This week, Host Khambrel Marshall sits down with newly-elected and fifth-generation Texan Morgan Luttrell from the 8th Congressional District. He tells Marshall that although he is ready to lead his district, he’s also weighing in on several topics such as the nation’s support to Ukraine amid the Russian-Ukraine war.

Legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden has designated TIRR Memorial Hermann to be a national rehabilitation innovation center.

Even as the House GOP leadership keeps silent, a veteran Republican lawmaker says George Santos should consider resigning after the congressman-elect from New York admitted to lying about his heritage, education and professional career.

The House has taken action after disclosures the IRS never fully reviewed Donald Trump’s tax returns during his presidency.

Brady, the top Republican on the House tax-writing committee, urged the committee not to release the former president’s records just before it deliberated on what to do with them.

Brady condemned the divisiveness that has taken hold of American politics, saying social media is the biggest driver of the problem while applauding former President Donald Trump for his influence on the Republican party.

Facing a midterm election that will define, and quite possibly constrict, the next two years of his term, President Joe Biden is treading a difficult line.

When it comes to reassuring Americans about an economy that's an election-year challenge to his party, President Joe Biden is telling the country to hold on.

More than 40 million Americans could see their student loan debt reduced — and in many cases eliminated — under President Joe Biden’s long-awaited forgiveness plan.

Democrats have pushed their landmark climate and health care bill through Congress, handing an election-year victory to President Joe Biden.

Last July, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen celebrated it as a “historic day” when more than 100 nations agreed to a global minimum tax deal meant to reform and equalize the world’s economy.

The latest report on gross domestic product is complicating President Joe Biden’s pitch that the U.S. economy is strong.

Legislation punishing Russia for the war in Ukraine is finally getting a vote in the U.S. Senate.

The House has voted to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus.

President Joe Biden and the White House were bracing for bad economic news.

Morgan Luttrell is backed by former Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Houston and the top super PAC aligned with House GOP leadership. Christian Collins has the support of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, the campaign arm of the House Freedom Caucus and some of the most ardent pro-Trump Republicans in the House, like U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

The Democrats’ social spending and climate change bill would put the United States back on a path to reducing its persistent pool of uninsured people.

House Democrats have begun the serious work of trying to implement President Joe Biden’s expansive spending plan.

House Democrats have begun the serious work of trying to implement President Joe Biden’s expansive spending plan.

Democrats are starting to push plans for providing paid family and medical leave, easing climate change and bolstering education through House committees.

The world's top finance officials have endorsed plans for a global minimum corporate tax.

U.S. President Joe Biden's proposal for a global minimum corporate tax will get another going over at a meeting of top finance officials.

President Joe Biden might have persuaded some of the world’s largest economies to hike taxes on corporations.

Republicans in Congress are alarmed by the leak of confidential IRS data to ProPublica that has enabled the investigative news organization to reveal that famous billionaires including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg paid little in U.S. income tax at times.

President Joe Biden is portraying the May jobs report as a jumping off point for more spending on infrastructure and education.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, announced Wednesday morning that this will be his last term serving in the U.S. House.

The IRS says it expects to meet the July 1 deadline under the new pandemic relief law for starting a groundbreaking tax program aimed at reducing child poverty.

Fraud perpetrators, sometimes in China, Nigeria or Russia, buy stolen personal identifying information on the dark web and use it to flood state unemployment systems with bogus claims. In Ohio, weekly first-time unemployment claims have ranged from 17,000 to more than 40,000 during the pandemic. In July, officials said they’d discovered a massive criminal enterprise that had stolen more than $500 million in unemployment benefits. Nearly 800,000 of the 1.4 million claims Ohio has received through this program have been tagged for potential fraud. President Joe Biden's administration is pledging to cut down on unemployment fraud even as it tries to extend benefits through September.

Republicans are attacking the Democrats $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package as too costly, economically damaging and overtly partisan. We’re very proud of that,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters when asked if the overall House bill would include the minimum wage increase. Democratic leaders hope for House passage later this month, with Senate approval and a bill on Biden’s desk by mid-March. Republicans’ amendments spotlighted what they see as political soft spots they can exploit. And while the GOP amendments were beaten back, they forced Democrats to take positions that could tee up GOP campaign ads for the 2022 elections.

The plan faces opposition from Republicans who want to tie new school funding to reopening. Biden's plan for $130 billion in school funding is in addition to more than $8 billion from previous relief packages. Stop ruining their futures and stop playing games.”Scott countered that schools can't make changes needed to reopen safely unless they get the funding in Biden's plan. AdRepublicans also signaled a fight over standardized testing, backing a proposed change to prevent relief funding from being used on academic assessments. The $350 billion portion of the bill before the committee also includes Biden's plan to raise the minimum wage from $7.25, where is has been since 2009.

HOUSTON – Several congressional Republicans met in Houston on Tuesday to decry President Joe Biden’s energy policies, which they said will have a negative impact on Texas. The Republican leaders are referring to Biden’s executive order aimed at tackling climate change. “You’re destroying the Texas economy,” said U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-District 2). AdHowever, if you ask University of Houston Chief Energy Officer Ramanan Krishnamoorti about the executive order, his outlook isn’t as bleak. “This executive order, in my opinion, in the short term, is going to have very little impact on the energy industry in Houston,” said Krishnamoorti.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, has tested positive for the coronavirus, he said on Twitter on Tuesday evening. Earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, a high-ranking member of Texas’ congressional delegation, tested positive for the coronavirus. The first statewide elected official to publicly confirm a positive coronavirus test was Texas Supreme Court Justice Debra Lehrmann in May. Other state lawmakers, including Rep. Tony Tinderholt, Sen. Kel Seliger and outgoing House Speaker Dennis Bonnen have tested positive. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller also tested positive in early December.

