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Good afternoon and happy Friday!
This week kicked off our committee work, and it was great to start working on our new committee assignments. This Congress, our office will be working on the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Armed Services, and Veterans' Affairs committees. We look forward to updating you all on the priorities of these committees as our work continues.
On Wednesday, the Oversight Committee had a hearing on our pandemic era spending. Our country spent about 5 trillion in total. As of today, over 1,000 people have been convicted of fraud relating to Covid-19 programs, while over 600 are currently facing similar federal charges. Our government must leave no stone unturned when it comes to uncovering the waste, fraud, and abuse in these types of programs.
On Thursday, our office brokered a deal with Speaker McCarthy to ensure due process for committee removals in the future. Working to protect the Constitution and due process has been a cornerstone of my work in Congress. Speaker Kevin McCarthy made his commitment today that I will lead the effort to amend the House Rules to provide due process and prevent the politicizing of committee removals in the future.
In the next 30 days, Speaker McCarthy agreed Rep. Mace will lead a bipartisan effort to amend House Rules and create new procedures governing the House’s existing code of conduct, likely under Rule 23. Today there is a process to censure and a process to expel a member from Congress, but there is no formal process under the House Rules to remove a member from their committees. There has never been a process like this in the history of Congress. If a member is going to be removed from their committee assignments, there will now be a formal process to do that. House members will receive due process through a committee of their peers on the Ethics Committee anytime conduct concerns are raised. The Ethics Committee will then have the tools to reprimand the Member if they’ve violated the House’s Code of Conduct, including removing a member from committees. Only then would a resolution come to the floor for a full vote of the House; but only after an investigation, hearing and vote on the committee. Language will be negotiated by both parties and a vote is anticipated on the full floor within the next month.
Next week we are back to work in DC again and will be working in committee on the border and free speech. These are two issues which are important to our office and our country, and we look forward to updating you on this work next week.
Our team is looking forward to holding many more events this year! To stay in the loop on when we hold our next event, please take a look at our Eventbrite page! Get all the details and RSVP here.
As an update, our Charleston office has changed locations. We are no longer in West Ashley and have moved to 652 Coleman Blvd. in Mt. Pleasant. Also, our Washington, D.C. office has moved to 1728 Longworth House Office Building.
As always, our office is here to lend a hand whenever we can. As we start this new year, please reach out to our office if you have any questions, concerns, or just want to be heard on any issue at any time. We’re here to help.
It’s an immense honor to serve each and every one of you.
Sincerely,
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