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.

Voting Against the Uniparty's Failed Bloated Spending Package

On Wednesday, the House voted on H.R. 9747, Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, under suspension of the rules. The bill passed the House by a vote of 341-82, with more Democrats than Republicans voting for it.

This Continuing Resolution (CR) is a continuation of the House’s operation outside of regular order. The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 requires the House to pass twelve individual appropriations bills by June 30 of every year. Since the enactment of the Budget and Impoundment Control Act, the House has passed its required appropriations measures only four times, most recently in 1997. This is unacceptable.

The Biden-Johnson-Schumer CR continues the Biden-Harris Administration’s spending levels and priorities. It continues to fund the lawfare against President Trump; it continues to fund the salary of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas and the border crisis he manufactured; it continues to fund Planned Parenthood; it continues to fund a new Taj Majal-like headquarters for the spying FBI; and it continues to fund woke, DEI priorities of this regime.

Congress must return to regular order. Our national debt has exceeded $35 trillion–Congress is spending this country into oblivion. Conservatives cannot continue accepting the status quo and making empty promises to the American people.

Click the images below for a refresher on the budget process and why I voted no on another CR:

Witnessing the Biden-Harris Crisis at the Southern Border

I traveled to Arizona’s southern border to see Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Alejandro Mayorkas’s border crisis in real-time. Kamala Harris, who is traveling to the border as the Border Czar, will see a sanitized border that was prepared for her arrival. Her trip is nothing more than a photo op.

The Border Czar and her regime want you to believe that the border crisis isn’t a big deal. 

There were more than 158,000 encounters last month—the crisis is still very real. Click the image below to hear about my trip:

Keep an eye out for more updates from me about this Administration’s border crisis. I’ll keep you posted.

House Oversight & Accountability Committee Activity

The Oversight Committee held a hearing titled “Defending America from the Chinese Communist Party’s Political Warfare, Part III.” Experts detailed how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has successfully waged an influence and infiltration campaign targeting critical U.S. industries, while the federal government has failed to develop a comprehensive strategy to protect the American people and combat the CCP’s dangerous tactics. The Oversight Committee has gathered evidence showing the CCP’s targeting and infiltration of key federal agencies, university professors and researchers, and the media. We are committed to protecting Americans from the CCP’s political and economic warfare.

Click the image below to see some of my questions:

The Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce held a hearing titled “Tracking Progress: Examining the Department of Defense’s Financial Management Practices.” The Pentagon has never passed an audit, and American taxpayers deserve to know why the Department of Defense (DOD) is not stewarding its budget well. DOD leadership must be held accountable for the department’s inability to provide a clean audit.

Click the image below to see my questions in the hearing:

The Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs held a hearing titled “The Border Crisis: The Cost of Chaos.” American communities across the nation are paying a steep price for the Biden-Harris regime’s radical open-border policies. The Biden-Harris Administration has facilitated the worst border crisis in American history, and they must immediately implement deterrent-focused policies to end their national security crisis. Their manipulation of facts cannot conceal the truth—the path we’re on is unsustainable.

Click the image below to see my questions in the hearing:

House Judiciary Committee Activity

The Judiciary Committee held a markup and passed the following out of committee:

• H.R. 7137, the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act of 2024;
• H.R. 9563, the Protecting Americans from Russian Litigation Act of 2024;
• and H.R. 9151, the Protecting American Industry and Labor from International Trade Crimes Act of 2024.

Team Biggs Attends Ribbon Cutting for Dental Depot

Team Biggs joined community members and the Mesa Chamber to welcome another great business to Arizona’s 5th District.

Dental Depot is a family-owned dental clinic with locations across the Valley, and I congratulate them on their newest clinic on Power Road!

Letters and Legislation

Bills Cosponsored:

• H.R. 9763 - No Funding Without Freedom Act (Rep. Meuser)  
• H.R. 9828 - End the Vaccine Carveout Act (Rep. Gosar)  
• H.Res. 1509 - National Pregnancy Center Week Resolution (Rep. Good) 

Letters Cosigned:

• Letter to DHS Secretary, FBI Director, and ODNI Director re Foreign Election Interference (Rep. Carey) 
• Letter to DOD and DOJ Inspector Generals re Zelensky Visit to PA (Rep. Gooden)

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.

Service Academy Nominations for Class of 2029 Now Open

Every year, my office has the pleasure of interviewing and nominating some of the brightest young men and women in Arizona to the most prestigious military institutions in the world.

Students interested in attending a U.S. Service Academy need to apply and obtain a congressional or presidential nomination in order to receive an appointment to four of the five Service Academies: U.S. Military Academy (USMA), West Point, NY; the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA), Annapolis, MD; the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA), Colorado Springs, CO; and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), Kings Point, NY.

Our nomination applications for the Class of 2029 are now open for students from Arizona’s Fifth District. Applications must be submitted by October 25, 2024. 

To request a Military Academy Nomination from my office or additional information, please contact Victoria Armijo at (480) 980-9609 or [email protected] for an application packet.

