John —

Last week, after days of infighting and chaos, Congressional Republicans finally managed to choose a Speaker of the House.

This week, we’re starting to learn more about the plans that Republicans have in store for working people now that they’ve officially taken control of Congress. It’s bad.

According to a “secret three page document” circulating among some Republicans, Kevin McCarthy agreed to hand over key committee seats and control of the entire House agenda to members of the extremist Freedom Caucus in return for their votes for him for speaker.¹

And we’re already seeing some of what that agenda will look like.

We wanted to take a moment to round up just some of the alarming happenings in Congress since Republicans took over control of the House. But before we do: Can you make your first contribution of 2023 to help us fight back? Our newly elected champions in Congress are already on the front lines in this fight, and we want to make sure we have the resources to have their backs in every possible way.

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Here’s just some of the things Republicans have been up to in the first couple of days of the 118th Congress:

• They passed a bill that would defund the IRS in order to allow millionaires, billionaires, and corporations to keep cheating on their taxes.²
• They introduced three anti-abortion measures including rules that would “fast-track consideration of legislation permanently banning federal funding of abortion.”³
• They voted to create a subcommittee on the so-called “Weaponization of Government” that could include Republican members under active investigation for their involvement in the January 6th insurrection, and would also be empowered to probe other “ongoing criminal investigations,” all in the hopes of advancing disinformation and weakening democracy.⁴
• They voted to weaken the ability of the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate members of Congress, a move that fraudster Rep. George Santos described as “fantastic.”⁵
• And while they’re trying to keep the exact language of their deal a secret, they’re also telling us out loud what the primary goal of the Republican House will be this year: to hold the debt ceiling and the entire economy hostage in the hopes of winning long-sought cuts to Medicare, Social Security, and other programs that working families rely on.⁶

This is only a small preview of what the new Republican-controlled House will try to inflict on the entire country for the next two years.

We need to start mobilizing now to stop them — and to make sure they are held accountable for their actions.

Make your first contribution of 2023 to help us hold Republicans accountable everywhere, to support the work of our WFP champions in Congress, and to keep fighting for working families nationwide.

In solidarity,

Working Families Party

Source:

1. McCarthy’s mysterious deal with the hard right, The Washington Post, January 10, 2023

2. House Republicans Vote to Rescind I.R.S. Funding, The New York Times, January 9, 2023

3. For new GOP House majority, a focus on abortion messaging, Roll Call, January 9, 2023

4. One rules package to rule them all, Politico, January 9, 2023

5. House Republicans voted to gut the House Ethics Committee, and George Santos said it was 'fantastic', Business Insider, January 9, 2023

6. Republicans Signal Cuts To Social Security, Medicare With New House Majority, The Huffington Post, January 9, 2023

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