At convention, GOP lawmakers lay out legislative priorities
Republicans are returning to Washington, D.C., after last week’s Republican National Convention (RNC), ready to push a legislative agenda lawmakers say will make America wealthy, safe, strong, and great again.
Rep. Celeste Maloy (R., Utah) introduced the Enhancing Regulatory Flexibility Act, which would require federal agencies to analyze the effect their regulations have on small businesses.“We’ve let this experiment of bureaucratic rule making go on for 80 years. It’s time for the legislative branch to step up and get it back under control. That’s what I’m focused on,” she told the Washington Reporter. “The original bill meant to protect small businesses and require agencies to think of them when creating new rules, but flexible language has allowed agencies to ignore those requirements. My amendment will clarify the law and ensure agencies follow the RFA.”
Another priority is American energy independence. Rep. Brett Guthrie (R., Ky.)a senior Republican on the House’s Energy and Commerce Committee, told the Reporter about his plans to reverse the Biden-Harris administration’s “rush-to-green” agenda, including rolling back “Biden’s anti-coal, anti-American energy agenda” through a Congressional Review Act resolution.
“We must reinstate American energy independence through comprehensive permitting reform to lower costs for households and fuel economic growth in job creating industries. We must roll back the Biden-Harris far-left radical ‘Clean Power Plan 2.0’ that will drive out reliable power sources, restore consumer choice in vehicle purchases, and end the EPA’s environmentalist slush fund.”
Republicans also plan to continue their focus on securing America’s border. Rep. Guthrie outlined his plans to do so in a Reporter op-ed this week, and Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R., Texas) previewed his border security legislation with us last week.
Rep. Richard Hudson (R., N.C.) will renew his focus on a series of domestic priorities to improve housing for the military on bases, protect gun rights, prevent illegal immigrants from accessing Medicaid funds, and stop the military from labeling pro-life organizations as “terrorist groups.” While Hudson already saw one of his initiatives to increase domestic production of clean nuclear energy signed into law, American energy independence remains a priority for the North Carolinian, who also chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Rep. Mark Alford (R., Mo.) spotlighted two of his recent bills to the Reporter: the American Land and Property Protection Act, which would ban foreign adversaries from purchasing American real estate, and, the DEI DOA Act, which seeks to ban DEI in the military.
“We certainly should not allow rotten initiatives such as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs to grow within our government,” Alford said. “It is time to take it a step further and eliminate DEI across the federal government.”
Looking abroad, the GOP will keep its focus on multiple Biden foreign policy failures. This week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will host a roundtable of American families whose relatives are still held hostage by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, and lawmakers are looking at creative ways to hold Hamas’s financial backers accountable.
Rep. Bill Huizenga (R., Mich.) told the Reporter that his priorities include getting “Iranian, and all, sanctions enforcement” up and running. “Trump,” he added, “keeps talking about Iran getting money from oil sales and he is 100 percent right.”
Republicans also rolled out legislation, the Countering Communist China Act, to tackle Chinese influence in American education, technology, trade, and more.
Rep. Kevin Hern (R., Ok.), who chairs the Republican Study Committee, spearheaded the bill, and told the Reporter that “it’s never been more important to show that America is strong, that we are willing and very capable of combating the malign influence of the CCP within our borders. The world sees us as weak right now, we cannot let that continue.”
Rep. Vince Fong (R., Calif.) has a series of proposals to ensure that “America refuses to fall behind China,” he told the Reporter. Among them are a push to “finally requir[e] commercial space regulation out of the bureaucratic FAA” and passing the NASA reauthorization legislation.
“America’s willingness to rise to the occasion and meet any challenge is unparalleled, and it’s time that we act to ensure the United States wins the 21st Century space race with the Chinese Communist Party that is underway,” Fong said.