DonnyFerguson.com
“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”
- James Madison
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
In this issue:
THE LIBERAL AGENDA
>>> Daines rips Biden order to shut down US/Canada border
>>> Fearing 2022 blowout Dems plot federal hijacking of elections
>>> Biden spent just 11 percent of federal rent relief funds, then used ensuing chaos for federal takeover of private property
>>> In bizarre move, Pelosi blocks vote to stop military draft for women
>>> Biden tax scheme includes IRS giveaway to union bosses
>>> Leftists plot federal takeover of tech with bogus ‘antitrust’ claims
YOUR MONEY
>>> Crippling new Dem tax hikes hurt Americans while helping Communist China
>>> Communist China more business-friendly than the US under Biden tax rampage
>>> Here’s how the $5 trillion Dem spending scheme turns a temporary pandemic into permanent socialism
>>> Pelosi threatens government shutdown unless she gets massive debt limit hike
COVID NEWS
>>> House GOP demands Biden reveal hidden names of officials who oversaw gain of function virus program
JUSTICE
>>> Court to hear lawsuit challenging California gender quota for company boards
>>> Food truck owner sues over North Carolina town’s ridiculously expensive permitting scheme
OFF TO THE RACES
>>> Hassan dodges questions about $5 trillion spending scheme with this response
>>> Over 100 leaders of Virginia Hispanic and Latino community endorse Youngkin
THE LIBERAL AGENDA
>>> Daines rips Biden order to shut down US/Canada border
U.S. Senator Steve Daines released the following statement after President Biden once again extended the closure of the northern border until at least October 21.
“Once again, President Biden has ignored the well-being of Montana families and businesses. Biden’s continued refusal to open the northern border is inexplicable and is devastating Montana border communities and our economy,” Daines said.
On September 1, 2021, Daines and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik called on Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi to take action on their bill, the “Restoring Northern Border Travel Act,” which would finally reopen the U.S.-Canada border.
On August 20, 2021, Daines blasted President Biden’s choice to extend the closure of the northern border despite Canada reopening the border for fully vaccinated Americans on August 9th.
On August 9, 2021, Daines slammed President Biden for using COVID-19 as a ploy to keep the northern border closed to Montana families and businesses, while keeping the southern border wide open to illegal drugs and illegal immigrants, many of them potentially COVID-19 positive.
On June 24, 2021, Daines introduced a bill with Congresswoman Elise Stefanik to require the Biden administration to open the northern border.
On March 10, 2021, Daines sent a letter to the Biden Administration, urging them to safely reopen the border in support of Montana’s economy.
On June 17, 2020, Daines sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security urging them to safely reopen the border as soon as possible.
On April 3, 2020, Daines urged U.S. Customs and Border Protection to keep Montana’s ports of entry open to Montana agricultural and trade during the pandemic.
On March 20, 2020, Daines wrote President Trump about the importance of trade and travel over the Canadian border during the pandemic.
# # # #
>>> Fearing 2022 blowout Dems plot federal hijacking of elections
U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding Democrats’ federal election takeover:
“Last week, Senate Democrats announced what was marketed as a compromise on carving out a bigger role for Washington D.C. in elections across America.
“It was hardly the first time our Democratic colleagues had given their takeover of fifty states’ election law a makeover. Over the years, it’s sometimes been sold as an urgent overhaul of our democracy and other times as just a set of narrow tweaks.
“But for all their attempts to change up the pitch, the unfortunate fact is that the bones of the Democrats’ proposal are still the same.
“This latest version is only a compromise in the sense that the center-left compromised with the far left. Under the hood is the same Frankenstein’s monster that’s been there since 2019, years before the state-level actions which the Democrats now claim have made it all necessary.
“It still makes Washington bureaucrats the de facto board of elections for all 50 states, dictating the terms of things like automatic and same-day voter registration.
“It still insists on impeding state efforts to ensure the integrity of voter rolls through popular, commonsense voter I.D. measures.
“It still has government dollars going directly to politicians’ campaigns – that’s public funds for bumper stickers and attack ads.