HOUSTON – Congressman Kevin Brady announced that he has tested positive for the coronavirus nearly two weeks after receiving his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. He said he received the recommended first dose of the vaccine on Dec. 18 and also tested negative for COVID-19 on New Year’s Day. I just received my #COVID19 vaccine. The leadership of @realDonaldTrump and #OperationWarpSpeed made it possible to have this safe and effective vaccine in record time. pic.twitter.com/OaZ5SCP1dP — Rep. Kevin Brady (@RepKevinBrady) December 18, 2020Brady said he begins treatment Wednesday and “should be fine.”

“There’s one question left today: Do Senate Republicans join with the rest of America in supporting $2,000 checks?” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said as he made a motion to vote. The showdown over the $2,000 checks has thrown Congress into a chaotic year-end session just days before new lawmakers are set to be sworn into office for the new year. Saying little, McConnell signaled an alternative approach to Trump's checks that may not divide his party so badly, but may result in no action at all. For now, the $600 checks are set to be delivered, along with other aid, among the largest rescue packages of its kind. Biden supports the $2,000 checks and said Tuesday the aid package is merely a “down payment” on what he plans to deliver once in office.

WASHINGTON – The House voted overwhelmingly Monday to increase COVID-19 relief checks to $2,000, meeting President Donald Trump’s demand for bigger payments and sending the bill to the GOP-controlled Senate, where the outcome is highly uncertain. While Democrats favored bigger checks, Congress had settled on smaller $600 payments in a compromise over the big year-end relief bill Trump reluctantly signed into law. The vote was a stunning turn of events from just days ago, when House Republicans blocked Trump's demands during a Christmas Eve session. The bipartisan bill negotiated by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had already passed the House and Senate by wide margins. Most House Republicans simply shrugged off Trump's push, 130 of them voting to reject the higher checks that would pile $467 billion in additional costs.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., talks about House Republicans and the election, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020. House Republicans are “the most united and energized” he's ever seen after their “historic political upset." McCarthy and his team are now among the remaining leaders from the tea party era, when House Republicans last controlled Congress. In the Trump era, House Republicans’ role receded as the White House often dominated the discussion and Republicans held the majority in the Senate. The House Republicans had to seek a waiver from the District of Columbia, which has restrictions on large gatherings.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., talks about House Republicans and the election, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020. House Republicans are “the most united and energized” he's ever seen after their “historic political upset." McCarthy and his team are now among the remaining leaders from the tea party era, when House Republicans last controlled Congress. In the Trump era, House Republicans’ role receded as the White House often dominated the discussion and Republicans held the majority in the Senate. The House Republicans had to seek a waiver from the District of Columbia, which has restrictions on large gatherings.

HOUSTON – There were rallies for both political sides throughout the Houston area on Saturday. While others weren’t quite ready to accept the election results with Joe Biden projected as President-elect. I’m so excited about both President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris,” said supporter Gerald Womack. In Conroe, thousands came together to show their support for President Donald Trump and echoed his claims of fraud. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee said she looked forward to working with Biden and hoped the president would agree to a peaceful transition of power.

When JCT staffers disagree with the IRS on a decision, the review is typically kept open until the matter is resolved. Even acknowledging that Trump's taxes were before the panel is verboten. Representatives for the Trump Organization did not respond to messages for comment and confirmation that the Joint Tax Committee had reviewed Trump's taxes. Former JCT staffers would not comment on whether they remembered the dispute with Trump, citing confidentiality rules. Neal, the lead force behind a Democratic lawsuit to expose Trump’s taxes, said the Times’ reporting is proof that the documents should be given to Congress.

But there are qualified people still waiting for their stimulus money. According to Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Bill Spencer, here are four things you can do that might help you get your stimulus money faster:Sign up for the stimulus programIf you haven’t already, go to the IRS payment portal and see if you qualify for a payment. Make sure you use direct depositIf you have a bank account, make sure you choose direct deposit for your payment. You’re more likely to get your money faster than having a check sent in the mail. 2nd District - Rep. Dan Crenshaw7th District - Rep. Lizzie Fletcher8th District - Rep. Kevin Brady9th District - Rep. Al Green10th District - Rep. Mike McCaul14th District - Rep. Randy Weber18th District - Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee22nd District - Rep. Pete Olson29th District - Rep. Sylvia Garcia36th District - Rep. Brian Babin

U.S. Rep Garcia: Impeachment was the right thing to doIt is the height of the political season with political opposites entrenched in their own ideology. Many polls show that Americans were split in their opinions about the impeachment of President Trump. But Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, (D) 29th, says she has no regrets about her role as one of the impeachment managers bringing the case against President Trump during the Senate trial. This year the focus will be on “The Empowerment of the Black Woman” with special guests, actors Lynn Whitfield and Robin Givens. “ They’re going to speak on their behalf about the empowerment of African American women as it relates to entertainment.

HOUSTON – U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady (R- Texas), who represents the state's 8th Congressional District, joins Khambrel on this week's Houston Newsmakers and says he thinks the sequester is a good thing for the country. Brady is the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee in the House that advises President Barack Obama on economic policies to boost jobs. Khambrel also asks why, according to recent polls, Brady and his congressional colleagues are so disliked and what it will take to improve his approval rating. Also this week, the rapidly-changing East End of Houston and the role that community is playing in elevating our city's status in the United States and the world. Watch Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall Sunday at 10 a.m., right after Meet the Press with David Gregory.