...in the People's House

Dear Friend:

Thank you for the opportunity to bring you this update—It’s an honor representing you!

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives welcomed the French President, Emmanuel Macron. President Macron spoke in English and took this opportunity to highlight the strong bonds and friendship between our two nations. President Macron also called for closer cooperation particularly highlighting our mutual security interests in Syria and the importance of stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Given President’s Trump recent announcement that he is contemplating ending the agreement with Iran altogether, I appreciated President Macron’s willingness to substantially modify the Joint Cooperative Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran to permanently keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. The current agreement repealed international economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for Iran limiting nuclear weapons development for a period of 10 years with no restrictions, whatsoever, on their ability to develop its ballistic missile capability. You can see his full address here.

I also want to take a moment to update you on H.J. Res. 118, the ‘Authorization for the Use of Military Force’ (AUMF), which I introduced in October of 2017. My bipartisan proposal received a boost this week when Senator Corker, the Chair of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, introduced in the Senate an AUMF that bears many similarities to H.J. Res. 118. Either AUMF, if enacted, will provide clear Congressional guidance in authorizing the use of military force against Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and any persons associated with these groups. Without a specifically named combatant in the AUMF, a President, under the War Powers Act of 1973, would have 48 hours in which to notify the Congress of the use of military force, sixty days to get an affirmative vote of support from Congress, and if not obtained, another 30 days to withdraw U.S. military forces from said hostilities.

The administration is still operating on the authorities of an outdated AUMF passed shortly after the terrorist attack on 9/11. One fundamental difference between my version and the one introduced in the U.S. Senate is that mine sunsets in five years and the Senate version does not. I think that having an AUMF expire on a date certain forces the Congress to fully debate the AUMF to determine if it needs to be modified. To see my remarks and those of my colleagues on this issue, click here.

On another front, this week marked yet another leaderless week at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA). I remain steadfast in the belief that the next VA Secretary must be ‘Marine Corps’ tough by using the powers granted by Congress to ‘clean house.’ In 2014, the Congress gave the Secretary of the VA the authority to fire senior level bureaucrats without all of the lengthy civil service procedures afforded to rank and file VA employees. Unfortunately, neither former Secretaries MacDonald nor Shulkin used this authority to fire senior level bureaucrats who year-after-year have had been the subject of failures documented through Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports and VA Office of Inspector General (VAOIG) reports. Unless the next Secretary his willing to “clean house” by firing those who have continually failed our veterans then whatever a new Secretary says or does will not matter unless they are willing change the culture of bureaucratic incompetence that defines much of VA’s senior leadership.

Finally, next week marks is ‘National Small Business Week’ in the United States. Over the last year, and since the passage of the ‘Tax Cut and Jobs Act,’ I have visited a variety of small businesses across our district to hear how tax reform has helped them in hiring and in expanding. It is estimated that 48% of all employees in the U.S. are employed by a small business. These small businesses are responsible for creating nearly 62% of all new jobs. I encourage you to support our locally-owned small businesses -- not just next week but all year-round. National Small Business Week runs from April 29 through May 5th. If you currently own or are interested in starting a small business, there are many resources available to you. You can learn more about available resources by attending the ‘Small Business Resource and Lenders Fair’ next Saturday, May 5th. For more information click here.

Thank you for taking the time to read my update this week, and I encourage you to follow me on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest news as they occur.