Biden Battles His Base
As the ongoing Democrat civil war threatened to derail President Biden's entire "Build Back Better" agenda, the White House announced late last night that the president was delaying his flight to Europe so he could present a "framework" deal to the House Democrat Caucus this morning.
Remember, far-left socialists in the House of Representatives are blocking passage of the "smaller" $1.2 trillion physical infrastructure bill because they want to ensure their priorities are included in the bigger $3.5 trillion "Build Back Better" / reconciliation bill, as Biden calls it. (More accurately, it's a "Tear Down Faster" bill.)
Biden desperately wants "a win" on his radical climate change agenda before he goes to Glasgow with virtually the entire cabinet. (Apparently, it requires a lot of people to surrender our sovereignty on the altar of climate change.) And there's a lot of radical environmental policies even in the "smaller" $1.2 trillion physical infrastructure bill.
So, instead of letting congressional Democrats continue to fight over the details of the larger reconciliation bill, Biden is now telling them what the bill will be. The White House proposal for the reconciliation bill now stands at $1.75 trillion. Between the two bills, Biden wants to spend another $3 trillion. He must really like inflation!
The largest part of the new reconciliation bill is $555 billion for the radical Green New Deal, policies first pushed by socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The main way the bill's costs are paid for is by putting the IRS on steroids to squeeze $400 billion in new revenue out of taxpayers through additional audits. (You can read more details here.)
Later today, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is putting the $1.2 trillion physical infrastructure bill on the House floor for a vote, daring the House Progressive Caucus to torpedo it all.
Senator Bernie Sanders is furious, and is reportedly urging House Progressives to tank the physical infrastructure vote, which they seem likely to do.
Is it possible our economy will escape the crushing impact of these socialist policies? Perhaps, but I'm not betting on it.
We Must Fight Back
Yesterday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was one of the best I've seen in a long time. Usually mild-mannered Republican senators actually showed some real emotion and looked like they were angry about what is being done to our country.
Kudos to Senators Grassley, Cotton, Cruz and Hawley for aggressively exposing the raw politicization of the Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland!
But there are more stories indicating why this issue of parental rights in education cannot be dropped. Every parent in America should be infuriated by what's going on in their name in the schools they pay for.
In Fairfax County, Virginia, dozens of parents recently attended a school board meeting at a local school not far from my house. They saw a Homeland Security police car outside the meeting and other unmarked cars, likely from the FBI or perhaps local law enforcement agencies. They also reported seeing a helicopter circling overhead, shining a spotlight on the parents as they waited outside.
This is the stuff of totalitarianism! We must not kneel or cower to this abuse of government power unless we're prepared to give up everything that makes us free.
Meanwhile, in Mankato, Minnesota, the chairman of the school board announced that any resident wanting to address the school board must state their full name and street address before speaking.
That might not seem like a big deal, but we've gone through years of conservatives being doxed, with leftists showing up to harass them and their families at their homes. Plenty of threats were completely ignored by the leftist federal juggernaut when it was done by radical leftists.
But this Mankato Bolshevik wasn't finished. If there was any noise or applause or sounds of disagreement, she threatened to close the meeting and ban parents from the room. She must think she's head of the Moscow school board!
A school board member in Broward County, Florida, said she was "so honored" to chaperone an elementary school field trip to a local gay bar. What?! Can you imagine the trouble she would be in if she took the tots on a field trip to a church?
It wasn't that long ago, when the left mocked the idea that there was a "gay agenda" aimed at indoctrinating children. They're not denying it now. They're bragging about it.
These last two trying years have demonstrated the pervasiveness of the totalitarian impulse among leftist, big government officials from Washington, D.C., all the way down to the local level.
They gladly closed our churches. They restricted our First Amendment rights of free speech and free assembly. They've corrupted our schools, and they have attempted to gag us from talking about it. And while they're doing all this, they're still trying to take away your right to own a gun to defend your family.
That's what totalitarian regimes do when they are attacking free societies. Even a former ABC commentator sees that we're headed down the wrong road. I urge you to watch John Stossel's latest video. There are many lessons to be learned from the experience of Venezuela.
All of us must get out of our comfort zones in order to effectively fight back. Trust me, you'll get better at it the more you do it.
Fighting For Faith, Family and Freedom
Yesterday afternoon, I spoke to the leaders of the National Religious Broadcasters on the theme of how the left is determined to make us kneel to their demands across the board. There was universal agreement from the audience.
Before that, I joined the leaders of dozens of conservative organizations to discuss the growing crises in our country that have exploded over the past nine months of the Biden presidency.
We all shared the view that our liberty is under severe attack, and that the country is at a tipping point as the left pushes us deeper into socialism, cultural chaos and moral insanity.
But, there is also growing optimism that the public increasingly recognizes the danger and is rejecting the radical left. We have a real chance in the months ahead to reverse course and save this great constitutional Republic that our founders gave us.
Do not despair! And please continue supporting our work in Washington in defense of faith, family and freedom!