“It still empowers partisan regulators to circumvent the bipartisan FEC and engage in even more intimidation of private citizens who engage in political speech. And these, of course, are just to name a few.
“Now surely, Mr. President, as the Senate continues to do its job and strike down misguided ideas like these, we’ll hear plenty from folks who consider it evidence that this body is broken.
“But of course that simply is not true.
“The Senate is fully capable of taking landmark, bipartisan action that makes it easier to vote and harder to cheat. We did it back in 2002 with the Help America Vote Act, which I helped lead.
“We empowered state and local election systems to follow commonsense guide posts for integrity and accessibility. And the Senate passed our bill, 92-2!
“So if our Democratic colleagues really wanted to find common ground and act on common sense, the road map is right there.
“But unfortunately, we know that’s never been the goal.
“Unfortunately, this latest ‘compromise’ is just a repackaging of what even reporters called a messaging bill that was headed nowhere.
“The substance is not really changing. And so neither will the result.”
# # # #
>>> Biden spent just 11 percent of federal rent relief funds, then used ensuing chaos for federal takeover of private property
House Republican Whip and Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Ranking Member Steve Scalise (R-La.) sent a letter to the Select Subcommittee Chairman James Clyburn (D-S.C.) emphasizing the Biden Administration’s embarrassing lack of desire to deliver emergency rental assistance to millions of suffering families and reiterated the need for the Chairman to follow through on his commitment to invite U.S. Department of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to appear before the Subcommittee.
“Secretary Yellen needs to explain the challenges the Biden Administration is facing in states like New York. As of July 31, 2021, only about $4.9 billion of the $46 billion that Congress allocated for rental assistance had reached renters in need,” wrote Ranking Member Scalise. “Just last week, Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters refused to invite Secretary Yellen to a hearing on Treasury’s emergency rental assistance programs. This is just the latest in a series of attempts by the Democrat majority to shield Secretary Yellen from accountability for these mounting failures.”
On July 21, 2021, Ranking Member Scalise requested Chairman Clyburn to invite Treasury Secretary Yellen to testify at an upcoming hearing on the Biden Administration’s ineffective implementation of federal rental assistance programs. The hearing proceeded without crucial testimony from Secretary Yellen, leaving unanswered questions and desperate renters in the dark.
“The stark reality is that the Treasury Department has disbursed less than 11% of the emergency rental assistance funds allocated by Congress. This shows an embarrassing lack of desire to deliver for the millions of families who are devastated by the Biden Administration’s failures. Meanwhile, an eight-month streak of crippling inflation, a weak jobs report, and a spike in COVID-19 cases due to the Biden Administration’s failure to confront these crises, all combined to cause consumer confidence to retreat to its lowest level since February 2021,” concluded Ranking Member Scalise.
Considering the Biden Administration’s ongoing failures, Ranking Member Scalise is respectfully reminding Chairman Clyburn of his commitment to invite Secretary Yellen to appear before the Subcommittee.
Below is the full text of the letter.
September 20, 2021
Dear Chairman Clyburn:
On July 21, 2021, I requested that you invite Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to testify at an upcoming hearing on the Biden Administration’s ineffective implementation of federal rental assistance programs that Congress passed. So far you have not compelled Secretary Yellen to participate in a public hearing to address this catastrophic failure.
On July 27, 2021, the hearing proceeded without Secretary Yellen—as millions of renters across the country waited for relief just days before the expiration of a federal eviction moratorium. Without testimony from a witness who could explain the Biden Administration’s plan to disburse long overdue emergency rental assistance, renters were left to question whether there was any plan at all.
Their answer arrived on August 3, 2021, when the Biden Administration issued another illegal eviction moratorium, just days after issuing a statement acknowledging “the Supreme Court has made clear” the option to extend the moratorium “is no longer available.” Predictably, the Supreme Court struck down the Biden Administration’s unconstitutional end-run around Congress, and renters remained no closer to receiving their share of $46 billion in relief that Congress initially appropriated in December 2020 on a bipartisan basis.
