MIL USHOR-2b Engine

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Bryan Steil (Wisconsin-1)

MILWAUKEE, WI. – Today, Congressman Bryan Steil (WI-01), Vice President JD Vance, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), highlighted their work to eliminate fraud within critical federal programs. According to US Department of Justice (DOJ), fraudsters cost Wisconsin Medicaid more than $15.5 million between 2019 and 2022 and more than $6.5 billion nationwide.

“Inadequate fraud prevention standards have opened the door to criminal actors and harmed American families and children,” said Steil. “Program resources should go to those in need, not fraudsters and criminals. I’m proud to work alongside VP Vance and the Trump Administration to protect vulnerable Americans and root out waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Background:

• According to US DOJ, fraudsters cost Medicaid more than $6.5 billion including more than $15.5 million in Wisconsin between 2019 and 2022.
• US DOJ filed charges against 455 defendants including:
  • A Milwaukee funeral home owner who is facing 14 felony counts of fraud for stealing nearly $1 million from Medicaid.
  • A Milwaukee prenatal care company owner who is accused of stealing more than $5.4 million from Medicaid.
• Other recent WI Medicaid fraud charges include:
  • A Milwaukee prenatal care company owner who was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for stealing more than $2.3 million from Medicaid.
  • A Milwaukee business owner accused of defrauding Medicaid of more than $2 million for personal care services that were never delivered.
• In July 2025, the Working Family Tax Cuts (WFTC) was signed into law. The bill helps fight waste, fraud, and abuse and strengthens critical programs like Medicaid to protect them for who they were designed to serve: children, pregnant women, and disabled Americans:
  • Work requirements – requires able-bodied adults without young children to work 20 hours per week to receive benefits
  • Eligibility integrity – Strengthens eligibility integrity to remove deceased individuals, remove duplicate enrollees, and perform eligibility verification two times per year
  • Increases Medicaid spending by more than $100 billion over the next 10 years
• Listen to Rep. Steil’s remarks here.

###

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Greg Steube (FL-17)

July 08, 2026 | Press Releases

PUNTA GORDA, FL — Rep. Greg Steube joined Senator Ashley Moody today in Punta Gorda to announce the recovery of $1.8 billion in delayed FEMA disaster reimbursements statewide, including approximately $64 million headed to Charlotte County. This historic achievement is largely possible thanks to the Trump Administration’s efforts to clear FEMA’s disaster reimbursement backlog.
“Charlotte County has waited years for the money FEMA already agreed to pay. That’s not how disaster recovery is supposed to work,” said Rep. Greg Steube. “I’m grateful to President Trump, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and FEMA for helping cut through the bureaucracy and get these long-overdue dollars moving.”
“Florida has been waiting on essential disaster assistance funds for hurricane recovery since 2017— I’ve been in the Senate for less than a year and a half and have worked hard to bring nearly $2 billion of outstanding FEMA funds back home to Florida. I’ll continue fighting to deliver the federal support Floridians need while making the disaster recovery process more transparent, efficient, and accountable,” said Senator Ashley Moody. 
“This reflects our ongoing partnership with state and local leaders with more than $1.2 billion to Florida communities in the last 90 days,” said Rob Ashe, FEMA Region 4 Regional Administrator. “Our FEMA team in Florida continues to fulfill President Trump and Secretary Mullin’s promise to deliver effective federal assistance to the state. Thank you to Rep. Steube for being a valued partner in supporting ongoing recovery efforts.”
The funds reimburse eligible disaster recovery projects that FEMA had already approved but left unpaid for years, forcing state and local governments to carry the costs. Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and FEMA, these long-overdue reimbursements are finally reaching Florida communities. In Charlotte County, much of the delayed funding stems from Hurricane Ian recovery projects. Some of the longest outstanding reimbursements date back to Hurricane Irma in 2017.
Today’s announcement builds on recent momentum at the federal level to accelerate disaster recovery funding for Florida communities. On July 2, FEMA announced an additional $124 million in funding for 70 disaster recovery and hazard mitigation projects across Florida, bringing the agency’s total support to the state to more than $1.2 billion over the past 90 days. That funding has supported communities recovering from Hurricanes Helene, Milton, and other recent natural disasters.
Rep. Steube will continue working with President Trump, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, FEMA, and local leaders to ensure Southwest Florida communities receive every disaster recovery dollar they are owed as quickly as possible.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA)

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representatives Brad Sherman (CA-32), Norma Torres (CA-35), Judy Chu (CA-28), and California Democratic Congressional Delegation Chair Zoe Lofgren (CA-18) led the California Democratic Congressional Delegation in sending a letter to congressional leadership urging that no supplemental funding package move forward until Congress passes long overdue federal disaster assistance for California communities devastated by the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires and other communities across the country recovering from major disasters.

