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Special Report - ICYMI

The committees in Congress have taken shape and will have powerful repercussions for conservative policy moving forward. On Wednesday, Heritage Action Vice President of Government Relations Ryan Walker joined John Solomon of Just The News for a Special Report: Rules That Run The Country.

>>>Click HERE to Watch the full Interview<<<

Ryan breaks down how these committee assignments will fast track conservative bills and block the liberal agenda particularly in the House Judiciary Committee, The House Rules Committee, and the Weaponization of Government Sub-Committee.

Already there have been signs of progress coming from the House which were apparent this past week.

The Hill - In Review

Border

The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, held their first hearing on the “Biden Border Crisis” this past week. This meeting brought out important information about the emergency at the boarder that will be valuable in forging a pathway forward.

Here are 4 key takeaways from the hearing:

• Democrats have no response to the disaster taking place at our southern border - Name calling is a common tactic of the left, and Rep. Jerry Nadler stated that concerns over the border are “racist.” Democrats are failing to respond to this crisis, and so are reverting to their usual baseless accusations.
• The border crisis is worse under Biden than Trump - Mark Dannels, sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona who has 38 years of experience at the border testified before Congress that the situation at the border is “[T]he worst I’ve ever seen,” and there are plenty of facts to back him up.
• Record numbers of illegal immigrants are crossing the border - After just two years of Biden as president, 4.5 million immigrants have illegally crossed the border, 1.7 million of whom have been released into American communities.
• Biden isn’t listening to Border Patrol agents - Mark Dannels also testified “We have tried to reach out to Biden, … He is the first president not to meet with sheriffs.” He went on to say that Secretary of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas has also completely ignored requests for meetings which amounts to nothing less than an “absolute dereliction of duty.” as Rep Mike Johnson put it.

COVID-19

For the past two years the Biden administration has weaponized Covid for its own political gain and grossly abused their authority. They tried:

• Forcing businesses to compel their employees to get vaccinated or face crippling fines - struck down as unconstitutional
• Imposing an eviction moratorium by Presidential fiat - struck down as unconstitutional
• Using the Covid-19 emergency as a justification for sweeping student loan cancelation - currently in court for being unconstitutional

Biden and Congress have also used the excuse of Covid to justify sheer fiscal insanity by passing uncontrolled $1.9 TRILLION spending bills that claim to rescue Americans from the economic difficulties of the pandemic, but which in reality only 5% of the funds went to actual Covid relief and instead fueled inflation.

Biden has used his emergency powers to waive work requirements for SNAP benefits - stunting job growth, and is again trying to advance another student loan cancellation scheme (which you can oppose >>>HERE<<<).

It is time that Congress acknowledge the truth; the Covid-19 pandemic is OVER. The excuse of a pandemic to justify otherwise mindless policies must end, and the emergency powers that were granted to the executive branch should be immediately reclaimed by Congress.

This is why Heritage Action applauds the House’s passage of a number of resolutions and bills that set the record straight:

• H.J Res 7 introduced by Rep. Paul Gosar would terminate the national emergency concerning COVID-19.
• H.R. 382, the Pandemic is Over Act, was introduced by Rep. Brett Guthrie and would terminate the Public Health Emergency.
• H.R. 139, the SHOW UP Act of 2023, was introduced by Rep. James Comer and would reinstate pre-pandemic telework policies for executive agencies.
• H.R. 497, the Freedom for Health Care Workers Act, was introduced by Rep. Jeff Duncan and would roll back the federal vaccine mandate for health care workers.

We look forward to supporting these bills and resolutions throughout the entire legislative process.

Reining in Spending

One of the top priorities of the new 118th Congress needs to be reining in out-of-control spending.

A good place to start is with the Democrats improperly named Inflation Reduction Act. Over the summer the Democrats rammed through a roughly $700 billion spending bill that:

• Approved subsidies for green energy companies
• Effectively doubled the IRS workforce
• Raised taxes by roughly $570 billion
• Imposed price controls on certain pharmaceutical drugs

All of these measures are only worsening inflation and dragging the economy down. Thankfully, Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee has introduced the Inflation Reduction Act of 2023, which would reduce inflation by REPEALING the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

Reducing spending and inflation will be one of the big fights in the 118th Congress.

The Charge Against ESG

The Biden administration has implemented a new rule that reflects Biden’s directive to safeguard the economy from “climate-related financial risk.”

What this rule actually does is it repeals a Trump-era regulation that required fiduciary-duty to be the primary concern of any and all organizations managing retirement funds. By prioritizing fiduciary responsibility the Trump regulation minimized the effects of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) agenda.

Now that Biden has removed this rule, investors are allowed to make financial decisions based on companies’ compliance with woke policies such as:

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity training and quotas
• Critical Race Theory training for employees
• Greenhouse gas emissions reporting and reduction
• Investing is “green” companies
• And more policies that have nothing to do with running a successful business

If pension managers make decisions based on these ESG standards instead of sound financial analysis, they will destroy the retirement funds of millions of Americans in the name of wokeness.

To stop this rule, 25 state attorneys general have filed suit against the Labor Department which is responsible for its implementation.

What else can be done?

State governments have been leading the charge against ESG by pushing back against investment managers who use their money to bully other businesses into compliance with their woke agenda.

Right now there are even more states in which legislation is being considered to push back against ESG. See if your state is pushing back on these woke standards by clicking >>>HERE<<<.

The most recent example is Indiana’s HB 1008, which would clarify once again that investment fund managers must prioritize fiduciary duty, not ESG ideology.

Bills like this will need the support of the grassroots to succeed. Heritage Action will keep you updated about the bills in your state and how you can make a difference in combating ESG.

For examples of the kind of model legislation that will protect your state from ESG, go to ESGhurts.com and click on Model Legislation.

Thank you for your continued work on behalf of the conservative movement.

Jessica and the Heritage Action team

Join the fight to advance the conservative agenda.