Randy Neugebauer: South Plains Honor Flight Visit

by Eric

South Plains Honor Flight Visit
Today, I had the distinction of hosting the South Plains Honor Flight in our nation’s capital. My staff and I look forward to this particular visit all year. I enjoyed taking the Honor Flight group to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and escorting them through t
he U.S. Capitol Building. Not only is it an incredible honor to host nearly 100 veterans from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, but it is also a wonderful reminder of all veterans’ sacrifices, courage, and fortitude. We need to remember to say thank you every day to those who have served, and those who continue to serve. These men and women put their lives on the line to defend our freedom and to fight for our liberty.

There are many roads to a career in the armed forces, and one of them is through the United States Service Academies. As a reminder, if you are a high school student interested in applying for a nomination to the Service Academies, the applications must be postmarked no later than October 1, 2016. For more information, see my website.

Wells Fargo Begins to Answer Questions about Recently Uncovered Fraud
Later this week, the House Financial Services Committee, of which I am a member, will hold a hearing regarding recently uncovered fraud at Wells Fargo. On Thursday, our committee will have the opportunity to ask questions to try to get to the bottom of this issue. Last week, the Senate Banking Committee questioned executives and regulators from Wells Fargo regarding the practice of bank employees opening accounts and credit cards not authorized by bank customers. One of the major concerns left unanswered from the Senate hearing is how this practice went on for so many years, without bank regulators ever noticing. In fact, regulators never exposed these fraudulent practices, but reporters for the Los Angeles Times did. Along with the Wells Fargo CEO, federal bank regulators have difficult questions to answer.

Looking at a Continuing Resolution to Keep Funding the Government
Congress needs to pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) later this week to keep the government open and funded at the current levels before the new fiscal year begins October 1. The current outlook is for the Senate to vote on the CR legislation first and then send a bill to the House for consideration. While I support keeping the government funded to provide additional time for Congress to work out longer-term funding levels, I encourage House and Senate leadership to keep this short-term funding fix free of extra policy items that deserve their own debate and vote. Discussions over the CR are ongoing, and there is the potential for quite a bit to change over the course of this week. However, I am hopeful my colleagues and I can come together and pass a conservative funding bill that meets the short-term need of keeping the federal government open and lays the groundwork for setting responsible spending levels for the full year ahead.

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