- by Rep. Ron Estes Each month I want to provide you with regular updates about what's going on in our nation’s capital and throughout the 4th District of Kansas. Here's what happened in September.
Protecting Property Rights
Respect for private property rights is essential to our American way of life, and I am firmly committed to protecting them. As concerns increased about the Department of Energy’s (DOE) proposed designation of the Midwest-Plains National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC) that would go through Kansas, I took action to protect the rights of Kansas landowners. I joined Kansas’ 1st District Congressman Tracey Mann to help introduce H.R.9527 to prevent a federal land grab from the Midwest-Plains NIETC. Our bill, which is a companion to a bill introduced in the Senate, would explicitly prohibit the use of federal funds for the exercise of federal eminent domain powers for power transmission and would also prohibit the permitting of power transmission projects if the state objects.
I also sent a letter to Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm detailing how the NIETC project could subject Kansans to federal land grabs and distorts the intent of the private Grain Belt Express transmission line project. In my letter, I called on the DOE to reopen the comment period to fully address the concerns of Kansans living in the path of this proposal.
Increasing Transparency in Government Spending The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) plays an essential role in facilitating the work of Congress, but has too often failed to accurately score major pieces of legislation. In a September Budget Committee hearing, I engaged CBO Director Phillip Swagel in a discussion about how to improve CBO’s operations and products. In particular, I highlighted a bill I recently introduced, the Executive Action Cost Transparency Act, that would require CBO to provide a comprehensive and centralized list of final executive actions in order to increase transparency and streamline information flow, providing lawmakers and the public with needed information on government spending.
Given our $35 trillion national debt, we need to do everything we can to change course on this growing crisis.
In just the last three and a half years alone, the Biden-Harris administration has issued more than 130 executive actions that have cost taxpayers more than $2 trillion not to mention additional judicial and administration actions in that time demonstrating just how costly non- legislative actions can be.
Improving the information that CBO provides to Congress and the public is one crucial step that will help ensure we know the true cost of D.C. spending and can begin to change course. The House Budget Committee passed my bill out of committee in the last week of September, and I look forward to its consideration on the House floor.
Promoting Pro-Growth Tax Policy Following a slew of activities and meetings with 4th District innovators and workers, I led the U.S. Innovation Tax Team to Silicon Valley for a day of meetings with some of our nation’s most innovative companies. House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-Missouri), U.S. Innovation Tax Team Vice Chair Michelle Steel (R-California) and I hosted two roundtables with small San Francisco Bay area startups, the Silicon Valley Tax Directors Group and Genentech, Apple, Wisk Aero, Google and Intel to discuss the upcoming Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) expirations.
Each group and organization echoed the same theme I heard in the district the need to renew
common sense, pro-growth tax policies that encourage U.S. innovation. Many also shared the very real concern about ceding leadership in innovation to foreign adversaries and the challenge of intellectual property (IP) theft. My colleagues and I heard directly how TCJA helped these organizations and startups advance innovations and bring back IP while also contributing more to the U.S. Treasury through taxes. This isn't a partisan issue Republicans and Democrats agree that we need a tax code that encourages U.S. innovation. It's why my bill to restore R&D expensing is one of the most bipartisan cosponsored bills in Congress. China is doing far more right now to encourage research and development, and we know that R&D is primarily a jobs issue, meaning that we need the right tax policies to grow jobs in the U.S. and compete with China.
Our country is competing globally for R&D, and if we don’t renew and expand critical innovation policies, jobs, manufacturing and cutting-edge technologies will grow elsewhere.
My colleagues and I will continue to push for sensible tax policies that will help keep innovation in the U.S., boosting our economy, creating jobs and helping the Treasury.
NFIB Award
The 4th District is home to so many thriving small businesses and I want to ensure that Kansas remains a favorable place for enterprising small businesses. To that end, I was honored to be recognized for my efforts by the National Federation for Independent Business (NFIB) who named
me a 2024 Guardian of Small Business for my work advocating for Main Street.
State Fair and Kansas Farm Bureau Breakfast As I and so many Kansans do each year, in early September I visited the Kansas State Fair. The weather was beautiful and I always enjoy seeing the butter sculpture, Kansas' largest pumpkin and the many other displays that celebrate all our ag producers across the state do. I was also able to speak to our hardworking farmers and ranchers at the Kansas Farm Bureau breakfast and share how upcoming tax policy expirations will impact Kansas farmers and families.
I assured them that the Ways and Means Committee, as the tax-writing committee in Congress, is doing all it can to improve and expand the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act so that the average 4th District taxpayer is spared a 27% tax hike.
Connect with Me
Interested in receiving regular updates about what’s going on in Congress?
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gov and please don’t hesitate to reach out to my District Office in Wichita at 316-2628992 if you have questions, concerns or need help with a federal agency.
Ron Estes, one of only a handful of engineers in Congress, worked in the aerospace, energy and manufacturing sectors before representing Kansas’ 4th Congressional District since 2017. He is a fifthgeneration Kansan, former state treasurer, and serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means, Budget Committee, and Education and the Workforce Committee.