Perhaps the one bit of good news for renters came in the form of your commitment to invite Secretary Yellen “when the House returns to session following the August district work period . . . to testify on the implementation of this and all the essential relief programs . . . that are being administered by her Department.” In a related response to my request for Secretary Yellen to appear before the Subcommittee, you further stated, “[G]iven the role of the Department of the Treasury in administering several essential programs established by Congress to mitigate the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, I agree that the Select Subcommittee would be well served by a hearing with Secretary Yellen.”
Rather than schedule such a hearing, however, Subcommittee Democrats attempted to shift the blame to Republican governors by issuing a series of letters seeking data from Wyoming, Alabama, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Arkansas.
The partisan nature of your letters, which incorrectly stated “[t]he slow distribution of rental assistance funds by state governments can hardly be attributed to a lack of federal support,” was made clear by the fact that you ignored poor performing Democrat-led states, including the state that disbursed funds at a lower rate than any other: New York. In fact, in terms of disbursing the rental assistance funds appropriated by Congress in December 2020, New York and South Carolina lag behind all others, but you sent a soft-touch, non-public letter to your home state, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster on August 30, 2021. According to the Treasury Department’s most recent data, New York and South Carolina have disbursed 0.34 percent and 0.87 percent of their respective allocations, the lowest rates in the nation.
Your letters to Republican-led states also ignored the fact that decisions by state leaders throughout the pandemic led to divergent economic conditions and placed renters in very different circumstances, depending on where they live. In response to your letter to South Dakota, Governor Kristi Noem stated: Today, South Dakota has the strongest economy of any state in America. Our renters enjoy something even better than government hand-outs: a job. South Dakota’s unemployment rate is 2.9% . . . South Dakota was the only state in America never to order a single business to close. Because I respected my authority as governor and did not shut my state down, our renters are in a strong position to keep paying their bills and provide a good life for their families. If renters in other states are in need of government assistance, it’s because government overreach throughout the pandemic put them in such a position in the first place.
Governor McMaster of South Carolina is similarly positioned with low unemployment rates since he also refused to entirely shutter his state’s economy.
Secretary Yellen needs to explain the challenges the Biden Administration is facing in states like New York. As of July 31, 2021, only about $4.9 billion of the $46 billion that Congress allocated for rental assistance had reached renters in need, according to data released by the Department of Treasury in late August. House Democrats, however, continue attempting to coverup for these failures of the Biden Administration. Just last week, Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters refused to invite Secretary Yellen to a hearing on Treasury’s emergency rental assistance programs. This is just the latest in a series of attempts by the Democrat majority to shield Secretary Yellen from accountability for these mounting failures. Additionally, you have noticed a hearing this week to examine the nationwide poverty rate—Secretary Yellen’s testimony would certainly be relevant to that topic.
The stark reality is that the Treasury Department has disbursed less than 11% of the emergency rental assistance funds allocated by Congress. This shows an embarrassing lack of desire to deliver for the millions of families who are devastated by the Biden Administration’s failures. Meanwhile, an eight-month streak of crippling inflation, a weak jobs report, and a spike in COVID-19 cases due to the Biden Administration’s failure to confront these crises, all combined to cause consumer confidence to retreat to its lowest level since February 2021. In light of the foregoing, I respectfully remind you of your commitment to invite Secretary Yellen to appear before the Subcommittee to answer questions about the Biden Administration’s ongoing failure to help renters in need. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
# # # #
>>> In bizarre move, Pelosi blocks vote to stop military draft for women
Rep. Chip Roy issued the following statement Tuesday after the House Rules Committee failed to allow a vote on any amendment against drafting women in the National Defense Authorization Act:
House Leadership expects us to push a green or red button on a "must-pass" defense bill and now is actively blocking a vote on a simple amendment on whether or not this Republic should force our daughters to register for the draft. This is unacceptable and cowardly, and it is endemic of why this institution and this town are so rightfully hated.
I will always vote against any bill that permits the government to draft my daughter and I will not support any Republican who votes in favor of its final passage, regardless of excuse.
# # # #
>>> Biden tax scheme includes IRS giveaway to union bosses
President Biden’s $3.5 trillion spending plan has a lot in it that is supposedly for helping America. But everyone wants their piece in it. Now the Democrats are trying to use Biden’s spending plan to also benefit the unions. If this goes through, unions will be able to get a $250 tax reduction on their union dues.
