October 15, 2024
In this edition
A strong national defense is essential to protecting our American way of life.
Veterans On Duty continues the fight back at home, advocating for military and national security policies that will keep America safe, strong, and free. |
We have an interview with Dan Conston, an exclusive on a Democrat inflating his military records, a scoop on a Congressional probe into the Naval Academy, op-eds from Reps. Brett Guthrie, Morgan Griffith, and Tim Walberg, and more!
| [1] | Interview: CLF President Dan Conston's take on the dogfight for the House majority
By: Matthew Foldi
Despite a “tumultuous” 2024 cycle, the president of the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) Dan Conston is aiming for a triple crown in November — his third consecutive cycle of growing the ranks of House Republicans, which he’s done cycle after cycle, despite at-times lackluster Republican results elsewhere.
As the longtime head of the House GOP leadership super PAC, Conston hopes to leverage his historically-successful fundraising efforts, alongside those of well-funded House candidates, to win as large a majority as possible for Republicans, even though he predicts that November will yield a “small majority or minority either way.”
“We did just have our biggest quarter ever, which I don't think many people thought we would do, and we are still at an advantage over House Majority PAC with our 9/30 filings, so we feel like we've got the resources necessary to be really impactful,” Conston told the Washington Reporter. “I think the best asset we had all cycle was that the people in the toughest districts, in these Biden districts, are impressive, meritorious, rising stars in the Republican Party. That is plainly evident to voters and donors alike. People want to invest in them.”
Click HERE to read more from Dan Conston, the president of the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC, about what to expect in 2024 and beyond for House Republicans.
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[2] |
Heard on the Hill
What we're hearing from people we trust on and around the Hill – please send us more tips!
- “It’s not that hard, Tim”: Republicans are mocking Gov. Tim Walz (D., Minn.) after his pheasant hunting expedition showcased his inexperience around a shotgun. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R., Mich.) posted a video of him quickly loading his gun, using custom-made Huizenga for Congress shells, alongside some birds he killed, letting the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee know that loading a gun isn’t hard if you have actually done it before.”
- Plagiarism problems grow: President Joe Biden abandoned his 1988 presidential campaign amid a plagiarism scandal. New reporting from Chris Rufo suggests that Vice President Kamala Harris “appears to have airlifted sections of her book, Smart on Crime.”
- Raking it in: Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) raised a record-breaking $27 million in the most recent fundraising quarter.
- Empire State of mind: President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R., Ohio) will be making one of their final fundraising stops of the cycle in New York City on October 27, where supporters can give up to $924,600 for the “Ultra MAGA experience.”
- House Democrat’s “send [him] back” moment backfires: Rep. Jahana Hayes (D., Conn.), is facing a rematch from Republican George Logan this go around. During a debate she told Logan, a first-generation American who would be Connecticut’s first Hispanic-American representative in Congress, to go “back to wherever he came from.” Logan, who “came from” New Haven, Connecticut, turned Hayes’s remarks around into a video featuring Democrats condemning anti-immigrant rhetoric. Throughout this campaign, Hayes has been hammered for her ties to a group so anti-Semitic that its leader was uninvited from a meeting with the Biden White House.
| | | [3] | Exclusive: Stolen Valor accusations roil top House race
By: Matthew Foldi
A vulnerable Democratic House incumbent miscategorized his military distinction in a political advertisement, a fib Republicans are criticizing him for.
Rep. Don Davis (D., N.C.) claims in ads to be a “retired” member of the U.S. Air Force — a term that is “bestowed upon service members who have served a minimum time period, usually 20 years or more,” according to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Davis, however, served eight years on active duty, entering the political arena “immediately after his discharge from the Air Force,” according to local reporting. Davis’s 2022 ads correctly describe him as a “former” member of the Air Force.
In response to the Reporter’s questions about the discrepancy, Davis’s campaign asked for clarification about where Davis’s ads use the term “retired.” Upon being sent the information, it stopped responding.
Click HERE to read more about the latest Democrat under fire for inflating their military record.
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[4] |
Exclusive: Congress probes Naval Academy inviting anti-Trump, “partisan historian” to deliver prestigious address
By: Matthew Foldi
Lawmakers are probing the U.S. Naval Academy’s decision to invite historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat to deliver a now-postponed lecture, which they said in a letter first obtained by the Washington Reporter could go against a Department of Defense directive that “bans active members of the military, including administrators and teachers at the academy, from engaging in ‘partisan political activities.’”
“Prior to the cancellation of her appearance, Dr. Ben-Ghiat stated that she was planning to ‘speak about what happens to militaries under authoritarian rule,’” the lawmakers wrote. “While on the surface this lecture would seem to be academically significant for our naval midshipmen, Dr. Ben-Ghiat’s own statements provided clear concern that she would have used this highly-respected platform to make unsubstantiated politicized claims against one of the presidential nominees just 25 days before the 2024 election.”
