Friends,

After passing the One Big Beautiful Bill last week, I was back in Kansas to observe Memorial Day and meet with constituents across the district. Nothing beats coming home!

We recently learned President Trump approved Kansas’s request for a federal disaster declaration following March’s severe storms that claimed the lives of at least 32 people across our region. We unfortunately suffered major damage right here in the Second District when the storm spread a brush fire to the nursing facility in Yates Center. Thankfully, no one was injured, but the facility suffered a total loss. The severe weather also caused additional damage and tragic loss of life when a dust storm in western Kansas caused a 70+ car pileup, claiming 8 lives and injuring nearly 50 people.

Last month, I joined my Kansas colleagues in encouraging President Trump to approve this declaration. The declaration is critically important, as it allows our impacted cities, counties, and select nonprofits to apply for special assistance from the federal government. The storm damaged nearly one-third of Kansas counties, and the state estimates up to $8.5 million of these storm damages are eligible to be repaired using federal funding.

Rebuilding our communities after severe weather events is never easy, but I’m confident we’ll continue to assist our fellow Kansans who were affected by these storms in any way we can. Though the federal declaration will go a very long way toward recovery, it’s still up to us to help our neighbors out during their time of need.

I’m thankful our state and federal leadership came together to secure these funding resources. I will always put the needs of Kansans first in Washington.

This week, our House Judiciary Committee announced we’re teaming up with the House Oversight Committee to investigate the Mayor of Nashville, TN, for blocking federal enforcement of immigration laws.

While this investigation is specific to Nashville, sanctuary city policies exist across our country. Several weeks ago, I highlighted how these policies weaken community safety, even in states that have outlawed them.

The American people have been very clear: they’re sick of the open borders and lawlessness that defined the previous administration. As my colleagues and I work to conduct rigorous oversight to keep Americans safe, we must also codify President Trump’s commonsense executive orders.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act provided much needed funding for border security and the deportation of illegal aliens; however, turning these executive orders into laws is the only way to ensure a single administration can never again unilaterally endanger our country the way the previous one did.

Council Grove Lake is a popular spot for Kansans to boat, swim, camp, and relax during the summer months. Unfortunately, because the lake is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, the lake’s operating status for the summer was recently in flux due to a staffing shortage stemming from the federal hiring freeze.

Thankfully, after I worked with the Trump Administration and Senator Jerry Moran, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll signed a hiring freeze exemption for the lake last week. The exemption will allow Council Grove to hire the necessary staff to keep the lake open all summer long.

I applaud the Department of Defense for their quick response, and I join Senator Moran in encouraging the Army Corps to hire these positions quickly so Kansans can enjoy their summer activities without interruption!

Last week, the House continued to move America back toward energy independence by undoing another burdensome and unnecessary regulation imposed by the prior administration.

S.J. Res. 31 reverses the Biden-era “Once-in, Always-in” rule, which permanently classified industrial facilities as “major sources” of emissions. President Trump revoked this policy prior to leaving office after his first term; however, the Biden administration reinstated it during their last months in power.

The rule has two major negative effects: not only does it place unnecessarily high emissions standards on our energy producers, eliminating good-paying Kansas jobs and raising prices for consumers, it actually discourages our producers from lowering emissions. When the Trump Administration revoked the rule, it allowed energy producers who made significant investments in emission reduction to “reclassify,” moving them into a category which provides more emission standards flexibility and lowers the costs imposed on producers.

This rule is yet another example of how the heavy hand of government often stifles innovation, raises costs, and discourages innovation and investment for American producers. With the One Big Beautiful Bill now in the Senate’s hands, I hope to see the House move onto undoing many more of the previous administration’s rules in the coming weeks.

Congratulations to the Pittsburg State University Men’s and Women’s Track & Field teams, who performed excellently at the 2025 NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championships this past weekend in Colorado!

The men took home the championship by winning seven individual event national titles over the three-day meet, leading to a dominant win. This is Pitt State’s fourth consecutive men’s outdoor national championship victory and eighth overall track & field title (including two indoor titles this year and last year).

The women, meanwhile, placed third overall and took home Pitt State’s fourth straight top 10 outdoor national finish. This came after their MIAA Outdoor Conference Championship victory earlier this month.

Congratulations to both the men’s and women’s team for their outstanding performances! We’re blessed to have such an accomplished athletics program here in southeast Kansas.

I’ll return to Washington next week. With the One Big Beautiful Bill in the Senate’s hands, our focus is now codifying both President Trump’s executive orders and the DOGE cuts. Without congressional action, all the good work this administration has done so far could be wiped away with the stroke of a pen once someone new comes along.

We must not allow that to happen.