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Scalise: House Republicans Keep Their Commitment to America

  • Stakeout 3.08.23
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Republican Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Congresswoman Julia Letlow (R-La.), and Congressman John Duarte (R-Calif.), at today’s leadership press conference to discuss how House Republicans are following through on their Commitment to America. Leader Scalise highlighted legislation brought by House Republicans to protect Americans from the disastrous soft-on-crime policies D.C. Democrats have tried to implement, such as getting rid of mandatory minimum sentences for violent crimes and allowing hardened criminals back on the streets. Additionally, Leader Scalise slammed President Biden for opposing legislation that would prevent noncitizens, such as members of the Chinese Communist Party working in the Chinese Embassy, from voting in D.C. elections. Leader Scalise also called attention to important upcoming legislation such as H.R. 5, the Parents Bill of Rights; H.J. Res. 30, which protects Americans’ retirement funds from being invested in Democrats’ woke agenda through ESG mandates; and S. 619, the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023, which demands transparency on all information relating to COVID-19 from the Director of National Intelligence.   
 
Click here or on the image above to view Leader Scalise's remarks.
 
On Democrats reversing course on the D.C. Council’s criminal code overhaul:

“When Republicans ran to get the House majority, we actually made a commitment to America. We talked about the things that we would do if the people across this country gave us this opportunity to lead and to govern, and we've been hard at work delivering on those promises. Right out the box, we started tackling things like crime. Everybody knows that crime all around the country is running rampant. And there's no place [where that’s] more evident than here in our nation's capital.

“And so I want to credit [Rep.] Andrew Clyde, because as a congressman from Georgia, he saw a problem here in D.C. that was not being addressed. And under the United States Constitution, we actually have a duty to govern parts of the District of Columbia. It hasn't happened in 30 years, where the United States Congress has stepped in, but it got so out of control that we said, ‘Let's take action.’

“And so [Congressman] Clyde saw crime getting out of control – saw the council's action, where they literally got rid of mandatory minimums for violent criminals, so somebody that carjacks you at gunpoint, after being convicted, can walk scot-free without a day in prison. And so many other violent crimes where they literally took fifteen-year mandatory minimums and dropped them down to zero.

“And the criminals are paying attention to this. Crime's out of control in D.C. And so we brought a bill to the floor to get rid of that ordinance, to restore the mandatory minimums, to say, ‘If you're going to be a carjacker or a violent criminal, you ought to serve time in jail if you get convicted of that crime.’

“Now, when we filed that bill, I think some in the press actually called it partisan. The President said he opposed it. But we knew we were fighting for those victims who shouldn't be victims of crime. In fact, the D.C. police chief just recently said that, for [the average] homicide [suspect] in D.C., the person who committed the homicide committed eleven other crimes [prior to committing a homicide].

“If you stop the criminal before they kill somebody, think of how many other people you stop from being a victim of crime, not to mention the lives that you'll save. The carjacker of today may be the person who kills someone tomorrow if you let him out of jail. And so, by putting hardened criminals in jail, you're going to prevent crimes in the future. You're gonna save lives in the future. And so I'm glad that the Senate is going to take that bill up and pass it this week on to the President, so it can get signed into law.

“And for those 173 Democrats who voted against it, who sided with the carjackers, to paraphrase President Biden, they're going to have to answer why they're soft on crime. But people across America are fed up with those who are standing with the criminals, who want to defund the police, who have this attitude that a criminal should be let out of jail free to commit more crimes.

“Look at the city of Chicago. They just threw out their mayor because crime is out of control. People are fed up with it. And so, at least this Congress, under this Republican majority, is taking action to defend people, to actually stand up against criminals. And so that bill will become law." 


On noncitizens being able to vote in D.C. elections:

“There [are] other bills that could become law as well. We passed a bill to stop illegals from voting in D.C., the same week, by the way, that we brought up the D.C. crime bill. President Biden also objected to that bill. Maybe he'll reverse course again. Because today, in D.C., somebody who is a Russian citizen working at the [Russian embassy] can vote in D.C. elections. A CCP member working at the Chinese embassy can vote in D.C. elections. That shouldn't be the case. And there's a bill over in the Senate that hopefully passes to address that.”

On H.J. Res. 30, which protects Americans’ retirement funds from investing in Biden’s woke agenda:

“[Congressman] Andy Barr's bill just went to President Biden's desk. We just passed that bill days ago here in the House, and it's already passed the Senate and is going to [President] Biden, that stands up for blue-collar workers who want to have the ability to retire and have a good income. And so they want to invest their retirement savings in accounts that are going to hopefully yield the most gain.

“And yet, through ESG policies that were pushed by the Biden administration, because some billionaire [elitists] want to impose their will over blue-collar workers, those workers are actually getting a lower rate of return, so that some billionaire elitists can have the desires that they want out of Washington.

“So President Biden's going to have to make a decision on that bill that now will go to his desk: Do you side with the billionaire elitists or the blue-collar workers who deserve the highest rate of return on their retirement income? That bill's on the President's desk, as well. I hope he signs it, too."


On S.619, the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023:

“And we're bringing other bills this week. You saw the Senate just last week passed a bill to declassify a lot of the information on the origins of COVID. We're going to pass that bill this Friday and hopefully get more facts out. People deserve to know the truth about what happened in that Wuhan lab. It's been shielded in secrecy for too long. There's a lot of information that's classified that shouldn't even be classified. The public should already know it. When we pass this bill to the President's desk, hopefully he signs it so that we can find that out as well.”

On the upcoming Parents Bill of Rights and energy package:

“On a final note, as we're continuing to move forward on our commitment to America, I want to applaud [Congresswoman] Julia Letlow and the Education Committee because having a parents' Bill of Rights was one of those key planks in our commitment to America. And H.R. 5 will actually pass to the Floor, and then we'll vote on it when we return in two weeks.

"And then, of course, the week after that we'll have a big energy package to show the country how we can be energy independent again and lower costs for those hard-working families who are struggling, who are paying too much for electricity costs, for gasoline at the pump because of President Biden's anti-American energy policy. We'll show the country how to fix that, as well."