The Week in Review 

Happy Friday!

I hope you had a wonderful week. I am grateful to serve you all in the 118th Congress. Read below to see what I’ve been working on this week.

Surveying Biden’s Border Crisis in Lukeville and the Tohono O’odham Reservation

This week, I traveled to Lukeville, Arizona, and the San Miguel Gate on the Tohono O’odham Reservation to survey Biden’s Border Crisis. These are some of the most remote areas of the border in Arizona and the entire United States. The Reservation covers 62 miles along the U.S-Mexico border and none of it is secured by fencing that prevents pedestrian crossings.

The invasion in Arizona is just one example of the disastrous Biden-Mayorkas open border policies. Thousands of illegal aliens from around the world invade our country every single day, and it is impossible to properly vet them all. Thanks to Joe Biden’s and Alejandro Mayorkas’s catch and release policies, these unvetted illegal aliens walk freely in our nation.

I spoke with several Border Patrol agents and illegal aliens on my visit. One agent reported that Lukeville had encountered a group of more than 300 illegal aliens on Tuesday night, and there was a steady stream of small groups crossing on the Reservation on Wednesday. An illegal alien I spoke with, a man from Guatemala, informed me that he was traveling to Nebraska. In Joe Biden’s America, every state is a border state.

Congress must not continue funding the Biden Administration’s woke agenda while the Uniparty refuses to secure our border.

Click the images below to see some of what I found on my visit:

Recognizing Passover

I wish a blessed Passover to all who celebrate. 

Chag Pesach Sameach!

Celebrating the Winners of the 2024 Congressional Art Competition

The 2024 Congressional Art Competition concluded this week at Communiversity in Queen Creek. We had a great lineup of pieces from young artists and great turnout for the People’s Choice voting. Thank you to all who submitted a piece of art and to those who stopped by to support our young artists!

Congratulations to this year’s winners:

1st Place - “Broken Image” by Kiera

2nd Place - “Outdoor Adventure” by Jenna

3rd Place - “Happiness” by Victoria

Live Demonstration of SafeSeat - Congressional App Challenge Winner

This week, I was given a live demonstration of SafeSeat, the Fighting Fifth District’s Congressional App Challenge Winner. Ronith, the 12-year old app developer, dropped into my office to present how his app works.

SafeSeat will revolutionize emergency response to children or pets left in hot cars. Thank you to Ronith and his family for stopping by!

More about SafeSeat may be found here.

Military Service Academy Conference: May 4th 

I will be hosting a Military Service Academy Conference with the office of Congressman Eli Crane (R-AZ) on Saturday, May 4th from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm at Combs High School Performing Arts Center. 

Liaisons from the U.S. Military, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine, and Naval academies will discuss military service and career opportunities. My staff will additionally be on-site to discuss the application and nomination process. 

Hope to see you there! Please RSVP with the link below:
https://biggs.house.gov/service-academy-conference

Drop Zone 2024

On Saturday, June 1, 2024, my office will host our 5th annual DROP ZONE event!

Drop Zone is a one-stop resource fair for veterans, seniors, and residents of Arizona’s 5th District. Participants will have access to many valuable resources in one location: VA benefit consultations, health screenings, Taxpayer Advocacy Services, community support organizations, employment assistance, and more!

Drop Zone will be held on June 1, 2024, from 10 am to 2 pm at the American Leadership Academy Applied Technologies Campus located at 7729 E. Pecos Road, Mesa, AZ 85212.

Stay tuned for more updates. Drop Zone 2023 was a major success and we hope this year’s will be too!

Remembering Army Veteran Amos Coffey

The Apache Junction High School held a flag folding ceremony to honor deceased veteran Amos Coffey who passed away at 93 years old. 

He joined the Army in 1946. He served as an evangelist and was known as a prayer warrior who never ceased to share his faith and love of God.

Thank you to the students from Apache Junction High School who honored Mr. Coffey’s legacy.

Legislation and Letters

Bills Cosponsored:

• H.J.Res. 127 - Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to "The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors" (Rep. Huizenga)

Alien Invasion Border Documentary

Check out my border documentary titled Alien Invasion. The 30-minute documentary features footage from private ranches along the border, the Darien Gap in Panama, and interviews with members of Congress, Border Patrol, local and state law enforcement, and much more. It addresses how President Biden’s border crisis began, its consequences, and solutions to address the crisis.  

The border documentary may be watched here.

Op-Ed of the Week

America continues to fund both sides of conflicts and wars. This is typified by the latest Israel aid portion of the package voted on by the House of Representatives.

Almost half of the Israel aid package goes to “humanitarian” purposes, with deference to how to distribute the $9 billion left in the hands of the Biden administration — yes, the same Biden administration that has taken the position of the “two-state solution.”

That is to say, President Biden, who is kneeling to the base of the Democratic Party, which exclaims, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” has arranged for up to $9 billion to be sent to Gaza. The same Gaza that has been controlled by Hamas for more than a decade.

