As we celebrate Independence Day, it is a good time to pause and reflect on where our nation came from, and where we are going today.  We must never forget how much we owe to our Founding Fathers, to those who stood together, signed a piece of paper and changed the world with each stroke of the pen. We must always remember that our freedom was not won without cost, but bought and paid for with the sacrifices of generations.
 
I know I speak for all Texans when I give thanks for our victory in Operation Iraqi Freedom this year.  Never before has the world witnessed such a marvel of technology, training, dedication, and leadership in war.  I am grateful for President Bush’s steadfast leadership, and I am enormously proud of our heroic men and women in uniform, who bravely risk their lives every day for the cause of freedom.
 
After my first six months in Washington, I’m working hard to ensure that I keep in touch on an ongoing basis with my friends and supporters in Texas. This message marks the first installment of a new monthly commentary, which will help keep you aware of my work in the Senate. I hope you will find it interesting and useful.
 
Please pass this along to others who may want to receive this letter by email or fax.  If you don’t find delivery on a monthly basis necessary, I’ve included subscription information at the bottom of this message.
 
BUDGET. Last year, the Democrat Senate failed to approve a budget for the first time in a quarter-century. I serve on the Budget Committee this year, and I’m proud to report that we reasserted our responsibility to set priorities for federal spending. We face heavy expenses relating to the war on terrorism and the Medicare prescription drug benefit, but I remain committed to shrinking the size of government.
 
MILITARY. I’m extremely fortunate to have Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison as my senior partner in the Senate. We are working closely together to look out for Texas interests. At her suggestion, I sought and won a seat on the Armed Services Committee and together we are ensuring that Texas’ 17 active military bases are well situated in advance of the scheduled 2005 base closing process.  The military bases we have in Texas are some of the strongest components of our military readiness and the current war against terror. Both Sen. Hutchison and I know that “Texas defends America,” and we are determined to give our troops the resources and support they need. 
 
BORDER CONCERNS.I believe that the government must act to secure our border with Mexico. So I’ve introduced an immigration reform proposal that includes a guest worker program to document and track those workers who work and contribute to our economy. My plan was inspired by President Bush and by my predecessor, former Sen. Phil Gramm. After 9/11, it’s even more important to keep track of those crossing our borders.  We can no longer simply ignore the nearly 10 million undocumented individuals in this country. This guest worker plan is not an amnesty program, or a path to citizenship. It would allow visitors to sign up for temporary guest worker status, and it contains serious enforcement mechanisms to encourage that step. I believe that we have failed to address the serious flaws in our border policy for too long.  It’s time to fix our immigration policy and retake control of our border.
 
 
CONFIRMING JUDGES. I’ve spent a good deal of time helping President Bush get his judicial nominees confirmed. I am also working to repair the broken judicial confirmation process. A partisan minority of Senators are filibustering the President’s judicial nominees – including highly qualified nominees like Miguel Estrada and Texas’ own Priscilla Owen – something that is unprecedented in Senate history. The partisan minority has allied themselves with obstructionist liberal special interest groups to block any votes on these nominees. As chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, I’m actively exploring ways to rein in abusive use of the filibuster, to give President Bush’s nominees the votes they deserve, and to make sure that the will of the people, not the will of special interest groups, determines the next appointment to the Supreme Court.
 
SOUTH TEXAS WATER.  We’ve had record rain in Washington this year, but South Texas continues to suffer from an ongoing, severe drought. Sen. Hutchison and I have continued to pressure the State Department in hopes they’ll force Mexico to honor its treaty obligations to provide Texas farmers with water. We’ve also freed up $40 million from the North America Development bank for South Texas water projects. I strongly believe that South Texas needs more federal assistance than the rest of the state on a variety of these problems, and nothing I’ve learned this year has changed that perception.
 
HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION. I believe Texas must receive a fairer share of federal highway funding, and I’m pleased to be a member of the transportation and infrastructure subcommittee of the Environment and Public Works Committee. As that panel begins reauthorizing the highway act, I’ve introduced legislation that will boost returns on Texas gas taxes sent to Washington from the current 91 cents to at least 95 cents on the dollar. (It was 79 cents only a few years ago.) I’ll have an update on this next month.
 
More information on these issues is available on my Senate web site, http://cornyn.senate.gov.  The site includes a number of press releases and other data that may be of interest to you. I welcome your thoughts and ideas. It’s impossible to do my job well unless I hear from you, so I encourage you to communicate with me, particularly through our regional offices in Austin, Dallas, Tyler, Lubbock, Harlingen, San Antonio and Houston.