Texas GOP Vote

The Texas Legislature is designed to kill legislation, not to pass it. There are countless ways in which legislation can die. Put simply: That's usually a good thing. The vast majority of the time, the government should get out of the way and let the private sector do its thing. After all, less legislation usually equals less government and less government always equals more freedom.

The flip side of that, though, is that there are times when the machine of Austin politics can kill very good legislation. Our readers know that one thing that has got to stop in Texas is the intentional misclassification of workers, sometimes called payroll fraud. It's a huge problem in the construction industry, and there are some companies that would love to go right on cheating taxpayers by avoiding payroll taxes and using the gray areas of the law to hire illegal immigrants.   Read more »

Imagine you are living in a community where a terrorist has recently exploded two devices in a crowd of innocent people. Actually, you don't have to imagine this because it happened to the community of Boston on April 15th. You have been keeping up with the news and you are on the lookout for the two suspects who the authorities have released pictures of earlier this day. Now you are sitting in your home and hear a major gunfight going on in the street

My Army National Guard Unit went to Camp Swift in Texas last month to do our annual weapons qualification. As soldiers, we are supposed to be good at shooting, right? To be good at shooting we have to practice, right? Unfortunately, soldiers in the military have just not been able to get the ammunition needed to do, well, anything in the form of quality individual weapons training. Why? We just do not have the ammunition is what we have been told. So as the Department of Homeland Security stockpiles ammunition, real soldiers are facing a shortage of bullets.   Read more »

Under the outstanding leadership of State Affairs Committee Chairman Byron Cook (R-Corsicana) and with help from Texas State Senator Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands), Texas roadways are one step closer to being made safer as the committee voted a committee substitute version of the "Safe Driver Bill", HB 3206 out of committee. With the cooperation of the bill's author, Rep. Roberto Alonzo (D-Dallas), Sen. Williams and

Yesterday on the House Floor, I highlighted my Expedited LNG for American Allies Act. The bill, which is the House companion to bipartisan legislation introduced by Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), seeks to help strengthen our strategic partnerships with key allies, reduce the trade deficit and boost job growth right here at home by streamlining the regulatory process to export natural gas to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries, Japan and others. This bill is a modified version of the LNG for NATO Act, originally authored by Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) and which I introduced as the House companion bill in the 112th Congress.

I introduced H.R. 1577 The McLelland-Hasse Line of Duty Act. This legislation calls for increased protections for prosecutors and judges who are in danger of retaliation or intimidation. It would also increase federal penalties for those who seek to harm public servants. This bill would also allow law enforcement officials to carry firearms in all federal facilities, federal courts, and in other jurisdictions for their protection. Senator Cornyn has introduced the companion bill in the Senate.   Read more »

In a shocking last minute decision, President Obama backed out of his engagement to be the keynote speaker at this week’s planned parenthood “time to care” annual gala.

Instead of canceling the event completely, however, Obama will still demonstrate his unwavering support for Planned Parenthood by speaking at a smaller, lower-profile event on Friday.   Read more »

Today I released the following statement regarding H.R. 1449, the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act of 2013 (CHIA) that he recently introduced in the House:

Unlike college and university owned housing, not-for-profit student housing entities are currently prohibited from using charitable contributions to build and maintain their facilities. That is why I have introduced the Collegiate Housing

On April 4, 2013, The Baker Institute hosted a Conference: Immigration Reform: A system for the 21st Century. It was a forum where U.S. immigration experts, key public policy and political figures discussed the specifics of how to revamp our current broken immigration system. Discussed were specific issues that included “the changing demographics of the nation, the state

My thoughts on human nature, how liberals get it wrong and how it affects our policy.

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