Dear Friend,

Today, the United States has a national debt that is over $19 trillion – doubling since 2005 – and according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, our nation’s annual deficits will triple by the year 2026.  Unfortunately, in Washington, Congress too often ignores the difficult problems. Understandably, this frustrates every-day Americans who send their elected representatives to tackle today’s big issues.  This is why 24 members of the “Bipartisan Working Group” introduced the Fiscal State of the Nation this week.  Learn more here.

Washington Wrap-Up

This Week:  Below are two of the bills the House voted on this week that may be of interest to you:

Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016

• Opioid abuse is widespread and growing, especially in Ohio.  The legislation authorizes the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to address the national epidemics of addiction to heroin and prescription opioids, and makes various other changes to federal law to combat opioid addiction and abuse.  The Congressional Budget Office estimates this legislation will reduce the federal deficit by $47 billion over ten years. 
• What now?  This package was agreed upon by both chambers of Congress and will now head to the President’s desk.

Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, H.R. 2646

• This legislation reforms our nation’s mental health care system.  Congress hears from their local law enforcement, county commissioners, individuals, and families that there is a tremendous need for a thoughtful, strategic approach to addressing our broken mental health system and helping patients and their loved ones.  We need to make sure that the people who suffer from mental illness—just like any other patients—get the care and medications they need.  H.R. 2646 does just that.
• What now?  This was passed by the House and will now head to the Senate.

Next Week:  The House will continue its appropriations process and focus on the nuclear agreement reached between world powers and the Islamic Republic.

Defending the Constitution

When I was sworn in as a member of Congress, I took an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution.  This week, I spoke on the floor to do just that. Watch here.

FBI Investigations

This week, FBI Director James Comey spoke about the FBI’s investigations of Secretary Clinton and recommended no charges against her.  During his review of the investigations, the FBI Director confirmed that not only did Hillary Clinton jeopardize America's safety and security through her grossly negligent handling of classified information on private email servers, but also that she has lied about it to all of us for over a year.  Anyone else who mishandled secure information in this manor would, at a minimum, lose their security clearance and their job with the federal government.  While it appears that, courtesy of the Obama Justice Department, Hillary Clinton will dodge criminal prosecution for her inexcusable mishandling of classified materials, under no plausible circumstances can the United States entrust our national security or our nuclear codes with someone whose misconduct demands a revocation of their security clearance

Larry Doby

July 5, 1947, Larry Doby broke the color barrier in the American League.  On July 5, 2016, Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and I introduced a bill that seeks to posthumously honor this American civil rights pioneer, first black player in American League, second in major league baseball history.  Read more here.

In the 16^th District:

Congratulations to Megan Grudzinski

Congratulations to Strongsville's Megan Grudzinski on winning three gold medals and breaking three 'Warrior Games' records as a member of Team Army.  The 'Warrior Games' is a competition for wounded and ill veterans in which they compete in multiple events/activities. Megan was an alternate for Team Army and went on to be a record-holding gold medalist.  Learn more here or by clicking on the image below.

As always, read my Weekly Column here.

If you need any additional information, please visit my website at renacci.house.gov or call my Washington office: (202) 225-3876, Wadsworth office: (330) 334-0040, or Parma office: (440) 882-6779. I also encourage you to subscribe to my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube pages to get updates on my work in Washington and the 16th District.

Have a great weekend,