Dear friend,
April was a busy month at home in Oklahoma as well as DC. From the border crisis to an energy roundtable in Tulsa featuring Republican Whip Steve Scalise, my work over the last month covered some of the most important issues in our country today.
There's a lot I want to share with you about what I've been working on.
First, I'm launching a new quarterly newsletter called 'The Veteran' focusing on the legislation, events, and resources for Oklahoma's veterans. You can sign up for quarterly updates from 'The Veteran' here.
|
Citizens Against Government Waste is a watchdog organization working to hold Congress accountable for the way we spend money. They do incredible work uncovering corrupt and wasteful practices of the politicians spending your tax dollars.
I joined the president of CAGW, Tom Schatz, for a Facebook live discussion on the importance of fiscal responsibility, the federal budget I've been drafting, and the rapid expansion of government we've seen under the Biden Administration so far.
|
|
|
CAGW President Tom Schatz (left) and Rep. Hern (right). Click here or above to watch the video.
|
|
I first went to the southern border in June of 2019, and I went with a Democrat Member, who returned home and called what we saw together a “humanitarian crisis”. This month, I went back and saw firsthand that things are exponentially worse. Despite there being a 173% increase in illegal border crossings, including two men on the terror watchlist, there is complete silence from Vice President Harris and the left.
The great men and women of the Border Patrol are encountering over 3,000 illegal aliens a day. Where is the compassion for the thousands of women and children that are being trafficked across the border and sexually or physically abused along the way? There is not one individual who is smuggled illegally across the border that is not paying the cartels a fee to do so.
The Cartels are making approximately $14 million a day with human and drug trafficking that is being enabled and incentivized by Biden administration policies. If the Cartels could have a vote, they would vote unanimously to keep these Biden policies in place indefinitely.
|
|
|
Rep. Hern at the Del Rio sector on the Southern border with US Border Patrol agents
|
|
I was honored to tour Crossover Preparatory Academy this month with my wife Tammy. We learned about Crossover’s impact on the north Tulsa community and how they are purposing themselves to build greater community through education, health care, career development, and housing.
The leadership at Crossover is excellent but the kids are even better. It was a pleasure to speak with them and get to know this great school!
|
|
|
L to R: Derrick Hill, Mrs. Tammy Hern, Rep. Hern, Phillip Abode
|
|
The Biden administration has taken executive action to trample over our God given, constitutional rights in the 2nd Amendment.
In his first two months in office, Joe Biden made over 56 executive orders. The Trump administration only did 27 executive orders and the Obama administration did 28 through their first two months in office. Biden has used his executive orders to assault jobs, prosperity, energy, immigration, and now, the 2nd Amendment, when he promised unity.
The Biden administration is soft on crime and hard on law-abiding citizens. States like New York and Illinois have some of the most stringent gun regulations, and yet they are among the leaders in gun violence in the world. We need to stop blaming inanimate objects for the deeper problems we know to be true in our society as it relates to mental health and individual responsibility.
I’m going to stand up for our rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution which has repelled these assaults in the past and will do it again today.
|
I spent some time with Cisco-Eagle's employee-owners learning about them and their company’s culture and mission.
Their work in distribution and manufacturing operations helps us keep critical industries empowered and in the United States. We need to support and expand the manufacturing supply-chain in the United States so we are not dependent on other countries for essential products. I appreciate employee owned companies like Cisco-Eagle, and how they help Oklahoma companies be more competitive and create more jobs.
Manufacturers in Oklahoma account for nearly 10% of the total output in the state, and employ 8% of the workforce. I would love to see more manufacturing jobs in Oklahoma and I’m working on pro-growth policies in Congress to help make that happen!
|
|
|
Rep. Hern with the Cisco-Eagle Team
|
|
Republican Whip Steve Scalise, Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse, my fellow Oklahomans Frank Lucas and Markwayne Mullin, and over a dozen other Members of Congress from across the country came to Tulsa for a roundtable discussion on energy.
