We are approaching tax day, a day that many Americans have come to fear and loathe. Let me first remind you that the deadline to file taxes has been extended to April 18th. The Obama Administration has levied new taxes and drastically increased spending. This has resulted in a more burdensome, complex tax code, which has had a negative impact on American businesses and families. Read more about Let's Talk Taxes
Wednesday I issued the follow statement on the passage of H.R. 699, the Email Privacy Act out of the House Judiciary Committee. The Email Privacy Act reforms the outdated Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) law of 1986. Under current law, the federal government can gain access to any electronic communications that is stored for at least 6 months in the cloud. Read more about Ted Poe Hails Passage of the Email Privacy Act
An Austin police SWAT officer was shot early Thursday morning while executing a search warrant. He was the second Texas police officer shot in the past twelve hours. The officer is in stable condition recovering from his wound. Read more about Second Texas Cop Shot in Less than 12 Hours
The Research and Technology Subcommittee today held a hearing to hear from IRS Commissioner John Koskinen following a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that highlights severe cybersecurity vulnerabilities at the agency. Such security gaps could expose taxpayers’ most sensitive data to hackers and cyber criminals. Read more about IRS Struggling to Secure Americans’ Sensitive Info
In the spirit of transparency, we find out yet another clandestine data-grabbing project that the Leftist bureaucrats don’t want discussed. It’s called Operation StingRay, and it’s allows the FBI to use fake communications towers to gather your cell phone data. Apparently the NSA will not share, so the FBI had to come up with its own methods of violating your right to privacy. Read more about FBI News: Heard of the StingRay?
Notice the title? Gatekeeper as defined by Wikipedia is this: "A gatekeeper is a person who controls access to something." There are gatekeepers for all kinds of activities and clubs and even churches, for that matter, but since I'm involved in the political world, I'm thinking of the GOP. I can think of a gatekeeper of the Republican party; actually I can think of a few of them. Read more about The Texas GOP Does Not Need A Gatekeeper
In an effort to force the Obama Administration’s hand after a nearly two-year delay, on March 14th the House unanimously passed a resolution that officially declared the actions taken by the Islamic terrorist group ISIS amount to genocide. Three days later, Secretary of State John Kerry and the Obama Administration finally joined the House in this declaration. Read more about House Successfully Pressures Obama to Declare ISIS Committing Genocide