Joaquin Castro
Representative for Texas · Democratic · United States
“Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Chair and Ranking Member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for bringing this bipartisan Water Resources Development Act of 2026 (WRDA 2026) to the House floor for consideration to address the needs of our communities in the water resources, ecosystem restoration, flood control, navigation…”
House of Representatives16 September 2026Source ↗
“In the WRDA 2024, in fulfillment of the wishes of our community for equal treatment for all four creeks, the legislation included direction to the Corps to carry out Alternative 7 of the Westside Creeks Project in accordance with the final General Reevaluation Report for the project, dated January 2014, which detailed the traditional cost…”
House of Representatives16 September 2026Source ↗
“We are asking Congress to support our ongoing work with the Corps in moving forward with construction of the Westside Creeks Project in keeping with the original intent of the WRDA 2024 Act in applying the traditional cost sharing to the construction of Alternative 7 of the Westside Creeks Project.”
House of Representatives16 September 2026Source ↗
“If this House should be debating anything on this issue, it should be sanctions on these settlements and not a bill that protects them. Let me lay out a scenario so that we understand exactly how this piece of legislation would work.”
House of Representatives3 September 2026Source ↗
“Claiborne Hardware Co., the Supreme Court held that a politically motivated boycott is protected expression under the First Amendment. This isn't an obscure case. It is the reason the sponsors of the bill wrote the word ``nonexpressive'' into the text. Yet, every example that the sponsors point to is plainly political.”
House of Representatives3 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, this bill is a bad idea. It tramples on the rights of Americans in order to protect a foreign government from the consequences of its own actions. Let me give you some context. The West Bank is currently experiencing the worst year of settler violence ever recorded.”
House of Representatives3 September 2026Source ↗
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“We are asking Congress to support our ongoing work with the Corps in moving forward with construction of the Westside Creeks Project in keeping with the original intent of the WRDA 2024 Act in applying the traditional cost sharing to the construction of Alternative 7 of the Westside Creeks Project. I look forward to continuing to partner with federal, state, and local stakeholders to help restore the natural beauty of our communities and invest in critical water resources infrastructure across the country.”
House of Representatives16 September 2026Source ↗
“In the WRDA 2024, in fulfillment of the wishes of our community for equal treatment for all four creeks, the legislation included direction to the Corps to carry out Alternative 7 of the Westside Creeks Project in accordance with the final General Reevaluation Report for the project, dated January 2014, which detailed the traditional cost sharing for the project at 65 percent federal and 35 percent non- federal. This cost sharing is also included in SARA's Project Partnership Agreement with the Corps for the construction of the Westside Creeks Project.”
House of Representatives16 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Chair and Ranking Member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for bringing this bipartisan Water Resources Development Act of 2026 (WRDA 2026) to the House floor for consideration to address the needs of our communities in the water resources, ecosystem restoration, flood control, navigation and water supply arenas. Together with the Corps of Engineers (Corps) and our local partners at the city, county and state levels are working to improve the quality of life for our communities. The Texas Congressional delegation representing San Antonio and Bexar County has worked diligently with our local partners, the San Antonio River Authority (SARA), and the Corps to bring forward a series of critical ecosystem restoration projects that are so much more than the sum of their parts.”
House of Representatives16 September 2026Source ↗
“Claiborne Hardware Co., the Supreme Court held that a politically motivated boycott is protected expression under the First Amendment. This isn't an obscure case. It is the reason the sponsors of the bill wrote the word ``nonexpressive'' into the text. Yet, every example that the sponsors point to is plainly political. A boycott is a political act. It is protected under the First Amendment, and you don't have to even agree with the boycott to support an American's right to engage in it. Every Member of this body raised their hand and swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, and I urge every Member of this body today to take that oath seriously and vote against this bill. {time} 0940”
House of Representatives3 September 2026Source ↗
“If this House should be debating anything on this issue, it should be sanctions on these settlements and not a bill that protects them. Let me lay out a scenario so that we understand exactly how this piece of legislation would work. If a university in Texas decided tomorrow to stop doing business with a company in South Carolina, California, or Idaho, it would face no consequences under American law. Make the same decision about Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and this bill strips American students of their Pell grants and American veterans of their hard- earned benefits. This bill holds American students' education hostage to protect a foreign government. We would be doing this in flagrant violation of the United States Constitution. In the landmark decision NAACP v.”
House of Representatives3 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, this bill is a bad idea. It tramples on the rights of Americans in order to protect a foreign government from the consequences of its own actions. Let me give you some context. The West Bank is currently experiencing the worst year of settler violence ever recorded. Israeli settlers have committed violence, terrorism, and many other things against Palestinians, with the goal of driving them out of the lands they have lived in for generations. It is an ethnic cleansing. They have assaulted and killed Palestinian Americans and laid siege to their homes. The Israeli Government has turned a blind eye to this violence and, in many cases, has actively supported it, protecting the criminals and not the victims.”
House of Representatives3 September 2026Source ↗
“We must shut down places like the Dilley detention center, a trailer prison, where children as young as 2 months old are in prison. For each child who is thrown in there, for each pregnant woman thrown into Dilley, there is an American company, CoreCivic, with American investors who make more money for each child, each woman, and each person who is in prison. We have allowed for the commodification of child imprisonment in our United States of America under President Donald Trump. This must change. ICE should be disbanded. It has gone rogue, and we must shut down the Dilley detention center.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“Every single day they are stopping, profiling hardworking Brown men on their way to construction jobs in the early morning, families on their way to school, going to pick up their kids, and H-E-B workers, grocery store workers in Texas getting off their shifts at warehouses and stores at night. Let us remember the names of those whom ICE has murdered. The first one was a San Antonian, Ruben Ray Martinez. There was another Texan, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo of Houston. Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero--these folks were victims of the ICE murders. In Texas alone, over a dozen people have died in ICE detention. These deaths are not accidents of an overwhelmed system. They are the results of this administration engineering a rogue agency to profit at the expense of vulnerable people.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I rise today because we have all witnessed the brutality of ICE on the streets of America, and Members of Congress have witnessed that brutality behind the closed walls of detention centers across our Nation. ICE has become a rogue, abusive agency that should be disbanded. ICE agents are roving across our communities with impunity, killing people in cold blood, including U.S. citizens, while Donald Trump's cronies profit. These ICE agents have not gone rogue alone. The entire agency has gone rogue under the direction of Donald Trump and Stephen Miller. Masked ICE agents in unmarked cars are working with Trump allies, like Texas Governor Greg Abbott, to meet quotas that fuel the President's mass deportation campaign.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“Madam Chair, Israel does not need and, quite honestly, does not deserve more American money for weapons. Prime Minister Netanyahu has taken Israel down an ugly path. The tragedy of October 7 has become a justification for the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. Self-defense does not include indiscriminately bombing homes, hospitals, churches, schools, or refugee camps. There were even credible reports of children intentionally shot in the head and chest. For decades, our Nation gave Israel billions to facilitate peace and a two-state solution. Instead, Israel has chosen more war and more occupation. Today, it occupies not only Gaza and the West Bank but parts of Syria and Lebanon. If there are no consequences, why in the world would Benjamin Netanyahu change what he is doing? Words are not enough. Condemnations are not enough.”
House of Representatives15 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Joseph Bernal, a veteran, educator, and pillar of San Antonio and Texas politics who passed away on January 25. Born on San Antonio's westside during the Great Depression, Dr. Bernal graduated from Lanier High School before enlisting in the U.S. Army where he supported postwar reconstruction efforts in Japan.”
House of Representatives13 February 2025Source ↗