Dear Oscar,
Last week, I was honored to take the oath of office to represent you and our communities for another two year term. I’m humbled by the trust you have placed in me and eager to make progress on behalf of our district.
The first order of business for this new Congress must be ending the damaging government shutdown that President Trump created over his demands for a border wall. Last Thursday, the very first day of the new Congress, a bipartisan majority voted to:
Fully fund and reopen all government agencies (except the Department of Homeland Security) with the identical bipartisan language that previously passed in the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support, and
Temporarily fund and reopen the Department of Homeland Security through February 8th effectively the same terms that unanimously passed the Senate two weeks ago.
While I wholly believe we need to constantly invest to enhance our border security, I have real disagreements with the President on how to effectively do so. That said, we must not allow that debate to sideline other important work and prevent our federal agencies from doing their jobs. The President should take “yes” for an answer immediately re-open our government. Then we can continue the debate without holding our government and the livelihood of thousands of American workers hostage.
Please continue reading for more from Congress’s first week of the New Year, including an ethics bill I introduced that was included in the major government reform package. Please also join me this Saturday in Glenview for our first Congress on Your Corner of the new term.
Sincerely,
Bradley S. Schneider
Member of Congress