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The Leader’s Floor Lookout: Week of April 8, 2024

Washington, April 7, 2024
Here’s what to watch for on the House Floor this week:

Standing With Our Ally and Opposing One-Sided Pressure on Israel

On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists committed horrific and unprovoked attacks against Israel, killing over 1,200 innocent people including women, children, and the elderly, and taking over 240 hostages – making it the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. 

To this day, Hamas holds 133 hostages, including American citizens, in captivity – 129 of which were abducted on October 7 – under grueling conditions, withholding food, water, and medicine from captives and confining them to the dark. 


Israel is the United States’ closest ally and friend in the Middle East. And yet, despite all the horrors the Jewish people have and continue to endure at the hands of barbaric Hamas terrorists, a White House press release last week stated that President Biden ‘‘underscored that an immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians.’’

Furthermore, President Biden refused to support our ally Israel when the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire, deciding not to exercise the United States veto and support Israel in their fight to protect themselves from these terrorists and free the remaining hostages. 

This is outrageous. Israel has every right to defend itself in the war Hamas started when they targeted Israeli civilians, and to wipe out terrorist threats to their national security and the security of their people. 

H. Res. ___, introduced by Rep. María Salazar, opposes efforts by the Biden Administration and others to place one-sided pressure on Israel with respect to Gaza, reaffirms Israel’s right to self defense, and stands with Israel in their war against Hamas and other terrorists that began on October 7, 2023.

House Republicans will always support our great ally and friend, Israel, in their war against terrorism to protect their people.  

Condemning Biden’s Open Border Policies 

President Biden has done everything in his power to dismantle United States border security. On his first day in office, President Biden used his pen to stop construction of the border wall, revoke President Trump’s executive order to ensure meaningful enforcement of border laws, end immigration restrictions on countries associated with terrorism, and sign other executive orders incentivizing illegal immigration. Altogether, the President has purposefully undermined U.S. border security on more than 60 occasions.

Under President Biden, more than 7.2 million illegal immigrants have entered our country, which is more than the population of 36 states, including over 169 people on the terror watch list. Not only does this pose a threat to our national security, but communities across America are suffering the tragic consequences of the Biden Administration’s open border policies daily.
 

Laken Riley was brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant with a criminal record who was released into the U.S. on parole. In South Louisiana, an illegal was arrested for raping a 14-year-old girl at knifepoint and brutally stabbing a man multiple times. In Maryland, a Salvadoran immigrant with a criminal record was arrested in connection to the murder of a 2-year-old. And, in Boston, ICE arrested an illegal from Guatemala recently convicted of sexual assault of a child under 14 years old.

President Biden could secure the border today the same way he created this crisis: With a pen. He chooses not to, putting criminals before the safety of the American people. 

Meanwhile, House Republicans passed a bill over nine months ago to stop the flow of migrants and keep our communities safe: H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act. But the Democrat-led Senate and the White House refuse to take up any meaningful border legislation, instead trying to shift blame and pretend to take action with a Senate open border bill that does nothing to actually close the border.

President Biden and his Administration must be held accountable for their egregious disregard of and efforts to subvert our border laws, and for the consequences their actions have had on American families.

Rep. Tony Gonzales’ legislation, H. Res. 1112, condemns President Biden and his Administration for their disastrous open border policies that have created the worst border crisis in U.S. history, and urges the Biden Administration to take immediate action to end this national security threat.  

While President Biden and Democrats refuse to stand up for the safety of Americans over illegal immigrant criminals, House Republicans won’t stop passing legislation again and again to protect our communities and secure the border.
 
Protecting America’s Shores From Criminal Networks   

After the devastating terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) was formed to protect against national security threats beyond the U.S. border in transit zones, between ports of entry, in our coastal waters, and within the nation’s interior through aviation and maritime law enforcement expertise.

Off our shores, transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) work nefariously to smuggle thousands of pounds of deadly drugs, unvetted migrants, and other illegal goods into our country, posing a significant threat to America’s maritime border security. Meanwhile, AMO fights to secure the more than 95,000 miles of U.S. shoreline, intercepting vessels and keeping drugs from reaching our communities.

In Fiscal Year 2022, AMO enforcement efforts led to the seizure of 382,916 pounds of drugs, 82 percent of which took place in the maritime environment, and the interdictions of 9,392 illegal immigrants in the maritime environment – an increase of 242 percent from Fiscal Year 2021 and 334 percent from Fiscal Year 2020.

Despite rising illicit activity in our waters, AMO’s law enforcement authority is limited to enforcing trade laws and combating drug activity in U.S. “customs waters,” or 12 nautical miles offshore, restricting AMO’s ability to effectively respond to threats, engage suspect vessels, or prevent their escape. 

It is critical that we expand law enforcement jurisdiction off our shores so that authorities can enforce U.S. customs and immigration laws, combat sophisticated transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from illegal smuggling of deadly drugs and other contraband. 

H.R. 529, the Extending Limits of U.S. Customs Waters Act, introduced by Rep. Michael Waltz, extends the customs waters territory of the United States from 12 nautical miles to 24 nautical miles, allowing U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to pursue critical efforts to enforce our trade laws and prevent deadly drug smuggling off our shores.

House Republicans will continue to support our law enforcement and AMO as they fulfill their mission to protect American communities by defending our shores. 
 
 
 
Reforming FISA Section 702 and Securing Our Nation

In response to widespread Intelligence Community misconduct revealed by the Church Committee and others, Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978 to create a process allowing the government to collect foreign intelligence on U.S. soil with court approval and congressional oversight. 

In 2008, Congress added Section 702 to FISA to enable the targeting of foreigners outside the U.S. who use U.S.-based services – such as American telephone companies and email providers – to communicate. This helps us eavesdrop on foreign spies, break up WMD proliferation rings, and ensures we don’t relive the pre-9/11 failures to ‘connect the dots’ between terrorists plotting overseas and threats here at home.
 
FISA Section 702 is vital to our national security amid the rising threats we’re seeing from foreign adversaries like Hamas, China, Russia, and fentanyl-trafficking cartels – however, due to numerous abuses of FISA, the entire program is also in desperate need of reforms before reauthorization. 

In an outrageous abuse of trust, senior FBI agents misled the courts and relied on political opposition research to conduct surveillance on a Trump campaign official. Additionally, the FBI in particular has repeatedly failed to follow their own procedures for when they can appropriately search these sensitive foreign intelligence databases using the names or other personal information of Americans. 

To address these egregious problems while preserving this important national security tool, House Republicans are bringing forward legislation that reforms Section 702 querying procedures at the FBI, limits the use of information obtained under Section 702, requires greater oversight of Section 702 targeting decisions, reforms the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), imposes stronger criminal penalties for FISA violations, and holds leaders accountable for FISA abuses on their watch.

H.R. ___, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, introduced by Rep. Laurel Lee, reforms and reauthorizes FISA to maintain national security while protecting Americans' privacy and addressing Intelligence Community abuses.

House Republicans are working to ensure that our Intelligence Community has the tools they need to protect our nation from foreign threats while also reining in abuses of FISA against American citizens.