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In our latest edition, we're grateful to have an interview with Sen. John Cornyn, who spoke with us about what he’d like to do if elected Senate GOP Leader, tax reform, the 2024 elections, and his former clerk, Sen. JD Vance.
By: Matthew Foldi
Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) is running to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) as leader this fall, and he spoke with the Washington Reporter about his vision for the leadership, the Biden-Harris “day late & dollar short” defense budget, and how he hopes to implement more policies like the “transformational” Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that he helped shepherd into law as the GOP’s Whip.
When it comes to his path to win the intra-GOP Senate leadership race, Cornyn will lean on relationships he’s built for years, as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) for two terms, as GOP Whip for six years, and more.
“These leadership races are based on longstanding relationships,” Cornyn said. “I know all of the voters, and they know me. They know the other candidates as well, and so a lot of this is listening to what their priorities are.”
Cornyn wants “to figure out ways we can get the Senate committees working again — which is the best way to pass good legislation. It forces you to work together and build consensus. And I think having robust floor debates and opportunities for amendments are going to be really important, because each senator who’s here deserves the right to represent their states and to have their voices heard and to cast votes as they see fit,” he said.
Click HERE to read more about Sen. John Cornyn’s vision for tax reform, his thoughts on the “political coup” that installed Kamala Harris as the Democrats’ nominee, and to learn about how he once employed Sen. JD Vance as a clerk.
One of the more polarizing people in the Biden administration is Lina Khan at the FTC. What do you think a future Trump administration would do in terms of handling the FTC appointments and enforcement out of that agency?
Matthew Foldi
Editor-in-Chief
Well, another one of my former staffers, Noah Phillips, was a member of the Federal Trade Commission, and he’s sort of an exemplar of what I would hope a second Trump administration would nominate. Obviously we need work there, because President Biden and Vice President Harris have populated these federal agencies and departments with the most activist individuals you can imagine, and it’s sort of breathtaking in that regard, and people who are not particularly constrained by the law, but try to gain any advantage they can, and basically dare somebody to sue them and take them to court. And that happens, but unfortunately, it takes a long time. Trying to dismantle some of the overregulation that we’ve seen that is one of the hallmarks of the Biden administration is going to be very important. The economy as you recall, back before COVID-19 hit, was about the best economy we’ve seen, certainly in my memory. Unemployment rates were historically low, particularly for minority groups, blacks and Hispanics. I’m hoping that we can do a repeat of that with the second Trump administration.
John Cornyn
Senator, (R., Texas)
House:
Senate:
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By: Matthew Foldi
Pro-Hamas protestors who rioted in America’s Capital last week should be punished for their actions, a Republican lawmaker told Washington, D.C.’s United States Attorney.
In a letter first obtained by the Washington Reporter, Rep. Stephanie Bice (R., Okla.) wrote to U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, demanding that he “find and prosecute all individuals who undertook these illegal acts at Union Station to the fullest extent of the law,” referencing the pro-Hamas demonstration that took place near the Capitol building last week, shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Congress.
Protesters “defaced [federal property by Union Station] with graffiti, tore down and burned the American flags which flew at the station, and replaced those American flags with the flag of a place governed by Hamas which is recognized by the Department of State as a foreign terrorist organization,” Bice said in the letter.
Click HERE to read more about demands from Rep. Stephanie Bice (R., Okla.) that criminal protesters actually face prosecution, as well as her letter to U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves.
By: Matthew Foldi
Chinese e-commerce giant Temu is facing renewed scrutiny from Congress, with members of the Ways and Means Committee warning about the company’s “use of forced labor and ties to the Chinese Communist Party,” Rep. Claudia Tenney (R., N.Y.) told the Washington Reporter.
Temu’s alleged reliance on forced labor gives it an unfair advantage over small business owners located in her district, Tenney added.
Tenney’s pointed criticisms come as members of both political parties in both houses of Congress have relentlessly attacked the company before for its violations of laws such as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), “all but guaranteeing that shipments made by Uyghur forced labor are entering American homes,” the bipartisan Select Committee on the CCP noted last year.
Click HERE to read more about the problems facing Temu in America and in China.
By: Matthew Foldi
Republicans blasted Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s Pennsylvania road trip to promote an unpopular Internal Revenue Service (IRS) program last week, saying the visit brings to mind former President Ronald Reagan’s famous adage: “the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”
Yellen went to Pennsylvania with Democratic Pennsylvania Reps. Brendan Boyle and Mary Gay Scanlon, to “announce that Pennsylvania will offer [the IRS’s] Direct File to its residents in the 2025 filing season.” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was then at the height of vice presidential speculation, as they sought to turn IRS tax collection into a political winner for Democrats in a key swing state.
Rep. Kevin Hern (R., Okla.), warned the Treasury Department that “this isn’t the political win [Yellen] thinks it is. It won’t help taxpayers in Pennsylvania or anywhere else.”
Many Democrats have embraced the IRS’s Direct File program, viewing it as, in the words of the agency, a “new free tax tool to file your federal taxes directly with the IRS.” Republicans disagree. Sen. John Barrasso (R., Wyo.) warned in a lengthy interview with the Reporter that “the IRS wants to be the tax collector, auditor, enforcer, and now tax preparer — a judge, jury, and Lord High Executioner,” via Direct File.
Click HERE to read more about Congress’s reaction to Janet Yellen pushing the IRS’s unpopular Direct File program.
By: Rep. Jim Jordan
The last time that a president from the Democratic Party proposed radical, sweeping changes to the Supreme Court of the United States, the Democratic-led Senate wrote the plan should be “so emphatically rejected that its parallel will never again be presented to the free representatives of the free people of America.”
That was 1937. And the Democratic Party of 2024 — to borrow President Joe Biden’s refrain — is not your grandfather’s Democratic Party.
Last week, President Biden proposed a modern rehashing of Franklin Roosevelt’s infamous court packing scheme. Vice President Kamala Harris, as she has done with so many Biden follies, promptly embraced the policy as her own.
Clothed in the mantle of amorphous “ethics reform,” the Biden-Harris court packing proposal would fundamentally transform the Supreme Court from an independent and neutral arbiter of the Constitution into another arm of the Democrat-bureaucrat machine.
It’s a power grab, plain and simple.
Click HERE to read more from Rep. Jim Jordan about the dangers of the Biden-Harris assault on the Supreme Court.
By: Rep. Kevin Hern
The Biden-Harris administration has been marked by failure, ineptitude, and a complete lack of accountability.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have repeatedly and intentionally made disastrous decisions that have harmed Americans at home as well as our allies abroad.
The most recent catastrophic failure was the assassination attempt on July 13th.
President Donald Trump’s life was spared by a millimeter and a miraculous turn of his head. The assassin took the life of Corey Comperatore and injured several more attendees.
The question on everyone’s mind that night was: How did this happen? The Secret Service is tasked with guarding the president, presidential candidates, and others in their protective care. They must be detail-oriented, meticulous, and wholly dedicated to their jobs.
Click HERE to read more from Rep. Kevin Hern on the lack of accountability in the Biden administration.