In The Washington Times, they quote National Right to Work Committee Vice President Greg Mourad:
“This union dues tax deduction is a blatant handout to one of the Democrats’ biggest political backers, big labor, a group that’s already well-funded thanks to its unique power to collect dues from workers who would lose their jobs for refusing to pay,” said Greg Mourad, vice president of the National Right to Work Committee.
Mr. Mourad said the move was “nakedly political,” as evidenced by the fact the deduction only applies to full-fledged union members. Workers who are [must] pay union dues because of state and local laws but who are not actually members would not be eligible.
Greg Mourad, as quoted in The Washington Times
# # # #
>>> Leftists plot federal takeover of tech with bogus ‘antitrust’ claims
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust held a hearing Tuesday on the implications of data on competition. Subcommittee Chair Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) told POLITICO, “Big data is at the core of our modern economy, powering targeted advertising, driving artificial intelligence. It’s a really intense competition issue at its core.”
Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Ryan Young said:
“Sen. Klobuchar and her colleagues are arguing that the sheer scale of Big Data makes it difficult for smaller companies to compete in areas such as targeted advertising and algorithm development. There are several problems with this argument.
“One is that new companies are still entering the market and succeeding. TikTok is now garnering more viewing time than Google’s YouTube, and was the most-downloaded app of 2020, surpassing established giants such as Facebook. Zoom, which nobody had heard of two years ago, almost instantly overtook established competitors from Microsoft and other tech giants, and its brand has even become a verb.
“Two, simply having data and established networks of users did not stop Amazon from failing with its Fire phone, Google failing with its social Network Google+, or the anemic performance of Facebook’s Portal devices.
“Three, if the ad market was anti-competitive, the big companies would be able to get away with raising their prices. Instead, ad prices fell by half over the period 2009-2019, even as print ad prices doubled in some cases. Google, Facebook, Apple, and other incumbents spend billions of dollars on research and development. Companies that feel safe from competition do not do this.
“Sens. Klobuchar, Hawley, and others want to write new, expanded antitrust laws. All this would accomplish is give incumbent companies another set of regulations they can game in their own favor; regulatory capture is real. A greater threat of being sued would also have a chilling effect on innovations that regulators might not understand or approve of. The economy needs room to recover, not more central direction from Washington.”
# # # #
YOUR MONEY
>>> Crippling new Dem tax hikes hurt Americans while helping Communist China
U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding Democrats’ tax hikes:
“A senior House Democrat told us in March 2020 that COVID presented, ‘a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.’
“President Biden said last week that while ‘this pandemic has been godawful for so many reasons… it does present us with an opportunity.’
“The reckless taxing and spending spree that Washington Democrats are assembling behind closed doors would put more debt, more borrowing, and more inflation on the shoulders of American families. It would make Washington D.C. dramatically more involved in families’ childcare arrangements, their health coverage, their local energy utilities, and on and on.
“There are so many controversial changes being crammed into one mega-bill that it must be a deliberate strategy: Try to achieve everything the far left has wanted for 20 years in one fell swoop before the country has time to realize what hit it.
“Today I’ll focus on just one example: Tax hikes.
“A staggering, historic set of tax hikes.
“Tax hikes on small businesses. Tax hikes on family farms.
“Tax hikes on Americans that would shatter the pledge to spare people earning less than $400,000.
“Tax hikes that would pull even more Americans into the unfair double taxation of the death tax.
“Massive tax hikes on the U.S. economy that would give us one of the least competitive tax structures in the developed world. Even Communist China taxes their own businesses significantly less than President Biden and his allies want America to tax ours.
“Tax hike after tax hike after tax hike. A smothering wet blanket thrown onto an economy that is already struggling to fully recover because of the inflation and worker shortages that Democrats’ policies have already unleashed.
“When you add it all up, Democrats want to ram through one of the largest peacetime tax hikes on record, if not the single largest. Let me say that again. Behind closed doors, Washington Democrats are drafting what may very well be the largest peacetime tax hike that our country has ever recorded.
