John,

Good afternoon, and welcome to our Weekend Update.

First, I am paying very close attention to the developing situation in Israel. The Hamas attack on Israel was unprovoked and an act of terror. Hamas continues to be a terrorist organization, which evidence shows is being funded and backed by Iran, making Gaza a terrorist state. We must support Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in retaliating and preferably defeating Hamas, as they are a menace to the region. I’ve been to the Israel-Hamas border and understand firsthand the random rocket fire emanating from Gaza on innocent Israeli citizens. This attack on Israel must be met with strong retaliation to destroy Hamas and bring peace to Gaza and the region.

As Stephen Miller, former senior policy advisor for President Trump, reminded us in the post below, the world was at peace under President Trump’s leadership. Stephen wrote, “His clear-eyed realism, raw projection of national strength, and his rejection of ideology in favor of pragmatism and national interest brought us an unprecedented era of global harmony.” I couldn’t agree more with this statement. President Trump delivered strong leadership, while Biden has reduced us to a country that is not being taken seriously... instead, we are a country that many feel should be taken advantage of.

Regarding the Speaker vote this week, the following is my statement supporting Congressman Jim Jordan for Speaker of the House. Although most of us disapproved of the unprecedented and frankly unwarranted removal of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, we must now elect a new Speaker. The leading candidates are Chairman Jim Jordan and Leader Steve Scalise. My good friend and RSC Chairman, Kevin Hern, has honorably removed himself from contention to expeditiously unify our Conference. Both Steve and Jim are outstanding Members of the House and great people. Both are patriots and men of honor. Both are very capable of performing at a high level as Speaker, and each would set a conservative agenda that is in the interests of all Americans.

The priorities I am personally advocating for moving forward include:

1. Passing a fiscally responsible, pro-growth budget.
2. Stopping excessive, wasteful spending and rooting out waste, abuse, and fraud from discretionary and mandatory spending.
3. We must continue to advocate for H.R. 1 — responsible American Energy Independence and dominance is crucial to our national security and economic strength.
4. Securing the border and implementing immigration reform policy. As a start, we should begin impeachment proceedings of Secretary Mayorkas, who is deliberately not enforcing our nation's illegal immigration laws.
5. Prosecute and weed out corruption, including the blatant and obvious Biden scandals.
6. We must, through policy, execution, and factual, honest messaging, earn the trust of the American voters so we position ourselves to expand our majority in the House, gain the majority in the Senate, and win the all-important Presidential election.

The only way to achieve our goals of strengthening American national security and economic growth is by re-electing President Donald Trump. Our next Speaker and Majority leader will play a key role in setting this policy course and uniting us. I believe we must have Jim Jordan in our Conference leadership. Therefore, moving forward, I think the best leadership team is Jim Jordan as Speaker and Steve Scalise as Majority Leader. These two men embody the leadership qualities essential to moving our party and nation forward. 

Following the removal of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, Congressman Patrick McHenry (NC-10) assumed the duties as Speaker Pro Tempore. He will manage House operations until a new Speaker is elected, and voting is expected to begin this coming week. In the meantime, the House will function normally, though Floor and committee activity is expected to be limited. This situation poses no threat to the continuity of government or national security.

As we regroup before the Speaker election, the Republican Conference needs to come together to elect someone with a vision of where our party is going and can effectively communicate those goals to the American people. We need a speaker with the fortitude to set expectations and the focus to advance a conservative agenda. I joined Newsmax's “Wake Up America” to discuss the path forward. Click here or below to watch.

In addition, I joined CNN News Central to discuss the upcoming race for Speaker. Click here or below to watch.

And WILK Newsradio with Bob Cordaro. Click here or below to listen.

And Newsradio 1070 WKOK. Click here or below to listen.

Click here or below to view my interview on CNN Tonight with Laura Coates.

I conducted an interview with Newsmax’s “Wake Up America,” Click here or below to watch my interview.

I joined SiriusXM POTUS channel as well. Click here or below to listen.

Click here or below to watch my interview on MSNBC.

Click here or below to watch my appearance on Newsmax’s “American Agenda.”

Click here or below to watch my comments on Newsmax’s “Greg Kelly Reports.”

This week, Congress felt the impact of increased crime. Anyone who denies crime has skyrocketed since the defund the police movement is, well, a denier and part of the problem. I'm glad my colleague, Congressman Henry Cuellar, is okay after being carjacked last week, but countless citizens face unruly crime every day. It’s time to stop crime, not deny its rampant existence.

Recently, I sat down for an interview on the Sam Lasante Show. The show is broadcast by SSPTV in parts of the 9th District, primarily in Schuylkill and southern Luzerne Counties. Click here to visit SSPTV's website to see if you fall in their coverage area. During the interview, I spoke about the importance of re-electing President Donald Trump and some of the major issues facing our nation, from inflation to the crisis at the border. Click here or below to watch our interview.

IN NEWS YOU WON’T HEAR IN THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: The Biden White House border wall position is being crushed between their asinine ideology and the Truth. Biden should ask the Secret Service if the wall around the White House is necessary. Maybe you can’t fix stupid, but we can vote it out.

In 2020, Biden promised there would “not be another foot of wall constructed” in his administration. In 2021, Karine Jean-Pierre said a border wall “doesn’t work” and “is not an effective policy.”

Amid the worst border crisis in American history, they’re suddenly singing a different tune.

After a staggering 7.5+ million illegal border crossings since Biden took office, the Biden administration has suddenly declared an “immediate need” for miles of new border wall in south Texas.

Why the about-face? Politics.

Biden’s approval rating on the southern border is just 23 percent, and voters say he’s “ignoring” the crisis. Meanwhile, an overwhelming majority trust Republicans to do a better job on one of this election’s most important issues. Biden is also feeling intense pressure from Democrat mayors and governors in blue cities and states, whose taxpaying residents are FED UP with the flood of illegal immigrants — and drain on public services — in their own backyards.

The reality is Biden created an unprecedented humanitarian disaster at the southern border — and now he’s scrambling so voters won’t blame him.

AROUND THE DISTRICT:

This week, I attended a Chermack Campbell fundraiser in support of their campaign for the Lackawanna County Commissioner's race. To learn more about Chris Chermak and Diana Campbell, please visit their campaign website by clicking here. There are critically important elections in just a few short weeks. We must win our statewide judicial elections, including Supreme Court candidate Judge Carolyn Carluccio, Superior Court candidates Judge Harry Smail and Maria Battista, and Commonwealth Court candidate Megan Martin, and the many critical races at the county and local levels. I am pictured below with my great friends Linda Keene, Marie Santilli, and Wyoming County Chairman Davis Haire.

Last night, I attended and spoke at the Lycoming County Republican Committee dinner with Shelley. For the dinner, they did a great silent auction. And Shelley thought, what better item to bring than her MAGA hat signed by President Donald Trump for the auction. The group loved it! We got to hear an important presentation from Heather Honey, who talked about securing and protecting the voting system in Pennsylvania. A special thank you to Chairman Don Peters for inviting me and his committee for organizing such a great dinner. Pictured below speaking and with Supreme Court candidate Judge Carolyn Carluccio.

We look forward to catching up with you next week. God Bless, and see you soon,

Dan Meuser
https://www.meuserforcongress.com/