I made a big announcement on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday: While I'll continue to serve you to the best of my ability throughout the remainder of this Congress, I will not seek another term. This is not a decision I reached lightly – and I couldn't be more grateful to the people of Texas for entrusting me to represent them for more than two decades. It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve you in the United States Congress.
The South Side of Chicago is a literal "War Zone" – 617 murders and 2,000+ shootings in 2023. So you'd think that reducing crime, especially on the city's poorer-minority South Side would be a bi-partisan effort. After all, don’t "Black Lives Matter" to Democrats and Liberals and the Woke-Left National Media that's running our great city? Our left-wing Mayor & Governor value virtue-signaling over real solutions, and clearly are not going to help.
When murders are committed for political purposes, we call it Assassination. That’s what the murder of Charlie Kirk was. And "racism" played a part in the brutal stabbing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska on a light rail train in Charlotte. The people who commit such murders are the sickest of the sick – and there are more of them out there, waiting. We need to learn and find ways to stop them – before they change history again.
We're happy to hear about former West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin's act of contrition – oh but wait, that's right; the last of the now-extinct moderate Democrat breed in Congress is out trying to sell his new book... while lashing out at his former party. He says Democrats are in the grip of "ideological purity tests" and a lust for power. Manchin says it was "all in the name of advancing their agenda."
In July, Pope Leo XIV announced the appointment of Bishop Daniel E. Garcia as the sixth Bishop of the Diocese of Austin. We are happy to welcome you to his Installation on September 18th, 2025. Prior to this appointment, Bishop Garcia, a native Texan, was ordained a priest and served in various leadership roles here in Central Texas before being installed at as Bishop of Monterey, California in 2019. Today we celebrate his return!
The assassination of Charlie Kirk is just one of many instances of violence against political figures – including two attempts, one nearly successful, to assassinate President Donald Trump. Most have been directed against Republicans. Some of the attackers have been lunatics possessed by delusions, but some are now politically motivated by feelings uncomfortably close to those of partisan politicians.
A sweeping housing reform bill signed into law earlier this year is now facing a major legal challenge, with housing developers warning the reforms will displace thousands of working-class Texans and accelerate an intensifying affordable housing crisis in the Lone Star State. According to the lawsuit, some of the so-called reforms will rewrite the terms of already existing affordable housing development agreements by retroactively changing the rules – a violation of the Texas Constitution.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Speaker Dustin Burrows today announced the formation of Senate and House Select Committees on Civil Discourse & Freedom of Speech in Higher Education. These select committees will meet jointly to study and issue reports on bias, discourse, and freedom of speech across Texas college campuses. The State of Texas has a responsibility to ensure its publicly funded institutions foster open dialogue and do not discriminate against students, faculty, or staff based on their beliefs.
I was horrified and deeply saddened to learn about Charlie Kirk's assassination. This kind of sickening political violence has no place in our nation and must be fully condemned by leaders across the political spectrum. I'm extremely grateful the Trump administration worked around the clock to bring the suspect into custody, and I look forward to justice being served in his case. Charlie's death is a horrific loss.
Last week, we were confronted with images almost too horrific to bear. First came the haunting video of a young, defenseless woman’s murder at the hands of a savage career criminal. Then came the shocking murder of Charlie Kirk, gunned down in cold blood, execution style, on an American college campus, targeted for his sincerely held conservative, Christian beliefs.
This week has been one of profound sorrow for our nation. We remember the attacks of September 11, 2001, and we also mourn the tragic murder of Charlie Kirk. Politically motivated violence has no place in America, and terrorism has no place in our world. Such actions can never be justified. I am deeply shocked and horrified by the violence in Utah as well as Colorado this week.
Governor Greg Abbott today announced that Funds for Veterans’ Assistance (FVA) grants totaling more than $7.9 million were awarded to 38 organizations in the Southeast Texas Gulf Coast and Houston area as part of the Texas Veterans Commission (TVC) Grants Across Texas Tour. Administered by TVC, the funding will provide services to over 5,200 area veterans and their families across 13 counties.
While I can’t say I was good friends with Charlie Kirk, there was very little daylight on policies between him, me and millions upon millions of Americans who mostly want to be lef alone by the vacuous left. But the nature of “progressivism” is to not leave anyone alone – it demands obedience, not only of actions but of thought. We refuse to obey, we refuse to conform, and they killed Charlie for it.
On January 17th, 2025, Joe Biden issued 2,490 commutations – more in a single day than any President had in an entire presidency. The controversial move is being investigated by Members of Congress and the U.S. Dept. of Justice, and in his role as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Federal Courts, Oversight & Agency Actions Subcommittee, Sen. Ted Cruz vowed to provide Attorney General Pam Bondi all the resources necessary.
Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL) has introduced legislation to codify and enforce President Trump's Executive Order requiring commonsense rules of the road for American truck drivers. H.R. 5177 – Requires that all weigh stations along interstate highways review the Commercial Driver's Licenses (CDLs) of truckers for irregularities and verify the English language proficiency of truckers.
Governor Greg Abbott today delivered the keynote address and presented awards to honor the service & sacrifice of Peace Officers, Firefighters, and 1st Responders at the 2025 Star Of Texas Awards in Austin. He honored and recognized the heroism of those who've sacrificed their lives to serve their fellow Americans on that fateful day.
Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock reminds families that it's not too late to save on enrollment in the Texas Tuition Promise Fund®, the state’s prepaid college tuition plan. The $25 application fee to enroll in the plan will be waived for September and October enrollments. (Enrollments by mail must be postmarked by Oct. 31, 2025.) Enrollment began Sept. 1 and runs through Feb. 28, 2026.
Charlie Kirk was a man of faith – with a deep love for Family & Country. For now, we mourn, we cry, we support his family and friends, and we take care of the country he loved. Some will call for us all to come together, to be more united – but I don't think that matches the man. He would want us to strongly express our opinions, defend them, and risk sharing our thoughts with conviction and clarity in dialogue.
