities, manipulate markets, or provide unsound investment advice.”

This letter was cosigned by Representatives Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Jim Himes (D-CT), Sean Casten (D-IL), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Brittany Pettersen (D-CO), and Sylvia Garcia (D-TX). A full copy of the letter can be found here.

###

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Steve Scalise (1st District of Louisiana)

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), and Financial Services Chairman French Hill (R-Ark.) to highlight how House Republicans are advancing solutions to lower costs for American families while Democrats continue their march toward socialism. Leader Scalise pointed to Republican efforts to lower taxes, unleash American energy, and expand housing affordability, while warning that the Democrat Party’s embrace of far-left policies is moving it further away from the concerns of working families.

Click here or the image above to view Leader Scalise’s full remarks. 
Highlights from Leader Scalise’s remarks:On Democrats embracing radical socialism:“I first want to express my condolences to Hakeem Jeffries for the devastating defeat that the voters of New York imposed upon him last night in his own backyard in Democrat primaries. You know, you could call it the Bolshevik Revolution of 2026, but the Mamdani takeover of the Democrat Party is official now. We’ve been talking about it for months, this move to the Marxist socialist left by the Democrat Party.“They’ve become an unrecognizable party. You cannot recognize who the Democrats are anymore. This is surely not your father or grandfather’s Democrat Party. They’ve fully embraced socialism. You look at some of the things that they talk about, it’s, you know, they want to defund the police, they want to basically just get rid of the free market capitalist system that we have. And they are backing it up with their votes here in Congress.”On unleashing American energy:”Our conference chair talked about it in relation to the Working Families Tax Cut. Today we look at global oil prices and they just dropped below $75 a barrel this morning. That’s because of President Trump’s leadership. And it’s also because Republicans worked with President Trump to lower gas prices, to put smart energy policy in place so that we can produce our own energy. “Now that the president has an agreement, an MOU with Iran, you’ve seen those prices drop dramatically in the last few days. That would not have happened if we didn’t pass laws that opened up American energy exploration everywhere from ANWR in Alaska down to the Gulf of America. We opened it up and every single Democrat voted no because they want higher gas prices. Democrats are not happy about it. They talk about gas prices, but when you see them dropping, it’s clear that the reason those prices are dropping is because we passed smart energy policies that every Democrat opposes.”On House Republicans working to lower costs for American families:“You’re going to continue to see this drumbeat of Republicans focusing on helping make life more affordable for working families on every front. Chairman Hill just talked about it with the housing bill, a really important bill to lower housing costs. We delivered for American families. We did it for energy costs. We’re doing it for a number of other issues, and we’re not done. “We’re still bringing bills to the floor to address, of course, the funding of government, to have proper, responsible funding of government, we’re going to keep moving those appropriations bills. NDAA is going to be coming up next week to properly fund our nation’s defense. We’ve got a major transportation bill, the Surface Transportation Bill is moving through the committee process. It’s been through two committees. It’s got Ways and Means still before it comes to the House floor. And I’m sure the Speaker’s talked about it because the Speaker’s been involved in this directly too.“We’ve been working hard on a Reconciliation 3.0 bill. We’ve done 1.0, 2.0, two reconciliation bills passed with only Republican votes because Democrats just don’t care anymore. They don’t care about national security. They’ve all voted against funding our Department of Homeland Security. And what we’re focused on now is fraud, trying to get fraud addressed with reconciliation 3.0.”We are not done working and delivering for the American people while the Democrats are fighting to see how far left to the socialist left they can go.”

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Michael McCaul (10th District of Texas)

WASHINGTON – At today’s House Homeland Security Committee markup, Chairman Emeritus Michael McCaul (R-Texas) urged his colleagues to support the Measuring Illicit Fentanyl Trafficking Act, legislation he introduced with Congressman James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) to combat the fentanyl crisis by strengthening information sharing across the Department of Homeland Security and establishing clear metrics for detecting, deterring, and seizing fentanyl. The legislation passed the committee unanimously.

Click to watch

Remarks as delivered:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank my friend from Virginia for introducing this important legislation. I also want to thank you for this bipartisan markup. In my 22 years [in Congress], chairing this committee and foreign affairs, [I’ve learned] that is the way it’s supposed to be. That’s us at our best.

Fentanyl is the number one killer of young Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. My children have witnessed five funerals. One [friend] took fentanyl on Christmas Eve [and] did not wake up on Christmas Day. 

Every single day, moms and dads across Texas, and across this entire nation, are burying their children. This isn’t just a law enforcement crisis. It’s a generational crisis. It’s a national security threat to our youth and a moral failure if we do not use every tool at our disposal to crush it. 

I was proud to introduce the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, which was signed into law, to target illicit supply chains and sanction the dangerous cartels. And it goes after the chemical suppliers in China and money launderers in Mexico. 

But stopping the supply abroad is only half the battle. We must be just as coordinated within our own borders, which is why I’m proud to be a co-lead of this bill, the Measuring Illicit Fentanyl Trafficking Act. It’s essential to strengthening information sharing across the department and establishing clear performance metrics within the Department of Homeland Security. 

