While most public attention will focus on immigration provisions, that is actually a small section of the bill. One of my main concerns is that this bill spends too much money. America just exceeded $22 trillion in debt and we are borrowing about 22 percent of our budget. President Trump tried to bring some fiscal discipline to Congress, but they decided to spend 19 percent more than what the President proposed in his budget request and 2 percent more than last year's funding levels.

Since we must secure our border, one would hope this portion of the bill would make up for the spending described above. Actually, it makes things worse. According to President Trump’s border patrol expert, we need a minimum of $8 billion to build a wall that will make a meaningful, positive impact. The Democrats initially proposed $1.6 billion for wall funding and actually reduced that amount in the final draft of this bill to just under $1.4 billion. There are also provisions allowing local units of government along the border to drag out the process of building a wall.

This week, I introduced the Student and Teacher Safety Act. This bill will allow schools more flexibility with existing federal funds to make physical safety improvements to campus facilities, support local education programs aimed at improving school safety and security and assist in coordination between schools and local law enforcement to identify threats.

I believe no student or teacher should ever feel unsafe in a school setting. While this bill is a good step toward increasing safety in our school system, there is still work to be done to help prepare schools to properly identify and respond to violent individuals.

This bill will make it possible for our local schools to better secure their campus and allow them to bolster security measures as well as coordinate with local law enforcement in ways that will fit their unique needs. I believe that the people who know what is best for schools are the students, parents and teachers in the local community. Therefore, it makes sense for communities to have the ability to dictate what federal dollars should be spent on, specifically protecting our children and schools.

To learn more about the legislation, click here.

This week, I cosponsored H.R. 1230, The Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act. This bill will give workers who have suffered age discrimination greater legal recourse. Specifically, it will reverse a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court decision that made it more difficult for older workers to prove they were discriminated against because of their age.

The 2009 Supreme Court ruling said that in order to prove illegal bias, older workers would have to show that their age was a decisive factor in the employer’s decision to discipline, fire or not hire them. This standard is much higher than what the courts require for other forms of discrimination such as race, gender, and sexual orientation.

Age discrimination in the workplace is very common and older members of the workforce should have the same opportunity as others to protect themselves against discrimination. I have always been committed to standing up for our older workers and I will continue to do so in the future.