The same Gaza that is ostensibly governed by the Palestinian Authority, which has honored and given bounties to suicide bombers who have indiscriminately killed Israeli civilians.

Up to $9 billion to the same Gaza that has acknowledged that Hamas has been hijacking most, if not all, of the humanitarian aid that Israel has facilitated. That Hamas. The Hamas that steals food and medicine and converts it into use for the terrorists while starving the people in Gaza.

We, the House of Representatives, voted to give upward of $9 billion to Gaza/Hamas, which takes the pressure off of Iran, which has been financially supporting Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and other terrorist organizations. The package passed in the Senate on Tuesday and will be signed by the president this week.

Who will determine the distribution of the funds? None other than the hapless Biden regime. The same regime that insists that Israel recognize the right of statehood of an area that houses the soulless, ruthless terrorists of Hamas. The Hamas terrorists who have sworn to annihilate Israel.

The Biden regime, now captured by antisemitic radicals who want the genocidal eradication of Israel, insists that Israel engage in a one-sided cease-fire. It has demanded that Israel stop attacking Hamas animals and let Hamas regroup. Israel has offered a cease-fire seven times, but Hamas refuses because Israel demands that Hamas (which broke a cease-fire when it barbarically attacked Israel on Oct. 7) also lay down its weapons.

Even the funding that goes to Israel in the aid package will be leveraged, directed and controlled to a large extent by the Biden regime. Thank goodness that the ongoing, annualized payment of more than $3 billion, which has been on autopilot since 2018, is in the process of delivery, as it has fewer Biden strings.

Does Israel need help? Of course. That is why the best thing that House Speaker Mike Johnson has done was to push a package that provided military and humanitarian aid to Israel last November. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Mr. Biden opposed that package because it was paid for instead of being tacked onto our national debt.

The need to help Israel is also why additional legislation was proposed, including my bill HR 7271.

The speaker failed to move on that bill because, he said, “The Senate won’t pass it.”

So, the Schumer-Biden cabal, which refused to pass and sign into law an aid package that passed out of the House on a bipartisan vote last November, insisted that its proposal, which appeases the Democrats’ antisemitic base, be brought forward instead. The Schumer-Biden cabal also demanded that the entire Senate package of aid to Ukraine ($61 billion), Israel ($23 billion) and Taiwan ($2.5 billion) be passed. And so, it was.

And that’s how we end up funding both sides of the Israel-Hamas war. Democrats refuse to supply aid to Israel unless four things happen: (1) There cannot be a pay-for; the cost of the aid must be added to our national debt; (2) No funding for Israel unless Ukraine also gets funded; (3) To appease the antisemitic Democratic base, there has to be money going to Gaza-Hamas and (4) There cannot be U.S. border security policy tied to the Ukraine funding, contrary to what Mr. Johnson promised privately and publicly, dozens of times.

Last word. For at least three reasons, we know that assistance for Ukraine, not Israel, was the main objective for Democrats, who continue to kneel to their antisemitic base: (1) It was the Ukrainian flag that Democrats were waving on the floor after the vote last Saturday, not the Israeli flag; (2) Democrat Gerry Connolly brazenly claimed “the Ukrainian-Russian border is our border” without mention of the need to protect our true own border or Israel’s border and (3) while almost half of the Israel funding will likely be used to refurbish and rearm Hamas, there is no demand that nearly half of the Ukraine aid goes to the enemy who brutally attacked and continues to fight Ukraine.

If the first Israel aid package of last November was the best thing Mr. Johnson has done, this last legislation (which came to the House as one bill and returned to the Senate as one bill, not four separate bills) is one of the worst.

Find my latest opinion piece in the Washington Times.

Top Media Appearance of the Week

I joined OAN’s Dan Ball to discuss Mike Johnson’s European-style coalition government. Click the image below to watch some of the segment:

Tweet of the Week 

Constituent Services 

Flags
Would you like to purchase a flag that has been flown over the U.S. Capitol? Flags flown over the Capitol include a certificate, which may be personalized for a particular person, event, or organization. Click here to learn more about purchasing a flag.

Internships
If you or someone you know is interested in completing an internship in either my Mesa or Washington, D.C. office, they can apply directly on my website. 

Help With a Federal Agency 
If you can’t get an answer from a federal agency in a timely fashion, or if you feel you have been treated unfairly, my office may be able to help resolve a problem or get you the information you need. For example, my office routinely helps constituents with issues involving the Veterans Administration, the IRS, the Social Security Administration, the State Department, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.  You can learn more by visiting my website.

Click here to find out more information about my office’s services. 

Tours and Tickets

Interested in touring the White House or U.S. Capitol? As constituents of the Fifth Congressional District, you may request tickets and tours for various Washington D.C. destinations from my office. 

All tickets are provided to constituents on a first-come, first-served basis, so request tickets early.

Click here for more information.