Kevin Brady Discusses Covid-19, Return to Work Legislation and Police Reform on Houston Newsmakers

ICYMI, I joined KPRC's Khambrel Marshall on Houston Newsmakers to discuss Texas' response to COVID-19, the need to get unemployed American back to work, and what Republicans are doing to enact meaningful police reforms.

Click here or above to watch to the full interview.

On Texas’ Smart Response to COVID-19: 

I think we really have to refocus on what we know works – like social distancing, personal hygiene, self-monitoring, and the masks that helps protect others. We’ve been really fortunate. The first two phases our infection rate was going down, hospitalization was going down, and then leveled off. Texas enjoys one of the lowest fatality rates in the nation which we are fortunate for. 

But the last few weeks there was is a flair up that we need to address. I think the governor is exactly right because he said when it began in April, we are going to reopen gradually as the health conditions allow us to do that. So I think taking this pause, maybe even taking some more aggressive actions to try to address what we’re seeing now. 

Our local healthcare community has been remarkable in being over prepared for this, and thank goodness.

On Return to Work Legislation:

I’ve introduced, as Ways and Means Republican leader, legislation for a "return to work bonus" to help workers reconnect with local businesses. What we’re learning is the that the unemployment supplement is so generous in some states, three-fourths of workers get paid more not to work then to work. 

The worry is if we can’t reconnect them, fewer of our mainstream businesses will survive this, fewer jobs for people to return to and the economic bad news will last a lot longer. So we’re going to have to find some common ground to help businesses survive and get people back to work.

On the Need for Meaningful Police Reform: 

Let stop playing politics with this issue. This is deeper than a campaign issue, this is real life. This “go at it alone strategy“ will not work, we got to be able to come together. I do think that despite what you see on TV, America is unified. The murder of George Floyd was horrific. We want justice for Mr. Floyd’s family, we want those who did this to be held accountable. 

We want to make sure going forward that we have the reforms.Our law enforcement overwhelmingly serves good, but there are bad apples. We need to get them out and keep them out. We also need to help our law enforcement train and recruit and be able to keep good law enforcement officers. We need to be far more open about what we are seeing with the bad apples so that we can make those changes. And we have those elements in the Republican JUSTICE Act. 

The healing that we all want - and the trust between law enforcement and the relationship with the community - won’t come from Washington. It’ll come from back home, in our communities. That’s where each of us as business leaders, elected officials, law enforcement, and faith leaders are going to have to come together have some uncomfortable conversations and work together to heal.