I am pleased by the progress being made on a new mental health facility for veterans in the Sixth District. Scheduled to open this fall, it is expected to serve approximately 25,000 veterans a year and will focus primarily on mental health services for veterans. It will offer programs on suicide prevention, outpatient general mental health, outpatient post-traumatic stress disorder treatment, and a variety of individual as well as family therapy options. I'm grateful for the hard work going into this facility and for the opportunities it will provide to serve so many of our veterans.

We have reason to be hopeful as vaccinations continue to be administered and the numbers of new COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to fall.

Read more on COVID-19 tracking and vaccination updates here and here.

From Washington

It has been clear from the beginning of this Congress that we have some tough fights ahead. The Democrats have quickly charged ahead with legislation that will further damage our economy as it tries to recover from the pandemic, keep children out of school longer, erode freedom of speech and religion, and undermine our elections. Here are three major bills just passed by the House that present major concerns in these areas.

This bill poses as relief, but in reality has far more to do with radical leftist priorities. Among many other things, it includes:

For more information on the waste in the stimulus bill, I hope you'll check out the Republican Policy Committee's brief on what is in the bill at www.republicanpolicy.house.gov

It's difficult to overstate how dangerous this bill is to America's founding principles of self-governance. The Democrat majority styled it the "For the People Act," but it is much more accurate to call it the "For the Politicians Act," as it takes the away the right of states to conduct their elections and forces them to adopt procedures that will further undermine people’s confidence that our elections are fair and honest. H.R. 1 nullifies state election laws requiring voter ID and signature verification for absentee voting. It would make it even more difficult for states to maintain accurate voter registration files even though the Voter Registration Act, a federal law passed by Democrats in 1993, requires the states to keep accurate voter registration records. This bill also creates a federally funded campaign fund for candidates running for Congress that will give candidates $6 for every $1 dollar they raise. If this bill were to pass, it would eventually lead to the establishment of a permanent ruling class where only the rich and well-connected will govern us. Read more and watch my floor remarks here.

This bill is presented as an important step in expanding civil rights protections, but it would be more accurately titled the Inequality Act. It would effectively erase biological sex identifiers from legal language, which would have frightening implications for America's women and girls. If it becomes law, biological males could legally invade female-only spaces such as girls' sports teams, bathrooms, and battered women's shelters, simply by declaring they are women. Past generations of women in America fought for years for the legal recognition of women's uniqueness and contributions to society. I urge you to call your Senators, and share with your friends to call their Senators, to urge them to vote against the Equality Act.