Ben-Ghiat planned to touch on “Fascist Italy, Pinochet's Chile and the Russian military during the war on Ukraine,” she wrote on her blog. In the same blog post, she said that President Donald Trump has an “authoritarian character, desire to destroy democratic values and ideals, and loyalty to autocrats who see the powerful U.S. military as an obstacle to their geopolitical aims.”
Click HERE to read more about the effort led by Rep. Jen Kiggans, first obtained by the Washington Reporter, to learn about the Naval Academy inviting an anti-Trump historian to deliver a prestigious lecture.
| | | [5] | Exclusive: Ad campaign thanks Republicans for opposing Democrats’ efforts to raise corporate tax rate to “higher than [that of] communist China”
By: Matthew Foldi
Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) is running district-based and national advertisements, first obtained by the Washington Reporter, highlighting Republicans’ opposition to corporate tax rate hikes proposed by Democrats.
The campaign, first shared with the Reporter, spotlights many Republicans, but also has four ads specifically thanking Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R., Iowa), Bryan Steil (R., Wis.), Young Kim (R., Calif.), and Mike Lawler (R., N.Y.) for opposing Democrats’ push to “raise the corporate tax rate higher than [that of] communist China.”
Click HERE to read more about Americans for Tax Reform’s ad campaign thanking Republicans for opposing the Democrats’ efforts to jack up our corporate tax rate to uncompetitive levels.
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A strong national defense is essential to protecting our American way of life.
Veterans On Duty continues the fight back at home, advocating for military and national security policies that will keep America safe, strong, and free. |
| [6] | Senate Dem candidate breaks with Maryland Dems
By: Matthew Foldi
Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, who is competing in a closely-watched Maryland Senate race, raised eyebrows for aligning more with hardline Republicans than with her fellow Maryland Democrats, signaling that one of her tax policies is more in line with the tax cuts of President Donald Trump than with most of Maryland’s congressional delegation.
In a survey for the National Education Association (NEA) since removed from the website, Alsobrooks checked off a series of changes she’d like to see to the U.S. tax code. She did not check “repealing the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions,” putting her at odds with her Republican opponent, the popular former governor Larry Hogan, as well as at odds with most Maryland Democrats.
Click HERE to read the unusual way that a Democratic Senate candidate is aligning herself with one of Donald Trump’s signature policies.
| | | | [7] | Scoop: “I don’t think that they meant to send this to a Congressional office”: Harvard accidentally mails GOP offices
By: Matthew Foldi
Harvard University had a rough year on the Hill. In 2024, the school was subject to a high-profile hearing in which its president Claudine Gay failed to condemn calls for the genocide of Jews, for example, and subsequent revelations of her plagiarism forced her to resign in disgrace.
Recently, one GOP office flagged for the Washington Reporter that the university sent a mailer advertising its “Crisis Leadership in Higher Education” program, which a staffer said “essentially credentializes university protest response.”
According to Harvard’s materials, Hill staffers aren’t among the targeted audience for this program, which focuses on “campus protests[,] natural disasters, public health crises, and faculty misconduct.”
“Given the verbiage of the letter and the accompanying pamphlet, which advertises the recommended applicants as university personnel, I don’t think that they meant to send this to a Congressional office,” a staffer told the Reporter.
Click HERE to share this story about Harvard’s latest Hill failure. | |
[8] |
Op-Ed: Reps. Brett Guthrie and Morgan Griffith: The Biden-Harris administration’s EPA is from the government, but is not here to help
By: Rep. Brett Guthrie and Rep. Morgan Griffith
President Ronald Reagan once said: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’” Nowhere is this truer than with the Biden-Harris administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
From the time you wake up to the time you go to bed, the Biden-Harris administration’s EPA has been “here to help” by providing solutions in search of a problem. The EPA’s command and control regime in the name of “climate justice” is being used to tax American households and fulfill a far-left Green New Deal agenda.
When you drive to work in the morning and drop your kids off at school, the EPA wants to make sure it can choose which vehicle you’re using. Its electric vehicle (EV) mandates, which are attempting to make two thirds of all American car sales by 2032 electric vehicles, are completely unrealistic and ignore the factors that make EVs untenable for many families across the country.
EV use is limited in mountainous regions where traversing the mountains drains batteries at a faster rate. EVs cost on average $17,000 more than their gas-powered counterparts, and some EVs are susceptible to severe weather, with battery range cut by up to 40 percent in cold conditions. This is further evidenced by the high percentage of auto-dealers’ lots filled with unsold EVs because of the continued popularity of gas-powered cars.
Click HERE to read more from Reps. Brett Guthrie and Morgan Griffith about their efforts to push back on radical regulations from the Biden-Harris EPA which have been stifling American innovation. | | | | [9] | Op-Ed: Rep. Tim Walberg: Undoing the Biden-Harris administration’s arsenal of bureaucracy
By: Rep. Tim Walberg
In my home state of Michigan, the average household has spent nearly $28,000 more due to inflation since January 2021.
