Blogs

Washington, DC: For the last seven years, Congressman Mike Turner, the Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, has fought to protect the parental rights of our service men and women.

Last week, the bipartisan FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act successfully passed the Senate and is headed to the President’s desk for his signature. Congressman Turner authored and successfully included provisions in this bipartisan legislation that will provide a uniform national standard that prohibits state courts from using past, current, or future deployment against service members when making child custody determinations. Read more about Congressman Turner Secures Important Protections for the Parental Rights of Our Service Men and Women

On Monday, December 15, the Collin County Commissioners Court will hear a presentation from the Collin County Director of Engineering Clarence Daugherty.  Mr. Daugherty will recommend an approach to plan for and develop the transportation system that will be required to support our build-out population of over 2 million people.  Also in attendance will be Kelly Selman, Deputy TxDOT District Engineer, and Michael Morris, Director of Transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG). There are many factors as we continue to discuss how we will approach our future transportation needs, and I welcome your input.   Read more about Collin County Commissioners Court Meeting to Discuss Our Long-Term Transportation Needs

I issued the following statement after voting to prevent another government shutdown:

A broken process created by years of Senate Democrat control has yielded an agreement that is less than perfect.

Despite this, this legislation slashes spending for some of the President’s most overreaching agencies like the IRS and EPA, blocks the Administration’s plan to transfer dangerous terrorists onto American soil, and alleviates small businesses from some of the job-killing regulations stifling growth across the country. Read more about Cornyn Votes to Keep Government Open

Republican Party of Texas - The fourth quarterly meeting of the State Republican Executive Committee met at RPT headquarters in Austin on Friday, December 5 and Saturday, December 6. This meeting marked the first official meetings of the individual committees following the appointment of committee members at the third quarterly meeting in September.

Read more about Fourth Quarterly State Republican Executive Committee Meeting Recap

The Federal food police are whipping up their latest batch of distasteful government regulations. With a government fist around an iron spatula, the Federal Government has become the new Mr. Bumble from the book "Oliver Twist."  Read more about Nanny State Lunches

The House of Representatives yesterday approved bipartisan Science Committee legislation to coordinate and drive research and development (R&D) across federal agencies to address cyber threats to America’s high-tech infrastructure. The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2014 (S. 1353) is the work of a bicameral, bipartisan compromise prioritizing R&D to help create new technologies and standards to protect America’s information technology systems. Read more about Bipartisan Cybersecurity R&D Bill Headed to President’s Desk

So the Democrats are for peace and the Republicans are for war, huh? Then why is the Democrats’ leading candidate a consistent hawk? Who's the real Hillary Clinton? My guest today, Kelley Vlahos, says she's the "military-industrial candidate." Read more about Hillary Clinton: The Military-Industrial Candidate

Texas State Representative Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston) filed a bill in the Texas House of Representatives to increase fines for employers who misclassify workers as independent contractors when they should rightfully be classified as employees. This technique is often used by companies to work illegal immigrants as independent contractors avoiding the I-9 employment documentation process. Read more about Texas House Democrat's Bill Could Impact Hiring of Illegal Immigrants

I spoke on the Senate floor today on a provision in the FY2015 Defense Authorization bill making victims of the November 2009 terrorist attack at Fort Hood eligible to receive the Purple Heart. 

“Shortly after the attack, it became clear that Hasan was motivated by the same poisonous ideology that spurred the attacks on September the 11th, 2001.

Every day the intelligence community goes to work to protect Americans. They risk their lives on covert battlefields all around the world to prevent another attack on America. Thanks in part to their efforts, there has not been another attack on U.S. soil since 9/11. Today our enemies are as strong as they have ever been, and we continue to rely on the CIA and the intelligence community to keep us safe. Unfortunately, in their final days in power, Senate Democrats are suddenly releasing a report that criticizes the CIA and focuses exclusively on Bush-era interrogation methods six years after President Bush left office.