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The Republican Recap: Week of March 4, 2024

Washington, March 8, 2024
Here’s a recap of what Republicans achieved on the House Floor this week: Protecting Our Communities from Biden’s Border Crisis ✅ On Thursday, February 22, Laken Riley, a Georgia college nursing student with a promising future and loving family, was brutally murdered by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant. Jose Ibarra had been paroled and released into the United States after crossing the border illegally in September 2022 – one example of how the Biden Administration is abusing “humanitarian parole” to allow the mass release of illegals into our country with tragic consequences. Ibarra was later arrested in New York for “acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17,” and in October 2023, Ibarra and his brother were arrested for shoplifting – both times he was released. Unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated incident. In just the past few days, we’ve seen several additional stories come out about the victims of Biden’s open border, including in South Louisiana and in Maryland. Between Feb. 5 and Feb. 16, Enforcement and Removal Operations officers arrested 275 illegal immigrant sex offenders nationwide. This is unacceptable. These criminals should not be allowed to enter our country, and especially should not be released from custody after committing horrific crimes here.  Under the Biden Administration, 7.2 million illegal immigrants have entered the United States – more than the population of 36 states – and yet the president refuses to do anything to secure the border. As our communities continue to suffer under the weight of Biden’s dangerous open border policies, it is more critical than ever that we stop allowing criminals to flood into our country and put American lives at stake. H.R. 7511, the Laken Riley Act, sponsored by Rep. Mike Collins, holds the Biden Administration accountable for their role in these tragedies through their open border policies, requires detention of illegal aliens who commit theft and mandates ICE take them into custody, and allows a state to sue the Federal government on behalf of their citizens for not enforcing the border laws, particularly in the case of parole. “I'm grateful to my colleagues in the House of Representatives who honored Laken Riley with the passage of this bill in a bipartisan manner. We now need the Senate to do the same so we can prevent more families from experiencing what Laken's parents are going through right now,” said Rep. Mike Collins. What Members Said:
“No family should have to go through what Laken Riley's family is still grieving with today. But unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, this is not even an isolated incident. It's happening over and over again in communities all across America ever since Joe Biden opened our southern border, allowing millions of people to come in. You're seeing countries emptying out prisons to send people here; people on the terrorist watch list – over 140 that we know of on the terrorist watch list that have been detained. How many [are there] that we don't know of, that haven't been caught, that are here in America planning to do us harm because Joe Biden opened the southern border? There are serious negative consequences to those actions that Joe Biden took,” said Majority Leader Steve Scalise. “The House did pass a bill to solve this problem. Today we're coming together to pass another bill here with the Laken Riley Act to solve this problem.”  
Click here or on the image above to view Leader Scalise's remarks.
“This legislation will ensure that harmful abuses of our immigration laws – in fact, those policies set forth by the Biden Administration that are in direct conflict and contradiction with the plain meaning of our laws – will not go unchallenged. H.R. 7511 also honors Laken Riley's life, and those who mourn her loss, as well as all of the other victims of the Biden border crisis. No law passed by this body can bring back Laken or take away the pain suffered by her family and countless other victims of criminal alien crime. The Laken Riley Act, however, will ensure that illegal aliens who commit theft offenses, as Laken’s alleged murderer did, cannot be shielded by the Biden Administration's continued reckless, callous indifference,” said Rep. Dan Bishop.
Click here or on the image above to view Rep. Bishop's remarks.  
Rep. Jen Kiggans highlighted how violent crime stemming from our open borders is becoming too frequent in our communities, and how H.R. 7511 works to deport criminal illegal immigrants.  
Expanding Access to Capital and Strengthening Public Markets ✅
Under Biden’s SEC Chair Gary Gensler, the Commission has put in place costly disclosure mandates and ignored capital formation – something that is vital for sustainable economic growth – discouraging companies from going public and burdening small businesses. As President Biden’s regulators continue imposing burdensome regulations and increasing costs for small businesses and public companies, House Republicans passed legislation that makes it easier for companies to go and stay public and allows small businesses to succeed. Our legislation reduces regulatory hurdles and expands opportunities for small businesses to raise capital, improving the flow of capital to small businesses and ensuring they have access to resources they need. The bill creates an exemption to specific securities regulations for small offerings of securities and raises the limit of total annual gross revenues under which issuers can qualify as emerging growth companies to $1.5 billion. Additionally, the bill raises the caps on the allowed capital and number of investors under which a fund can qualify as a venture capital fund, providing more opportunity for investment. We must guarantee everyday American citizens have access to wealth creating opportunities and the ability to play a role in strengthening our public markets and growing our economy. H.R. 2799, the Expanding Access to Capital Act of 2023, introduced by Rep. Patrick McHenry, cuts burdensome red tape by reducing securities regulations, increases access to capital, creates more investment opportunities, helps small businesses, and strengthens our public markets. “Across the country, entrepreneurs with a new idea, or seeking to grow their business, are struggling to access affordable capital. The Expanding Access to Capital Act addresses this and more by alleviating the unique challenges faced by job creators and their investors who live outside major financial hubs. This legislation builds on the success of the bipartisan JOBS Act of 2012 and will benefit Americans from all walks of life—whether they’re saving for retirement or launching a startup. I’m proud House Republicans advanced H.R. 2799 to provide more people with the opportunity to achieve their American dream,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry.  What Members Said:
 