More than 100,000 Californians were displaced by the January 2025 wildfires, which destroyed more than 13,000 homes and properties, claimed more than two dozen lives, and caused an estimated $275 billion in economic damage. Despite the scale of the devastation, the Administration has not taken a single step to submit a supplemental disaster funding request to Congress. This inaction is on top of the Trump Administration delaying or denying Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) emergency aid, with FEMA’s own data showing that the Trump Administration is making it harder to access disaster aid and moving more slowly than previous Administrations to help disaster-hit communities.

In the letter, the members wrote:

“It is deeply disappointing that since January 2025, not a single step has been taken by the White House to submit a request for federal disaster aid, not just for California, but also for the over 30 States, Tribes, or Territories with major disaster declarations.”

“President Trump’s Administration is prioritizing the war in Iran over helping American communities recover from devastating disasters… Instead of taking up the June 24, 2026, Iran War supplemental request, we believe that Congress should immediately draft a federal disaster aid supplemental to help Americans rebuild their communities from the most deadly and costly wildfires in recent history.”

The letter notes that while the Administration requested more than $67 billion for military operations related to President Trump’s costly war of choice in Iran, it has failed to request the approximately $34 billion in federal disaster assistance needed for California’s wildfire recovery, along with billions more needed by disaster-impacted states, Tribes, and territories across the country.

The California Democratic Congressional Delegation reaffirmed its commitment to working on a bipartisan disaster relief package that ensures American families receive the support they need to rebuild their homes, businesses, and communities.

Additional signers of the letter include: Aguilar, Pete; Barragán, Nanette; Bera, Ami; Brownley, Julia; Carbajal, Salud; Chu, Judy; Cisneros, Gilbert; Correa, J.; Costa, Jim; DeSaulnier, Mark; Friedman, Laura; Garamendi, John; Garcia, Robert; Gomez, Jimmy; Harder, Josh; Huffman, Jared; Jacobs, Sara; Kamlager-Dove, Sydney; Khanna, Ro; Levin, Mike; Liccardo, Sam; Lieu, Ted; Lofgren, Zoe; Matsui, Doris; Min, Dave; Mullin, Kevin; Panetta, Jimmy; Pelosi, Nancy; Peters, Scott; Rivas, Luz; Ruiz, Raul; Sánchez, Linda; Sherman, Brad; Simon, Lateefah; Takano, Mark; Thompson, Mike; Torres, Norma; Tran, Derek; Vargas, Juan; Waters, Maxine; Whitesides, George.

Full letter

###

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

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Ed Case (Hawai‘i – District 1)

(Washington, DC) — U.S. Congressmen Ed Case (D-HI-01) and James Moylan (R-Guam) have introduced a measure in the U.S. House to boost U.S. efforts to counter growing transnational crime in the Indo-Pacific.

“Our Pacific Islands Liaison Initiative Act addresses the growing use of Pacific Island nations as transit hubs for cross-Pacific illegal drug trade by  transnational criminal networks, particularly narcotics traffickers,” said Case, a founder and Co-Chair of the House Pacific Islands Caucus, a bipartisan Member group focused on the Pacific (https://pacificislandscaucus-case.house.gov). 

“Our fellow Pacific Island nations which are being victimized as stop-offs in this Pacific drug highway are now suffering from related domestic crisis including addiction broader public health, such as an HIV epidemic in Fiji primary spread by unsafe injecting practices,” said Case. “Our Pacific ‘ohana (family) have clearly prioritized this crisis and asked for our continued partnership in both reducing the trade to start with and addressing its consequences.”