The Congressional App Challenge is Back!

Applications are now open for the 2024 Congressional App Challenge! I encourage all interested Arizona students to participate for the chance to have your app featured in the U.S. Capitol and on the House of Representatives’ website. 

Visit the Congressional App Challenge website to register before October 24th:

Op-Ed of the Week

Concerning the recent House funding plan: Was it that Schumer bring the SAVE Act to the floor of the Senate to allow Senators to vote on it? Or, was the plan simply to allow Republicans to talk about the SAVE Act and how much Democrats don’t want to protect Americans from illegal immigration, whether it’s the fentanyl pouring across our border, terrorists and criminal gang members flooding the nation, or preventing illegal aliens from voting in our elections? 

Let’s analyze the recent failure of the Continuing Resolution + SAVE plan to see if we can tease out what the plan must have been.

House Republicans did not demand that the Senate pass or even vote on the SAVE Act; the Speaker merely attached the SAVE Act to the big spending CR. Was this in order to actually get the SAVE Act passed? Or, was it simply to provide a talking point? Or, was it an inducement to some Republicans to vote for the bill?

It must have been a bluff, right? Here’s why one might reach that conclusion. If the Speaker and House Republicans truly desired that the SAVE Act receive a Senate vote, and more pointedly, be passed and sent to the desk of Joe Biden for consideration, the Speaker would have voiced that demand. He would have been jawboning for that during the seven-week recess. In fact, he would have demanded that the last week in July. 

The Speaker never, to my knowledge publicly or behind closed doors, stated that his objective was to actually see that the SAVE Act was passed…or, even got a Senate vote. 

Further, someone who really, truly wanted the SAVE Act would not have weakened his position. He would not have foreclosed any stick or carrot to obtain his objective. But, the Speaker said he would never shut the government down. In fact, by sending Schumer the CR + SAVE, the Speaker actually gave Schumer a continuation of the spending levels and policies that Schumer and Leftists want.

The CR continued the open border policies like CBP One and the special recruitment of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans. The CR perpetuated all of the Green New Deal package, including subsidies for Democrat cronies and onerous regulations driving up prices on American energy. The CR provided sustained support for Planned Parenthood and its practice of late-term abortions. Funding for the ATF’s attack on gunowners would continue in the CR. In short, these and every other weaponized government program was in the CR.

And the spending level of the CR would have added nearly $1.5 trillion in new national debt. These are things that Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats would have a hard time saying “no” to. 

But the Speaker’s plan wasn’t to withhold giving Schumer a continuation of these policies and spending levels until Schumer delivered the SAVE Act, it was the Speaker’s plan to give this horrible CR with the ongoing spending and abhorrent policies to the Senate Majority Leader without conditions.

Attaching the SAVE Act to the CR, without conditions, meant that Schumer could drop the SAVE Act and still accept the CR. Schumer could have also used other vehicles in the Senate to send back the exact same CR without the SAVE Act.

What would the Speaker have done then? He wouldn’t have fought for the SAVE Act. How do we know this? Because he hasn’t fought for it. He didn’t withhold the CR until the SAVE Act received passage or a vote. In fact, the Speaker said he wouldn’t do anything that might lead to a “shutdown” of spending.

So, no conditions, no carrots, no sticks, and a promise not to use the most potent leverage. 

The only conclusion left is that the proponents of the CR + SAVE plan were cynically attempting to produce a talking point.

But we already had the talker because the House Republicans plus five Democrats voted the SAVE Act out of the House months ago. We have been talking about and demanding that the Senate vote on it for months. 

Some might say, “But we were attaching the SAVE Act to the CR.” Yes, but Schumer could simply remove the SAVE Act and approve the CR. And the Speaker would acquiesce to that because he has said no shutdown, no matter what. 

Republicans are winning the argument on border security. A super majority of Americans know the border is a crisis made by Democrats like Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and Alejandro Mayorkas.

Democrats voted just this week to prevent deportation of sexual predators and criminals who prey upon women. 

We didn’t need another talker for Americans to know that Trump and the Republicans are the party that will secure the border. Americans are with us.

Americans don’t want illegal aliens voting in their elections. We’ve had that talking point and policy initiative with the SAVE Act long before CR time.

What Americans needed was a willingness to fight to get the SAVE Act passed. And you don’t win a fight that you aren’t fighting. And, giving Schumer his spending and his policies without condition isn’t fighting, it’s capitulation. It is the easy way. It is the way Congress operates. 

Townhall published my op-ed here.

Top Media Appearances of the Week

I joined Newsmax 2 with John Burnett and Betsy McCaughey to discuss Border Czar Kamala’s photo op at the Arizona border. Click the image below to watch part of the segment:

I joined Dan Ball with One America News to discuss my legislation, the KAMALA Act, to protect taxpayers from bankrolling illegal aliens’ home ownership. Click the image below to watch part of the segment:

I joined Steak for Breakfast to discuss the spending fight we find ourselves in year after year. Click the image below to listen to 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 
I 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.