118th U.S. Congress
88th Texas Congressional Session
Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were filled with joy and love.
In this newsletter: Answers from Tea Party Patriots; Statement from Rep. Keith Self (R-TX 03); What to expect in the 118th Congress (Daily Signal/Heritage Foundation); Texas’ $87 billion surplus; and Texas’ 115th Secretary of State.
The article below is from Jenny Beth Martin, Tea Party Patriots Action. It addresses questions many of us have, so I am sharing it with you. You may also want to go to the website and subscribe to her emails.
Have questions about the House Leadership Election
“Some people online, in the news, and in conversations with me the last 24 hours have posed various questions along these lines:
Who will be the next Speaker?
What about Jim Jordan, Bryon Donalds, Steve Scalise, <other>, do you want them to be Speaker? Which person do you want to be Speaker? What if it is McCarthy; can you live with that?
Why are they doing this?
Don’t you think this is an embarrassment to the new majority?
Why have some House Freedom Caucus Members taken a stand and others have not?
Let me unpack some of these questions in case you, too, are asking them.
First, why have some but not all of the House Freedom Caucus not taken a stand for a change in leadership? The vote for Speaker of the House can be the single most risky vote for a Member of Congress to take. The first Member of Congress to vote against the “presumed speaker” is walking out on a limb and has no idea whether others will truly join or not. They have seen the kind of punishment wielded in the past to those who were willing to take this risk. Remember, Justin Amash was stripped of committee assignments and the Republican leadership campaigned heavily against Tim Hueslkamp to send a message that if a Member of Congress takes these kinds of votes, the leadership will work to vote you out of Congress. In other words, “Go along with us or get out of the way.” That makes these votes extremely risky.
Before the first vote for Speaker yesterday afternoon, some inside the House Republican Conference had already advocated for stripping anyone who did not vote for McCarthy of any committee assignments.
So, why are they doing this? Don’t you think this is an embarrassment to the new majority?
This is not a game. It’s about the future of our country. Some of these 20 Members of Congress have been working for a year to get structural and meaningful reforms to the procedures in the House of Representatives. I personally have been in meetings with several of them who have been working on this for the last year.
It is not an embarrassment. It is not chaos. It also is not fun, and it is a little painful to watch.
The Republican Majority in the House could pass 100 bills this week. What is going to happen to those bills? Will they become law with Schumer controlling the Senate and Biden in the White House? You know the answer to that as well as I do. Getting Biden to sign the laws 99.5% of us in this list want signed into law is highly unlikely to happen. Getting Schumer to take up bills the House passes will also be much harder to control.
For those of you who have been part of the tea party movement for the last 12 years, you know that usually the only time meaningful laws are passed are when the debt ceiling is reached or the end of the fiscal year happens (or the end of the arbitrary deadline for a continuing resolution is reached). So, it is highly unlikely that much meaningful legislation will pass into law until later this year as we get closer to the September 30 fiscal year deadline.
If, however, the Republican Majority, takes a little more time right now to get this right – ensuring the People’s House functions properly so the Representatives can represent the people – they will have a major accomplishment. They can show Americans what it means to legislate and debate. They can show America they care about their voters. Changing the rules of the House to make it less dysfunctional and more functional, is one of the very few things this particular slim majority can achieve.
Please take a moment to consider that.
The decisions being made right now: who will be Speaker and what are procedures for the House of Representatives, that is one thing this Republican Majority can get right, and these decisions are some of the very few decisions completely within their control.
I do not know who the Speaker will be. I do not have a preference on who the Speaker ultimately winds up being. I have a preference on how the House functions, the rules and procedures. I have a preference on policy – I want conservative, constitutional policy proposals to at least be considered and debated. As for the who – to the extent that the Members of Congress - especially those on the Rules Committee and in “Leadership” must abide by the Rules and not set them aside, I do care about the who. Also, I also do not want any of the 20 Members who have voted against McCarthy punished for having the courage to advocate for meaningful changes to the House of Representatives. If it winds up being McCarthy and he agrees to meaningful changes and will not punish these 20, then that is better for America. If it is not McCarthy and we get meaningful changes and grudges on both sides of this debate are set aside, that is better for America.
