Fellow Conservative,

This was the final work period for Congress before the August recess. The Senate is scheduled to reconvene on September 5th, while the House is scheduled to return on September 12th.

Here’s what’s been happening in the lead up to the August recess and what to expect when Congress returns:

Mayorkas Testifies before Congress

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas appeared before the House Judiciary Committee led by Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Wednesday to testify on the “quality” of his work to secure the border.

A critical part of DHS’ mission is to “Secure U.S. borders and approaches.” Under its authority are agencies like Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who are supposed to carry out the day to day operations of protecting our nation’s border.

But the numbers do not lie. Mayorkas has failed miserably to secure the nation’s borders, and failed to adequately answer any serious questions from the committee.

>>>Watch the fully testimony HERE<<<

During his testimony, Mayorkas twisted the truth, ignored the facts, and dodged every question that he could. Key moments were captured on Heritage Action’s Twitter feed.

>>> Action Item for August Recess: Tell your member of Congress to impeach Secretary Mayorkas for dereliction of duty! Many members will be holding events in August, and so it’s the perfect opportunity to attend and raise this issue. And of course, you can always call their office.

The Lie that is "Gender Affirming Care"

There is nothing compassionate about pumping girls and boys full of experimental hormones and manipulating them into undergoing surgeries that mutilate their bodies in the service of the Left’s gender ideology. Children who struggle to accept their identity need compassion and competent care, and not to be turned into laboratory experiments.

This week, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government led by Congressman Mike Johnson (R-LA) heard testimony from six witnesses about the dangers and due process violations of this gender experimentation.

Perhaps the most powerful testimony came from Chloe Cole, who herself was made to believe by her doctors that her mental health struggles would be solved as soon as she was “surgically transformed into something that vaguely resembled a boy.” After the surgeries, Chloe realized that she had been lied to, and detransitioned.

Sadly, Chloe’s story is becoming more prevalent. Out of compassion, conservatives must spread the truth to counter the Left’s war on gender.

               >>>Important Facts on the Dangers of Gender Surgeries<<<

Action Item>>> Help spread the facts and end the Left’s gender lies. Share these graphics.

Spending Fights Continue

Conservatives in Congress have an opportunity to reduce spending and the size of government through the appropriations process. The correct process established by Congress funds the different departments and areas of the government through separate “appropriation bills.” And there are supposed to be 12 separate appropriation bills for the entire federal government—one bill for each of the 12 Appropriation subcommittees.

Sadly, Congress has a poor track record, having only followed this process to completion 4 times since 1974. Too often, the 12 bills get packaged into one giant “omnibus” bill, and instead of voting on it before the October 1st deadline, they wait till right before Christmas to ram it through the House and Senate. This is a broken process that leads to bad policy.

The House was scheduled to consider 2 of the 12 spending bills this past week:

• Military appropriations for Military Construction and Veterans Affairs (MilCon/VA),
• Agriculture, Rural Development, and the Food and Drug Administration (Agriculture/FDA).

While MilCon/VA passed, Agriculture and FDA was ultimately not considered on the House floor over disagreements related to policy and spending levels.

Meanwhile, the Senate is working on its own versions of these 12 spending bills and advanced its final four spending bills of the year: Defense, Homeland Security, Interior-Environment, and Labor-HHS-Education.

Before any appropriation bill can go to the President’s Desk, it must first pass both the House and Senate, and then any differences must be negotiated and a compromise agreed to. So it is important to note that the Senate is currently trying to spend $100 Billion dollars more than the House.

>>>Take Action: Get ahead of the September Spending Fight – Read Heritage Action’s Blog on reducing the size of government and cutting spending

The NDAA Needs More Accountability

Last week, the House passed their version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and the Senate followed by passing their version of the NDAA on Thursday night.

During the lead-up to the final Senate vote, Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), James Risch (R-Ind.), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) proposed an amendment to require much needed accountability and oversight measures for U.S. aid to Ukraine.

Democrats, however, blocked the amendment from passing. It is unconscionable, but they voted against transparency and accountability for U.S. taxpayer dollars being sent to Ukraine.

In a press release, Acting Executive Director Ryan Walker wrote:

“Congress has already approved over $110 billion in aid to Ukraine, but the American people have still not seen publicly available oversight of economic and budgetary support for Ukraine, President Biden’s explanation of U.S. strategy in the region, and a plan for U.S. involvement or commitment to Ukraine, including reconstruction efforts. While President Biden pledged to support Ukraine ‘as long as it takes,’ Congress must seriously commit to evaluate any requests or efforts for additional U.S. aid by a specific set of criteria to protect U.S. taxpayers and interests.”

>>>Read the full press release HERE

Congress should:

• Ensure publicly available accounting of how U.S. economic and military aid has been used in Ukraine
• Demand that any additional aid be considered on its own merits and properly paid for rather than breaking the budget with accounting tricks
• Demand from the Biden administration a clear and articulated end goal for America's involvement in the conflict, as well as fostering greater involvement form our European allies

As the House NDAA and the Senate NDAA are negotiated into one single bill, there will be more opportunities for conservatives to restore integrity and accountability at the Department of Defense (DoD). This includes efforts to maintain the provision in the House-passed version that ensures no taxpayer funding is used to implement the illegal DoD policy to reimburse for time off, lodging, and travel expenses for elective abortions.

As always, the grassroots provide the backbone to the conservative movement and are critical in the advancement of American principles.

Thank you for all that you do.

Ryan and the Heritage Action team

Join the fight to advance the conservative agenda.