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.

Friends,

I hope you’re enjoying a safe and restful Memorial Day Weekend. Though many of us will be relaxing over the long weekend, it’s important to remember what we’re commemorating.

Freedom is not free, and it’s imperative we never forget the millions of Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our liberties. Our nation owes them an eternal debt of gratitude.

Last week, the House passed President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. This is a significant accomplishment and represents a major step toward getting our country back on the right track.

Though that was the big news out of Washington last week, I also introduced my first piece of legislation as a U.S. Representative, aimed at protecting taxpayers from frivolous lawsuits.

Last week, the House passed H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

This bill delivers much of President Trump’s America First agenda, which a large majority of Kansans in our district favor. After a long negotiation process, we passed a legislative package that features major wins for middle-class Kansans, small businesses, and family farms.

Some of the wins we secured include:

• preventing a $1,147 tax increase on middle-class Kansas families;
• fully funding border security and the deportation of illegal aliens;
• eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in federal programs;
• unleashing U.S. energy dominance;
• reforming the federal regulatory system to ensure accountability;
• codifying several of President Trump’s executive orders;
• investing in clean air;
• advancing significant portions of the long-overdue Farm Bill, and;
• repealing the Green New Deal’s tax breaks for big corporations and billionaires.

Notably, we strengthened federal safety net programs by requiring healthy, able-bodied adults to work to receive public benefits and enforcing the prohibition on illegal aliens receiving public benefits. We also increased payments to rural hospitals and other healthcare providers in states like Kansas that declined to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.

Additionally, we fulfilled several of our important promises to the American people, including no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on car loans to buy American-made vehicles, and tax relief for seniors who receive Social Security.

This bill is not perfect; no legislation is. Our gross national debt now surpasses $36 trillion and there is much more work to be done to adequately reduce our level of federal spending, but this is a start. In fact, this legislation represents the largest reduction of federal spending growth in U.S. history.

I will continue working to cut spending, reduce deficits, and institute financially responsible policies until we can fully back our nation away from the fiscal cliff we’re looking over. Failure to do so would be a disaster for generations of Kansans to come; that’s not a risk I’m willing to take.

Like many Kansans, I was horrified to learn two Israeli Embassy staffers were murdered on Wednesday evening in a horrific act of terror. ​Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were a young couple with their entire lives ahead of them, gunned down in cold blood by a radicalized criminal. Their deaths are particularly painful for Kansas: Sarah is from Johnson County and graduated from the University of Kansas.

Their murder was an antisemitic act of hatred carried out against the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Plain and simple. Earlier this month, I joined my colleagues on the House Floor to celebrate May as Jewish American Heritage Month, where I stressed the importance of elected officials, community leaders, and everyday Americans calling out and rejecting antisemitism and hatred.

Wednesday night’s act of terror is – unfortunately – not an isolated incident. Our nation has seen a sharp and extremely concerning rise in antisemitic incidents over the past two years. It’s never been more important to vocally and forcefully support the Jewish people and our ally Israel.

Last week, I introduced my first bill as a Member of Congress, the Wrongful Injunction Accountability Act.

In March, President Trump issued a memorandum directing federal agency heads to enforce existing federal court rules that require parties seeking injunctions to be completely liable for the cost of these injunctions if they’re found to be wrongful. Though the rules already exist in federal court, they aren’t always enforced. My legislation would mandate enforcement.

Several weeks ago, I supported legislation to limit the use of nationwide injunctions, ensuring this extraordinary tool is used as it’s intended: rarely. While my legislation applies to all injunctions filed against the federal government, the principle remains the same: no single person or organization should be able to weaponize our judicial system to grind the gears of self-government to a halt and waste an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars over a policy disagreement.

Far too often, activist groups shop their case around the federal court system until they find a judge who they believe will rule favorably. These judges are often part of the courts that don’t enforce these rules. With this legislation, we’re aiming to reform that vulnerable part of our judicial system to protect Americans’ tax dollars from frivolous injunctions.

Thank you to my colleague Harriet Hageman from Wyoming for joining me on this important effort!

Thank you to the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, and Kansas House Majority Leader Chris Croft for visiting with me in Washington last week! I also received the official seal of the United States Marine Corps to display in my office; the Army, of course, was the first to send their seal.

The One Big Beautiful Bill now heads to the Senate. Following passage there, the two chambers will come together to reconcile differences in the bill and send it to the President’s desk.

In the meantime, Congress will turn our attention to codifying President Trump’s executive orders, particularly the commonsense border security measures he’s put into place. The American people made it clear they want change in Washington; we’re working to institute it.