Trump intimidation of the media appears to be working. CBS, now dominated by Trump ally, cuts an entire report on cruel immigration policies. Reminds me of how my own anti-Trump comments in interview are omitted in some broadcasts here in Austin.

In 2025, Trump’s cuts to research meant federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health & the National Science Foundation awarded roughly 6,500 fewer grants.

In Trump retribution style, RFK Jr. has cut millions in funding to the American Academy of Pediatrics, cancelling programs that save children’s lives, after AAP criticized his unscientific claims. This absurdity is deadly, with infants and children paying the price for RFK's ego and incompetence.

Trump’s limits on federal loan options will worsen a serious nursing workforce shortage and prevent many underpaid and overworked nurses to further their training. Trump continues to weaponize debt and push borrowers towards predatory private loan companies.

ore Trump lies about the boats he’s blasting, at least some of which are apparently neither coming to the U.S. nor transporting fentanyl. His regime has no legal or national security justification for killing noncombatants on the high seas. Just another unjustified war for oil.

I voted against the extreme Republicans' attempt to criminalize gender affirming care for transgender youth. Families & their doctors, not Republican members of Congress, should be able to make their own, private medical decisions.

Just as Trump‘s appointees gagged Kennedy Center board members, who opposed the outrageous and illegal renaming of this iconic institution for the “great leader,” his regime seeks to gag all who oppose its many other authoritarian actions. Only as more Americans engage can we stop the Trump tyranny.

Merry Christmas from Donald Trump. Tariffs up 300-fold on toys and ornaments. www.progressivepolicy.org/tariff-bills...

Big Surprise—AG Pam Bondi is ignoring the law requiring her to turnover the complete Epstein files today. During the months that Trump and his errand runner, Speaker Johnson, have been making zealous efforts to block public disclosure, Bondi had ample time to prepare these documents for release.

At the end of a long series of votes today, I missed the final vote on Crenshaw's misnamed Do No Harm in Medicaid Act, which would prohibit Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care for youth. I would have voted No, as I did when Republicans proposed this outrageous policy earlier in the year.

Rather than responding to the health care crisis, which he did so much to create, Speaker Johnson recessed the House early for the holidays.

Update on oversight efforts over Trump's foreign "aid" funds.

The Inspector General’s findings that Pete Hegseth's use of Signal endangered our servicemembers demonstrates one simple truth: After purging the Pentagon of its most experienced leaders in a MAGA crusade, Trump and Hegseth are the unqualified individuals imperiling our Nation.

Trump’s campaign rant tonight reminds me of a famous line from the old Marx Brothers comedy Duck Soup--"Believe me or believe your eyes?" He is clearly not buying groceries or other goods, made more costly by his tariff taxes.

Trump, who promised to keep us out of wars, is paving the way to send us right into another one. Too weak to stand up to the real threats to our security from Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, he distracts from his countless failures at home with deadly adventures abroad in Latin America.

Trump’s massive welfare program for his rural supporters will cover only a fraction of what they’ve lost from his chaotic tariff policies. His “Liberation Day” tariff taxes only liberated profits from farmers and other businesses and many dollars from consumer pocket-books.

After previously rejecting my amendment to maintain the tax credits that help millions of families afford ACA plans, Republicans shut down the government for weeks, and delayed all year. I spoke out today about the harm they are inflicting on our neighbors by replacing ObamaCare with NothingCare.

After rejecting my amendment to maintain tax credits essential to making the Affordable Care Act truly affordable, Republicans remain indifferent to the plight of so many Americans.

Saddened by the demise of Joe Ely. From Lubbock to Austin and beyond, he offered a unique voice and style. I’m grateful for the joy, fearlessness, and sense of place he gave us all. My thoughts are with Sharon and his family, his friends, and the countless Texans who loved him and his music.

This is yet a new hassle visitors have to worry about that will hurt U.S. tourism, all because the Trump regime doesn’t want any foreigners bringing non-MAGA ideas here. And expect some of these countries to retaliate by asking the same of you when you travel abroad.

The art of the deal, Trump style, appeasement for Chinese hackers, trade over national security. Trump’s weakness in dealing with other authoritarians once again on full display.

84 years after Pearl Harbor, Trump's security strategy makes it plain that he'll abandon US leadership of the free world. Europe’s embrace of human rights is the security threat, not Putin’s war crimes; Russia and the PRC are investment partners, not adversaries; and profit is the goal, not freedom.

The Trump regime's cruelty knows no bounds. Stopping LGBTQ+ safety standards in prisons threatens many to sexual assault and retaliation. As a Vice Chair of the @equality.house.gov, I oppose this harmful move from extreme Republicans.

As an active member of our Democratic Litigation group, meeting tonight with Democracy Forward, whose numerous successes challenging this lawless Trump regime are a source of genuine hope.  CEO Skye Perryman, originally from Waco, is clearly Texas tough.

Rabbi @SharonBrous writes on the miracle of Hanukkah and the persistence of light in dark times. She finds hope in the story of Ahmed el Ahmed, who risked his life to stop one of the gunmen at the Bondi Beach terrorist attack—a "spark of vitality” that reminds us we must not succumb to darkness.

Like his fellow authoritarians around the world, Trump is determined to squash all media that doesn’t adore him. Having already succeeded in cowering some American media, he is now determined to make CNN more like Fox because he can’t handle the scrutiny offered by unbiased journalism.