“But this isn’t to say that nobody gets a leg up. Somehow, mysteriously, many of Democrats’ favorite groups and special interests come out just fine. Isn’t that fascinating.
“For example, their legislation would allow ordinary Americans’ charitable deduction on top of the standard deduction to expire… but they’d replace it with a brand-new tax break of almost exactly the same dollar amount for the union dues that go to big labor.
“They are scrapping Americans’ extra deduction for donating to charity and replacing it with a special subsidy for union dues to Big Labor.
“You can’t make this up.
“Sorry, Red Cross… sorry, local churches and houses of worship… sorry, soup kitchens. Democrats think the Teamsters and the SEIU need money more than you do!
“And they aren’t the only group that Democrats favor who make out like bandits. Look at high income earners in coastal blue states.
“This bill that raises taxes on everything that moves somehow makes room for a special, gigantic tax cut for wealthy people who choose to live in high-tax states. More than half the benefit of the so-called SALT policy would go to the top 1 percent of households.
“There’s also a special tax break for people who choose to purchase expensive electric cars.
“Do you get the picture? Make U.S. industry less competitive than China in order to massively subsidize the coastal cosmopolitan lifestyle. That’s what Democrats want.
“This bill would also create a new national dragnet for ordinary Americans’ banking information.
“Community banks and credit unions would be hammered with new requirements to report to the feds whenever citizens make transactions in excess of $600.
“Big Brother wants to peer more into Americans’ bank accounts. Here’s how one local Kentucky lender described this concept to me: quote — a ‘flagrant violation of privacy and offense to liberty.’
“So -- huge tax hikes on Americans, expensive giveaways for coastal elites, and new government snooping into families’ finances.
“So Mr. President, that’s just one corner of this reckless taxing and spending spree that should never see the light of day.”
# # # #
>>> Communist China more business-friendly than the US under Biden tax rampage
Senator Sasse spoke on the Senate floor about President Biden's massive, reckless tax and spending spree.
Full transcript is available below.
I want to talk about some of these taxing and spending issues. But I want to make it clear that I'm not here to talk about this because I'm obsessed about the marginal tax rates for the top 1% of Americans – I’m not. It's not why I ran for office, but I am here today to talk about this because as a China hawk, I am obsessed with the fact that the American people, the American government, American technology companies and lots of companies that aren't today thought of as technology companies but will increasingly be technology companies operating in different vertices. I am obsessed with the fact that our firms and our people are going to need to be able to compete with the Chinese Communist Party.
The future of everything from technology, to trade, to global security and defense issues is going to go one of two ways. It's either going to be led by the Chinese Communist Party or it's going to be led by the United States and our allies and western values. The future of not just global economics but global security policy over the next three, and five, and seven, and ten years is going to be radically shaped by which direction we go. Failure isn’t an option. This next century is going to be defined either by oppression, censorship, and brutality - the sort of things that we're seeing in Xinjiang right now as the Uyghurs are brutally oppressed by the Chinese Communist Party - or we're going to see a world that's led by western values and beliefs in trade, and human rights, and open navigation of the seaways, and transparent contracts, and the rule of law.
That’s the proper context in which we should be considering this taxing and spending debate and it would be helpful for the American people if we would discuss President Biden’s tax and spending spree in the context of that global technology and diplomatic competition with the CCP. Because these dangerous policies in this $3.5 trillion - or whatever price tag it's going to end up at - this piece of omnibus legislation, it's going to hurt our ability to compete against Beijing.
Spending is out of control. The American people last November - just ten months ago - elected an evenly divided Senate and yet somehow progressives believe they have a mandate to radically remake America. You actually hear a lot of them use language about radically transforming American as if an American public that voted for a 50-50 Senate was voting for some sort of radical re-making of American policy as a newer, new, bigger, big New Deal.
They’ve spent trillions of dollars that we don’t have already this year and now they’re looking at add another $3.5 trillion to expand cradle-to-grave government propositions about how government should interfere and interact with the average American's life.
