Dear Friends,

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Launching the Senate Opportunity Coalition

I am excited to announce the formation of the Senate Opportunity Coalition, which currently includes Senators Ernst, Rubio, Sullivan, Lankford and myself. We came together in an effort to share real-life experiences from people living in poverty and low-income communities across the nation, because we know that in developing policy it is absolutely critical to do something seemingly so simple: listen.

There is no single fix that will end poverty, but we're going to embrace this time to speak with people within our states - whether it is in Native Alaskan villages, inner city Miami or distressed communities in South Carolina - to work together and offer the best solutions. We shared a few stories in our initial report that you can check out here.

Oversight of the HUD Inspection Process

Last week, I chaired the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Housing for a hearing on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) inspection process. There has been widespread neglect at properties funded by HUD and many residents have been living in unsafe conditions; some had to be hospitalized. In addition to that, not a single employee from HUD took the time to educate us on this issue. 

Frankly, this is unacceptable. I look forward to continue working with them to learn more about the HUD inspection process and why they continue to allow these nearly-uninhabitable living conditions to receive passing scores. You can watch my opening remarks here.

Obama Administration Continues to Disregard Our Laws

The Obama administration continues to violate and disregard the law in order to try to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay and find a new site on U.S. Soil for these terrorists — one being the Naval Brig in Hanahan. 

The Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt confirmed what Senator Pat Roberts, Senator Cory Gardner and I already knew, the Department of Defense illegally spent funds to survey these sites, despite the fact that the National Defense Authorization Act prohibits such actions. This is absolutely unacceptable, and shows the President’s desperate attempt to fulfill a campaign promise. 

You can read our full statement supporting the Kansas lawsuit against the administration here.

Sincerely,

Tim