Press Releases
The Republican Recap: Week of February 12, 2024
Washington,
February 15, 2024
Here’s a recap of what Republicans achieved on the House Floor this week:
Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas for Violating Immigration Laws and Failing the American People ✅ As the Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas has one core obligation: To protect our homeland. Unfortunately, throughout his tenure, Secretary Mayorkas has failed miserably at his job of keeping our country safe and our border secure. Since President Biden assumed office and appointed Secretary Mayorkas, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have reported around 8.5 million illegal immigrant encounters, in addition to roughly 1.7 million gotaways, and migrants from over 100 countries were arrested in the past year. Furthermore, over 169 people on the terrorist watch list illegally entered the United States. If Secretary Mayorkas truly wished to do his duty by the American people, he would start enforcing our laws and demand the Biden Administration take the actions House Republicans have clearly laid out to secure the border in H.R. 2. As it stands, Secretary Mayorkas has demonstrated no intention to begin complying with our laws and defending our communities. H. Res. 863, introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, impeaches Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, for high crimes and misdemeanors due to violating immigration and border security laws enacted by Congress and threatening the safety of the American people. “Secretary Mayorkas has blatantly violated our border laws and brought over 10 million illegal aliens into our country. Democrats said my impeachment articles stemmed from policy differences rather than high crimes and misdemeanors. If that’s the argument, every House Democrat just doubled down on the policies of 300 daily fentanyl deaths, human, sex, and drug trafficking, rape, and the bankrupting of communities across our country. I’m so proud of our Republican conference coming together to hold the architect of the border invasion accountable with our vote to IMPEACH Mayorkas!” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. What Members Said: “Secretary Mayorkas has repeatedly testified falsely, misleading Congress and the American people. He's done so by saying that the southwest border is secure, and that his department has operational control of the border. Secretary Mayorkas, in his previous appearances before the Committee on Homeland Security, has told me personally multiple times, testifying while under oath, that the border is secure. And I know that time and time again, Secretary Mayorkas has appeared before Congress – both the United States House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate – and has repeated the security of our southwest border. These declarations, Madam Speaker, are patently untrue, and they contradict statements made by both his former Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, and by the president himself – President Biden, who just recently said and admitted that the border was not secure,” said Rep. Michael Guest. “Secretary Mayorkas’ dealings with Congress, they indicate a lack of transparency and an attempt to mislead the public on the true conditions that exist at the border. And we as Congress, we must now hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable.” Majority Leader Scalise emphasized that House Republicans won't stand idly by while Americans suffer under Biden's disastrous border policies.
 Rep. Carlos Gimenez slammed Secretary Mayorkas and the Biden Administration for failing to keep our communities safe by allowing gang members to freely cross the border and enter our country.
 Stopping Biden’s Dangerous LNG Export Ban ✅ In January, the Biden Administration announced they would be halting approvals for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, despite previous studies showing that American LNG exports create net public benefits, protect global energy security, create American jobs, and reduce emissions. This disastrous decision from President Biden is a blatant political ploy to satisfy radical climate activists that are dead set on shutting down American energy production, but it won’t protect the environment – banning LNG exports will only increase our dependency on China, the biggest climate polluter in the world. It also severely harms our national security, discouraging foreign investment in American LNG production and empowering foreign adversaries like Russia or Iran to control LNG prices on the global stage. We should be unleashing American energy production and providing our allies with a secure energy source, not making it harder to produce by adding permitting red tape, threatening our energy and national security, and killing American jobs. Rep. August Pfluger’s legislation, H.R. 7176, the Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2024, puts a stop to the Biden Administration’s ban on LNG exports and streamlines the permitting process by getting rid of the requirement for the Department of Energy to authorize exports and giving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission total authority over the approval process. “President Biden’s ban on LNG exports is a grave national security risk for the United States and our allies in Europe. This decision is yet again another ploy to cave to climate activists over our own energy security. My legislation will reverse this blockade and ensure the President cannot play politics with American energy,” said Rep. August Pfluger. What Members Said: “We could provide all the energy for our country and all of our allies around the world. And by the way, we lowered emissions when we did that. Interestingly, they don't have any of this apply to countries like China who are building a coal plant every week with emissions through the roof. We do it cleaner and better than anywhere else in the world. And we should have policies that allow us to do even more production of American energy. That's what this bill does; that's not what the President does,” said Majority Leader Scalise.
“President Biden over and over again has attacked and gone after American energy, and people are sick and tired of it because they know nobody does it better. And they're sick and tired of having to see countries like Russia benefit, Iran's economy benefit, and other countries when it should be our economy that benefits.” “President Biden's decision to impose a ban on issuing permits to export natural gas is just the latest example of his administration caving to environmental activists and putting politics over the American people. This ban will harm the American economy, jeopardize good paying jobs, weaken our energy security, and it threatens the security of our friends and allies. America has become the number one producer and export of liquefied natural gas in the world. It has strengthened our economy, reduced costs for the American people and enabled the United States to lead in reducing emissions more than any other nation, both here at home and abroad,” said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers.
“President Biden's ban sends a signal to our allies that we're no longer a dependable energy partner. This is unacceptable. H.R. 7176 will immediately reverse the president's decision, allowing the US to export more and encouraging domestic production here at home, which will then reduce American energy supply vulnerabilities. ” Rep. Tim Walberg highlighted how President Biden's LNG export ban hurts America and our allies while helping Russia and Iran.
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