There was a lot going on this week in Washington as our seven-week legislative session came to an end and we head into our next District Work Period. There were several hearings with Administration officials; we had Fed Chairman Jay Powell in the House Financial Services Committee and Small Business Administration officials in the House Small Business Committee.

In addition to hearings and floor activity, I held a telephone town hall on Wednesday and was glad to get the chance to speak with many of you. Thank you to those of you who participated. These calls are a great way for me to hear your concerns directly and I always enjoy getting to catch up. Especially now that the Third District has changed a little bit, it was great to have some new callers on the line and participate in this forum. Whether you need help with something like social security or a passport for an upcoming trip, you’d like to share your opinions, or you just want to hear my stance on a specific issue, these calls are a great way to connect and hear straight from you. Due to capacity limits on the telephone town halls, we cannot call everyone in the district. However, if you’re interested in joining me on our next call, please click here to sign up: tele-town hall signup.

In an effort to protect students in Missouri and across the country from having their personal information shared without their consent, I introduced the Protecting Education Privacy Act this week. This bill will strengthen federal student privacy standards and empower parents by giving them more control over their child’s sensitive information. In 2011, the Department of Education made sweeping regulatory changes to the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). These changes significantly diminished student privacy protections and gave multiple entities unwarranted access to student records. Groups like trade unions and tech companies have absolutely no business using American students’ school records to obtain their test scores, attendance records, social security numbers, or sensitive health information without the students’ and parents’ consent. But this has been possible under current laws. My bill will put enhanced safeguards in place for student records and prohibit the use of personally identifiable information for commercial purposes. Students and parents should feel safe providing schools with necessary personal information, and this bill will help restore peace of mind that this information will remain confidential - as it should.

I also introduced the Ukraine Reconstruction Accountability and Transparency Act which would prevent companies from countries that actively supported Russia’s efforts to invade Ukraine from benefitting from reconstruction efforts. For example, companies located in countries like China, Belarus, and North Korea - whose governments have provided material or diplomatic support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine - will not be permitted to enter into Ukraine reconstruction contracts that utilize financing from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and other International Financial Institutions. It has been devastating to watch Putin’s destruction of Ukraine, and the countries who have aided Russia’s efforts should absolutely not be benefitting from Ukraine’s rehabilitation. As the Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions, I have direct oversight over U.S. involvement of those institutions, and intend to use our country’s sizable voice, vote, and influence to restrict Putin’s allies from participating in and making money off the destruction they so eagerly supported.

Lastly, on the House floor, we passed several good pieces of legislation. For example, the CHOICE Arrangement Act helps small businesses support their employees by enhancing flexibility and affordability with their health care options. According to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the cost of health insurance has remained a top issue for American small businesses for 32 years in a row – it’s clear something needs to be done. Over the last several years, policies like Obamacare have caused major problems in the individual health market that covers only 4.6% of the population yet costs American taxpayers over a trillion dollars a year. This misguided use of taxpayer dollars is completely reckless and puts our nation’s small businesses in a terrible position for providing their employees with coverage. The CHOICE Arrangement Act expands association health plans so that small businesses, independent contractors, and self-employed Americans can pool together and negotiate as a single health plan, allowing them the same health benefit flexibility and affordability as our nation’s larger businesses. It will also help get some health care regulatory burdens out of the way which, as I’ve discussed before, can be crippling to small businesses who don’t have the resources or time to deal with them.

Small businesses are the drivers of our local economies and work force and as the Vice Chairman of the House Small Business Committee, providing them with the tools for success is extremely important to me. Enabling them to provide their employees with quality, affordable health care so they can take care of themselves and their families is a major part of that.