Sen. John Cornyn speaks during Chamber of Commerce luncheon

AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — Sen. John Cornyn was in Amarillo speaking at the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce luncheon and fireside chat. During the luncheon, wins for the Amarillo business community and Panhandle economy in the Big Beautiful Bill were highlighted.

Key topics included the impact of the bill on rural hospitals, energy and immigration.

“Well, part of the one Big Beautiful Bill was a significant funding for detention facilities and for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to remove the people who are here, who have exhausted all of their legal remedies and need to leave.”

Cornyn continued, “And unfortunately, under the previous administration, there were open border policies, and we’ve seen what’s happened, not only with the drugs that have flooded our communities all across the country, primarily fentanyl and synthetic opioids, but also the crime that’s been committed by individuals who should never have been admitted in the first place.”

Cornyn shared it’s going to take time to cleanup the backlog of people who’ve exhausted their legal remedies or committed crimes. He said his hope is that at some point they revisit immigration polices.

During the conversation Cornyn also addressed funding for rural hospitals and how the BBB will impact health care access in those areas. Cornyn shared telehealth has made a huge impact on giving people remote access but adds rural hospitals are still needed.

“We created a $50 billion stabilization fund to make sure that our rural hospitals have the financial support they need so they can continue to support their local communities,” said Cornyn.

According to Cornyn, there were about 2.8 million people making claims on two public health programs through the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. He shared he believes people who can work should.

“I believe that people who can work should work and should not be a drain on tax dollars. So, saying, if you want to be eligible for these health care programs, and you’re an able-bodied adult, you’re going to need to work. And so, there were a number of cost savings we were able to make, said Cornyn”

Cornyn continued, “I don’t believe we’re doing anything to jeopardize access to health in those safety net programs. The rural hospitals had been a particular concern as while we had that special carve out for that stabilization fund to make sure they remained able to provide care in our rural communities.”

With a large number of energy projects coming to the area, Cornyn also addressed energy subsidies.

“The difference between the renewable energy tax provisions is their subsidies,” explained Cornyn. “They’re basically financial payments to these industries that are new or developing, and I certainly have supported that for renewable energy. I’ve mentioned, I’m an all of the above supporter. We need solar, we need wind, but we also need a reliable base load, which comes from primarily from natural gas, and depending on where you are, nuclear power and other sources.”

Cornyn shared he believes there is a misconception about tax provisions for traditional energy businesses.

“Those are mainly the sort of tax provisions that any business would be able to take,” said Cornyn. But the truth is that energy production, and oil and gas in particular, a very important part of our state. So, I certainly supported that, but I continue to support renewable energy, but once these energy sources are, once these energy sources are developed and mature, there’s not as much reason for taxpayer subsidies, and so we need to be able to wean them off of that.”

Cornyn adds he believes the projects coming to the Panhandle will boost the economy.