After watching this week's election returns, one thing is abundantly clear: Voters have rejected the Biden agenda. They have rejected Biden and the Democrats because they, and the legacy media, are fixated on things in the past instead of the real issues facing Americans today and in the future.
There are four lessons learned from Glenn Youngkin’s victory in Virginia:
First, the concerns of parents need to be a tier 1 policy issue for Republicans: Youngkin’s success reveals that Republicans can and must become the party of parents. There is real energy from parents that we need to understand. My colleagues and I are working to: - Rescind President Biden’s harmful Title IX guidance that hurts girls dreams to achieve excellence in sports;
- Ensure schools are funding Gifted & Talented and AP programs instead of exploding Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion administrators;
- Expanding 529 plans to include homeschooling expenses and alternative career pathways;
- Giving low-income families school freedom from low performing schools;
- Allow the Department of Justice to ensure federal funds are not being used to fund racist CRT curricula in violation of the Civil Rights Act;
- Promoting a fair and accurate historical curriculum based on the success and faults of our country’s founding;
- Maintain the Trump Administrations school safety guidelines to ensure schools won’t face retribution for suspending or expelling dangerous and violent students;
- Investigate the origins of the infamous letter from NBSA calling concerned parents “domestic terrorists," and the role the Biden White House played in its crafting.
Second, we need to end the mandates. In a Washington Post Op-ed Youngkin wrote, “Most important, we will never lock down our economy again.” And it’s not just business restrictions. Youngkin opposes vaccine mandates and mask mandates in public schools. We've been doing this at the federal level already: Congresswoman Claudia Tenney and I introduced a bill to prevent OSHA from imposing its unconstitutional vaccine mandate.
Third, we must continue to back the blue. Youngkin pledged to increase funding for police departments and protect “Qualified Immunity for our Law Enforcement Heroes,” which House Democrats tried to end through their police reform bill.
Crime, and particularly homicides, have spiked in Virginia and in every other state. In July, a USA Today poll found that crime, ahead of everything else, was the number one issue Americans were most concerned about.
Fourth, we must continue to focus on the failures of the Biden economy. Youngkin focused on providing relief to runaway inflation caused by the Biden economy and on not locking down the economy again. Our early focus on runaway inflation and the growing supply chain crisis is hitting home with voters. We need to keep hammering away and work on bringing solutions to the table to address their concerns. |
Biden told the private sector to "step up " on the supply chain crisis, but he needs to step up and scale back his policies that are making it worse. At this week's Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee roundtable of supply chain stakeholders helped us understand the top issues they're facing. T&I Republicans wanted to hear directly from supply chain industries about what policies and actions could further help or harm their ability to move products more efficiently across the supply chain.
Among the issues that T&I Republicans discussed with stakeholders: - Vaccine mandates that are making it harder to hire and retain workers.
- Overextended unemployment benefits that are discouraging people from going back to work.
- Inflationary spending that is driving up operations costs.
- Opposition to domestic energy production that is increasing our energy costs.
- Infrastructure policies that emphasize social and environmental justice rather than prioritizing actual improvements to our infrastructure or addressing supply chain issues.
- Port infrastructure funding in pending legislation that focuses on electrification and decarbonization – not real capacity or efficiency improvements.
- State and local laws and regulations that are creating additional hurdles to the movement of interstate commerce.
Full list of stakeholders at the roundtable: - John Butler, President and CEO, World Shipping Council
- Lauren Brand, President, National Association of Waterfront Employers
- Brooke Appleton, Vice President of Public Policy, National Corn Growers Association
- Jonathan “Jon” Gold, Vice President, Supply Chain and Customs Policy, National Retail Federation
- Bill Sullivan, Executive Vice President for Advocacy, American Trucking Associations
- Chris Burroughs, Vice President of Government Affairs, Transportation Intermediaries Association
- Fred Miller, Asst. General Counsel and Government Affairs Liaison, Association of American Railroads
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Remote learning has set students back academically and socially. Students are unprepared, and reading and math scores are down for students of all ages. Now, instead of working with parents to fix this crisis, Democrats in Congress are working to completely box parents out of their kids’ education. Democrats want to mandate what kids have to be taught and are labeling parents who stand up for themselves and their children as domestic terrorists.
In April, President Biden’s Department of Education proposed a rule that embraced the 1619 Project, “equity,” and Critical Race Theory (CRT) as priorities for grants in American history and civics programs across the country.
Now, the Democrats' socialist spending bill includes a radical effort to nationalize K-12 education, allowing the Biden administration to set standards in education across the country. Here’s how: - Gives the Biden administration authority to approve early education standards including what math, science, and literacy knowledge is appropriate for children, which could lead to CRT-inspired curriculum being taught to our nation’s youngest students.
