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McALLEN — It’s been a whirlwind six months in Washington D.C. for Monica De La Cruz, the freshman congresswoman who last November shook up the Rio Grande Valley’s political landscape by becoming the first Republican and first woman to win Texas’ 15th Congressional seat.
De La Cruz joined the U.S. Congress at perhaps one of the most politically fraught times in recent history — one where the rifts have stretched so large that her swearing in to office was delayed due to lawmakers’ inability to elect a Speaker of the House.
“It’s been an eventful time. As you all know, Congress is like, I tell people, a telenovela,” De La Cruz said before a rapt audience at the McAllen Performing Arts Center where she spoke during a legislative luncheon hosted by the McAllen Chamber of Commerce.
It took House members a marathon four days and 15 tries before naming California Republican Kevin McCarthy the 55th Speaker of the House during late-night vote on Jan. 7.
And it was McCarthy who De La Cruz mentioned several times during her speech on Thursday. She thanked McCarthy for her committee assignments and praised his leadership, particularly on the topics of border security and immigration.
“I am very, very fortunate that Speaker McCarthy has chosen this area to focus on. He wants to make sure that we are put in the best position possible to bring the much needed resources down here,” De La Cruz said.
CAMPAIGN PROMISES
De La Cruz spoke of how McCarthy appointed her to both the House Financial Services Committee and the House Agriculture Committee.
The assignments dovetail with many of De La Cruz’s campaign priorities, including her focus on small businesses and the plight of local farmers and ranchers — populations that make up a large portion of the Valley’s economic engines.
The agriculture sector also played an important role in De La Cruz’s election win.
She easily carried the ranching communities in Karnes, Live Oak, Jim Wells, Wilson and Guadalupe counties, where she won landslide majorities.
But that picture looked quite different in Hidalgo County, where De La Cruz won just over half the electorate.
Here, the densely populated southern half of the county went to progressive Democrat Michelle Vallejo, while the rural northern parts of the county trended toward De La Cruz.
In her comments on Thursday, De La Cruz carefully walked the line between those disparate demographics — at once praising the safety of local communities, while decrying the effects that illegal immigration has had on private landowners to the north.
BORDER SECURITY
Her vision, she said, includes “look(ing) out for our farmers and ranchers,” De La Cruz said.
“Let me be very clear: in no way does our country’s broken immigration system reflect on the city of McAllen, on the Rio Grande Valley and on our beautiful, beautiful community,” she added a few moments later.
To that end, the congresswoman celebrated the passage of the Secure the Border Act in the House last month.
The highly partisan bill narrowly passed with 219 Republicans voting in favor, and 211 Democrats voting against.
Not a single Democrat or independent voted for the bill, which De La Cruz said would provide additional funding for the U.S. Border Patrol.
Two Republicans, however, crossed the aisle to vote against it.
“It also reforms the immigration system so that immigrants can come to America through a safe and legal process and not rely on the coyotes,” De La Cruz explained.
But critics have lambasted the bill, saying it would restrict asylum and legal pathways to citizenship.
In May, the Los Angeles Times editorial board called the bill “an attempt to close the border,” while the National Immigration Forum — a Washington D.C.-based immigrant advocacy nonprofit — said it would increase pressure on border communities and intensify labor shortages.
During a brief question and answer session after the speech, however, De La Cruz dodged an immigration-related question.
“For so many years, our DACA students going through my program have been living in limbo… If presented a clean bill on DACA, how would you vote on that?” asked Thomas Ray Garcia.
Garcia, who once ran for a seat on the Texas Board of Education, currently serves with a college scholarship and mentoring program called College Access for All.
“I believe that there should be legislation for DACA recipients,” De La Cruz replied without elaborating further.
A brief silence settled over the room before an event organizer retrieved the microphone from Garcia and asked if there were any more questions.
OTHER LEGISLATION
De La Cruz also signed onto another Republican-led effort — the Lower Energy Cost Act, which passed the House in late-March.
The bill focuses on prioritizing domestic energy.
“I want to make sure that the energy we receive is American energy, is Texas energy, not energy from foreign countries,” De La Cruz said of the bill, which she cosponsored.
The congresswoman has cosponsored two other pieces of legislation so far this session, including the Senior Citizens Tax Elimination Act and the Supporting Safety Net Hospitals Act.
The Senior Citizens Tax Elimination Act would “eliminate double taxation on Social Security benefits,” De La Cruz.
The bill was first introduced by Texas District 14 Republican Rep. Ron Paul in 2003 and has been reintroduced numerous times since, but has failed to pass.
The Supporting Safety Net Hospitals Act, meanwhile, has garnered the support of medical professionals across the country, including the Texas Hospital Association.
Texas hospitals stand to lose billions of dollars in Medicaid and CHIP fund payments just as the number of uninsured patients is risin.
“Over the next four years, Texas hospitals will incur over $3.2 billion in cuts, cumulatively,” the THA said in a plea for help from lawmakers.
In District 15 alone, the impact in fiscal year 2024 is slated to be nearly $24 million, according to THA figures.
The Supporting Safety Net Hospitals Act aims to repeal some $16 billion in nationwide cuts through 2025.
“It’s going to ensure access for care for our vulnerable patients and the hospitals they serve,” De La Cruz said.
The bill remains locked in committee, however, and has yet to go before the full House for a vote.
FRESHMAN SUCCESS
But one bill De La Cruz was especially proud of was one that she introduced herself and which received nearly unanimous support.
HR 1076, otherwise known as the Preventing the Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act, passed the House on May 22 by a 402-2 vote. It has since been referred to the U.S. Senate.
The bill calls for a study on the illicit financing of synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl.
“As a freshman legislator, to have a bill pass on the House floor with such overwhelming bipartisan support is a very proud moment of mine,” De La Cruz said.
