Education

I believe that all children deserve educational opportunity and a chance for future success.  We are lucky to have such great schools, faculty, and staff in the 14th Congressional District of Texas.  As the husband of a now-retired 4th Grade teacher, I know firsthand the hard work and dedication that our teachers and administrators invest in educating our future leaders.  These public servants are the unsung heroes within our communities.

Unfortunately, ever-growing federal intervention in education has come at the expense of state and local control, has saddled teachers and school leaders with a tremendous paperwork compliance burden, and has failed to effect meaningful gains in education.  The data shows that millions of children pass through America’s schools without receiving an education that prepares them to succeed in life and to thrive in the increasingly competitive global economy.  America’s students need and deserve better.  I believe it is our local schools—not some remote bureaucrats—that are best equipped to meet the needs of our schoolchildren.  We need to restore state and local control of education to better serve students across the country.

Jobs 

Just over two years ago, President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) into law.  Since then, we continue to see our economy grow through the creation of more jobs, 50-year low unemployment, and small business optimism. Our economy continues to flourish, with over 150,000 new jobs created every month in 2019. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ first 2020 jobs report, we surpassed last year’s numbers, adding 225,000 jobs in January alone, while holding the unemployment rate steady at 3.6 percent.

Additionally, nearly three quarters of newly-employed Americans came from outside the labor force—the highest ratio in three decades! The prime-age labor force participation rate also rose 1.8 points to 83.1 percent since President Trump was elected, which translates to 2.2 additional workers between the ages of 25-54. More importantly, Brazoria, Galveston and Jefferson Counties saw a 5.7 percent increase in GDP, 4.9 percent increase in wages, and 2.6 percent increase in employment since 2016.