Press Releases
Castro, Ruiz, King, and Bilirakis Introduce Jennifer Kepner HOPE Act to Provide Low-Cost Healthcare to Veterans Exposed to Burn Pits
WASHINGTON-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, Congressman Raul Ruiz (CA-36), Congressman Peter King (NY-2), and Congressman Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) today introduced H.R. 4137, the Jennifer Kepner Healthcare for Open-Air Burn-Pit Exposure (HOPE) Act, to help veterans exposed to burn pits receive access to quality, … Continue Reading
August 09, 2019
Castro Spokesperson Statement on House GOP Letter Calling for Ethics Inquiry
WASHINGTON-The Office of Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, today released the following statement after seven House Republicans called for an ethics inquiry into a tweet from the Congressman, which included publicly available donor information: "The request to the House Ethics Committee is baseless and these Members … Continue Reading
August 02, 2019
Castro Confronts Pompeo on Nuclear Arms Control
WASHINGTON-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, today sent a letter to Secretary Pompeo on the date of the United States' formal withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty to express concern about the future of U.S.-Russian arms control and to urge the expeditious extension of the New START … Continue Reading
July 30, 2019
Castro Releases Podcast Episode on the State of Play for Trade
WASHINGTON-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, today released a Diplomatic Cable episode with Wendy Cutler, Vice President and Managing Director at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Washington, D.C. office. As former Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, Cutler worked on a range of U.S. Trade negotiations in the … Continue Reading
July 26, 2019
Castro Introduces Resolution to Address the Exploitation of Child Labor in the Democratic Republic of Congo
WASHINGTON-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, today introduced a resolution to combat the rampant exploitation of children and child labor in cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo: "Cobalt is a valuable and strategic mineral of importance to the United States and American businesses. But companies have a … Continue Reading
July 24, 2019
Castro Questions Mueller During Highly Anticipated Testimony
- As Delivered - WASHINGTON-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, today had the following exchange with Robert Mueller during the highly anticipated Intelligence Committee hearing, where members and the American people heard testimony to the former Special Counsel: CASTRO: Thank you, Chairman. Thank you Special Counsel … Continue Reading
July 18, 2019
Castro Introduces the HERE Act, Legislation Supporting Hispanic Students and Institutions for College and Beyond
WASHINGTON-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, today introduced the HERE Act, legislation that would create a new grant program to support partnerships and collaboration between Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and school districts that educate the majority of Hispanic students, so that they can better prepare and … Continue Reading
July 17, 2019
Castro and Moore Co-Draft Letter to USCIS and ICE to Address Ongoing Mistreatment of Abused Immigrants
WASHINGTON-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, and Congresswoman Gwen Moore (WI-04), a member of the Ways and Means Committee, co-drafted and sent a letter today to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to address the mismanagement of the U-visa program, which was … Continue Reading
July 16, 2019
Castro Introduces the CHANGE Act, Legislation Correcting Alienating Names in Government
WASHINGTON-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, today introduced the CHANGE Act, legislation that eliminates the term "alien" and "illegal alien" from the Immigration and Nationality Act, and replaces them with "foreign national" and "undocumented foreign national," respectively: "Words matter. It's vital that we respect … Continue Reading
June 28, 2019
Castro, Wyden, Van Hollen, Sanders Reintroduce Measure to Restore Oversight of Federal Facilities
WASHINGTON-Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., this week were joined by Sens. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to reintroduce legislation to allow members of Congress immediate access to federal facilities, including those under contract or lease, and to give members of Congress an avenue to report their findings. This legislation follows reports detailing horrific conditions for migrant children and families in government care. "Trump and his … Continue Reading
June 27, 2019
Castro, Doggett to Host Town Hall to Address Domestic Violence
WASHINGTON-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, and Congressman Lloyd Doggett (TX-35), Chairman of the Health Subcommittee on the House Ways and Means Committee and senior member of the House Budget Committee, will host a town hall next Tuesday, July 2nd to address the pervasive problem of domestic violence in San Antonio … Continue Reading
June 25, 2019
Castro Releases Podcast Episode on the Upcoming G20 Summit, Authoritarianism and Responsible Competition
WASHINGTON-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, today released a Diplomatic Cable episode with Thomas Wright, Director of the Center on the United States and Europe and a Senior Fellow in the Project on International Order at Brookings Institution. A thought leader on U.S. foreign policy, grand strategy, and President … Continue Reading
June 18, 2019
Castro Statement on Decision to Cut Aid to Northern Triangle
WASHINGTON-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, released the following statement today in response to the State Department's announcement yesterday that they will move forward with the President's reckless order to cut off a significant portion of our aid to the Northern Triangle: "A presidential tantrum-once again-is … Continue Reading
June 05, 2019
Castro Announces $243K NSF Grant to UTSA for Development of Cloud Platform Microservices
SAN ANTONIO-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, today announced that the National Science Foundation (NSF) intends to award $243,940.00 to the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) for a project that will develop novel performance models and resource management solutions to enable cloud platforms to increase its … Continue Reading
June 05, 2019
Castro Statement on the 75th Anniversary of D-Day
WASHINGTON-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, released the following statement today to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of D-Day: "Today, we recognize the fateful day 75 years ago when American troops stormed the beaches of Normandy to fight for the just cause of freedom. The best way to truly honor those who … Continue Reading
May 31, 2019
Castro Statement on Mexican Tariffs
WASHINGTON-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, released the following statement today in response to President Trump's promise to impose a five percent tariff in June on all goods coming into the U.S. from Mexico to thwart migrants from coming to our border: "Texas does more trade than any state in the nation. Mexico is … Continue Reading
May 29, 2019
Castro Statement on Mueller Press Conference
WASHINGTON-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, released the following statement today in response to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's press conference on the Department of Justice's investigation and his first public statement in two years: "Special Counsel Robert Mueller's press conference reaffirmed the central … Continue Reading
May 17, 2019
Castro Announces $99K NSF Grant to UTSA for Computer Systems Research & Development
SAN ANTONIO-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committee, today announces that the National Science Foundation (NSF) intends to award $99,853.00 to the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) for a project addressing the construction of Electrostrictive Field-Effect Transistor (FET) devices while better understanding factors that … Continue Reading
May 17, 2019
CHC Chairman Castro Response to President Trump's "Immigration Plan"
WASHINGTON - Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, released the following statement in response to President Trump's proposed plan to address immigration in the United States: "I'm glad the White House is finally engaging Congress on the issue of immigration. Unfortunately, the President's proposal betrays American values. President Trump - the most anti-immigrant and xenophobic President in generations - hopes to use the concept of 'merit' to keep … Continue Reading
May 14, 2019
Castro, Taylor Joint Statement on Introduction of Bipartisan Feeding Hungry Students Act
WASHINGTON-Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, and Congressman Van Taylor (TX-03), a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security and the House Committee on Education and Labor, today introduced the bipartisan Feeding Hungry Students Act: "Low income families across our nation struggle daily to meet their basic … Continue Reading