Supporting School Lunch Choice and Government Accountability on the House Floor

The House passed the Ensuring Accountability in Agency Rulemaking Act and the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act last week. I managed the Rule Debate on the House Floor in support of these important pieces of legislation. 

Under our Constitution, those who make the laws are accountable to those who elect them. And yet, unelected bureaucrats across federal agencies have been making thousands of rules that impact this country's voters and taxpayers. Former President Trump addressed this issue with an executive order that required these kinds of rules be initiated and signed by senior staff appointed by the administration, so they would be held accountable to those who put the administration in power. The Biden Administration revoked this order, resulting in 3,257 rules that cost taxpayers $1.927 trillion dollars in 2021 alone, according to a Pacific Legal Foundation study. The Ensuring Accountability in Agency Rulemaking Act lessens the power of career civil servants who are not accountable to the taxpayer and requires that rules within agencies be issued and signed by presidentially nominated and Senate-confirmed appointees. 

The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act expands milk options for school lunch programs to include flavored, unflavored, whole, and reduced-fat milks. Former President Obama imposed many regulations on school lunches in the name of health, yet we have seen child health continue to decline. Whole milk has been demonized as unhealthy, but it is full of calcium, vitamin D, protein, and other key nutrients that growing kids need. Like many of the Obama-era regulations, the milk restrictions are not having their intended effect. Meanwhile, dairy farmers are struggling, and, as you know, Minnesota's 7th District is one of the top dairy-producing districts in the country. This bill is a win-win for producers and children alike. It gets kids the nutrients they need while giving schools more flexibility to meet the needs of their students, and it provides a larger market for dairy farmers to sell their delicious product.

You can watch my full remarks here.

Keeping Foreign Adversaries' Dollars Out of Our Political Landscape

Did you know that foreign adversaries can send money to American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations? And that those nonprofits can use that money to advocate for policies and even support political candidates that endorse anti-American policies? And that there's no way for the American people to know how much money a nonprofit has received from those adversaries?

Last week, the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee held a hearing on the tax-exempt sector's impact on the political landscape of this country, and I was shocked by some of the things I heard. I am committed to integrity, especially when it comes to the integrity of our elections. The Ways and Means Committee will be working to right this wrong.

You can watch the entire subcommittee hearing here.

Supporting Fair Access for Dairy Producers

Following the disappointing decision by the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) dispute settlement panel, I joined my colleagues in sending a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai and the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. In it, we expressed our concern that this decision leaves America's dairy industry at a disadvantage, and urged them to take further steps to ensure fair access to Canadian export markets for our dairy producers. My colleagues and I are not giving up. We are exploring tools and options to reopen this critical market for the U.S. dairy industry, and I look forward to a swift response to our letter and to working with USTR and the USDA on solutions. 

You can read the full letter here.

Thanks for reading!

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