“Guam sits at the crossroads of the Indo-Pacific, and we understand better than most that transnational crime does not stop at borders,” said Moylan. “Strengthening law enforcement partnerships throughout the Pacific protects our communities, reinforces our alliances, and advances America’s strategic interests in the region. The Pacific Islands Liaison Initiative is a smart investment in regional security, and I’m proud to support efforts that ensure Guam continues to play a leading role in keeping the Indo-Pacific safe, secure, and resilient.”

Case and Moylan noted that while much attention has focused on precursor chemicals moving eastward across the Pacific to illicit drug producers in the Western Hemisphere, a lesser-known trafficking route moves cocaine and methamphetamine westward from the Americas through Oceania to Australia and New Zealand, where significantly higher street prices generate enormous profits for criminal organizations.

In 2017, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Homeland Security Investigations division (HSI) spearheaded the Pacific Islands Liaison Initiative by establishing internal policies and procedures for coordination among HSI Honolulu, HSI Domestic Operations, and HSI International Operations to disrupt and deter transnational criminal organizations that exploit Pacific Island nations as transit points for the movement and concealment of illicit contraband bound for the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

Case, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Homeland Security which oversees and funds DHS including HSI, said, “This is not just a regional challenge for the Pacific Islands.

“Those inflated profits flow right back to transnational criminal organizations in the Western Hemisphere, strengthening the networks that threaten communities throughout the U.S.

“Our Pacific partners and allies have also been working tirelessly on this issue, including by coordinating with U.S. government agencies like HSI and the Joint Interagency Task Force – West, but they need more support and our measure is part of that answer.”

The Pacific Islands Liaison Initiative Act would:

·        Establish in statute HSI’s Pacific Islands Liaison Initiative;

·         Require four full-time HSI personnel at HSI Honolulu and HSI Guam to oversee the Initiative;

·         Require an annual report to Congress on the activities of the Initiative; and

·         Specifically authorize $5 million a year for the Initiative.

o   Text of the Pacific Islands Liaison Initiative Act is here

###

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

Lawmakers warn the proposed Marine Minerals Administration could weaken independent safety oversight established after Deepwater Horizon and leave workers, communities, and taxpayers more vulnerable to another preventable disaster

July 08, 2026

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee, and U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sent a letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), urging the agency to investigate whether a proposed agency consolidation within the Department of the Interior (DOI) would undermine the independent offshore safety oversight Congress established after Deepwater Horizon and leave workers, communities, and taxpayers at greater risk.

The letter follows an announcement from the Trump administration in April that DOI is consolidating the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (OEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) to create the new Marine Minerals Administration (MMA), while proposing draconian cuts to the Interior in its Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) budget request.

“The April 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster was one of the worst environmental catastrophes in our nation’s history, killing 11 workers and releasing millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico… In response, in October 2011, the Department of the Interior dissolved MMS and established the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) to separate offshore leasing and resource development responsibilities from independent safety and environmental enforcement functions. The reorganization was intended to address the very regulatory failures that contributed to the Deepwater Horizon disaster by ensuring that offshore safety and environmental protection would not be subordinated to industry pressure or revenue generation,” the lawmakers began.

“Sixteen years later, offshore oil and gas development has only increased. U.S. oil production remains near record highs, with approximately 95 percent of offshore production now occurring in deepwater environments that present substantially greater technical, operational, and environmental risks… At the same time, the Trump administration and congressional Republicans are aggressively pursuing expanded offshore leasing, opening additional areas to drilling, and reducing royalty rates that shortchange taxpayers while incentivizing further fossil fuel extraction,” the lawmakers continued.
“Interior’s April 2026 announcement that it intends to reconsolidate BOEM and BSEE into a new Marine Minerals Administration (MMA) raises serious concerns about whether Interior is collapsing the firewall between resource development and independent safety oversight that was established after Deepwater Horizon,” the lawmakers noted. “These concerns are compounded by the fact that Interior is pursuing this reorganization amid significant workforce reductions, including staffing losses resulting from the 2025 Deferred Resignation Program and additional proposed cuts in the fiscal year 2027 budget request. The Department is simultaneously expanding the scope of its responsibilities to include offshore critical minerals leasing and other new activities.”