I believe that we owe [it] to every single American family that has been shattered by this epidemic to get this thing right. And I want to again thank my colleagues for their bipartisan support on this. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back. 

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Johnson (LA-04)

WASHINGTON — This morning, at the weekly House Republican Leadership press conference, Speaker Johnson addressed the New York primary elections and the socialist takeover of the Democrat Party. Speaker Johnson also addressed Republican efforts to advance a third reconciliation bill to continue lowering costs for working families.

“These radical candidates are self-described, self-identifying Marxists. They want to fundamentally transform this country. And sadly, many of these Democrat candidates and their voters just don’t have the same zeal and affection for America,” Speaker Johnson said. “They don’t appreciate the freedom that we have in this country. They’re not even going to celebrate on July 4. There’s a new NBC poll that came out. Did you see that only 29% of Democrat voters that they polled said they’re proud to be an American? What happened to the Democrat Party?”

Watch Speaker Johnson’s remarks here.

On Democrats embracing radical, socialist candidates:

Last night made crystal clear that Zohran Mamdani, AOC, and Bernie Sanders have just taken full control of the Democrat Party, or what was left of it. Across the country, Democrats have candidates winning primaries and rising through the ranks. Here’s a few of them. Vang in California, one of the Democrats – she won’t say the Pledge of Allegiance. Hamawy in New Jersey, Democrat candidate, socialist candidate, has ties to Al-Qaeda and other terrorists. Chevalier won last night in New York over Hakeem’s counter-endorsement. She says she wants to abolish the border; she doesn’t want a border for the country. Mendoza in Arizona wants to decriminalize trans prostitution, apparently that’s a thing. James in Iowa wants to apologize for being white. Garriott in Iowa performed a Satanist wedding, and Bennett in New Jersey stopped going to church because Trump voters were there. This is just a sampling. And these kinds of people have been popping up. You’ve been hearing me say for weeks. There are many mini Mamdani’s popping up all around the country. It is a dangerous thing. This is not a joke. We are in a fight right now to save the republic, and every American needs to take this seriously. You need to wake up.

On Democrats’ growing disdain for America:

Sadly, many of these Democrat candidates and their voters just don’t have the same zeal and affection for America. They don’t appreciate the freedom that we have in this country. They’re not even going to celebrate on July 4^th. There’s a new NBC poll that came out. Did you see that only 29% of Democrat voters that they polled said they’re proud to be an American? What happened to the Democrat Party? They compared the poll from just 20 years ago where it was 90%. Because that’s where Republicans are, above 90%. Over half of Democrats now say they would rather live in another country. What a split screen we’re seeing right now. We’re triumphantly hosting the World Cup games all around the country, and we’re seeing people from different countries come and get a little taste of America, a little taste of freedom, of our culture and our society. And they appreciated so much more than these socialists running for Congress.

Fans across the country are truly enjoying our world-class facilities and the incredible atmosphere on the field and off the field. Thanks to social media, we’re seeing a lot of these; it has been encouraging to see the visitors appreciate what we have. Dutch travelers are in Buc-ee’s; German players took a midnight trip to the Waffle House. They’re the greatest thing you’ve ever seen. English fans are roaming the Everglades. Japanese tourists marveling over free chips and salsa at Mexican restaurant in Texas. Don’t forget your blessings. People from Europe and Latin America, many countries around the world, many of whom, here’s the key, grew up under repressive, state-controlled economies. They’ve never known freedom. They’ve never known these kinds of things. And they’re seeing them for themselves the genius of America’s system. A system that rewards risk takers and entrepreneurs and job creators and innovators, and people who create jobs for others and expand the economy and opportunity and broaden the pathway out of poverty for more people. That’s what the Republicans stand for.

On Republicans securing American elections through a third reconciliation bill:

The President believes in election integrity. He talks about it all the time. And we do as well in act and in deed; we have stood for that. We passed the SAVE America Act. This is very important. That is the top priority because if you do not have safe elections in this grand experiment in self-governance that we have in a constitutional republic, you don’t have anything. And we have got to ensure it. And we have to press for election integrity measures. That’s why we’ve made it a top priority. It has been stuck in the Senate, and here’s why. Because no Democrat in the House or Senate will vote for the SAVE America Act. Those two things I just told you, they vote against that every single time. And they will. Why, you ask? That’s a rhetorical question. You should go ask them the actual question. Why are you against proof of citizenship and a photo ID? Why is that? They can’t give you a cogent answer. The reason is they do want to allow for cheating and fraud in the elections, because it is the only way that the Marxists can win. They cannot win on their ideas. That’s why this is so important to the president is to us.

You have to put it on a reconciliation bill. We believe that if you create a grant program that ties it to reconciling the budget and you allow blue states, if they come to their senses and they want to avail themselves to election integrity proposals and ideas and policies, they can draw down from a federal fund and use those funds. We’re willing to invest heavily in that. And House Republicans will put together a reconciliation bill, Reconciliation 3.0, that will have that.

###

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Johnson (LA-04)

House, Senate Pass Bipartisan Housing Affordability Legislation to Help Restore American Dream for Working Families