Congresswoman Lesko Weekly Update

Good afternoon,

I was back in Washington, D.C. for another busy week of votes in the U.S. House of Representatives! I met with Arizona realtors where we discussed the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on housing prices and housing supply in Arizona and reforms to the National Flood Insurance Program. I met with the Independent Women’s Forum and female athletes who have competed against transgender men in women’s sports. I am a strong advocate of protecting women’s sports and upholding Title IX to protect these athletes from unfair competition against biological men.

Pictured left to right: Inga Thompson, former three-time Olympic road bicycle racer; Congresswoman Lesko; Cynthia Monteleone, a world champion track athlete who competed against a transgender athlete; Margaret Oneal Monteleone, who competed against a man in her high school track meet

Fighting Against the Democrats' Agenda

I voted against House Democrats’ bloatedbus package. This package prioritizes Democrats’ domestic political spending priorities and is another partisan spending spree that drastically increases spending on top of the trillions of dollars the Democrats already want to push through Congress. What’s worse, this package fails to provide funding for the Department of Defense or the Department of Homeland Security, including our troops, which are vital to keeping Americans safe. This package also leaves out important pro-life protections, which have had bipartisan support for over 40 years. It advances the Democrats’ radical abortion agenda by forcing taxpayer dollars to fund abortions and health care professionals to participate in abortions despite their conscience objections.

I offered an amendment to strike a section of the Democrats’ bill to fund the Department of Health and Human Services that requires foster care and adoption agencies to comply with Obama-era regulations on sexual orientation and gender identity and prohibits the use of funds to grant exceptions. This provision is an attack on religious liberty. My amendment ensured that faith-based adoption and foster care agencies do not have to choose between their ministry and their faith. It is Congress’ job to enact policies that preserve Americans’ religious freedom. Unfortunately, Democrats blocked this amendment. My full remarks on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives can be found here.

Energy and Commerce Committee

I had multiple hearings in the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week! I joined the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Energy Subcommittee to question the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioners about the Commission’s recent decision to prioritize California’s electric utilities over those in other states, including Arizona. I urged the Commission to stop their assault on Arizona rate payers. My full remarks can be found here.

I spoke in the Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee to question the Federal Trade Commissioners about how they need to implement policies that provide guardrails and proper accountability for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and ensure that the public has sufficient notice and opportunity to provide input on new FTC rules. The FTC has very broad rulemaking authority, and we must ensure that the FTC maintains transparency and accountability to the public. My full remarks in this subcommittee can be found here.

I also joined the Health Subcommittee to question members of the National Institutes of Health on what would need to be done to ensure any expanded access program is fair for its beneficiaries and why the Food and Drug Administration approved a drug when the advisory panel was not overwhelmingly in favor of approval. Watch my remarks here.

Check Out My Interview on One America News!

Watch my recent interview on One America News Network below where I discussed how Biden’s border crisis keeps getting worse. Instead of focusing on securing our southern border, Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats are more concerned with reimposing mask mandates on members of Congress.

Legislative Update

This week, I requested a briefing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Acting Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock to clarify the number of deaths due to COVID-19 vaccines. I have heard many concerns about the side effects—including a number of deaths—caused by COVID-19 vaccines. These concerns are primarily based on reports on the CDC’s and FDA’s Vaccine Adverse Event Report System database, but this database is considered unverified. The American people deserve full accuracy and transparency that can only be provided by verified data. I am requesting answers on what the CDC and FDA are doing to verify and not verify the reported deaths, how many vaccine-caused deaths have actually been verified, and how they plan to report this information to the American public.

I also joined Representative Doug Lamborn in demanding that Biden resume construction of the southern border wall and halt the wasteful spending on contractors. The materials to build the wall are already at the border and are just lying there on the ground. The contractors have already been paid to build the wall, not to sit and watch steel rust. It’s time for Biden to stop wasting taxpayer dollars, secure our border, and finish the wall.

Congressional Recognition

Monica from our office presented a Congressional Recognition to the Ripple Effect, a nonprofit based in Glendale, AZ that focuses on suicide prevention. The Ripple Effect provides reintegration services for veterans, coaching, trauma release exercises, and prevention workshops to support families of veterans at risk. The organization was founded by Wendy Shackley in 2014 after she lost her son, and since then, she has worked tirelessly to help those with trauma after serving in the military and to ensure that others don’t fall through the cracks.

Encouraging Story

Mr. Fry had contacted our office because he was experiencing issues with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for his wife. Our office was able to work with USCIS to find a resolution. Mrs. Fry finally was approved for her permanent residency and arrived in the U.S. from the Philippines. Mr. and Mrs. Fry recently visited our office because they wanted to meet with Monica, who worked on their case. Congratulations and welcome to America Mrs. Fry!

Casework Highlight

A constituent had not yet received her 2020 tax refund from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Our office reached out to the IRS, and we were able to have them process her pending return, resulting in a refund being issued to the constituent.

We are Here to Help

As always, my office is here to help. My Surprise district office is now open and serving constituents. To make an appointment with the office, please call 623-776-7911.

My Washington, D.C. office is open and answering your calls. Please feel free to contact us via phone at 202-225-4576 or via email by going to my website at https://lesko.house.gov/contact/.

I encourage you to visit the website and to also follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and Parler and like my Facebook page for up to date information on what I'm doing and how my office can help you.

May God continue to bless you and our great Nation.

Sincerely,

Congresswoman Debbie Lesko