But, what is government? What a government is supposed to be is a compact for the common defense. The first and most fundamental principle the government exists to do is make sure that everyone is free from violence and chaos and tyranny so that they can organize their lives in local communities. That's the first thing government is supposed to be and yet we also believe that government has some social safety net responsibilities. Stated in a summary fashion, you might say the government is supposed to be the army and we also have some social safety net insurance programs attached to them.
It seems like, when you listen to Senator Sanders speak, he thinks of it exactly the opposite. The government is a giant insurance company that just happens to own a navy. And sometimes it sounds like he doesn't even really care if we own a navy, he just conceives of the government as a giant insurance program where everything is compulsory and government decides what programs people need to have and what services they want. The vast majority of the American people don't want that and they didn't vote for that and a 50-50 Senate shouldn't be trying to deliver that.
This year the President and my Democratic colleagues have increased spending in every area: social, environmental, and economic policy related. If there’s an opportunity to spend over the course of the last eight and a half months, they’ve taken it. A couple trillion here, a couple trillion there and pretty soon you're talking about real money.
Now it’s the time to pay the piper and my colleagues are talking about raising taxes. But this is not just any tax hike we're talking about - when you look at the corporate rate that we're looking at, we would be talking about the highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world - these are just the new taxes - and yet even that doesn't pay for all of the new spending. So, we're talking about new legislation that would radically raise taxes to the highest corporate tax rates in the industrial earth and yet still not pay for all of the new spending they're talking about. So, while deficits grow forever, opportunities shrink.
We have a member of the House of Representatives who in her super telegenic way figured out how to get attention last week by wearing a dress that said "tax the rich" on the back of it. What the dress should really read is "tax the young" because history tells us very clearly when you deficit spend at the level that they're talking about doing here, this is a tax of current, older, and wealthier people against younger people. That's how inflation works, that's how debt and deficit work. The dress should have read "tax the young."
These are tax hikes that make Communist China a much better business environment than the United States. Under the President’s plan, Americans would have a 32% combined rate compared to a much smaller Chinese tax rate. At their baseline, nominal level but it's important to recognize that the Chinese tax code currently incentivizes high-tech businesses with an even lower 15% rate, so we’re talking about north of a 30% rate against the Chinese Communist party trying to make sure they attract investment by taxing their investment and digital companies at a 15% rate. This is the definition of shooting yourself in the foot.
My friends on the other side of the aisle are a lot of smart folks, and they know that tax rates actually matter for international investment and for competitiveness. And one of the ways you know they know is because for months, as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been out seeking a global minimum tax arrangement, she is admitting the obvious truth that a new tax increase will saddle American companies with a burden that other companies across the globe don't have. The CCP is not going to bail us out as we would potentially raise taxes to the highest rates in the world by also raising their tax rates to bail out President Biden’s domestic agenda. Beijing looks at our endless debt, our entitlement crisis, and our tax hikes, at our disunity, and they see a strategic advantage.
These China-friendly tax hikes would raise the cost of doing business in America. These China-friendly tax hikes would drive innovation overseas. These China-friendly tax hikes would lead to more corporate inversions. These China-friendly tax hikes would hurt American R&D. If you want the 21st Century to be defined by global Chinese Communist Party leadership, you would tax and spend just like this legislation seeks to do.
Reckless spending doesn’t steward a great nation. Super tax hikes do not promote innovation. Competition with the Chinese Communist Party is the defining national-security issue of our time – whether my colleagues in this body want to admit it on a regular basis or not.
While the Chinese Communist Party plunders American intellectual property, steals American ingenuity, and pours investments into their state-run technologies, Washington is debating whether or not we should punish innovative firms and innovative Americans.
This isn’t strong. This isn’t smart. The American people know better.
# # # #
>>> Here’s how the $5 trillion Dem spending scheme exploits a temporary pandemic to plunge Americans into permanent socialism
U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding the Democrats’ reckless tax and spending spree:
“Over the past year and a half, senior Democratic leaders decided the upheaval and hardship of a once-in-a-century pandemic was really a chance to justify radical, left-wing change.
“This isn’t me conjecturing. It’s what they keep saying.
