While the holiday season was a special time for celebration and cheer, the New Year is one for reflecting on the past and looking to the future. There have been many challenges over the first year of the 118th Congress.

Still, one thing has never faltered: my unwavering commitment to serving you and our community. With the 2024 legislative session in full swing, I look forward to continuing to advance the best interests of our entire region, the military families who call our community home, and our nation.

Tackling critical issues head-on and finding common sense solutions has always been my focus as your Congressman. In a race to beat the deadline, Congress passed a short-term deal to keep the government funded and prevent a shutdown.

While it is not a perfect deal, it ensures that our troops and their families have the resources they need. It also allows House Republicans to continue advancing our agenda and fighting for conservative policies - like proven measures to secure our border.

Due to the disastrous immigration policies of the Biden Administration and the Democrats, we have seen the worst crisis at our Southern border in history. In December alone, more than 300,000 illegal migrants were encountered at the border.

This is three times the population of Moore County. This crisis is not just impacting border communities, this is impacting every community.

Record numbers of illegal immigrants are crossing into our country every day, overwhelming cities nationwide, draining resources and costing taxpayers billions.

To make matters worse, liberal states, like California, have gamed the system to provide Medicaid benefits to illegal immigrants at the expense of hardworking taxpayers. Not only is this against the law, but it further incentivizes more illegal crossings at our border and puts citizens who truly depend on the program on the back burner.

That is unacceptable, which is why I recently introduced the Protect Medicaid Act. This common-sense bill will help protect your tax dollars from being used to subsidize illegal immigrants’ health care costs and ensure the most vulnerable among us can get the care they need.

The absence of a secure border has posed a serious threat to the safety and security of communities nationwide.

We have seen a significant influx of deadly drugs, especially fentanyl, being smuggled into our interior and robbing countless innocent lives.

Just this month, a man in Cumberland County was busted trafficking more than 1,600 rainbow fentanyl pills, which usually are targeted to children.

While President Joe Biden continues to ignore the devastating consequences of his failed open-border policies on our nation, the Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing recently to address just how bad the crisis has gotten.

One thing was clear from the testimony: the urgent need to close our border. House Republicans passed H.R. 2, the strongest border security legislation to help solve this crisis. Yet, Senate Democrats refuse to take up this important bill.

Their inaction — combined with Biden’s open-border policies - are continuing to worsen this crisis. But we will not stop fighting for solutions.

As a dad and your Congressman, I am also committed to defending the right to life — endowed by God and enshrined in our Declaration of Independence.

As a Christian, I firmly believe that life begins at conception and that family is the foundation of American life.

Before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, more than 60 million unborn children had lost their lives to abortion over the past 50 years. Since the Court’s ruling, countless innocent babies have been saved.

However, the annual March for Life in our nation’s capital recently served as a reminder that the fight to protect the sanctity of life is not over.

In Congress, I have advocated for all methods of protecting life and mothers, encouraging adoption, boosting resources like pregnancy centers, or fighting to stop the administration from imposing unconstitutional mandates on small businesses that go against their beliefs. Rest assured, I will never stop being a strong voice for the voiceless.

A new year brings new opportunities to get our nation back on track and secure a brighter future for every American.

By working together, I am confident that we will do just that.
Until next time.