The lawmakers concluded the letter by requesting GAO to investigate the creation of the new Marine Minerals Administration, and the steps that the Trump administration is taking to ensure that the agency can properly oversee deep-sea mining efforts to prevent another disaster like Deepwater Horizon.

The letter, led by Huffman in the U.S. House of Representatives and Heinrich in the U.S. Senate, is also signed by U.S. Representative Luz Rivas (D-Calif.) and U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).

Read the full letter here and below:

Dear Ms. Brown,

The April 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster was one of the worst environmental catastrophes in our nation’s history, killing 11 workers and releasing millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. In the aftermath of the spill, multiple investigations identified regulatory failures and deeply entrenched ethical issues and conflicts of interest within the former Minerals Management Service (MMS), which simultaneously prompted offshore development, collected royalties, and conducted oversight. In response, in October 2011, the Department of the Interior (Interior) dissolved MMS and established the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) to separate offshore leasing and resource development responsibilities from independent safety and environmental enforcement functions. The reorganization was intended to address the very regulatory failures that contributed to the Deepwater Horizon disaster by ensuring that offshore safety and environmental protection would not be subordinated to industry pressure or revenue generation.

Sixteen years later, offshore oil and gas development has only increased. U.S. oil production remains near record highs, with approximately 95 percent of offshore production now occurring in deepwater environments that present substantially greater technical, operational, and environmental risks. New frontier projects, including the recently approved Kaskida development, are pushing into ultra-deepwater conditions characterized by extreme pressures, temperatures, and operational complexity. At the same time, the Trump administration and congressional Republicans are aggressively pursuing expanded offshore leasing, opening additional areas to drilling, and reducing royalty rates that shortchange taxpayers while incentivizing further fossil fuel extraction. Interior has also expanded its focus on cataloging offshore critical mineral deposits in anticipation of future seabed mining activities that carry poorly understood, but likely significant, environmental risks.

Against this backdrop, Interior’s April 2026 announcement that it intends to reconsolidate BOEM and BSEE into a new Marine Minerals Administration (MMA) raises serious concerns about whether Interior is collapsing the firewall between resource development and independent safety oversight that was established after Deepwater Horizon. Interior has asserted that the reorganization will improve coordination, but the Department has provided little detail explaining how combining these functions would strengthen independent environmental review and safety enforcement, particularly at a time when offshore development activities are becoming increasingly complex and risky.

These concerns are compounded by the fact that Interior is pursuing this reorganization amid significant workforce reductions, including staffing losses resulting from the 2025 Deferred Resignation Program and additional proposed cuts in the fiscal year 2027 budget request. The Department is simultaneously expanding the scope of its responsibilities to include offshore critical minerals leasing and other new activities. Together, these developments raise significant questions about whether the proposed consolidation would undermine the independent oversight and institutional capacity necessary to protect offshore workers, coastal communities, marine ecosystems, and taxpayers from another preventable disaster.
To help Congress better understand the potential implications of establishing MMA, we request that GAO examine the following:

1. To what extent has Interior defined specific, measurable objectives that support its broader goals for reconsolidating BOEM and BSEE into MMA?
2. To what extent has Interior engaged in transition planning to ensure that MMA meets its specific objectives while also maintaining the resources needed to maintain the oversight functions currently managed by BOEM and BSEE?
3. To what extent has the agency taken steps to ensure it will have the needed resources and capacity, including the scientific expertise, for effective oversight of the development of the nation’s offshore energy and marine mineral resources?
4. To what extent did Interior take steps to ensure that the new agency’s processes and decision-making—including as they pertain to permitting—will be based on sound science that is independent of undue outside influence?
5. What steps did Interior take to ensure the new agency has developed a framework for consultation and stakeholder engagement, specifically, on the agency’s expanded scope of authorities for offshore minerals leasing? How will MMA’s processes uphold Tribal trust responsibilities and states’ authorities for consistency review under the Coastal Zone Management Act?

Sincerely,

Watch Ranking Member Huffman discuss the report’s findings.

