Rein in Biden's Radical Spending

Dear Friend,

I hope this newsletter finds you and your family well!

With the government spending drastically more than it is taking in, Americans are left staring down an unsustainable federal deficit. As a result, our debt has risen to a number without precedent in American history.

President Biden’s executive orders alone have increased spending by more than $1 trillion over ten years – and Biden’s inflationary economic policies have increased the Congressional Budget Office’s 10 year projection of interest payments on the debt by $3.6 trillion over the same period. Simply put, this irresponsible budgeting must end.

It is clear that one-party Democrat rule in Washington has caused an unprecedented explosion in federal spending and with it, an unsustainable national debt crisis that will burden hardworking Americans for decades.

In order to hold the Biden Administration accountable, last week the House passed H.R. 347, the Reduce Exacerbated Inflation Negatively Impacting the Nation (REIN IN) Act. This important bill requires the Office of Management and Budget and the Council of Economic Advisers to provide an inflation estimate for each Executive Order that is projected to have an annual gross budgetary impact of at least $1 billion.

House Republicans will continue fighting for reasonable, sensible, and responsible solutions to put our country on a path to a balanced budget.

Thanks for Visiting!

It was great to meet with Anna Roach and Kerry Armstrong from the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) last week in Washington. We had a productive discussion about their work which improves the quality of life for all Georgians through investments in our local infrastructure.

Thank you to Kevin Carillon from Pratt and Whitney – a Raytheon supplier – for meeting with me last week. Pratt and Whitney's work is essential in keeping the F-35 aircraft at peak performance.

Ferguson in the Field

Thank you to SmartLam for giving me a tour of your facility last Thursday. SmartLam does great work producing mass timber products for use in the construction of sustainable buildings.

Committee Update

Last Tuesday, the House Ways and Means Committee held a mark-up to address fraud from unchecked unemployment payments – and also approved legislation to jumpstart the recovery efforts of the billions of dollars that were wrongly sent out from the COVID unemployment insurance program.

Experts have estimated that improper payments in pandemic unemployment programs have left taxpayers on the hook for more than $400 billion. Yet, so far only $5 billion has been recovered. With hundreds of billions of unemployment assistance potentially misspent or stolen, individuals in need were left to fend for themselves.

While working Americans were trying to piece their lives back together, the Democrats did nothing to fight fraud as it was happening and for all of the Biden Administration’s talk, they have completely dropped the ball on going after fraudsters. Unemployment fraud is not a victimless crime. When millions of working Americans were thrown out of work because of government lockdowns, many had their unemployment benefits and identities stolen. Congress must do everything in its power to recover American tax dollars stolen by criminals and international crime rings.

To address this massive fraud, the Ways and Means Committee passed H.R. 1163, the Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act, to give states the incentive to recover stolen benefits, to ensure fraud of this scale never happens again, and to make it easier for prosecutors to bring criminals to justice.

Click here to watch my remarks during the mark-up.

The Week Ahead

The House will consider the following pieces of legislation this week:

H.R. 502 - To amend title 38, United States Code, to ensure that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs repays members of the Armed Forces for certain contributions made by such members towards Post-9/11 Educational Assistance, and for other purposes, as amended
H.R. 815 - RELIEVE Act, as amended
H.R. 753 - VA COST SAVINGS Enhancements Act, as amended
H.R. 1226 - Wounded Warrior Access Act, as amended
H.R. 1123 - Understanding Cybersecurity of Mobile Networking, as amended
H. Con. Res. 21 - Directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to remove the United States Armed Forces from Syria
H.R. 140 - Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act
H.R. 140 - Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act
H.J. Res. 27 - Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, Department of Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency relating to "Revised Definition of 'Waters of the United States'"
S. 619 - A bill to require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information relating to the origin of COVID-19, and for other purposes

As always, I’m here to serve you. Please contact my office with any questions, comments, or concerns. Be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube to keep track of upcoming legislation and events!

Sincerely,

Drew Ferguson
Member of Congress