Notes from Mike's Desk from the Week of December 5 – 9, 2022

Hello, friends! Welcome back to my newsletter highlighting what’s happening on Capitol Hill and in Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District. Thank you for subscribing and please consider recommending my newsletter to a friend.

IN THE HOUSE

On Thursday afternoon, the House passed the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This year’s NDAA contains important provisions to specifically ensure that the military servicemembers of Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District are in the best position possible to carry out their duties.

The legislation includes over a quarter of $1 billion for important military construction projects in Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District and contains major priorities for Barksdale Air Force Base and Air Force Global Strike Command, Fort Polk and the Joint Readiness Training Center, and Camp Minden.

I want to thank all of my Congressional colleagues for working together in a bipartisan manner to get this important legislation passed!

Here is a sample of the coverage of the many positive impacts this legislation will have on Louisiana and our nation:

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK

In passing this year’s NDAA, we also successfully ended the Biden Administration’s military COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The mandate was an abject disaster, and created the worst recruitment and retention period in the history of our all-volunteer force.

Thankfully, Congress stepped in to protect military readiness and the nearly 100,000 servicemembers currently facing discharge. This is a watershed victory for national security, individual liberty, and common sense, over COVID tyranny.
 
As noted by The Advocate, I've personally invested a lot of time and effort to get us to this point: 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Last week, the Supreme Court began oral arguments in 303 Creative v. Elenis, a landmark case for religious liberty and the First Amendment.

The question in the case is simple: Can the government force you as an American to speak contrary to your sincerely held religious beliefs and right of conscience?

All of us should agree the answer must be a resounding “NO,” and I made that case Monday morning at a rally on the steps of the Court.

Thursday night, the second batch of Twitter files was released by Elon Musk. They are explosive and seem to prove that Twitter executives lied to Congress when they testified the platform did not “shadow ban” conservatives. WE ALL KNEW THIS WAS HAPPENING, and I believe this has also been the practice of Facebook, YouTube and the other big tech platforms. Our House Judiciary Committee will finally get the answers and bring accountability in the new Congress!

LAGNIAPPE

Last week, I was pleased to announce the winners of the 2022 Congressional App Challenge. We were overwhelmed by the quality of submissions this year, and I remain encouraged by the creativity and ingenuity of our young people. If this slate of app proposals is any indication, our future is in good hands!

Winners:

First Place
App: Positivity
Designer: Sophie Chen, 11th Grade
School: Caddo Magnet High School

Second Place
App: PawPrint
Designer: Arisha Sultana, 10th Grade
School: Caddo Magnet High School

Third Place
App: My Study
Designers: Guangjun Wang 11th Grade, Kelvin O’Young 11th Grade, Danison Zhang 12th Grade
School: Caddo Magnet High School

Fourth Place
App: Tweet Certitude
Designer: Andrew Minagar, 12th Grade
School: Caddo Magnet High School
 
Thank you again for subscribing and reading. We’ll have more next week!

For freedom,