Friends,

It has been a sad week in America. A young father and husband’s life was taken by an assassin’s bullet while he was engaging in a dialogue with those he disagreed with — exercising the God-given rights enshrined by our Founding Fathers in the Constitution. Charlie Kirk’s voice will live on in the organization he founded and the many young people who have been inspired by his example to participate in the political process.

This week also marked the 24^th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In the days ahead, I hope we can recapture some of the spirit of unity that pervaded our country in the days and weeks following 9/11. The rise in political violence in recent years is antithetical to the principles of self-government on which the United States of America was founded.

Let us resolve to honor Charlie’s memory by recommitting to those principles that he held and practiced — having thoughtful conversations with those with different beliefs and resolving our disagreements not with violence, but by informed participation in the democratic process.

This week, the House passed the annual legislative package to authorize funding for every aspect of our military for the upcoming year. This year’s bill focuses on overhauling the Department of Defense’s (DoD) acquisition process, allowing our Armed Forces to quickly and effectively adapt to a constantly shifting global battlefield.

As part of that acquisition reform, I was able to secure a provision in the bill that makes it easier for small companies to become suppliers for the Pentagon. My amendment requires the Pentagon to establish a single application process that minimizes paperwork and bureaucracy for small businesses interested in competing for Pentagon contracts.

In addition, the bill contains huge wins for our servicemembers and their families, including a 3.8% pay increase for military personnel, extension of in-home child care programs for military families, and expansion of TRICARE dental insurance to reservists.

The bill passed the House with a bipartisan vote of 231-196. It now must be reconciled with a different version under consideration by the Senate. Watch my speech on the House floor in support of the bill below.

There can be no doubt by now that President Trump’s efforts to secure the border have been successful, with illegal crossings now at historic lows. But, only Congress can enact new border laws that will ensure a future administration cannot turn back the clock and force Americans to relive the disastrous policies of the last four years.

To that end, this week the House passed legislation that will stiffen penalties for those who enter the country illegally — and in particular those who have committed a crime, been deported once (or even multiple times) and then illegally reentered the country. I was proud to cosponsor this bill, H.R.3486, the Stop Illegal Entry Act of 2025.

In my floor remarks in support of the bill, I spoke about a tragic 2016 case in Wyandotte County where an illegal immigrant, who had been previously deported and encountered law enforcement multiple times after reentering the country, killed four individuals in Kansas and one in Missouri. The perpetrator was not deterred by the current, weak penalties for illegal reentry, and federal officials in the Obama administration failed to enforce them. We must continue our work to codify strong border security measures to protect our communities.

As we continue to highlight the big wins for Kansas in the Working Families Tax Cut bill signed into law earlier this summer, I was pleased that the bill contained a new “bonus deduction” for our senior citizens. I have cosponsored a standalone bill that would fully eliminate income taxes on Social Security benefits — but due to procedural rules in Congress, a full repeal was not possible though the budget reconciliation process. Instead, the provision that was included will allow seniors to deduct up to an additional $6,000 (or $12,000 for married couples), which will fully offset the tax on Social Security benefits for the vast majority of the nearly 140,000 seniors in our Second District.

Learn more here.

Thanks to the many Kansans who visited Washington this week, including the Kansas Auto Dealers Association, Kansas Pork Association and Kansas Chamber!

Last night, President Trump approved a Major Disaster Declaration for Kansas, in response to the severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding that occurred June 3-7, 2025. My fellow members of the Kansas delegation joined last month in a letter to the President supporting the declaration. The disaster declaration will result in $5.7 million in federal funds to help communities recovering from these storms.

The 15 Kansas counties included in the disaster declaration include five counties in the Second District: Chase, Coffey, Lyon, Morris and Osage.