“Donald Trump’s hijacking of America’s 250th birthday will go down as one of the most corrupt, brazen abuses of public trust in presidential history, even by the dubious standards of this administration. As our country prepared to celebrate a milestone that belongs to every American, Trump and his operatives launched a hostile takeover of the bipartisan commission established by Congress to lead the celebration. When that failed, they sidelined the commission, siphoned its resources, and infiltrated a beloved national charity under cover of a shadow corporation that shielded them from public scrutiny. Then they proceeded to deceive donors, solicit foreign money, sell access to the President, award no-bid contracts to Trump loyalists, harvest Americans’ personal data, and push a white-washed, Christian nationalist version of history,” said Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif).

“But they didn’t account for us. Over the past year, our investigation has pursued the truth about the machinations, schemes and abuses of trust they’ve tried to hide. We’ve uncovered extensive evidence of corruption, self-enrichmentand potential crimes. The Republican majority in Congress, which has far more investigative tools and power than we do, could have joined us in conducting serious oversight and demanding answers. Instead, they’ve used their power to shield the individuals and entities involved.

“The American people deserve to know the truth about how the official national celebration of our country’s 250th anniversary was stolen, along with a large – and so far unaccounted for – sum of their taxpayer dollars. So, today – against the obstruction and resistance of our Republican colleagues – we are dragging this fiasco out of the shadows and shining a bright light on the corruption and fraud surrounding Freedom 250. We can’t stop from tarnishing the country’s July 4th celebration, but we can stop it from ever happening again – we can protect the next government program, the next fund, the next thing that’s supposed to work for all of us, from being exploited and misused this way. That’s why we must confront this grift and corruption now. From our earliest days, America has stood for government by the people, not powerful tyrants. We will fight to keep it that way.”

When the nonpartisan, congressionally chartered America250 Commission refused to bend to the President’s demands, the White House built a replacement – Freedom 250 LLC – and declared it the central platform for the national celebration. The White House lodged this shadow organization inside the National Park Foundation so it could exploit the credibility and donor relationships of a beloved public charity while operating outside the transparency rules Congress wrote into law for the commission.

Key Findings

• The President put himself at the center of the nation’s birthday. Trump issued an executive order making himself and the Vice President Chair and Vice Chair of a White House task force, then staged his own birthday as a national event twice: the Army’s 250th military parade on June 14, 2025, and a UFC fight on the White House South Lawn on June 14, 2026, run under the Freedom 250 banner.
• The White House built Freedom 250 on deceit. Musical performers, among others, were misled about programming and connections to Trump’s political machine. Fundraisers may have misled donors who intended to support America250 and handed them Freedom 250’s banking information, routing contributions meant for the nonpartisan foundation to the President’s substitute entity instead. The report finds that, if true, this could constitute wire fraud and charitable solicitation fraud under federal and District of Columbia law.
• Freedom 250 sold access to the President and courted foreign money in America’s name. The organization circulated sponsorship packages starting at $500,000 and climbing above $10 million, backed by a “historic photo opportunity” with President Trump. Its CEO solicited foreign governments, corporations, and individuals at the World Economic Forum in Davos to fund the President’s priorities. If foreign funds reach the President’s vanity projects, the report finds the conduct would clearly violate the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause.
• Trump and his operatives cashed in. Event Strategies, Inc., the firm that helped plan the January 6th rally, has collected tens of millions in federal contracts connected to the anniversary, including a master contract worth up to $100 million. Trump traded in the stock of companies that donated to Freedom 250 and staged a White House UFC fight that shamelessly promoted his own investments and business ventures. Freedom 250’s event registration process was run through Campaign Nucleus, the firm founded by Trump campaign operative Brad Parscale, which uses artificial intelligence to score visitors and target “persuadable” voters. Thousands of unwitting fans handed over their personal information at a free FIFA World Cup Fan Zone on the National Mall. Freedom 250’s official merchandise is sold by the Trump campaign’s official merchandise vendor, Ace Specialties, and agencies have purchased the merchandise and required employees to wear it.
• The White House imposed a false, Christian nationalist history. Federally funded “Freedom Trucks” carried revisionism and outright falsehoods to schoolchildren, including an AI rendering of George Washington claiming, “our rights are a gift from God,” a statement Washington is not documented to have made. The Interior Department also urged employees to wear Freedom 250 pins and threatened discipline against those who refused the pin, which anonymous employees took to calling their “Vichy pin,” a reference to World War II-era lapel pins that served as loyalty and propaganda badges.
• Freedom 250 created a blueprint for corruption. The report concludes Freedom 250 is “a blueprint, not a one-time abuse,” already test-driven at the Department of Agriculture, where the administration steered companies with business before the government to donate through a conservation charity into a fund the Secretary controls.

