Growth in demand for oil appears inexhaustible, yet supply and new discoveries will peak soon, while oil stocks are too low, and the oil delivery system is too old. America needs a “Manhattan Project” sized R&D; effort to invent new sources of energy for transportation, and a Marshall Plan to map our energy future. In the meantime, we need:

Congressman Culberson supports legislation that accelerates permitting of oil, natural gas and oil shale exploration and production to quickly decrease energy prices and put Americans on a path to energy independence.

Congressman Culberson is proud to represent the great city of Houston and is working hard to ensure that it remains one of the strongest and most business-friendly cities in America. Since 2000, Houston’s population has grown 15% and our total employment has grown 13%, which is second only to Phoenix. No longer just the energy capital of the world, Houston is now home to 25 Fortune 500 companies, which is second only to New York, and burgeoning technology, aerospace and medical industries.

Houston added over 100,000 jobs in the last year. Businesses small and large were attracted by Houston’s low taxes, limited regulation, and cheap and plentiful land. People are drawn to our good schools, affordable housing, and the overall quality of life that can’t be matched anywhere else in America.

Congressman Culberson strongly opposed the new budget passed by the liberal majority in Congress, which includes the largest tax increase in American history. Here’s how it affects District 7: Raises taxes by more than $3,000 per person; eliminates 2,735 jobs; and costs our local economy $532 million.

We must continue fighting for lower taxes and less regulation on businesses from federal, state, and local government to ensure that Houston remains in economically-vibrant, attractive, and affordable city.

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We are fortunate to have the finest doctors, researchers, and hospitals in the world at the Texas Medical Center. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, my job is to protect taxpayers against unnecessary spending, while ensuring that our scientist and doctors have the resources they need to treat and cure diseases such as cancer and juvenile diabetes. Over the long term, the innovative research being done at the Medical Center is the most effective way to bring down the rising cost of health care.

I am especially passionate about the work of the Alliance for NanoHealth, the first collaborative research effort among Medical Center institutions: University of Texas Health Science Center, MD Anderson, Baylor College of Medicine, Methodist, Rice University, UTMB, University of Houston, and Texas A&M; Health Science Center/Institute for Biotechnology. Their work has led to successful clinical trials on the treatment of soft-tissue cancers, such as breast cancer. I have secured over $12 million for the Alliance, and I am confident that their cutting edge work will one day lead to the identification and cure of genetic diseases.

You will be pleased to hear that our southern border is much more secure today in the Laredo and Del Rio Sectors because, for the first time, a 55-year old law against illegal entry is being enforced with zero tolerance. The Brownsville Sector is next, and I will not rest until zero tolerance is standard Border Patrol operating procedure from Brownsville to San Diego. A second piece of good news for west Houston is that the Katy Freeway reconstruction will be done in record time, and we can expect to see it completely finished in about eight months.

My first promise to you in 2001 when I was sworn in as your new Congressman was to do whatever it took to get the Katy Freeway rebuilt as fast as humanly possible. In January 2001, the project was short more than $500 million, and we were told it would be finished as late as 2016. That situation was unacceptable, so I found a federal law that allowed the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to partner with the Harris County Toll Road Authority to expand the freeway. Former County Judge Robert Eckels and I helped persuade TxDOT and state and local officials to join us in presenting this unique partnership to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The initial answer from FHWA was “no,” but since I never give up, I was finally able to get the federal application approved with the help of Federal Highway Administrator Mary Peters. more...

Ensuring America’s Strength, Freedom, and Prosperity

Dear District Seven Neighbor:

Although Republicans no longer control the House or the Senate, you can still count on me to fight for secure borders, lower taxes, balanced budgets, and more accountability in government.

As we begin a new session of Congress, there are significant challenges facing this great nation. Our borders are still dangerously unprotected and our immigration laws are not being enforced by Homeland Security. Victory in Iraq continues to elude us. Budget deficits and the national debt threaten our future growth. The tax cuts that led to our economic recovery are set to expire. And a handful of corrupt elected officials have tarnished the public image of our government.

Winning the War on Terror Begins With Protecting Our Borders

Now that my first goal of rebuilding the Katy Freeway as fast as humanly possible has been achieved, I am totally focused on protecting our borders, strictly enforcing our immigration laws, balancing the federal budget and replacing the income tax with a national consumption tax.

We will never win the war on terror until we secure our borders. We have ample laws on the books to protect our borders and stop illegal immigration, but the Administration has systematically refused to enforce our immigration laws or employer sanctions, and has even moved Border Patrol agents out of Texas. Lawlessness breeds lawlessness, and this lack of enforcement has led to a stampede of illegal aliens across our border, which is overwhelming our health care system and social services, increasing our crime rate, and threatening our national security. I have confirmed that Middle Eastern terrorists have been crossing our open Southern border by pretending to be Hispanic illegal immigrants.

Winning the War on Terror Begins With Protecting Our Borders

My highest priority is to protect our borders and enforce our immigration laws. While our brave men and women in uniform are fighting terrorists in Iraq and around the world, I need to honor and support them in Congress by working to protect America’s back door on the border.

Here is what I have learned from federal and state law enforcement authorities, and from my personal visit to the Rio Grande in October. Narco-terrorists and Islamic terrorists have figured out that our southern border is wide open and virtually unprotected, and that many Mexican government officials can be bribed or overwhelmed with superior firepower, so northern Mexico is now like Colombia - owned and operated by the drug lords. Dangerous criminal gangs like MS-13 and highly professional armies of killers like the Zetas are providing protection and muscle for the drug cartels that control northern Mexico. The Zetas are now so confident and so brazen that they operate at least one, and perhaps four, terrorist training camps in the open in Mexico near the Texas border between Matamoras and Ciudad Acuna.

Winning the War on Terrorism

All of the 3,000 Americans who died on September 11, 2001, were innocent people who woke up on that quiet, normal morning in a comfortable world where we had grown happily accustomed to being safe in our homes and our schools, and places of worship and work.

Not anymore. We are at war against terrorism, and the front lines of this war are our own neighborhoods. We are once again fighting to protect our “Freedom from Fear.” We did not choose this fight, yet now that it is upon us, America will see it through to victory. It is an entirely new kind of war against an entirely new kind of enemy who is uniquely cowardly, psychotic and criminal.

Congressional Update and Transportation Report

Congress is dealing with a wide variety of complex and important issues that will affect us all, and I look forward to hearing your opinions. It is also important that we discuss the Metro rail referendum, the largest transportation project in Texas history, and that you hear first hand why I oppose Metro’s rail plan.

In January, I was appointed as the only Texan on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, so I am part of every debate that involves transportation in Texas. I am especially interested in creating a long-term solution that will truly reduce congestion and improve travel time for Houstonians. All of us who live in District Seven have lost countless hours stuck in Houston traffic, most of them on the gridlocked Katy Freeway, west Houston’s Main Street.

Congressional Report and Katy Freeway Update

The 107th Congress of the United States began on January 3, 2001, with a balanced budget, a large tax surplus and, before the end of the year, we had paid off $453 billion of the national debt. On September 11, 2001, terrorists launched a sneak attack on our homeland, and America was at war.

President George W. Bush has proven that he is magnificently suited to lead America as a wartime President. His focus and his determination to win this new war is inspirational, and I will do everything in my power as your Congressman to help him. America will defeat the evil fanatics who started this war just as surely as we defeated the evil fanatics who launched the sneak attack of December 7, 1941.