We're about to turn the page on a brand new year and will kick off 2023 with a fresh Republican majority in the House. The list of tasks is endless, but with subpoena power and the ability to conduct oversight, there are pressing issues GOP members must make a priority.
1. Rally around a Speaker. Quickly.
If Republicans plan to get anything done in the 118th Congress, they're going to have to rally around a Speaker. Without one, new members can't be sworn in, Republican legislation can't be passed, committee chairmen can't thoroughly conduct investigations and much more. Attorneys working in the White House Counsel's Office have already made clear they plan to slow roll oversight and investigations. Time is limited. Until House Republicans agree on a Speaker, whether it's Leader Kevin McCarthy or another candidate, they're handicapped on Capitol Hill. Pick a nominee, rally around them and get to work.
2. Reign in the FBI, DHS and Other Government Censorship Machines
In the aftermath of the "Twitter Files," it's clearer than ever the country's most powerful law enforcement agencies have wavered from their core missions by becoming overtly politicized on behalf of the left and Democrats. In fact, we know the FBI has worked with private companies like Twitter and other Big Tech social media companies to subvert the First Amendment. While regulation of Big Tech is a daunting task, reigning in federal law enforcement agencies in the executive branch is far more attainable and addresses the fundamental issue of civil rights violations conducted by unelected political agents.
Incoming House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan recently sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray detailing the violations with demands for rectification.
"We are investigating politicization and abuses at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as Big Tech's censorship of conservatives online. Newly released information shows the FBI has coordinated extensively with Twitter to censor or otherwise affect content on Twitter's platform. These documents show that the FBI maintained this relationship with Twitter as a permanent and ongoing surveillance operation apart from any particularized need for a specific investigation. These revelations sadly reinforce our deep concerns about the FBI's misconduct and its hostility to the First Amendment," a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray states. "The FBI's close coordination with Big Tech threatens Americans' civil liberties."
3. End the Illegal Immigration Industrial Complex
According to a new report from the Heritage Foundation, dozens of non-governmental organizations, known as NGOs, are benefitting from cartel human trafficking and helping to facilitate the illegal immigration crisis not just at the border but in cities across the country.
"The Biden border crisis was sparked by the deliberate implementation of open-borders policies and the removal of Trump-era borders security policies by the Biden administration. While the Biden administration caused the crisis and allows it to persist, they are not the only party responsible for facilitating this crisis. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have played a substantial role in exacerbating the crisis by actively helping process and transport tens of thousands of illegal aliens into the interior of the United States," a memo published by Heritage states." After observing this dynamic, the Heritage Oversight Project and Heritage Border Security and Immigration Center obtained and analyzed movement patterns of anonymized mobile devices that were detected on the premises of over 30 NGO facilities at or near the border...The investigation found approximately 30,000 cell phone devices in the NGO facilities and traced the location of those devices in the U.S. during the month of January 2022."
Republicans must work to make human trafficking and finishing the work of cartels prohibited by starving NGOs engaged in this behavior of federal grant funding or reimbursement from DHS.
4. Root Out Politicized Bureaucrats at the CDC
Like the FBI, DHS and other U.S. intelligence agencies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been infected by leftist politics. The revelation that CDC bureaucrats, including CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, worked with teachers' unions to keep schools indefinitely closed is unacceptable. School closures inflicted horrific harm on the nation's youngest generations and changed the trajectory of their futures forever. By allowing politics rather than science to dictate policy, the CDC violated its medical mission to do no harm. Young people, parents and taxpayers deserve answers, change and accountability.
5. Hold Biden accountable for the disaster in Afghanistan
President Joe Biden's exit from Afghanistan was one of the most catastrophic foreign policy failures in the history of the country. The lack of transparency, the abandonment of Americans behind enemy lines and the gifting of billions in weaponry to the Taliban cannot go without a thorough accounting. The sloppy and frantic exit is an unforgivable disrespect to the U.S. servicemembers who gave their lives in the country and lost limbs during the nation's longest war. They made these sacrifices only to watch it all be handed back to the enemy. A complete disgrace.