Fellow Conservative,

This week Congress continued to debate government funding, and conservatives made further progress in the states.

Kicking the Can Down the Road

We were disappointed last week when Congress passed another short-term continuing resolution that further kicks the can down the road when it comes to securing wins for the American people on spending AND fighting Biden’s disastrous policies.

The short-term continuing resolution (CR) extends existing policy and funding levels, with two new deadlines:

• March 8 (6 Bills): Agriculture-FDA, Commerce-Justice and Science, Energy and Water Development, Interior, Military Construction-VA, and Transportation-HUD. Congress is now negotiating a minibus deal that would fund these six agencies through the rest of the year at the topline spending level established by the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) with additional funding in ‘budget gimmicks.’

• March 22 (6 Bills): Defense, Financial Services and General Government, Homeland Security, Labor-HHS, Legislative Branch, and State and Foreign Operations. There is no bill text yet or an agreement on these. Congress is still determining how they will vote on these measures (one minibus like the first or a few smaller packages) and will also be funded at the topline spending level established by the FRA with additional funding in ‘budget gimmicks.’

In January, Heritage Action warned lawmakers that they had just 40 days to cut spending and secure the border. Congress has wasted so much time, yet again, that no great path forward remains. Conservatives have pleaded for responsible spending and border security for more than a year. It appears all but final that these spending bills - however ultimately packaged for floor consideration - will not rein in federal spending or address Biden's border crisis.

Americans are exasperated with policies that continue to put them last. Heritage Action anticipates issuing a Key Vote next week for the first anticipated minibus. We will keep you updated when we know what the second tranche of bills will look like.

Mayorkas Must Stand Trial

The numbers representing Biden’s border crisis continue to grow – American is currently at 10 million + illegal migrant crossings since 2021, $150 billion + cost to taxpayers for open borders, and 77K+ fentanyl overdoses per year. But those numbers contain deeply personal and tragic stories like the murder of 22 year old Laken Riley from Athens, Georgia.

Laken’s murderer, Jose Ibaraa, entered the country illegally in El Paso in 2022. He was detained but then released “for further processing”. Before the murder, he had been charged with several other crimes and a warrant was out for his arrest, but no serious action was ever taken. Joe Biden’s failure to secure the border, and the policies of left-leaning sanctuary cities that harbor criminals like Ibraraa enabled this atrocity. And make no mistake, these kinds of tragedies happen REGULARLY:

• Francisco Oropeza, deported four times, was accused of gunning down five Honduran immigrants in Cleveland, Texas
• Bryan Marquez, who had deportation orders, beat his roommate to death and was charged with first-degree murder in Fort Piece, Florida
• Jonathan Estuardo Ruano Garcia, just this Monday, was arrested in Utah County, Utah for allegedly raping an 11-year-old girl

Stories like these climb into the thousands—if not millions. All of them could have been avoided if Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas Secretary had done his job and stopped them from entering the U.S. in the first place.

If these criminals are going to face trial, then so should their willful enabler, Alejandro Mayrokas. The House of Representatives has already voted to impeach him, now it is up to the Senate to hold the trial.

>>>Call your Senators and tell them that Mayorkas must stand trial

Forward Progress in the States

Georgia

The Georgia House of Representatives passed HB 481, a bill that would ensure asset managers make investments based solely on financial factors, not environmental, social, and governance (ESG) mandates.

Heritage Action’s Georgia State Director James Quarles stated in Heritage Action’s press release:

“For too long, asset managers have used investors' funds to advance a misguided, Left-wing ESG agenda rather than seeking the best financial return on those investments. HB 481 would ensure the retirement savings of everyone in the Peach State's public retirement systems will be invested solely to achieve financial benefits—not divisive political objectives.”

We now urge Governor Brian Kemp to sign this legislation into law and protect the investments of Georgians.

Ohio

The 2024 elections will be a consequential moment in American history and states have a responsibility to ensure the integrity of those elections. Foreign nationals have a history of spending millions to meddle in our elections. For example, Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss has given over $245 million to the New Venture Fund and the Sixteen Thirty Fund both of which fund Left wing election schemes and ballot campaigns.

But Ohio’s Senate has passed SB 215, legislation that would ban foreign nationals from funding ballot issue campaigns.

We encourage the Ohio House to take up this important legislation, and to encourage other states to follow suit.

Indiana

Indiana has also taken steps to protect their election process with HB 1264 which passed the General Assembly this week, and now goes to Gov. Eric Holcomb for signature. If this bill becomes law it will improve voter roll maintenance and ban partisan, private organizations from funding public election operations.

We are happy to see states across the country making it easy to vote and hard to cheat and look forward to working with you to continue the progress.

In Case You Missed It: KEY VOTE

NO to Central Bank Digital Currency in America

Heritage Action issued a Key Vote Cosponsorship in support of Sen. Ted Cruz and Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s CBDC Anti-Surveillance Act (S. 3801 / H.R. 5403). This bill would prohibit a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) from being issued by the government or Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC — either directly or indirectly through the use of an intermediary bank or institution.

A CBDC is a form of digital currency that would take the place of the dollar and is issued, programmable, traceable, trackable, and taxable by the government. A CBDC makes the government a party to every financial transaction, giving them the power to cancel your purchases and control what you can buy.

Any member of Congress that cosponsors this legislation will increase their score on Heritage Action’s scorecard.

>>>Call Congress HERE and urge them to cosponsor the CBDC Anti-Surveillance Act.

Restore the citizenship question

In 2010, Democrats removed the question of citizenship from the census. Now, census results no longer show a distinction between citizens and non-citizens. This means that non-citizens will influence Congressional Districting and Electoral College apportionment. The Census should not be used to take resources and representation away from American citizens in favor of illegal immigrants.

The Equal Representation Act would restore the citizenship question to the census so that representation is only based on citizens of the United States. So far, dozens of Senators and Representatives have cosponsored this legislation but we need more.

>>>Call Congress and tell them to put American’s first and support the Equal Representation Act

Thank you for all the work that you do.

- Ryan and the Heritage Action team

Join the fight to advance the conservative agenda.