September 19, 2023: Weekly Newsletter

As many of you have seen by now, the evidence suggesting Joe Biden was corruptly involved in his son Hunter’s business dealings continues to mount in an overwhelming fashion. Calls, texts, emails, bank records, and more all point directly to Biden’s involvement — and even suggest he may have used the office of the Vice President to profit and change U.S. policy based on bribes. 

While impeachment is never something to pursue lightly, the evidence has become too overwhelming to ignore. Therefore, last week, House Republicans began a formal impeachment inquiry in order to obtain crucial records necessary for investigation. Opening an impeachment inquiry gives us additional subpoena tools to get phone calls, text messages, and emails as well as financial, IRS, DOJ, and FBI records, and records that will shed more light on the situation. 

Throughout this Congress, the Committees on Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary, and Ways and Means have discovered a multitude of credible and serious allegations of corruption and abuse of power from Joe Biden — and it is our job to follow through on oversight. It’s also important to note that the evidence implicating Joe Biden is far greater than any that ever existed against President Trump or other Republicans the DOJ has politically targeted. Fighting back against the two-tiered justice system is something we promised to do, and we have to deliver.  

I fully support the impeachment inquiry and please be assured it’s a matter that I take seriously. I will continue to closely monitor the investigations into Biden’s abuse of power and his family’s business dealings. 

You may have seen news reports this week about the governor of Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham, trying to implement gun control citing a “public health” order. While this was outrageous — and thankfully struck down by a federal judge — unfortunately, she is not alone. President Biden, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, and Governor Grisham have all said that gun violence should or could be considered a public health emergency in order to institute gun control measures. Over the last two years, the Biden Administration has exercised extraordinary executive power to push its liberal agenda and expand the power of the government.

Those who commit violence should be held accountable for their crimes, not the millions of lawful firearms owners across the country. American gun-owners are rightfully concerned about the Biden administration and the Left’s willingness to use their authority to impose gun control  restrictions on law-abiding Americans, and it is our job in Congress to stand up for them and protect their rights. 

That’s why I am fighting back against this infringement in Congress. This week, I reintroduced legislation that would stop the executive branch from restricting the constitutional right to keep and bear arms by declaring gun violence a public health emergency. It's called the Protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act, and it currently has 29 cosponsors in the House. The National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America (GOA) support the bill. 

You can find their statements and more about the bill HERE. It’s a key part of what we’re doing in Congress to guard your Second Amendment rights against infringement.

The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic held a hearing last week to look deeper into the breakdown of the doctor-patient relationship and physician autonomy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The misguided navigation from public health officials and the federal bureaucracy about the COVID-19 pandemic severely damaged the American people’s trust in our medical system, and rightfully so. 

The anti-science method during the pandemic failed miserably. Like you, I understand that the federal government does not have the power to force people into medical decisions that they do not want to make. The COVID-19 vaccine mandates caused Americans to lose their livelihoods, trampled individual liberties, hollowed out our healthcare and education workforces, hurt military recruitment, and reduced trust in our government. Make no mistake: it was a disaster.

The federal government has no right to intimidate doctors into silence or be forced to push mandates and policies they do not have confidence in. In order to restore the American people’s faith in our medical system, we must stop the overreach of bureaucrats in medicine and leave it to the doctors and patients. 

I hope you’ll take a minute to watch my remarks. We should never let what happened with COVID-19 and government bureaucracy happen again.

I recently led a congressional letter with Senators Cornyn and Cruz to FEMA Regional Administrator George Robinson expressing concerns about FEMA’s negligence in completing their work, which has resulted in massive delays in the city of Corpus Christi’s Packery Channel Restoration Project. 

After the channel suffered serious damage during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, my office worked with the city of Corpus Christi to secure $13.5 million from FEMA for this project. Since Harvey, I have worked tirelessly with the city of Corpus Christi to ensure FEMA’s participation to identify damages and get this restoration project moving forward. However, six years later, the city still has run into bureaucratic hurdles when it comes to Public Assistance funding.

The city of Corpus Christi should not have to pay for FEMA’s mistakes and unnecessary delays. FEMA should expedite this critical project and ensure that federal funds already awarded to the project are not withdrawn.

The channel needs to be restored to its full glory so that the community and visitors will be able to enjoy more of our beautiful gulf coast. My office and I remain committed to helping get this project moving forward and helping the district whenever there are needs from the damage of natural disasters. 

You can read the full letter HERE.

One of the key votes in Congress last week addressed H.R. 1435, the Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act, which preserves Americans’ ability to choose the vehicles they want to and would end California’s efforts to ban gas-powered cars. I voted in favor of the bill because the federal government should have no role in what vehicle someone chooses to drive for themselves or at their jobsite. These “Green New Deal” policies are harmful to everyday Americans.

President Biden and the Left continuously pitch electric vehicles as “affordable,” yet the average electric vehicle costs $61,000, 24% more than the average gas-powered vehicle. Not only will it cost us more to buy the vehicle, but it will also limit choices resulting in less people buying cars and destroying jobs in the auto manufacturing and dealer industry. 

Additionally, this push for electric vehicles is a gift to Communist China, since China already dominates “green” energy production by producing 80% of the world’s electric batteries. Make no mistake: Every day we allow Biden’s green energy policies to benefit China, we are effectively funding China and undermining the United States with our own taxpayer dollars. We should never allow our country to be weaker and more reliant on our adversaries, especially Communist China. 

Instead of forcing Americans to spend more money while making China richer to advance a political agenda, this bill focuses on making sure every American’s means of transportation is affordable and reliable.

God Bless,

Rep. Michael Cloud

Member of Congress

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