It’s official: We have a new Speaker of the People’s House!

As you well know, the House voted to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy on October 3rd. In the weeks following this unprecedented move, the House Republican Conference worked together to find the best person to lead us — and our nation — forward.

This proved to be a pivotal moment — one that required resolve, patience, and courage from House Republicans to reject the continuation of the Swamp’s status quo and demand the real change in leadership that the American people deserve.

So, that’s exactly what we did.

We had numerous Speaker-Designates, including Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, and Majority Whip Tom Emmer. While I wholeheartedly supported Jim Jordan through numerous ballots and closed-door meetings, our Conference had to find someone who could truly unite us and garner the 217 Republican votes needed to become Speaker.

Now, this wasn’t a quick process. But it was essential that my colleagues and I handle this in a thoughtful and responsible manner in order to make the right choice for the American people.

Folks, I believe we did that last week by electing Mike Johnson to be the 56th Speaker of the People’s House.

House Republicans unanimously elected Speaker Johnson — a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since 2011. Mike is a rock-solid conservative, constitutional scholar, and a man of both faith and integrity. I’m confident that he will instill trust, transparency, and transformational change in the Speaker’s Office, and I’m incredibly excited for the People’s House to have a principled conservative at the helm. 

This hasn’t been an easy process, but democracy can be messy. And I believe it was essential for us to fight to get this decision right, so we can return — stronger and more united than ever — to working together to save our Republic.

Since electing Speaker Johnson, House Republicans have hit the ground running. Hours after Mike Johnson was sworn in as our new Speaker, we swiftly passed a bipartisan resolution reaffirming our nation’s commitment to Israel’s security and forcefully condemning Hamas’ terrorist attacks against our strongest ally in the Middle East. In addition to sending a powerful message that the House stands with Israel in its greatest time of need, we also passed our fifth conservative single-subject spending bill.

I’m certain that under Speaker Johnson’s leadership, House Republicans will continue delivering tremendous wins to the American people.

This week, the House will consider a $14.3 billion Israel supplemental aid bill to support our greatest ally in the Middle East as they continue fighting Hamas terrorists. The legislation will support Israel’s missile defense systems like the Iron Dome and additional military equipment for the Israel Defense Forces, while also replenishing U.S. weapons stocks and fully offsetting the cost of this assistance. That’s right, Speaker Johnson responsibly decided that this legislation would be paid for by cuts in other spending, not borrowing more money and increasing our debt. As it stands right now, those cuts will come out of money that was previously appropriated for the IRS, and I cannot think of a better place from which to reapportion these funds.

I want to hear from you! Do you support Congress sending military and humanitarian assistance to Israel?

Following Hamas’ barbaric terrorist attack on our greatest ally in the Middle East, we have witnessed a dire escalation of violent aggression across the region. As you may know, the USS Carney, a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer in the northern Red Sea, recently intercepted three missiles and several drones launched by Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen. According to the Pentagon, these missiles were potentially heading toward targets in Israel. Yet when President Biden first took office, he recklessly reversed a Trump Administration policy by removing the Houthis from the Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist lists.

Undoubtedly, Iran-backed terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis, have been emboldened by President Biden’s significant weakness on the world stage. Continuing to capitulate to terrorists like the Houthis will further threaten our national security and dangerously increase the likelihood of pulling the U.S. into another war. To avoid further exacerbating tensions, our Commander-in-Chief must respond to these acts of terror with strength by redesignating the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization and reinstating related sanctions on the group.

Last week, I reintroduced the Standing Against Houthi Aggression Act to do just that. At this critical inflection point, our nation must respond appropriately to deter bad actors in the Middle East from attacking both our troops and our allies in the region. I firmly believe that reinstating sanctions on the Houthis and redesignating this dangerous group as a foreign terrorist organization is an important and necessary step for the United States to take as tensions continue to soar across the Middle East.

Last week, House Republicans passed our fifth appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2024, the Energy, Water Development, and Related Agencies bill. This legislation makes important investments in our national defense capabilities, energy security, water infrastructure, and more.

I’m very pleased that this appropriations bill passed the House with my amendment to prohibit funds from being used to rename civil works projects such as Lake Lanier. Our initial efforts forced the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to pause its plan to rename Lake Lanier and Buford Dam, but the passage of this bill marks another major win for Northeast Georgians, as these renamings would attempt to radically rewrite history and thrust crushing costs on our community. While the House-passed Energy and Water Development appropriations bill still must be ironed out with the Senate in conference negotiations, I will fight to ensure my amendment to bar taxpayer dollars from funding the renaming of any civil works project remains in the final bill text

Here are a few other highlights: 

Energy & Water Development Appropriations Bill

• Provides $19.117 billion for the continued modernization of our nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile and infrastructure
• Supplies $1.946 billion for Naval Reactors to support the operational nuclear fleet, Columbia-class submarine reactor development, and research and development for current and future generations of nuclear-powered warships
• Prohibits oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to be sold to any entity owned by or under the control or influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or to any other entity that intends to export to China
• Supports domestic uranium enrichment capabilities, which is essential to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign uranium sources to power current and future commercial nuclear reactors

Last Thursday, I hosted a productive and informative telephone town hall, where I was glad to be joined by over 5,700 Ninth District residents! We covered a range of topics such as the Speaker race, the Israel-Hamas war, House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry of President Biden, and the crisis at our southern border.

If you’ve attended one of my telephone town halls, then you know I like to poll participants to gauge their thoughts on certain issues so I can ensure that I’m factoring Ninth District residents’ views into the critical policy decisions I make in Washington. This time around, I asked three poll questions, and I want to take this opportunity to share the results with you. 

Poll Question #1: Do you support my amendments to the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill to prohibit taxpayer dollars from being used to fund the prosecution of any major presidential candidate before the 2024 election?

Poll Question #2: Do you support House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Biden?

Poll Question #3: Do you support Congress sending Ukraine any additional lethal military aid?

Note: 27% support additional lethal Ukraine aid & 25% unsure

Staying connected with the great people of Georgia’s Ninth District is very important to me. If I missed your question during last week’s telephone town hall, it was because so many thoughtful questions were asked that I did not have time to address them all in the hour we had together. If you were unable to participate but would like to ask me a question, please fill out the contact form on my website and a member of my staff will be in touch.

I hope you and your family had a fun and safe Halloween! 🎃

Lawmakers are back in Washington this week, as we’re expected to consider several pro-Israel pieces of legislation, including a supplemental aid bill to support Israel’s military as they continue to fight against Hamas terrorists. Additionally, House Republicans will continue advancing single-subject spending bills in a conservative and fiscally responsible manner.

For regular updates on the week ahead, please follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Gettr, and Twitter. Have a blessed week!