Trump eagerly advances the war on drugs, except when he does not, such as by pardoning a fellow crypto enthusiast to free him from a life sentence for drug distribution.

Republicans enacted the largest health care cut in American history—taking away access to a family physician for about 15 million Americans. States are responding by slashing already-too-low provider payments, making it more likely your child’s doctor won’t accept Medicaid.

To gain a better understanding of the impact of Trump's severe workforce cutbacks at the National Weather Service on preparation and response to the deadly July 4 floods, I have been seeking easily available, relevant chat, call & shift logs, and radar archives. The Trump Admin refuses to respond.

To mark 32 years of AmeriCorps, I was pleased to meet alumni—Jaclyn & Sierra—who continue engagement with the program to deliver services to neighbors in Austin. With projects and members across Central Texas, I applaud AmeriCorps’ commitment to uniting people, finding common ground & giving back.

Over 1 million Americans have hydrocephalus, a dreaded condition that results in cognitive impairment, memory problems, imbalance and loss of coordination, and other side effects. As co-chair of the Hydrocephalus Caucus, I’m working to deliver research funds for innovative treatments and a cure.

Pentagon censorship betrays the freedom it is charged to defend. In demanding pre-approval of press coverage, Trump’s Department of War defends only Trump while making the First Amendment the enemy.

Trump’s illegal blanket tariffs are causing prices to rise even higher. They’re also taking a bite out of American manufacturing, as the economy slows and Trump chaos causes business investment to stay on the sidelines. Now, our farmers are struggling to purchase the equipment they need.

Deadly storms + killer heat endanger Texans. Instead of building on modest progress, Trump is trying to erase scientific evidence proving that the ongoing climate crisis threatens public health/welfare. With House Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition leaders and advocates, I'm fighting back.

On Monday, @doggett.house.gov pushed back, reiterating his request for NWS call/chat/shift logs & radar archives, saying: "Outreach can hardly be called successful if the intended recipient, like the Kerr County emergency manager, was not reached." Read the letters: www.kxan.com/wp-content/u...

I led most of my TX colleagues in opposition to Trump's recent effort to deny and unravel basic climate science. Preventing EPA from acknowledging that greenhouse gas emissions harm our health will prevent us from maintaining modest climate action or taking necessary steps to cut emissions further.

Free speech is a bedrock of democracy, and Disney caved to Trump's power grab by pulling "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" off the air. Just as CBS canceled "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert." The Trump Admin takes a page out of Hungary's Viktor Orbán's autocratic playbook, whom the president openly admires.

When families are already struggling to pay bills, Republicans are intent on making healthcare more unaffordable. Today, I highlighted GOP efforts to keep raising prices and costs of healthcare. I will not support their efforts to inflict pain on people, making life increasingly more expensive.

More than 1,000 Health & Human Services staff are demanding RFK Jr. resign as he is “placing the health of all Americans at risk.” Trump and RFK politicize science, spread misinformation, and empower ideologues over trained medical and scientific professionals. Politics isn’t at stake; lives are.

In his book, “1984,” George Orwell warned of the future that Trump and his enablers seem intent on building. Blocking our efforts to shed light on Trump’s creation of a centralized digital ID should deeply concern anyone who treasures our freedom, civil liberties, and privacy.

Trump appointed an airline CEO to head the FAA, and now they’re moving to undo a consumer protection rule requiring airlines to compensate you for long delays that are the airline’s fault.

The murder of Charlie Kirk forms an opportunity to bring the country together to avoid further political violence. Outrageously, instead of seeking unity, the Vice President chooses to weaponize this tragedy and vows retribution against Trump's opponents.

Throughout American history, political cartoonists have challenged the status quo and held those in power accountable. Pleased my friend, director Bill Banowsky, is showcasing his film "Savage Art" about the life & career of renowned cartoonist Pat Oliphant on 9/26 at Austin's State Theatre.

About 40% of Americans are expected to develop cancer in their lifetimes. Taxpayer investments in research result in cures and treatments that steadily lower the cancer death rate, easing painful side effects, and bringing hope & relief to millions of families. Trump is cancelling these contracts.

Important report on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Their findings lead to the inescapable conclusion that the extremist Netanyahu government has gone far beyond its justified goal of defeating Hamas to pursuing a policy of ethnic cleansing. Ongoing U.S. complicity in these crimes must end.

At UT Austin, Senate Faculty meetings are a way for educators to have a seat at the decision-making table. Now, state legislative interference threatens to undermine the quality of Longhorn education. We don’t need Republican politicians deciding what can and can't be taught, and who can teach it.

In a significant escalation, Putin sends drones into Polish airspace, in what its Prime Minister called “the closest we have been to open conflict since World War II.” NATO allies forcefully condemn this provocation, but Trump displays weakness by failing to voice the slightest criticism of Putin.

New data show that taxpayers spend about $1 billion more each year to cover Texans with Medicare DisAdvantage plans offered by UnitedHealth Group and Humana. Why? These companies make patients appear sicker than they really are to secure higher taxpayer payments. I'm working to change this.

Trump‘s coffee tax means you pay more and more. 20.9% increase in the price of coffee over the last year.

A Fox News host from one of Donald Trump’s favorite shows is calling for the murder of homeless Americans. Violence is never the answer, and we as a society must not accept or normalize the use of such dangerous rhetoric. Will the President or GOP lawmakers condemn this?

