Fellow Conservative,
Congress is out of session until November 12th. If anything changes in the congressional schedule due to recovery efforts related to Hurricane Helene, we will keep you informed. As a reminder, this gives you an opportunity to talk to your representatives directly and make sure they hear what is important to you. We encourage you to take this opportunity before they leave their districts to finish out their terms.
Here is how you can make your voice heard:
- Watch for town halls or events where your member is speaking! Subscribing to their congressional newsletter and watching local group meeting announcements can inform you of where they will be visiting in the district.
- Schedule a meeting with your member. While their calendars are quickly filling up, you can reach out to your member’s office and ask for a meeting—arrange for a few Sentinels to go with you, and meet as a group! Here are some Tips for Visiting Your Member of Congress’ Office <[link removed]>. Your state director is happy to help you put together some questions for your visit!
- Get to know their staff. Congressional staff often travel to the district with their bosses during recess. Key relationships with staff can be just as effective at making sure your message is heard by your member of Congress. Here is a guide to Your Member of Congress’ Staff <[link removed]>. Be sure to ask for their business card!
Face to face meetings and interactions with your member of Congress or staff is one of the most effective ways to share your thoughts!
Key Vote Wins in the 118th Congress
Heritage Action’s most powerful tool for holding Congress accountable is our scorecard <[link removed]>. By issuing Key Votes <[link removed]>, Heritage Action signals to members of Congress that their vote will be recorded and either help, or hurt their score which the grassroots will use as a barometer for conservatism on the Hill. This means that your work has been shaping the national narrative in real time.
Here are the top three bills that our Key Votes and your engagement helped to pass this year:
H.R. 2: Secure the Border Act
Historically, it has been an arduous task to get Republicans to coalesce around a comprehensive border security bill. Nevertheless, Heritage Action called on the House to make it a priority and they did.
House Republicans, with the help of policy experts at The Heritage Foundation, put forward H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act - the strongest border security and immigration enforcement legislation to date. This bills includes targeted policies to:
- End the abuse of our asylum system and parole laws
- Mandates construction of the border wall
- Provide physical and personnel resources to secure the border
- Strengthen immigration enforcement mechanisms
- And more <[link removed]>
Heritage Action quickly Key Voted <[link removed]> this bill and worked to make sure all Republicans supported it. With your help, House Republicans took this to heart, remained unified, and passed it through the House 219-213. The bill has since been used as the standard for any subsequent border security efforts in the House and Senate.
>>>See how your Representative voted<<< <[link removed]>
H. Res. 863: Impeaching Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas
Heritage Action continued to engage heavily on border security and immigration enforcement accountability by calling for the impeachment of Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his dereliction of duty as Secretary of Homeland Security—which Heritage Action added as a Key Vote <[link removed]> to our scorecard.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, it is Secretary Mayorkas’ legal responsibility to secure the border. Instead, he went along with the agenda of VP Kamala Harris whom Biden had selected to be his “Border Czar”.
Their joint agenda opened the border to a tidal wave of illegal immigration that flowed across our borders from countries across the globe.
Dereliction of duty on such a scale requires a strong response: impeachment. Heritage Action’s Key Vote successfully supported House Republicans in this endeavor, ultimately leading to the impeachment of Sec. Mayorkas. In contrast, the Democrat-controlled Senate neglected their duty to legitimately consider the case against Mayorkas.
>>>See how your Representative voted<<< <[link removed]>
H.R. 7521: Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act
The greatest existential <[link removed]> threat facing the United States today is the People’s Republic of China, led and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
TikTok, a massively popular social media app, is controlled by the company ByteDance which is a Chinese company that collects user data and is answerable to the CCP.
This is a massive security risk that America cannot afford to allow. China has the ability to remotely spy on Americans and collect their data at a constant pace. That is why Heritage Action Key Voted <[link removed]> in support of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act <[link removed]>, which requires TikTok to be severed from its CCP controlled parent company if it wishes to continue doing business in the United States.
This common sense national security measure passed the House with bipartisan support. It was ultimately included in a separate package and signed into law.
>>>See how your Representative voted<<< <[link removed]>
H.R. 8281: Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act:
Over 10,000,000 illegal immigrants have crossed illegally into our country. Naturally, these non-citizens have no right to vote. But many states have no way of enforcing that or, worse, actively encourage them to register to vote.
For example, voting requires proof of citizenship, but many states accept driver's licenses as proof without first requiring proof of citizenship to attain a driver’s license.
The SAVE Act <[link removed]> would close those loopholes and make sure that only American citizens can vote in American elections. Heritage Action wasted no time issuing a Key Vote <[link removed]> and helped unite Republicans and even some Democrats behind this common-sense bill. The bill was then used as a strong addition to a 6-month continuing resolution, which ultimately did not make it across the finish line. However, your work supporting the standalone bill enabled House Leadership to continue the fight. The issue is not going away and your engagement was pivotal to this continued work in Congress.
>>>See how your Representative voted<<< <[link removed]>
Reject a Lame-Duck Omnibus
Even though Congress will be in a lame-duck session when they return in November, they still will have the chance to make critical decisions.
Spending
Before leaving town, Congress passed a three-month continuing resolution (CR) that extends funding to December 20th and sets the stage for an omnibus funding bill before the holidays.
This omnibus must be avoided at all costs. Instead, Congress should pass a second CR to extend government funding into next year. The reasons are simple. A CR in December would:
- Reject lame-duck legislating. Congress shouldn’t cement the agenda of legislators rejected by their constituents for another year.
- Avoid higher topline spending levels. Budget analysts at The Heritage Foundation estimate a CR through March 2025 would save taxpayers $60 billion compared to an omnibus passed prior to the end of the year.
- Enable the next president to make their mark on federal spending and policy priorities for their first year in office.
>>>Call Congress and tell them not to pass a lame-duck omnibus <[link removed]>
In Case You Missed It
Breaking Down the VP Debate
On Tuesday night, Senator JD Vance and Governor Tim Walz took to the debate stage to make their case to the American people on how their running mates’ policies could be a continuation or the change the country needs. Sarah Ursprung, Heritage Action’s Director of Government Relations, joined The Daily Signal’s Problematic Women <[link removed]> podcast to highlight the biggest points of the VP debate performance that stuck with voters.
>>>WATCH HERE<<< <[link removed]>
Election Integrity
Currently 29 states have taken steps to ban the influence of Zuckbucks in their elections. But more must be done to make elections more secure and restore the confidence of voters. Wyoming is the latest state at the forefront of this debate and WY Secretary of State Chuck Gray is sounding the alarm. Read more HERE <[link removed]>
As we head into the final days sprint before an extremely consequential election, thank you for your dedication and vigilance.
- Ryan and the Heritage Action team
Join the fight to advance the conservative agenda.
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