“These policies ensure that our markets are working efficiently and effectively to provide companies access to the capital that they need to innovate, to grow and to create jobs, not just on the coasts, but in America's heartland as well. H.R. 2799 offers targeted common sense solutions that level the playing field for Main Street investors looking to save for a new home, their child's future, or retirement. Moreover, America's IPO market has been on the decline for years due to increased regulatory and compliance costs. This package builds on the success of the Jobs Act, and reigns in those onerous barriers that are keeping America's innovators from seeking to enter and stay in our public markets,” said Rep. Ann Wagner. “The thoughtfully crafted bills and HR 2799 will address a multitude of inefficiencies within our public and private markets and deliver sustainable and enduring growth to our economy.”  
Click here or on the image above to view Rep. Wagner's remarks.
Rep. Scott Fitzgerald emphasized how H.R. 2799 strengthens our public markets and paves the way to reverse the declining IPO trend.  
Responsibly Funding the Government ✅ Since assuming the majority in 2023, House Republicans have been fighting to rein in out-of-control Washington spending and responsibly fund the federal government. While the Senate did not take up a single appropriations bill individually, House Republicans passed over 70 percent of government funding to address our energy crisis, strengthen our national security, protect Americans’ rights, and more, while cutting unnecessary radical leftist agenda items from the paycheck. After fighting hard against President Biden and Senate Democrats, House Republicans secured a topline spending agreement that cuts non-defense, non-veterans spending for the first time in nearly a decade. This week, we passed six of the appropriations bills in a package to ensure that vital programs are funded and remain available to hardworking Americans while prioritizing responsible spending and issues affecting our country every day: Agriculture; Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; Energy and Water Development; Transportation, Housing and Urban Development; Interior and Environment; and Commerce, Justice and Science. The package cuts funding for more than 50 different agencies and offices below last year’s funding level. Agencies receiving spending cuts include: EPA, DOJ, FBI, ATF, BLM, DOT,  and Fish and Wildlife. The package also protects Americans’ second amendment rights with a historic funding cut of $122 million from the ATF and a prohibition stopping VA bureaucrats from disarming veterans. H. Res. 1061, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, introduced by Rep. Kay Granger, responsibly funds the government by cutting wasteful non-defense programs while ensuring our national security remains strong with strategic increases in defense spending, and makes the first overall cut to non-defense, non-VA spending in about a decade –  building on House Republicans promise to rein in out-of-control government spending. “In recent years, spending on domestic priorities has skyrocketed, adding trillions to our national debt. The House Republican Conference made a commitment to change the trajectory of federal funding and put an end to wasteful spending, especially on initiatives that received billions of dollars outside of the normal appropriations process. The final Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations bills achieve what we set out to do: strategically increase defense spending and make targeted cuts to wasteful non-defense programs,” said Rep. Kay Granger. “Even with a Democrat as President, a divided Congress, and a slim Majority, House Republicans, led by Speaker Johnson, maintained longstanding legacy riders that Democrats sought to repeal, rejected harmful policies proposed in the President’s Budget and Senate bills, and fought for and secured conservative wins.” What Members Said:
“Cutting funding is never easy. But with the national debt in excess of $34 trillion, we make tough choices in this bill to rein in federal spending. Last Congress alone, $3 trillion was spent outside the normal appropriation process – that's 3 trillion additional dollars. As I have said repeatedly, simply holding funding flat is not enough. We must curb out of control spending and get our budget back on track and I'm pleased that this bill does that and heads us in the right direction,” said Rep. Mike Simpson.   
Click here or on the image above to view Rep. Simpson's remarks.
Rep. Dale Strong pointed to how H.Res. 1061 changes the trajectory of federal funding by cutting wasteful spending.  

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