Commentary

As a veteran civil rights attorney, I have often been struck about how quickly a leader’s legacy disappears from one generation to the next. Perhaps this is because, as a society, we do not do a good job of creating a narrative about important leaders to pass on to our children and those who come after them. All that remains, at best, is their name — not the history of their struggle or the depth of their impact on society.

Since the beginning of this year, measles cases have been reported in 11 states spanning both coasts and heartland. The situation warrants enough concern that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning to doctors about renewed measles risk.

Last month, the Biden administration announced a pause on new liquefied natural gas export approvals while it reconsiders the impacts these projects have on the public’s health and safety, the climate, the economy and national security. This “pause” is a baby step in the right direction.

Texas’ economic partnership with Mexico is an integral component of our state’s long-term economic prosperity, and it’s imperative that we continue to foster cross-border collaboration. For border cities like McAllen, strengthening this bilateral relationship is a major determining factor in reaching our region’s full economic potential.

As the four Texas state senators who live along the Texas-Mexico border, we understand that border security is essential not only for the safety and welfare of everyone who lives in or visits the border region, but also for the efficacy of state services and the strength of our national security.

This is a reply to Sherwood Uhrmacher’s letter posted March 11.

President Kennedy in 1963 signed the Equal Pay Act, the first federal legislation to prohibit sex discrimination in the payment of wages. At that time, women only earned 60 cents for every $1 earned by a man; 61 years later it’s unbelievable that women are still coming up short and the statistics are sobering. According to the Pew Research Center, women on average earn approximately 82 cents for every dollar earned by men in the United States. This gap is even more pronounced for women of color and those from marginalized communities, exacerbating existing inequalities and perpetuating cycles of poverty.

This may not impact those of you who are living paycheck to paycheck, but I would ask you to continue to read on. I often hear people complain that the economy is worse now than it was four years ago. Do you remember what happened four years ago? We were hit by a worldwide pandemic. Was that the fault of the president? Do you remember almost every business that was not critical was closed down? People stayed home with little income. Few cars were on the road. When people did go to the store they wore masks and plastic gloves, and grocery shelves became more and more barren.

When my father was many years into living with Parkinson’s disease, he had lost his speech, his ability to walk, to write, and so much more. For most of his eight decades of life he was an accomplished world traveler, author, pilot, humanitarian, anthropologist, as well as a loving husband and father. It was shocking to see him lose so much — struggling to communicate verbally and having to be fed and assisted with his most basic needs.

As your representative in Washington, I am acutely aware of the challenges our farmers and ranchers face in the Lower Rio Grande Valley due to water shortages. A recent report from Texas A&M’s Center for North American Studies highlights the potential for over $993.2 million in lost economic output for 2024, attributed largely to Mexico’s failure to comply with the 1944 water treaty. This issue is not isolated to our agricultural sector; it is a crisis that threatens our community’s livelihood, our economy, and our way of life.