I love this country. Like you, I want what is best for this country. Taking them to get this right (the Speaker and more importantly the Rules right) is best for our country. And, for those extremely concerned about what is best for the new Republican Majority, taking the time to get this right has the added side benefit of being good for the Republican majority.
I’m sure tempers are still flaring in that Conference. I hope and pray they can take a step back to think about what is best for America and how to House of Representatives to function as it was intended to function – with robust debate in the Chamber as Members advocate and represent their constituents.
The votes this week for or against the choice(s) for Speaker of the House are a vote about the courage to stand up and say, “We have to change the status quo in Washington, DC.” It is about being willing to risk it all for the sake of what is good for the country.
Please take the time first to pray for our country, and for all the Members of the House – especially those in the Republican Conference to have wisdom and discernment.
Then please, continue to make the calls to thank those 20 who have voted for a change in leadership. Please call your own representative and tell your representative to vote for a change in the status quo.
Finally, if you have not read the document the House Freedom Caucus wrote about how Congress functions (or does not function as the case may be), consider taking time to read it.”
Jenny Beth Martin, Tea Party Patriots Action
Here is a statement from Rep. Keith Self about the House Speaker voting. For more from Rep. Keith Self, the official website is https://keithself.house.gov/. You can sign up to receive his newsletters. His current mailing list can’t be transferred to this government site, so please do sign up at https://keithself.house.gov/. You can also follow him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KeithSelfTX.
Here’s What You Should Expect From the 118th Congress (Daily Signal).
Congress is back in session, and members have their work cut out for them.
“I agree that it is one of - if not the most critical time in our nation’s history,” says Ryan Walker, vice president for government relations at Heritage Action for America. (Heritage Action for America is the grassroots partner organization of The Heritage Foundation.)
“We are at the precipice of continuing the Left’s march toward socialism, a full and fundamental takeover of our public institutions, not just government, but education, business, university systems, you name it,” he says.
With Republicans controlling the House, Walker says, the House Oversight and Reform Committee has a responsibility to hold the Biden administration accountable and to investigate the crisis at the southern border, COVID-19 spending, and much more.
Walker joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss what we should expect from the 118th Congress, and to explain the significance of the battle to become House speaker of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
Read more or listen to the podcast here.
In Their Own Words: Texas GOP House Reps on $27B Surplus
With an unexpected $27 billion in surplus funds, Texas Scorecard asked all Republican members of the Texas House how they plan to allocate this taxpayer money.
With an unexpected $27 billion in surplus funds, Texas Scorecard asked all Republican members of the Texas House how they plan to allocate this taxpayer money.
After Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced Texas will have a nearly $27 billion budget surplus this upcoming legislative session, Texas Scorecard reached out to all 84 Republican members of the Texas House and asked how they plan to allocate the surplus.
Historically, Texas lawmakers have returned very little in surplus funds to the average Texan. Therefore, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility is calling for lawmakers to return the surplus to taxpayers via property tax relief, as Texans are now battling ongoing inflation amid a property tax burden increase of 181 percent over the past 20 years.
Of the 84 Republican members of the Texas House, six responded to Texas Scorecard’s inquiry with plans to return the funds to Texas taxpayers. Their responses can be read here.
Jane Nelson Officially Appointed 115th Texas Secretary of State
AUSTIN - Today, Governor Greg Abbott officially appointed Jane Nelson to serve as the 115th Texas Secretary of State.
Nelson will be formally sworn in by Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan L. Hecht on Saturday, January 7, 2023.
The Texas Secretary of State serves as the state's Chief Election Officer; provides a repository for official, business and commercial records; publishes rules and regulations; and commissions notaries public. In addition, the Secretary serves as senior advisor and liaison to the Governor for Texas Border and Mexican Affairs, and serves as Chief International Protocol Officer for Texas. The Secretary is one of six state officials named by the Texas Constitution to form the Executive Department of the State. The first Secretary of the Republic of Texas was Stephen F. Austin.
VoteTexas.gov, https://www.votetexas.gov/get-involved/index.html
Until next time…
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I can't believe we had a tax surplus in Texas. Just goes to show good states do in "right."