We were joined by some of Oklahoma's leading energy leaders for a discussion on all-of-the-above energy policies and how natural gas plays an essential role in the development of clean energy. Oklahoma's successful all-of-the-above system utilizes coal, hydro, natural gas, and more to create clean energy solutions that are reliable and affordable for Oklahoma families and businesses.
It was really special to bring so many of my colleagues home to Tulsa to have this meaningful discussion, putting Oklahoma energy at the center of the national energy debate. While in Oklahoma, we toured several Grand River Dam Authority facilities, including the Grand River Energy Center.
|
It’s been 152 years since the number on the court has changed, and I do not believe there is credible evidence to support a change today. While the Constitution grants Congress the power to determine how many justices serve on the Supreme Court, I strongly believe Congress should never weaponize that power. I couldn’t be more strongly opposed to what’s happening in the White House right now, and I assure you I will do whatever I can to preserve the country we all love.
Democrats are trying to remove any and all obstacles in the way of executing their radical socialist agenda and don’t care what the cost is for the American people. Not only is the Supreme Court under attack, but the policy that has made the U.S. Senate the most deliberate body of government on earth – the filibuster.
This is more dangerous, more authoritarian, more extreme than anything we’ve ever seen in America, and it’s being perpetrated by the President of the United States and top leaders in Congress.
|
When I first got elected to Congress, my wife, Tammy and I, felt like we were drinking from a fire hose with all the information we were getting. However, one program in particular stood out to Tammy and she said, “we need this in our district”.
The Veteran History Project is a program made available through the Library of Congress. The project is designed to record and preserve the testimony, pictures and artifacts of our nation’s brave veterans, so they can be archived in the Library of Congress for the future generations of our veterans and for our country as a whole. Understanding the realities of war and the experiences of our veterans through personal accounts is so powerful and necessary to fully appreciate everything our great service men and women have done on our behalf. We appreciate all the veterans who have taken time to share their unique experiences with us. Tammy heard from a Vietnam war veteran this month via zoom, but we have talked to a number of amazing members of our community who served in WWII, Korea, the Gulf War, and many other places. Now we would like to hear from you!
Veterans and Gold Star families who are interested in participating in the Veteran History Project with us can call our district office in Tulsa.
|
|
|
Mrs. Tammy Hern conducts a VHP interview with a Vietnam War veteran.
|
|
I was honored to be asked to speak at the ribbon cutting and ceremony for the Green Lake bridge in Washington county, near the city of Vera.
Alexander Hamilton first noted the need for the federal government to take a role in infrastructure through the Federalist Papers, the precursor to the U.S. Constitution that was approved by Congress in 1777, until the U.S. Constitution was ratified on June 21st 1788. Our founding fathers knew that every great civilization before them had imploded because they failed to maintain their infrastructure, and they were determined to not let that be our fate.
I want to see more roads and bridges like this one built in our district and across the country. The federal government continue to fail in properly addressing and funding infrastructure needs, which is why I will always advocate for our local governments to have more control on issues like infrastructure.
|
|
|
Rep. Hern speaks at the Green Lake Bridge Ribbon Cutting and Ceremony
|
|
May is going to be another busy month as I'm planning to introduce the Republican budget in the coming weeks. I was honored when Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks asked me to lead the Budget and Spending Task Force at the start of the year.
Since then, I've formed a team of strong fiscal conservatives to develop a budget that confronts our spending problems head-on, cuts 1% across the entire federal government, and - most importantly - will balance in less than 10 years. We're introducing our federal budget to the House in the next couple weeks, and I expect it to be the only budget introduced in the House this year.
Please let me know if there is anything my office can help you with, call us at (202) 225-2211 in DC or (918) 935-3222 in Tulsa. As always, I keep everything up-to-date at hern.house.gov and on my Facebook page, so you know what's happening whether I'm in our nation's capital or at work in Oklahoma.
|
Sincerely,
|
|
|
Kevin Hern Member of Congress
|
|
|
|