The investigation drew on confidential disclosures from sources interviewed by Committee Democrats, internal Freedom 250 documents and talking points obtained by the Committee, sworn testimony from two Committee hearings, and written responses from the National Park Foundation and the National Forest Foundation.
Republicans on the Committee refused to conduct any oversight to hold the administration accountable, even when Democrats repeatedly raised evidence of wrongdoing at Republicans’ own hearing entitled, “All in for America250: Public-Private Partnerships Supporting America’s Semiquincentennial on our Public Lands.” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum testified he was “not aware of the final decisionmaker” behind Freedom 250, and the Department has refused to provide that information since.

Read the full report here.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (25th District of FLORIDA)

Fox News

Op-ed: REP MARIO DIAZ-BALART: We are stopping Cuba from trafficking doctors for profit

July 5, 2026

Read the full op-ed here:

A new law authored by me and passed by Congress in February 2026 punishes countries that are complicit in the human trafficking of Cuban doctors by way of the Castro regime’s medical missions abroad. The same law for the fiscal year 2027 is expected to be voted on in the House soon.

For decades, the Cuban dictatorship has made billions by coercing its medical professionals to work in places no one wants to go, under the worst labor conditions. 

But the doctors themselves see very little of that money. The regime on the island earns an estimated $4-8 billion per year from the program, and regime operatives keep 75-95% of what the doctors are paid.

The U.S. State Department says the regime confiscates the doctors’ passports, forces their families to stay in Cuba as leverage, assigns handlers to watch them and punishes families if a doctor defects. 

Since 2010, State Department reports have called the program exploitative. Appropriately, State labeled the practice “human trafficking” or “forced labor” run by the Cuban regime in 2020.

A new provision in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026 targets countries that pay the authoritarian dictatorship for these exploited medical workers. The State Department must now list every country or group that pays for these personnel and notify them they’re on the list. 

If a country stays on the list for two years in a row, it loses all U.S. foreign aid. Foreign officials involved can be banned from entering the United States, and their finances and property here may also be frozen.

The law is already obtaining results. Guatemala, Jamaica, Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Paraguay and Honduras are reducing or outright ending their use of Cuban doctors. 

Some, like the Bahamas, are changing terms by trying to pay doctors directly instead of paying the regime – something the dictatorship has rejected before. Consequently, the Trump administration has enforced this law by imposing visa restrictions on officials from Brazil, Grenada and some African countries tied to the program.

This legislation ensures accountability, something that past Democratic administrations were willing to overlook. It exposes those who benefit from the program and hits them with real punitive consequences: the loss of U.S. aid, travel bans and financial sanctions. The law also strongly supports the oppressed Cuban people by protecting Cuban doctors from exploitation and abuse, while cutting off a critical financial lifeline to the regime.

Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart serves as vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee and chairs its Subcommittee on National Security, Department of State and Related Programs.

###

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Kim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08)

WASHINGTON, DC– As reported today in The New York Times, Congresswoman Kim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08) and Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) demanded immediate action to address a growing and preventable public health crisis: the rising rate of vitamin K refusal at birth and resulting vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB) among newborns in a letter to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.  

“The vaccine misinformation and confusion that RFK Jr. has championed for years has now created a ‘spillover effect’ that is causing parents to refuse the vitamin K shot and other routine care, putting their babies at risk of life-threatening hemorrhage,” said Congresswoman Kim Schrier. “As a pediatrician and member of Congress, I am focused on doing all I can to hold RFK Jr. accountable for every preventable death and illness of our nation’s children. That is why I am proud to join Senator Alsobrooks in this effort to demand the CDC follow and publicly release data on the burden of vitamin K refusal rates.”