Instead of lowering the temperature, Trump is spiking it. We should be united in rejecting violence, but this partisan, one-sided approach only adds fuel to the fire. (1/3)

Trump claims windmills cause cancer when all they really do is lower both electric costs and pollution. Another attempt to replace science with ideology, Trump’s efforts to kill wind power will hurt our wallets and our planet.

Pleased to honor my longtime friend, Jeff Travillion, for his outstanding service to the residents of Travis County Precinct One.

With Trump’s jobs record already stumbling, mass ICE sweeps deepen the damage. They tear families apart, chill investment, and slow hiring. These sweeps do not make us safer.

Years ago, I penned an essay for San Marcos Daily Record about my experience at the US Capitol on 9/11. The message still relevant: We must be both mindful of the horrors from the terror attack, while sustained by the memory of its heroes, especially first responders putting service ahead of self.

As gas and electricity prices rise, Trump and Republicans' Big Ugly Bill is set to gift a $700 - $800 million tax break to a SINGLE Texas oil company. Meanwhile, the same bill denies 15 million Americans health coverage and strains families' ability to put food on the table.

Today marks 24 years since the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil. As we remember the lives lost, we honor the survivors, first responders, and families whose lives were forever changed. (1/2)

Violence is never the answer. We must settle our differences with ballots, not bullets. Hope for recovery and swift prosecution of the shooter.

My constituent Greg Stoker and others on the Global Sumud Flotilla should be granted safe passage to deliver critical aid to those starving in Gaza. Threats from extremist Ben-Gvir to criminalize humanitarian action must be rejected. (1/2)

Gathered in the rain as weapons made in America rain down on Gaza's children. Horrific Hamas crimes don’t justify crimes committed against innocents through bombing and starvation. Netanyahu abandoned hostages for perpetual war. Trump too weak to restrain. All who fail to speak out are complicit.

Concern for the full recovery of an APD officer shot while trying to assure safety at the entrance to Zilker Park. Good to know that Austin Police Department already has a suspect in custody.

The extremist Netanyahu government is completely out of control and demonstrating absolutely zero interest in ending the war, as evidenced by their strike on key negotiators during a crucial phase of the war for hostages and Palestinian civilians. (1/2)

New appliances, toys and shoes are three of the products that have seen the steepest price increases from Trump’s illegal tariff taxes. If SCOTUS overturns a lower court finding that Trump doesn't have the emergency authority to levy his steep “reciprocal” tariffs, we can expect even higher prices.

1 in 4 adult women and 1 in 7 adult men have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner. Trump thinks this shouldn’t be a crime as he complains these criminal acts are ‘lesser’ and shouldn't be counted, cuts funds for groups assisting DV survivors, and seeks to deport survivors.

The National Park Service does more than keep our parks clean, safe, and welcoming to visitors—they also inspire children to become lifelong learners and defenders of the environment. However, Trump's mass firings of park rangers are forcing many of these educational programs to shut down.

Texas women are being brought to the brink of death, some dying, because of abortion bans. State GOP made it worse by voting to obstruct access to vital medication used for miscarriage care and more. Powerful essay from Kaitlyn Kash, an Austinite who barely survived under Texas’s draconian ban.

I salute the service of USAID employees returning to Austin, in a meeting with other community members, about the damage Trump and his enablers have inflicted globally, including to American soft power. Poverty and disease are skyrocketing, creating a world less safe for all.

The Trump Admin is delaying a Biden-era rule to test for unsafe levels of forever chemicals in drinking water, which can harm a child's health & development. I offered an amendment to the defense authorization bill to require PFAS tests & repairs at schools and childcare centers on military bases.

Trump pledged to bring high prices down. Instead, his steep tariff taxes – effectively an average 17% tax on imported goods, 600% higher than the tariff rate before Trump took office, the highest since 1934 – are driving prices even higher at an accelerating rate.

There are no exceptions to Trump’s inhumane immigration policy. Innocent children undergoing cancer treatment are deported and women fleeing domestic violence are turned away. These draconian measures are unAmerican and will cost innocent lives.

After promising to lower prices drastically, Trump’s tariff tax and economy do the opposite. While billionaires get richer, take a look at how much more families are paying during this back-toschool season. Congressional Republicans refusing to speak up enable Trump's chaotic economic agenda.

Already pardoned, Jan. 6 rioters now want taxpayer payouts. That’s not justice, it’s revisionism. I stand with the rule of law and those who defended the Capitol. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/u...

Didn't Trump promise to be a peacemaker and to avoid foreign entanglements? Now, he wants to rename the Department of Defense to the Department of War… Full of contradictions, just like his claim to lower prices, but enacting tariff taxes that force the average family to pay $2,300 more per year.

Though Central Texas is far from Central Asia, the need to protect human rights/promote democracy remains the same. As a member of the Helsinki Commission, I was pleased to join experts to discuss the importance of supporting American soft power, Ukraine & civil society to deter Russian aggression.

Trump’s illegal tariff taxes are killing job growth while raising prices on the average American family by $2,300 per year. One of the toughest hits is on American manufacturing, with 12,000 jobs lost last month and 42,000 gone since Trump’s “Liberation Day.”

This is the memorial plaque, which Congress approved to honor the bravery of our law enforcement officers in saving lives and protecting our democracy on Jan 6, 2021. It was approved before Republicans took over; now, they refuse to display it.