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Williams is Working for His Constituents

August 30, 2018

His platform is the same as it has always been: lower taxes, less government, cut the spending, defend the borders, listen to your generals, understand the 10th amendment and stand with Israel.

That's what Rep. Roger Williams is all about.

"Our platform is always that," Williams said. "We never get out of that."

Williams was recently touring his far-stretched 25th Congressional District in Burleson and came by the Burleson Star office.

School safety was on Williams mind and he mentioned House Bill 5107 which he introduced to the House of Representatives that directs the Secretary of Education to carry out a grant program to secure elementary and secondary school. The bill has bipartisan support.

"I'm really concerned that we aren't doing enough to secure our schools as we are heading into a new school year," Williams said. "What we have proposed is that if a school needs bulletproof glass, or a more secure entrance and exit or a few more people on the ground then that district can apply for a grant from the Department of Education and they can turn around and give them funds to help secure the school."

Williams said the Department of Education has a $63 billion budget that could be used for such improvements and additions to personnel.

But Williams isn't a fan of the Department of Education. He thinks it should be dismantled and let state and local school districts determine what they want to teach the students.

"In the interim, I don't know that the Department of Education has any more important role than to protect our students and school teachers," Williams said. "This bill does that and what makes it right is that the $63 billion is already in the budget. We are working hard on this bill."

There is another education area where Williams is focusing his attention: students dropping out of school.

"Kids are dropping out of school in the ninth grade because they are losing hope," Williams said. "We want them to focus on community colleges and remind these young men and women they can be welders or plumbers, they can be carpenters because the way our state is growing we are going to need people with those skills to build our infrastructure."

Williams serves on the House Committee on Financial Services and is the subcommittee chair on the Monetary Policy and Trade committee where he has been heavily involved in the tax cuts and interest detectability.

The committee was able to get a law signed that rolled back some of the devasting effects of 2010 Dodd-Frank legislation.

"It was really squeezing community banks," Williams said. "We were recently able to get legislation through to President Trump that was designed to ease rules on all but the largest banks. It passed both chambers of Congress with bipartisan support."

Fort Hood is also part of Williams district and Congress was able to appropriate $61.5 million dollars to the base to renovate the barracks and another $33 million to rebuild the motor pool. One-third of the motor pools at the Fort Hood were built in the 1950's and are not large enough for modern tanks.

He is also continuing to help the military to get things it needs which includes a proposal for $617 billion dollars to the armed forces and giving the troops a pay raise.

Williams, who is one of the few people in Congress that owns a business, is looking into eliminating deficits and balancing the budget.

"I'm still concerned that debt is the biggest problem in America," Williams said. "We have to address it but nobody wants to address it but about 40 of us."

Tax reform is also on Williams mind and he wants to make recent tax reforms permanent.

"I'm going to be addressing cutting the capital gains tax and dividends tax down to 15 percent and I'm proposing we cut the payroll tax in half for both the employer and employee tax," Williams said.

When asked about the ongoing Mueller investigation, Williams said it is time to end it.

"It's been a year now and they haven't come up with anything," Williams said. "We need to move on. I'll tell you I'm traveling all over the place and people never ask me about the Mueller investigation. They want to know about taxes and if we are going to have fewer regulations. Nobody asks about the Russian investigation. I think it's pretty much something that was made up in the Beltway. It needs to end."

President Trump's job in office got a thumbs up from Williams. Although he admits he doesn't agree with everything the President is doing, especially in regards to tariffs.

"I think he's doing a great job," Williams said. "He has cut some burdensome regulations and improved our status in the world. Everything he ran on he's doing. People like him because he's saying things out front that people will say when they are alone in their homes."

When asked about the Democratic Party's recent shift towards embracing socialism, Williams said that just shows how out of touch Democrats are with those they serve.

"It's a bonus for me because that's not what Americans or Texans embrace. It's not what this district embraces," Williams said. "Their message of socialism, raising taxes, cutting the military budget, creating more regulations and impeaching the President is not a winning message. Our message is the winning message. Republicans believe in the people rather than the government. That's the message we will win with."