“Right at the start of the crisis, March 2020, the House Democratic Whip said the pandemic offered, ‘a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.’
“Just last week, President Biden said, ‘this pandemic has been godawful for so many reasons… but it does present us with an opportunity.’
“Points for honesty, at least.
“The reckless taxing and spending spree that Democrats are writing behind closed doors is designed to leave Americans with a socialist country they never voted for. A country that working families, in many ways, would barely recognize.
“Last night, one of those many efforts hit a stumbling block. Senate Democrats were reminded the rules of this institution will not permit them to shove a massive amnesty for illegal immigrants into the reckless taxing and spending spree they want to ram through on party lines.
“Our Democratic colleagues cannot pretend that massive, transformational policy changes are mere budgetary tweaks. As no less an authority than our colleague now-Chairman Bernie Sanders said just a few years ago, ‘the function of reconciliation is to adjust federal spending and revenue, not to enact major changes in social policy.’
“That’s a lesson he and his caucus need to re-learn.
“Even with the border as insecure as it’s ever been, the far left wanted sweeping amnesty — and Democratic leaders dutifully tried their best. It just goes to show how radical this legislation is going to be.
“Democrats want to tamper with Americans’ Medicare and stretch the program even thinner — while it already faces fiscal challenges.
“They want to interfere massively with the states that chose not to bow to Obamacare mandates on Medicaid.
“They want to use healthcare dollars to line the pockets of special interests with big union giveaways.
“And they want to impose socialist price controls on Americans’ medicines that would leave us with fewer new treatments and new cures in the future.
“It all adds up to a massive leap towards socialized medicine.
“But somehow this still only scratches the surface.
“Democrats are also trying to force through an unprecedented federal takeover of American families’ childcare options that may leave faith-based childcare providers high and dry.
“They want an all-out assault on affordable, reliable, homegrown American energy — so the entire country can be marched toward California utility prices, California gas prices, and California electricity blackouts. Just what families want.
“I could go on all day. The reckless taxing and spending spree that Democrats are writing behind closed doors is shaping up to be exactly what they promised:
“An effort to exploit this terrible but temporary pandemic as a Trojan horse for permanent socialism.”
# # # #
>>> Pelosi threatens government shutdown unless she gets massive debt limit hike
House Budget Committee Ranking Member Jason Smith delivered the following floor remarks on Democrats’ planned debt limit increase:
Madame Speaker,
For months, Democrats have been pursuing a radical partisan agenda that will pile on trillions more in debt – and they want Republicans to basically help them get the loan.
They are pushing the most expensive piece of legislation in our nation’s history alongside historic tax increases. And yet Democrats are demanding we hold the door for them as they ram through that partisan agenda which is all about giving Washington more power.
The debt limit is a chance for Congress to address government spending, something we have done since 1985.
Sadly, today, the Democrat majority is playing chicken with a government shutdown by tying the debt ceiling to a CR so they can enact their multi-trillion-dollar partisan tax and spending spree – which currently clocks in at $4.3 trillion – no matter the harm it will do; no matter how it will fuel more inflation that is crippling family budgets.
Budget Republicans sent a letter to Congressional leaders back in July outlining over half a dozen approaches Congress has taken in the past to address government spending with a debt limit increase.
But they have ignored our suggestions, because the fact of the matter is my colleagues have one goal in mind – an agenda of more spending, more debt, and more taxes.
Democrats control the White House, the Senate, and the House. If they want to spend trillions and raise taxes, they have the votes to raise the debt limit.
But Republicans will not co-sign a loan for the Democrats’ reckless agenda that harms working families, fuels more record inflation, and rewards their political allies and donors.
# # # #
COVID NEWS
>>> House GOP demands Biden reveal hidden names of officials who oversaw gain of function virus program
House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) and Committee on the Judiciary Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra requesting the names of all individuals serving on the review committee overseeing the Potential Pandemic Pathogen Care and Oversight Framework (P3CO). The P3CO makes the final determination on if gain-of-function grants are approved with taxpayer funding.