From his service as UT student government president to Austin Mayor through his active retirement, Frank remained a force for social justice and environmental protection. Frank and Lynn have been great friends—a great team contributing so much to our community.

As I urged unsuccessfully in August, District 35 is winnable and should never have been surrendered to Trump. A previous 10-point Trump lead is an aberration in this 57% Hispanic district. Unnecessarily yielding the power of Democratic incumbency makes prevailing now much more challenging.

Horrific terrorist attack in Australia that killed at least 15 innocent people as they celebrated the first night of Hanukkah. Joy and community should never be shattered with such terror.

🌟VICE CHAIR SPOTLIGHT — @doggett.house.gov🌟 Congressman Doggett is an accomplished legislator and steadfast ally to the LGBTQI+ in Congress. We're thankful for his work defending equality at home & abroad, and for his service as a Vice Chair of our caucus. Let us introduce you!

Betraying the military veterans Trump often mocks, his regime now seeks to eliminate 35,000 health care jobs—worsening wait times and quality of care at VA clinics and hospitals. All part of his effort to undermine and privatize the VA.

Despite continued GOP efforts to disparage and wreck the Affordable Care Act, almost 80% of Americans, including 57% of “MAGA supporters,” support extending the credits that help families afford coverage. Yet, House GOP are still only offering Nothingcare as their alternative to Obamacare.

Americans pay some of the highest drug prices in the world. I offered an amendment on a bill concerning home infusion drugs to write into law that Americans will not pay more than consumers in other wealthy countries. Republicans unanimously rejected a better deal to lower prices for Americans.

Dr. Kevin Gurney's critical emissions-tracking research helps us understand why Austin summers are getting hotter and extending into November. Trump cancelled his research funding—hampering our ability to address extreme heat and protect our community.

Trump regime amazingly creative in displaying its racism at every turn.

Trump again pressures Zelensky to concede territory while pressuring Putin to concede nothing. If Trump’s claim is true that “Russia has the upper hand,” it’s only because Trump has been underhanded. After all, he just released a security strategy that Russia praised as “consistent with our vision.”

Netanyahu’s request for a pardon in his corruption cases without any admission of guilt is the culmination of the far-right’s all-out assault on the rule of law. Trump made the same request for Netanyahu weeks before because he and his regime, too, deny any accountability for their crimes.

Americans are beginning to respond to the damage the Trump regime is causing. Yesterday Miami elected the first Democratic mayor in 30 years. Another Georgia surprise like that last month from both there and in Mississippi. The times are changing, perhaps even in Texas…

Trump launched a reckless trade war raising prices for Americans by $1,700/yr for the average family. China retaliated by refusing to purchase American soybeans. Now Trump is spending $12 BILLION tax dollars to bailout farmers whose markets he destroyed. We cannot afford this economic incompetence.

Higher prices are only in your imagination, stirred by those who fail to recognize Trump’s greatness.

None of us are made safer by deporting a 19-year-old, law-abiding college student who was returning home to Austin for Thanksgiving. Ignoring a federal court’s order, ICE wrongfully rushed to deport her in order to meet the Trump regime’s quota. Any Lucia’s nightmare is our community’s loss.

Trump welcomed sanctioned Russian businessman Kirill Dmitriev into the US with open arms, where he presented him w/ billion-dollar business projects for the US and Russia. Ever since, businessmen are angling for their cut of the action – and so be it if a free nation’s sovereignty is extinguished.

A new GAO report shows the Trump regime reversed efforts by the Biden Admin to stop fraud by insurance brokers, who falsified records and signed up consumers without their consent. Denying sick patients care isn’t the answer. I’m calling on CMS to protect taxpayers and provide real law enforcement.

Republicans yell “fraud” as an excuse for denying many ACA access to cancer care, medications, and more, while Trump reinstates insurance brokers, who were suspended by Biden for wrongdoing, and pardons Medicare fraudsters, who have stolen millions. I joined CNN to expose the real GOP fraud.

Claiming to be pro-family, Trump’s research funding cuts only limit our understanding of the environmental factors that may contribute to infertility. After ending Dr. Mahalingaiah’s research grant, her lab had to lay off young physician scientists, further limiting future scientific discoveries.

Trump’s fraud plan: punish innocent consumers and condone the criminals. Trading MAGA loyalty for free passes, Trump pardoned executives that swindled taxpayers by over $87 million in false Medicare claims.

The same Netanyahu-can-do-no-wrong crowd does not believe that Israel’s military should ever be prosecuted for war crimes. With the former chief military lawyer detained for disclosing the gross abuse of a detained Palestinian, the whistleblower has been punished instead of the wrongdoers.

America has always been at the forefront of scientific research, and the frontier of space exploration is no exception to that. Trump’s cuts to research, including Mason Peck’s spacecraft designs, is poised to cede America’s leadership in the scientific field to our foreign adversaries.

As Chair of the Czech Caucus, met with @CzechMFA Kateřina Sequensová, Daniel Volf, and Amb. Miloslav Stašek to affirm our shared commitment in countering malign influence of Russia and the PRC.

Appreciative of Consumer Voice for recognizing my commitment to consumer protection with their Public Service Award. I continue my advocacy while the Trump regime undermines one consumer protection after another.