Fellow Conservative,

The House of Representatives returned home this week after their session ended this Thursday. The Senate was scheduled to be in recess next week, but they will be back in town on Monday.. Here is what happened and what the Senate is up to:

Our Military Deserved Better

The military exists to deter and win wars and ensure our nation’s security. Through the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Congress should provide our armed forces with the tools and resources needed to accomplish this fundamental mission.

Since Biden took office, he has been politicizing the military, pulling it further and further from its critical mission and instituting a widespread cultural agenda. The NDAA was an opportunity to reverse that politicization. Unfortunately, the final version failed to make the necessary changes to refocus the military.

The NDAA failed to reverse the Biden administration's policy of taxpayer funded abortion accommodations for service members and their family members. It also excluded multiple efforts to deter the growing influence and military capabilities of the Chinese Communist Party - including provisions restricting the free flow of U.S. capital into China without any oversight, limitations, or prohibitions.

For these reasons and more, Heritage Action issued a Key Vote in opposition to this year’s NDAA. Disappointingly, a majority of Republicans in both chambers voted in favor of the bill. The NDAA final conference report missed the mark when it came to Republicans fighting back against Biden’s far Left agenda. Going forward into 2024, Heritage Action will continue looking for more legislative opportunities to stop Biden in his tracks and hold members accountable.

The Ongoing Struggle for Border Security

On October 20th, the Biden administration issued a $105 billion supplemental funding request that included more money for Ukraine, open border policies, and military aid for Israel. Ignoring that each of these issues should be voted on independent of the other, the Senate followed up Biden’s request with an even larger spending bill of $110.5 dollars including:

• $65.5 billion for Ukraine funding
• $14.3 billion for Israel funding
• $14 billion for other foreign aid funding
• $10.7 billion for “Border Spending” (intended only to process and release illegal immigrants, not deter them)

>>>Get the details HERE<<<

These issues not only should be voted on separately (especially Ukraine and Israel aid as they are complex conflicts of very different natures), but Biden’s deliberate attempt to make the border crisis worse could not be overlooked.

The only way to address the border is for the Senate to pass the House of Representatives’ H.R. 2 (The Secure the Border Act) which fundamentally alters current border policy by:

• Ending asylum fraud
• Ending “Catch and Release”
• Finishing the border wall
• Boosting border patrol resources
• Mandating E-Verify
• Stopping amnesty

No conservative should agree to any bill containing border spending unless the package contains the provisions of H.R. 2 in their entirety.

>>>READ: The Secure the Border Toolkit for all the information

Yet the Democrat-run Senate has chosen to remain in D.C. for an extra week hoping to use a Christmas deadline, false promises of border security, and backdoor negotiations to pass billions in foreign funding while simultaneously watering down H.R. 2’s strong border policies.

                                    >>>Click HERE for full article<<<

The Senate needs to hear from you. They need to know that trying to use the Christmas holiday to forge backdoor deals that undermine the security of the nation is unacceptable.

>>>CALL YOUR SENATORS and tell them that H.R. 2 is the only acceptable solution to the border. Americans cannot accept Schumer’s bill, which is just more money for open borders.

The inflation Grinch that stole your retirement

This Christmas season is poised to be the most expensive in recent memory. But it isn’t because of anything you have done, it is because of the $10 trillion spent by the federal government since January of 2020 - the fastest rate of spending in the nation's history.

This spending is responsible for the out of control inflation that hits lower and middle-income families the hardest.

                                          >>>Read more HERE<<<

Spending-induced inflation has brought dramatic losses to Americans’ 401(k) plans to the tune of almost 13%, equal to about $17,000, leaving behind a fat lump of coal in retirees’ stockings.

The solution is difficult but simple: Congress must lower its spending trajectory. Congress will have their chance when a portion of the government’s funding expires on January 19, 2024 and again when the remaining portion expires on February 2nd.

The proper way of funding the government is for Congress to pass 12 individual appropriations bills each of which funds a specific portion of the government. This has rarely happened, as Congress instead often passes an omnibus (one bill combining all 12 appropriations bills) or a series of minibuses (one bill combining more than one but less than 12 appropriations bills).

Conservatives in Congress must commit themselves to passing all 12 appropriations bills and significantly reducing their topline spending. This will not be easy and they have already faced tremendous pressure not to follow through, but the nation’s financial well being depends on it.

When Congress takes up this issue again in the New Year we must be ready to drive the conversation and push them to make the hard but necessary decision to reduce spending and restore fiscal sanity.\

As always, we look forward to working with you to advance the conservative movement in every way.

Thank you for all that you do.

-Ryan and the Heritage Action team

Join the fight to advance the conservative agenda.