Representative Kathy Castor

Dear friend,

The 118^th Congress is underway, and I am proud to serve as Tampa Bay’s Congresswoman!

After a disturbing and chaotic start, the first bill the Republicans offered this week was to gut IRS modernization which would leave everyday Americans with longer waits for tax refunds, and let ultra wealthy tax cheats off the hook. One of their next bills, H.R. 26, threatens health providers with criminal prosecution for women’s health and abortion care. The bill aims to intimidate doctors and force them to act against their best medical judgment with potentially dangerous consequences. The American Medical Association strongly condemns any interference that causes a physician to compromise his or her medical judgment. I trust women and their doctors to make personal health care decisions and will remain stalwart in standing up for personal privacy.

I will focus on issues that matter like lowering costs, creating good-paying jobs and building safer and healthier communities.

VOTES THIS WEEK

H.R. 23 - Americans deserve a government that works for them without unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles or costly red tape. Yet the GOP’s first bill would cause longer lines and wait times for tax return and refund processing. The IRS needs new employees and modern technology to process your tax returns in a timely matter. Republicans seek to benefit the wealthy and well-connected while leaving wage workers to foot the bill for tax cheats who aren’t paying their fair share.

H. Res. 11 - Establishing the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party: In order to ensure the United States remains in the driver’s seat of the global economy, we must address our trade relationship and national security. I hope that there will be strong bipartisan action in this space in the days ahead.

H. Res. 12 - The American people expect Congress to address pressing kitchen table issues, but extreme MAGA Republicans are focused on political stunts, launching a new committee to chase down conspiracy theories and settle scores for former President Donald Trump. I voted no.

H.R. 22 - America should not export our crude oil reserves to an adversary. That was our national policy for 40 years until a Republican-controlled Congress authorized sending American crude oil abroad in 2015. China exploited that ill-advised Republican policy change, and exports of American crude oil to China increased nearly 100-fold during the Trump Administration to over 391 million barrels. This bill would ban crude oil exports from the strategic petroleum reserve, but should have gone farther and banned ALL exports to China and other countries under sanctions.

H.R. 26 - In their first week in Congress, extreme MAGA Republicans launched new attacks on women’s reproductive freedom to criminalize abortion nationwide with no exceptions. This is a deeply unpopular and dangerous bill that targets doctors, nurses and providers, and puts lives at risk.

H. Con. Res. 3 - Expressing the sense of Congress condemning the recent attacks on pro-life facilities, groups, and churches: The resolution failed to acknowledge or condemn violence and attacks on medical providers and clinics that provide the full range of women’s health care including abortion care.

MY OFFICE IS HERE TO HELP YOU

In case you missed it: while our congressional district may look a bit different, my team is here to get results on federal matters including veterans benefits, Medicare, and Social Security. This includes the new parts of our district in St. Petersburg. Call anytime at 813-871-2817 for questions or assistance.

Sincerely,

Kathy Castor
Member of Congress