- Provides child care to wealthy families, including universal preschool every 3- and 4-year-old is eligible to receive free child care, regardless of how much money their family makes or how many children they have
- Eliminates parents’ choices of child care providers by including onerous program requirements such as wage and credential requirements that will drive out family-based and religious providers.
- Provides student aid for illegal immigrants, who would be eligible for at least $7,000 a year in Pell Grants, up to $10,500 in federal student loans, and grant funds through Federal Work Study.
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Recent Co-Sponsored Legislation |
- H.R. 5831 - To provide for the mandatory detention of aliens who are security risks or present insufficient or false credentials, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 5834 - To amend title II of the Social Security Act to replace the windfall elimination provision with a formula equalizing benefits for certain individuals with noncovered employment, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 5846 - To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a program to provide grants to motor carriers and motor private carriers to transport goods during a national emergency or a period of time in which there is a certain percentage of port congestion, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 5847 - To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide that the transportation of goods from a port of entry and another place within the same State as such port does not constitute interstate transportation, and for other purposes.
- H.Res. 768 - Condemning the Biden administration for incentivizing illegal immigration by compensating illegal migrants who cross the southern border illegally and for stopping construction on the southern border wall and failing to enforce Migrant Protection Protocols.
- H.Res. 770 - Expressing support for the First Amendment to the Constitution and its bipartisan impact regarding the protection of free speech as well as academic freedoms for all students and faculty.
- H.R. 5816 - To prohibit the federal government, or State or local government or other entity receiving federal funding, from requiring any citizen to be vaccinated, including federal agencies from requiring its employees to take any vaccination, without the citizen being fully advised in writing of all known potential risks from the vaccine and consultation with a physician followed by the voluntary informed consent of the citizen, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 5824 - To permit civil actions against employers for COVID-19 vaccination mandates, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 5806 - To require the review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States of greenfield investments by the People's Republic of China.
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Saturday I had the pleasure of hosting a Passport Day with Galveston County District Clerk, John Kinard. We are making sure our constituents get more opportunities to grab their passports in time to travel for the holidays! Thank you to District Clerk Kinard for being such a gracious host!
If you missed our event, we can still help! Just call our office!
Before you make any travel plans, please remember to check the expiration date! It is a little-known fact that some countries won’t allow entry if the visitor’s passport expires in six months or less. This effectively means that your passport may expire months before you think it does. Please check your family’s passports and if any will expire in less than a year, begin the renewal process now.
The Department of State is experiencing delays in receiving passport applications due to unprecedented mail volume and other COVID-19 impacts on both the U.S. Postal Service and local passport processing centers.
You can now apply for routine service and expect to receive a passport in 10-12 weeks*. You also have the option of paying an additional $60 for expedited service to receive your passport in 4-6 weeks.
These processing times apply to applications submitted by mail and in-person at an acceptance facility in your community. Most acceptance facilities such as post offices, clerks of court, and libraries are open and accepting passport applications.
The Department of State encourages you to apply by mail when possible because it is a safe, contactless option for certain services.
If you plan to expedite your passport application due to upcoming travel plans, we recommend that you send your application using USPS' Priority Mail Express.
All of the passport agencies and centers are processing passport applications. Because of increases in COVID-19 cases and changing local health conditions, agencies and centers offer extremely limited in-person services. |
Friends,
Parents' involvement in their childrens' education took center stage in this week's Virginia elections after Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe – who served as Virginia's governor from 2014 to 2018 – said he opposes the notion of parents telling schools what they should teach.
I have always maintained that parents are vital partners in education. Research shows schools function best when parents are closely involved with both their children’s upbringing and the school’s overall operation.
But, I want to hear from you!
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Do you believe parents should – or should not – be telling schools what to teach?
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Submit survey to sign up for updates on my work in Congress.*
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It is a great honor to represent Texas’ Fourteenth District in Congress. We all know that 2020 has brought some challenging times. Please know that we have been and will always be here for you. Call or stop by our offices (which are YOUR offices), if you need help with a federal agency.
Bureaucracy often brings red tape, but we know how to cut through it, and we are proud to fight on your behalf. Whether you need help with immigration, IRS, Medicare, Social Security, passports, stimulus checks, small business loans, VA claims, FEMA relief, or other assistance, please call us!
We can also help with flags flown over the U.S. Capitol, nominations to the military academies, or tours in Washington D.C. We welcome opportunities to serve you. For assistance or more information, please call or go online or visit weber.house.gov
God Bless you and God Bless Texas!
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Sincerely,
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Randy K. Weber
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