Kevin Brady Holds Conference Call
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
EAST TEXAS – Earlier this week, Congressman Kevin Brady (R-08) held a conference call for members of the media to provide an update on the goings on in Washington, DC.
Brady has served as the U.S. Representative for Texas’s 8th congressional district since 1997. His district includes all of Montgomery, Walker, Houston, San Jacinto, Trinity, Grimes, Madison, and parts of Leon and Harris counties.
“There is a lot going on in Washington and a lot going in Texas,” the congressman said as he opened the call.
“I thought this might be a good way for all of us to stay in the loop on issues that affect every Texan in the 8th Congressional District,” he said.
The first area Brady addressed concerned the lifting of the mask mandate by Governor Greg Abbott.
“I think it is just common sense,” he said. “Our hospitalizations are down by half. We are not seeing outbreaks of cases coming from work or schools or even when you are out shopping our visiting businesses.”
Brady indicated over three million Texans had already received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and added about half of those have also received their second dose.
“We have more work to do,” he cautioned. “Our COVID-19 death rate per capita is less than many of the lock-down states. I think the governor was smart to give flexibility to our county officials and I think we should continue to do smart things. Businesses that have good safety protocols in place should keep doing these things. Individuals – there is always the risk of social gatherings – wear a mask when you can’t socially distance. Wash your hands and continue to do the things we have been doing to tamp down these flare-ups. I think the governor’s decision was pretty common sense and appropriate.
The next item addressed by Brady pertained to the recent winter storms which he called “devastating to the state.”
“I can’t tell you how many discissions my staff and I had. We were working around the clock to make sure all nine of our counties had the resources to recover. I helped lead the Republican delegation urging President (Joe) Biden to approve Gov. Abbott’s major disaster declaration. That has been approved for public and assistance for all eight (nine) counties in the 8th Congressional District. This will help individuals access funds for homes and small businesses,” he explained.
Continuing along the winter storm thread, Brady said it was important to find out which power generation sources went down and which recovered. The second item Brady said which needed to be accomplished was to identify the steps which needed to be taken in order to avoid a repeat of the week of Feb. 14.
“And third, I think the toughest issue – but certainly solvable – for the Texas Legislature is do we have the right balance of power in emergencies such as this? Obviously that answer is no and we need to. I think the legislature will devote a great deal of time in how we create the right balance of energy sources that can prove reliable in an extreme weather event like this,” Brady said.
He also said he and other members of the Texas delegation had sent a letter to ERCOT in an effort to try and get some answers to what happened.
After a brief discussion of the oil and gas industry, Brady moved on to speak about the COVID-19 relief bill in Congress.
“I opposed it during a healthy floor debate and the major reason is this COVID-19 bill is neither focused on COVID nor is it a stimulus,” he said. “Only one dime out of every dollar goes to COVID vaccines and fighting the virus. That is an insult. That is our top priority and it does next to nothing to help Main Street businesses survive or get America’s jobless back to work.”
Following a few more comments, the congressman opened the floor for questions.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