Inflation is crushing families nationwide, and the Biden-Harris administration is the number one culprit. When we look at the bad policies that have brought up costs, most initially point their fingers at the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act, which Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to pass. However, a network of regulatory burdens has also put a stranglehold on American job creators, targeted workers’ benefits, and driven up prices.
The Department of Labor has pushed its Independent Contractor Rule, which seeks to strip many workers of their autonomy and force them into an often outdated, inflexible employment relationship. In the modern economy, millions of workers enjoy the ability to earn how they want and when they want. 77 percent of app-based workers across the country support maintaining their current classification as independent contractors.
These arrangements bolster economic growth and allow personal freedom not typically available through traditional work relationships. If these workers overwhelmingly enjoy the flexible arrangements that allow them to pursue other commitments and interests life has to offer, they should have that freedom.
Click HERE to read more from Rep. Tim Walberg about the importance of undoing the Biden-Harris administration’s “arsenal of bureaucracy.”
| | | | | | | [10] | Op-Ed: Brad Todd: What Kamala Harris’s actions admit she cannot do
By: Brad Todd
Kamala Harris gave away the election on September 29 — you can write it down.
Since her palace coup ousted Joe Biden following his addled debate debacle, Harris has brazenly positioned herself as a change agent in a change election. But what’s holding her back is a sense that she has neither the strength nor the political quick-twitch muscle to be a dexterous Commander in Chief — traits even President Donald Trump’s detractors, at least the sane ones, readily attribute to the Orange One.
The inundation of the Appalachian Mountains by Hurricane Helene in the last week of September provided Harris with a golden opportunity to disprove both those deficiencies, and shift the key question of the race fully onto friendlier territory. Had she demonstrated strength and dexterity in a real-time crisis, the voters’ attention would have more likely slid to focus on Trump’s shortcomings.
This would have been simple for a sitting Vice President to do, and the template is well-established by hurricane-state governors in both parties. As soon as the storm passes, smart governors set up command posts and do daily briefings with reporters, taking questions until there are none. They are fully transparent about minute daily remediation activities and pound the media with statistics. They provide detailed accounts of both rescue outcomes and ongoing challenges, and project future recovery objectives. They’re candid about what they know and don’t, what they can do, and can’t. They instill confidence in the competence of government’s ability to meet challenges of crises that are insurmountable for individuals.
Click HERE to read more from Brad Todd about what Kamala Harris should have done in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. | |
| [11] | Op-Ed: Tom Barrett: I will be law enforcement’s champion in Congress
By: Tom Barrett
As I travel across mid-Michigan, I constantly hear from voters about how important crime is in the 2024 election. However, Democrats in Washington and Lansing are trying to convince us that things are much better than they actually are.
People are shocked to learn that Lansing, Michigan — the center of the 7th District — ranks as one of the top twenty most violent cities in America. It was also reported this past June that Michigan was the second most violent state in the nation. So why are Democratic Party politicians like liberal Lansing Mayor Andy Schor and many others in D.C. singing a different tune? Maybe because the real numbers tell a much different story.
The FBI says murder rates have dropped. But, if you look at reports from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), violent crime is actually up. While the FBI relies on self-reporting from police departments, often excluding some of the largest, most violent cities in the country (Chicago, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles), the CDC relies on the cause of death as reported by coroners from across the nation, a far more accurate accounting.
Click HERE to read more from Tom Barrett about his plans to support law enforcement in Congress.
| | | | | | | [12] | What we're reading
Bloomberg: Boeing Needs Some Help to Stem Its Cash Burn and Losses, by Thomas Black.
National Review: Kamala Harris Should Have to Answer for Equity, by Rich Lowry.
Jewish News Syndicate: Secret documents reveal Iran, Hezbollah knew of Oct. 7 plan, by Jewish News Syndicate.
The Spectator: Hezbollah’s drone strike won’t deter Israel, by Limor Simhony Philpott.
Washington Free Beacon: Tim Walz Called To Eliminate Spending on National Missile Defense, by Collin Anderson.
Reason: Anthony Fauci, the Man Who Thought He Was Science, by Jay Bhattacharya.
Jewish Insider: In company video, Amazon exec wears necklace with a map of Israel with a Palestinian flag across it, by Lahav Harkov.
Washington Examiner: House Republicans subpoena NIH public records officer accused of key role in COVID-19 cover-up, by Gabrielle Etzel.
Washington Free Beacon: New York Congressional Candidate, Running on a Plan To Combat Campus Anti-Semitism, Took Max Donation From Nonprofit Leader Bankrolling Pro-Hamas Protests, by Meghan Blonder.
Axios: Scoop: GOP doubling down in toss-up Michigan Senate race, by Stef Kight.
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