Every week, I hear from farmers, ranchers, and small business owners who are hoping for a simpler, fairer tax code that will help them grow their businesses. Tax reform can help us strengthen the economy and create jobs. How? Well, for one thing, small businesses waste about 1.7 billion hours each year on tax compliance. And small businesses spend more than $18 billion each year on tax compliance costs

Despite promises to the contrary, it appears that State Senator Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth) voted on bills that affect her clients and favorably impact the bottom line of her law firm.

“I have never done anything in a way that represents a conflict in my voting and something that would benefit me personally,” she said in an interview, but state records seem to tell a different story. Read more about Wendy Davis Ethical Questions Surface

Yuri Maltsev, an adviser to Mikhail Gorbachev’s government, tells the story of his defection to the U.S., and relates stories from his life in the Soviet Union.

While at Moscow State University, he received special permission to read forbidden, anti-communist books. He was told to take his permission letter, get in the elevator, and press the button that had no number on it.

Critically, I believe that we cannot have immigration reform without border security. I also believe that we cannot have border security without immigration reform.

In other words, immigration reform and border security are mutually dependent – not mutually exclusive. To have one, we must have the other. The condition is an “and” – not an “either/or” – situation. We must have both, and we must have both now. Read more about Border Security and Immigration Reform Go Hand In Hand

Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-RX), Rep. Roger Williams (R-RX) Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX) and Sen. John Cornyn pay respects to the three soldiers killed at Ft. Hood. Read more about Congressman Farenthold: Paying My Respects at Fort Hood

Tommy Lynn Sells was executed on Thursday, April 3 and Ramiro Hernandez-Llanas was executed on Wednesday, April 9 in Huntsville, Texas. The fact that these two executions made national headlines caught my attention. Judge Vanessa Diane Gilmore, a US District Judge

Congressman Jim Costa and I joined members of the bipartisan Congressional Victims’ Rights Caucus to honor this year’s outstanding individuals that have gone above and beyond to helping victims of crime. Costa and I cofounded the bipartisan Congressional Victims’ Rights Caucus in 2005. This year, I awarded Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia with the Suzanne McDaniel Memorial Award for Public Awareness for his service to Harris County, specifically on the issue of combatting Human Trafficking

Houstonians are lucky to have the finest Sheriff in the nation protecting us. Sheriff Garcia is a lawman who has dedicated his life to making Houston safer, keeping criminals off the

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill originally pushed by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) that will prohibit any country from appointing a known terrorist to be an ambassador from that country to the United Nations. Sen. Cruz and House sponsor Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) called on President Obama to sign the bill into law.

In a rare showing of bi-partisan support, the bill received unanimous support in both the House and the Senate. Read more about Ted Cruz's Anti-Terrorist Ambassador Bill Heads to Obama's 'Pen'

Over the past several months, the House of Representatives has investigated the IRS’s intentional targeting of conservative groups and political opponents of the president. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Congressman Darrell Issa, has worked diligently to pursue the truth and found that former IRS Exempt Organizations division Director Lois Lerner played a central role in the scandal. Read more about IRS Scandal Update

The chatter around the Capitol so far about the race for the Texas Senate seat formerly held by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, has primarily focused on the two House members in the contest: Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands and Rep. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe. But, a lesser-known candidate by the name of Gordy Bunch, a successful businessman and a member of the equivalent of the city council in The Woodlands, says he’s working hard to get his supporters out and “get ‘er done” in the May 10 special election.

Bunch, who was first elected to The Woodlands Township Board of Directors two years ago, says he’s been able to use his business experience to help create one of the best-running governments in the state. Indeed, The Woodlands has seen taxes decrease and debt has been paid down while services have been expanded.