State & Local Empowerment

The Tenth Amendment is not a historical footnote. It is the operating principle of the American constitutional order: the federal government does what the Constitution assigns to it, and everything else belongs to the states and the people. Education policy, zoning, policing, public health, and the day-to-day management of communities are not federal responsibilities, and they never were. Yet over the last several decades, Washington has steadily expanded its reach into every corner of state and local life — usually through the tool of categorical grant programs that come with strings, mandates, and reporting requirements that turn state agencies into compliance offices for Washington bureaucrats. Alexander believes the federal government has gotten too big, too slow, and too presumptuous, and that the path back to functional governance runs through pushing decisions back to the places closest to the problem. Texas knows TX-07 better than Washington ever will.

The clearest lever Congress has to do this is block grants. Categorical grants tell states exactly how to spend federal dollars; block grants give states a budget and let them figure out how to deploy it for their own constituents. This is not a new idea,^{11Bipartisan Policy Center, "U.S. Department of Education 101: What are Block Grants?" (2024) — Chapter 2 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981 (passed as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, Public L…} and the principle has been bipartisan in moments of seriousness ever since. Alexander will push to apply the block-grant model across the board: in education, in housing, in workforce development, in transportation, and in law enforcement.

Federal resources should flow flexibly to Harris and Fort Bend counties so that local engineers and local elected officials can design and execute the infrastructure projects that fit Houston's specific geography. What we do not need is Washington dictating bayou-by-bayou design standards from a desk in D.C. The job of Congress is to fund and unblock the work. The job of Houston is to do it.

Alexander will strengthen Houston's voice in Washington — not Washington's voice in Houston — and trust the people of TX-07 to govern their own communities.