April 30, 2021
Friends,
I pray you and your family are well! I wanted to provide you with a few updates.
The Old Glory Only Act
Our beautiful flag, Old Glory, is the single most significant symbol of freedom the world has ever known. It is an unmatched representation of liberty worldwide, and it should be the only symbol that flies over our embassies in nations around the world. Yet, President Biden's administration will allow US embassies worldwide to fly the gay pride flag on the same flagpole as the American flag.
I saw this coming, which is why I authored HR 85, the Old Glory Only Act. No flag (Pride, BLM, or Gadsden) should fly over our embassies except for the flag of the United States of America. My bill states, “The Secretary of State shall ensure that no United States diplomatic or consular post flies any flag other than the United States flag over such post.”
Read more about my bill by clicking
HERE.
Nancy Pelosi abusing the rules of the House of Representatives
I realize this update may be “inside baseball” to many, but I feel like you need to know this for a multitude of reasons.
Nearly every week that the House is in session, we consider a set of bills from what is referred to as the “suspension calendar.” These bills typically aren’t discussed on the floor for more than a basic introduction and are mostly bipartisan or non-controversial, which is necessary because a bill brought up on “suspension” requires a 2/3rds vote to pass instead of a simple majority. A few examples of “suspension bills” include technical changes to existing laws, the naming of post offices, launching pilot programs, or conducting studies.
While most bills brought up under suspension are minor and non-controversial, that is not always the case. I have voted for hundreds of suspension bills over the years, but I’ve voted against dozens as well. There have even been a few rare cases where a bill brought up under suspension was so controversial it didn’t even have enough votes to pass with a simple majority. This all goes to say that part of my job as your representative is to watch the suspension calendar carefully to ensure no one attempts to slip something contentious in quickly that should receive greater debate or scrutiny. Additionally, while many non-controversial bills pass on a voice vote, it should be the right of any Member of Congress to force a vote on a bill, either because they are concerned about the issue or because they feel that it is important for Members to be on record. That’s basic government transparency 101.
Now that you know the back story, you should know that on Tuesday, House Democrats executed a power grab to abuse the rules, and packaged 16 completely different, non-related suspension bills into a single vote – and suddenly, all of those things were getting one, single, up-or-down vote.
If you didn’t like one of those bills (and in this instance, there were fairly major problems with 5 of them), then you had to either vote them all to pass or throw away the other 11 bills to vote down the 5 you had problems with (or vote down the other 11 bills because of the issues with the other 5). Unsurprisingly, Democrats then passed all 16 bills in one single vote.
This isn’t the way the House should work. Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are abusing their power in the majority and trampling over the rights of the minority party. When Republicans were in charge of the House, they NEVER took abusive action like this.
We should be able to come together on the items we agree on and vote on them separately in a timely fashion. We should always embrace transparency and allow individually recorded votes if necessary on each piece of legislation. Preventing recorded votes on individual pieces of legislation that could impact your daily life is simply un-American and goes against our Founding principles. It’s also a threat to your freedom.
I will continue to fight against this new tactic and keep you updated on any new developments.
Washington D.C. Statehood pushed again by Democrats last week
Last week, the House of Representatives voted on H.R.
51, a bill admitting Washington, D.C., as the 51st state.
I voted NO on this UNCONSTITIONAL bill, and any admission of D.C. would require a new constitutional amendment.
Appearing on the Nationally Syndicated Radio the Todd Starnes Show
I recently joined guest host Tim Van Horn on the Todd Starnes Show. We discussed D.C Statehood, the #BidenBorderCrisis, woke politics, and the MLB's short-sighted decision to move the All-Star game from Atlanta, Georgia.
Listen to my interview by clicking
HERE or on the image below:
The unconstitutional “No Ban Act” passes the House
Last week, Democrats brought forward Representative Judy Chu’s legislation, H.R. 1333, the NO BAN ACT. This legislation is a liberal’s dream and makes it difficult, if not impossible, for the President of the United States to respond rapidly to block the admission of aliens or classes of aliens that present a direct threat to the American people.
I voted NO on this disastrous bill.
Some lowlights of the bill include -
As we move forward this Congress, I will keep you updated on this unconstitutional move that puts more power in the hands of unelected bureaucrats and would make the elected U.S. President subservient to members of their cabinet.
Biden Administration policies on immigration and abortion are the most radical I have ever seen
Last week, the Biden Administration announced they were eliminating civil penalties for migrants who refused to obey deportation orders by attempting to remain in the United States. He's doing this in the middle of a border crisis, which will likely make the situation worse.
This may be the most tone-deaf policy decision I have ever seen. They're not even pretending to care about immigration enforcement anymore.
That means more children being sexually assaulted while trying to make the journey to the United States, more COVID cases at the border, more taxpayer resources being spent on foreigners, more overcrowding in our schools, and more cheap/illegal labor depressing wages for American workers, all because Joe Biden is giving them a wink and a nod, telling them we have open borders in this country. This is a terrible decision, and I intend to do everything I can to stop the administration from implementing it.
