Columns

This week, pro-life Americans marked the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v Jackson 2022 ruling which restored states’ ability to affirm the constitutional right to life for unborn children. For nearly five decades prior, the hopeful witness of pro-life advocates, perseverance of pregnancy centers tirelessly serving their local communities, and faithful work of many at multiple levels of public service planted the seeds for a culture of life, which continues to grow to the benefit of mothers, babies, and fathers in need of hope.

As American families make travel plans and assess energy costs for their farms and businesses during the summer, it is as important as ever to champion domestic production of affordable fuels. While gasoline prices in Nebraska are down 5.6 percent from this time a year ago, and diesel prices are down 5.8 percent, tensions around the world put supply chains and energy security at risk.

This Saturday, Americans will observe the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States Army. Our military has evolved much over two and a half centuries through our struggles for independence, to preserve the Union, claim victory in two world wars, defend freedom, and confront terrorism. Ensuring our armed forces can continue to innovate to keep Americans safe, particularly in light of growing threats to global security, is vitally important.

For workers and entrepreneurs, few places are as ripe with economic opportunity as the United States of America. Our world-leading workforce, natural resources, educational institutions, rule of law committed to protecting capital investment, and unique features such as deepwater ports providing access to export goods and services to consumers across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans provide opportunities for American families with few rivals elsewhere around the globe. Despite these economic strengths, there is much we can improve.

For many Americans filing taxes can be painstaking and time-consuming. Poor customer service and outdated technology systems at the IRS contribute to a lack of transparency and threaten to turn the process into a dreaded ritual every tax season. Streamlining the process to empower Americans to more easily file their taxes is an important goal.

This week our nation marked 163 years since the signing of the Homestead Act, legislation enacted by President Lincoln which played a key role in the development of farmland across Nebraska and rural America. Through perseverance, resourcefulness, and sacrifice, the Third District became a global breadbasket, and today, agriculture remains the economic driver of our state. For the future of agriculture, advancing sound domestic and international trade policy is critical to keep pace with innovation and secure prosperity for our communities.

This week, several House committees took significant steps to advance our legislative package to enact President Trump’s top policy priorities. In the Committee on Ways and Means, my colleagues and I began a meeting to consider the tax title of this package on Tuesday afternoon and spent more than 17 hours scrutinizing and deliberating before ultimately approving portions of the bill within our committee's subject matter.

In 2013, China launched its Belt and Road Initiative, a massive global infrastructure development strategy to expand its influence across the globe. Boasting 154 member countries spanning every inhabited continent and investments to date exceeding $1 trillion, the Belt and Road Initiative demonstrates the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ambitions and commitment to establishing itself as a dominant superpower and shaping the world’s future. Through this program China is actively leveraging investment gifts and loans to gain sway in participating nations.