“RFK Jr. has spewed lies and dangerous rhetoric about vaccines, and now we are seeing the devastating consequences. Newborns are dying because their parents are refusing to give them a shot of vitamin K, an essential nutrient. We need leadership and action right now. Rep. Schrier and I are calling on the CDC to monitor and understand the burden of vitamin K refusal rates, and the related deaths – and then to make that information publicly available. This is objective information that the public deserves to see,” said Senator Alsobrooks.  

“More than 60 years ago, scientists discovered that a simple injection of vitamin K administered shortly after childbirth could protect newborn babies from potentially deadly bleeding disorders. This was a game changer and is why the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended a vitamin K injection as part of a newborn “safety bundle” since the 1960s. But false and misleading claims have led to increased rates of refusal, putting the youngest and most vulnerable babies at unnecessary risk, and now we’re seeing the devastating impacts,” said AAP President Andrew D. Racine, MD, PhD, FAAP. “I want to thank Representative Schrier and Senator Alsobrooks for bringing attention to this important issue and calling on HHS to take action to protect children, and I encourage parents with questions about vitamin K or any aspect of newborn care to speak with their child’s doctor.”

Read full text of the letter HERE.

###

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jimmy Gomez (CA-34)

Rep. Jimmy Gomez Delivers Air Purifiers and Essential Supplies to Families Impacted by the Lineage Logistics Fire

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

NEW ORLEANS, La.—Last night, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Fox News’s Hannity to discuss how the Democrat Party is increasingly nominating far-left candidates with out-of-touch policies. Leader Scalise also highlighted how Republicans’ Working Families Tax Cuts are expanding opportunity for hardworking families through lower taxes, Trump accounts, and the first-ever nationwide school choice tax credit.

Click here or the image above to view Leader Scalise’s full remarks. 
Highlights from Leader Scalise’s interview:On the rise of Communism in the Democrat party:“It’s insane to see how far left the Democrat Party has moved to where now literally it’s a Bolshevik Revolution. I mean, the Communists have taken over. This is not your father’s Democrat Party, and it’s really the candidates that they’re nominating that are the far-left extremist lunatics. Many Democrats across America are not that far left. But this is a choice election. Voters are going to have to make some serious choices.”On the Democrat Party nominating radical far-left candidates:“If you’ve just been used to voting Democrat all your life because maybe you just support union candidates, those days are gone. And those candidates, by the way, are getting defeated. The pro-union Democrats are getting defeated by communists who hate this country. And some of the things that they stand for, I mean, we’ve got a candidate in Colorado who wants to tax eggs and milk. You’ve got a candidate in New York who wants to get rid of prisons and the police, not just defund the police, get rid of them and get rid of the prisons. Where are the criminals going to go? We all know how this ends up.“You had the great Brandon Gill on the show earlier talking about Graham Platner. I mean, no Democrat leader would denounce him after the first woman alleged that he sexually assaulted her, after the second woman, after the Nazi tattoo. They’re okay with these candidates because in many cases they’re endorsing them. The Democrat leaders are also out of touch with most voters in this country, but that’s on the ballot this November. Everybody needs to know what is on the ballot this November.”On the Working Families Tax Cuts delivering for American families:“We’re doing a lot for kids, and frankly, to give them more opportunity. That’s what President Trump’s been committed to. We just celebrated one year of that great bill, the Working Families Tax Cut, being signed into law on the Fourth of July. By the way, didn’t President Trump give a great speech? To inspire the nation. You know, those of us that still love this country, which by the way is most Americans. Forget about the Democrat Party leadership, most Americans still love this country. But there are a lot of good things. It’s not just the fact that if you’re an overtime worker, a police officer, or a shift worker, you don’t have to pay taxes on overtime or tips. Seniors get great benefits.” On House Republicans expanding opportunity for America’s kids:“Young people are benefiting tremendously from this bill. The Trump accounts, when you’re born, you get money in your name that you can manage. You look at the first ever school choice program. It’s opt-in, opt-out. Most states are opting in, but look at, look at California. You’ve got Gavin Newsom saying no to low-income kids having more opportunities. So call your governor if your governor is like Hochul or Pritzker or Gavin and is hurting those low-income kids. Remember, it’s only low-income kids that benefit. Every state can participate. Some states like California, New York, and Illinois said they don’t want to help their low-income kids, but it’s not too late.”