Press Releases

There is every reason to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Social Security, but unfortunately resistance from various forces to Social Security has lasted more than 75 years and continues to this day—it just changes forms and tactics.  Ensuring that our grandchildren have the same protection as our grandparents do today must remain a goal.

Today I spoke in favor of the Wall Street Reform bill.  If you are mugged on the street, you'll lose the contents of your wallet, but if you are mugged by Wall Street, you can lose the savings of a lifetime.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court overturned decades of precedent in a misguided court case freeing corporations to engage directly in political activity that had long been prohibited, including financing their own campaign commercials.  In response, the House today will vote on legislation, the Disclose Act, which requires stricter disclosure requirements on such political activity.  I spoke in support of the bill, stating "This is a vote for a fully informed, fully empowered American people. We want to keep America the best democracy, not the best democracy money can buy.

I have been trying to put a stop to the unchecked growth of tax breaks and to slow our growing National debt.  I am concerned about spending—whether through the Appropriations Act or the Tax Code. We need to closely examine both types of expenditures to ensure that each is effective, efficient and truly necessary. As we continue seeking ways to reduce the deficit, I look forward to hearing from you.  I believe that closing tax loopholes is an important way to protect the Treasury and better avoid raising taxes on working families.

44 million Americans are carrying in their wallet or purse something that makes them more vulnerable to identity theft: their Medicare card.  Apart from the Social Security card itself, the Medicare card is the most frequently issued government document containing a person's Social Security number and displaying such information on Medicare cards unnecessarily places millions of individuals at-risk for identity theft.

Today, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified to our House Budget Committee regarding his views on the state of our economy.  One of the measures that we discussed was H.R.

An important part of budget discipline is ensuring we are spending our precious tax dollars as effectively and efficiently as possible.  This means careful scrutiny of not only our spending programs, but also tax provisions to ensure we get the most "bang-for-the-buck.  As a small first step, I authored a study of expiring tax expenditures ("tax spending") to ensure they are still necessary and are functioning as Congress intended.  This study was included in legislation that recently passed the House of Representatives.

The Austin American-Statesman recently posted a letter to the Editor I wrote in response to an editorial about the judicial nomination process and alarming fact that one in eight federal trial courts, which consider 99 percent of cases never heard by the Supreme Court, are vacant—six in Texas. To read my letter to the editor, please click here.