With just days until the new Congress is sworn in, which should give Republicans control of the U.S. House chamber, plans for the new GOP majority are starting to take shape.
According to a "Dear Colleague" letter from U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the leading candidate to be House Majority Leader, sent out to House Republican membership obtained by 1819 News, rescinding the funding for the proposed 87,000 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents tops the list of priorities for Republicans in the upcoming year.
Also among the proposals were bills dealing with China, criminal justice, immigration, border security and abortion.
Letter as follows:
Dear Colleague,
I hope you enjoyed the Christmas and holiday season and are preparing to ring in the New Year with your friends and family. As you know, we have a lot of work ahead of us next year as we begin to get our country back on the right track.
The American people spoke on November 8th and decided it was time for a new direction. The last two years have been tough on hard-working families as they have grappled with drastic increases in the cost of living, safety concerns with violent crime skyrocketing in our communities, soaring gas and home heating prices, and a worsening crisis at our Southern border. In the 118th Congress, we will work to address these problems by passing bills that will improve the lives of all Americans.
In preparation for becoming the House Majority Leader next week, I have been meeting with our incoming committee chairs over the last month to start making plans for legislation on the House Floor so that we can hit the ground running in our first weeks in the majority.
We have made it clear that we must change the way we do business in order to improve the legislative process. We understand that developing a good process will lead to better legislative outcomes. Returning to work in person, empowering each committee, moving legislation through regular order, encouraging Member input, and allowing adequate time to read legislation will be major priorities of our incoming majority. We are excited to make those principles a reality in the House.
We do also recognize that it will take some time for our committees to organize and start moving legislation through regular order. In the meantime, we will begin bringing up meaningful, “ready-to-go” legislation in the House. These commonsense measures will address challenges facing hard-working families on issues ranging from energy, inflation, border security, life, taxpayer protection, and more. They should garner wide support and provide an indication of our bold agenda to come. I’m excited to announce the following legislation we plan to bring to the House Floor in the first two weeks of 2023:
H.R. __ - Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act
This bill rescinds tens of billions of dollars allocated to the IRS for 87,000 new IRS agents in the Inflation Reduction Act
This resolution establishes a bipartisan Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party
H.R. __ - Strategic Production Response Act
This bill prohibits non-emergency drawdowns of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve without a plan to increase energy production on federal lands
H.R. __ - Protecting America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act
This bill prohibits the Secretary of Energy from sending petroleum products from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China
H.R. __ - Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act
This bill creates transparency in our criminal justice system by letting the public know how many cases prosecutors are declining to prosecute, the number of offenses committed by career criminals, and the number of criminals released
This resolution expresses the sincere gratitude and appreciation of Congress to the Nation’s law enforcement officers who protect and serve our communities and rejects the misguided and dangerous efforts to defund and dismantle the Nation’s law enforcement agencies
H.R. __ - Border Safety and Security Act
This bill addresses our crisis at the southern border by empowering the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to turn away illegal migrants at the border if the Secretary of DHS does not have operational control
H.R. __ - Illegal Alien NICS Alert Act
This bill requires the National Instant Criminal Background Check system (NICS) to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and relevant local law enforcement when a firearm transferee is illegally present in the United States
H.R. __ - No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act
This bill makes permanent the long-standing Hyde Amendment as well as similar provisions to prohibit federal funding for abortion and funding for any insurance plan that includes abortion on demand
This resolution expresses the sense of Congress condemning the recent attacks on pro-life facilities, groups, and churches
H.R. __ - Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
This bill ensures that infants born alive after an abortion receive the same protection of law and degree of care as any newborn
In addition to this “ready-to-go” legislation I expect us to consider early in the 118th Congress, committees are simultaneously beginning their oversight plans which are focused on bringing much-needed accountability to the Biden Administration.
I’m excited to see us begin making our ambitious agenda a reality and begin delivering for the American people after we elect Kevin McCarthy Speaker. I hope you continue enjoying your time with family and friends this week and look forward to getting to work in the new year.
God Bless,
Steve
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The new 118th Congress will be sworn in on January 3, 2023.
Although Republicans will control the U.S. House, they will lack a majority in the U.S. Senate and still have to overcome the prospects of a presidential veto from Democratic President Joe Biden.
Jeff Poor is the executive editor of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email jeff.poor@1819News.com or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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