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The Leader’s Floor Lookout: Friday, June 28, 2024

Washington, June 28, 2024
Here’s what to watch for on the House Floor today:
 
Securing Our Borders and Protecting Our Homeland

Thanks to President Biden’s dangerous open border policies, our homeland is currently anything but secure. Under the Biden Administration, over 7.2 million illegal immigrants have entered the United States from more than 160 countries, including countries on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, who have not properly been vetted. At least 350 people on the terrorist watchlist have been caught attempting to illegally enter the U.S., posing a significant threat to our national security.

American families are fed up with the Biden Administration’s consistent refusals to address the crisis at our southern border and the risks it poses to our national security. Thankfully, House Republicans are taking action. 

Today, we are bringing forward legislation that counters President Biden’s border crisis by providing $600 million for the construction of the border wall, investing in border security technology, forcing Secretary Mayorkas to adhere to U.S. border laws, and supporting 22,000 Border Patrol agents. It also funds removal operations for removable aliens and custody operations for ICE detainees.

Meanwhile, our legislation cuts out woke initiatives and wasteful programs funded by taxpayer dollars to refocus our Department of Homeland Security on what really matters: Keeping the American people safe. The bill blocks critical race theory and the Department’s equity action plan from implementation, rejects funding for EVs, halts Biden Administration initiatives to increase illegal immigration, and prohibits funding for abortions or gender-affirming care for ICE detainees. 

Enough is enough. We have a duty to ensure the security of our borders and the safety of the American people.

H.R. 8752, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2025, introduced by Rep. Mark Amodei, ensures our homeland is protected by increasing border security, providing for the removal of dangerous criminals, countering China and bolstering national security, supporting American values, and removing woke initiatives impeding the Department’s primary mission to promote American safety. 

House Republicans are committed to keeping our homeland secure and American citizens safe, despite the Biden Administration’s attempts to do the opposite. 
 

Deterring America’s Adversaries and Supporting Our Allies

Across the globe, America’s adversaries grow bolder in their assaults on democracy and freedom, attacking our allies and threatening the United States. With the world on fire, it is vital we protect our interests abroad and our security at home.

American citizens are still being held hostage by Hamas terrorists after the barbaric October 7th attacks, along with an estimated over 100 innocent Israeli civilians. To strengthen our national security and position as world leader, as well as promote global security, we must ensure our allies are supported and our adversaries are deterred. 

House Republicans are bringing legislation that reaffirms American leadership on the world stage and supports our allies, such as by providing Foreign Military Financing for Israel’s defense, barring any funding for the International Criminal Court, International Court of Justice, United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), and the United Nations Commission of Inquiry against Israel, and strengthening deterrence in the Taiwan Strait.

Additionally, our bill confronts our adversaries, including China, Iran, and Hamas, such as by prohibiting providing funds, loans, or repayments of debt to the Chinese Communist Party and banning the removal of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps from the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list. 

This legislation would also reinforce American values globally by supporting religious freedom programs abroad, prohibiting “disinformation” or “misinformation” programs that violate free speech rights, increasing accountability at world organizations, and supporting freedom in the Western Hemisphere. 

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart’s legislation, H.R. 8771, the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2025, reaffirms American leadership by combatting our adversaries, supporting our allies, promoting American values here and abroad, and prioritizing our national security, while cutting funds to wasteful climate initiatives and bureaucratic world organizations and refocusing our taxpayer dollars on actually protecting Americans and our allies. 

House Republicans will continue to stand up for freedom, the American people, and our allies.  


Ensuring the Strong Defense of Americans and American Interests

A strong military deters conflict, promotes the safety of the American people, and protects our national interests. As threats to our nation continue to rise from foreign adversaries and at the border, with Americans already suffering the consequences, we must ensure that the men and women defending our freedom and way of life have everything they need to meet these new challenges. 

Today, House Republicans are bringing legislation to the floor that provides our military with the resources it needs to deter our adversaries or defeat them, bolsters the Department of Defense's role in combatting the deadly flow of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, increases support for servicemembers and their families, and promotes innovation and modernization.

America’s servicemembers are the backbone of the U.S. military, and make up the strongest fighting force on Earth. Our plan for funding the Department of Defense (DOD) includes a pay raise for our military and a historic pay increase for junior enlisted servicemembers, as they are the reason our freedom endures. 

We also make sure taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly by redirecting funds from the Biden Administration’s wasteful woke agenda to what really matters: Addressing the needs of our military, combatting adversaries, and keeping Americans safe. We cut and prohibit funding for climate initiatives; diversity, equity, and inclusion programs; gender reassignment surgeries; and critical race theory, while providing funds for Israeli defense programs, drug interdiction and counterdrug activities, defense innovation efforts, and deterrence in the Indo-Pacific.

The United States military is the strongest in the world, and it’s crucial that we keep it that way by responsibly providing for America’s defense.  

H.R. 8774, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2025, introduced by Rep. Ken Calvert, strengthens America’s defense by prioritizing countering the CCP, investing in innovation in our military, supporting our servicemembers and their families, combatting the flow of fentanyl, promoting American values, and ensuring the Department is focused on its primary duty to keep our people safe. 

House Republicans will do everything in our power to ensure that America, our interests, and the safety of our people always prevail.