“At a July 29, 2021 briefing, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and President Joseph Biden’s Chief Medical Advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he would share the names of those people that serve on the review committee overseeing the Potential Pandemic Pathogen Care and Oversight Framework; this has yet to occur. Similarly, according to recent reporting, Director of the National Institutes of Health Dr. Francis Collins said he is willing to disclose the names of the review committee because that is “the kind of transparency that the public expects,” wrote the lawmakers. “We—Republicans in Congress—also expect this level of transparency. Additionally, we expect government officials to keep their word.”
To increase transparency and accountability, the lawmakers are requesting HHS provide the names, titles, and agency affiliations of all those on the review committee.
# # # #
JUSTICE
>>> Court to hear lawsuit challenging California gender quota for company boards
Judicial Watch announced a hearing was scheduled in the California Superior Court regarding its case challenging California’s gender quotas for corporate boards. Arguments will be heard by Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis.
Judicial Watch filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on August 6, 2019, on behalf of three California taxpayers, Robin Crest, Earl De Vries and Judy De Vries. The 2018 law, known as Senate Bill 826 (SB 826), requires every publicly held corporation headquartered in California to have at least one director “who self-identifies her gender as a woman” on its board of directors by December 31, 2019. The law also requires corporations to have up to three such persons on their boards by December 31, 2021, depending on the size of the board (Robin Crest et al. v. Alex Padilla (No.19STCV27561)).
The lawsuit alleges that the quota violates the Equal Protection Clause of the California Constitution, among other provisions, and asks the court to order that no taxpayer funds be spent on the illegal provision. Both sides have asked the court to enter judgment in their favor. Tuesday’s hearing will address both requests.
In July 2020, the court cleared the way for the lawsuit to proceed, holding that Judicial Watch’s clients had standing under state law to sue.
Judicial Watch argues in its court filings:
SB 826 requires that subject corporations set aside a certain number of board seats for women or create new seats for which only women may apply…. SB 826 imposes the additional requirement that one or more seats be set aside or created for women. The only criterion for occupying these seats is being female. Men are excluded from the seats no matter how well-qualified they might be …
Judicial Watch includes expert analysis from Jonathan Klick, Ph.D., J.D., an expert in econometrics, statistics, and corporate law, who concludes:
In my opinion, the evidence offered in [the] declarations supporting Secretary Padilla’s motion for each of these points (underrepresentation of women on boards, discrimination as the cause of this underrepresentation, and that research shows a differential benefit of appointing women, as opposed to men, in terms of firm performance) is deficient and unreliable.
“California politicians want to use SB826 to upend decades of settled constitutional law that prohibits discrimination based on sex,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “We hope this lawsuit vindicates the rule of law and the commonsense principle that the way to end any discrimination based on sex is to stop discriminating on the basis of the sex.”
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>>> Food truck owner sues over North Carolina town’s ridiculously expensive permitting scheme
Mark Shirley, the owner of a Farmville-based BBQ food truck, Ole Time Smokehouse, filed a lawsuit to challenge protectionist permitting regulations that deprive him of his livelihood.
In April, Farmville’s Board of Commissioners raised food truck permit fees from $100 per year to $75 per day. Cities and towns may assess regulatory fees to cover the cost of regulation. But Farmville’s permit fee far exceeds the town’s regulatory costs and would cost Shirley $7,800 annually to operate twice a week, a 7,700% increase from last year.
The board also increased the distance food trucks must keep from restaurants, from 100 feet from a restaurant’s entrance to 100 feet from the property line, unless the competing restaurant grants written permission. The new restrictions put the private downtown parking space Shirley leased for the past two years too close to a nearby restaurant to operate without his competitor’s permission.
With these new fees and regulations, Shirley was forced to move his business out of Farmville.
“Especially at a time when so many small businesses are fighting to survive, the government shouldn’t create new barriers for entrepreneurs,” said Jessica Thompson, a Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) attorney representing Shirley. “Economic liberty protects individuals’ opportunity to improve their lives and provides customers with more choices.”
PLF represents Mark Shirley free of charge. The case, Mark Shirley and Ole Time Smokehouse v. Town of Farmville et al., was filed in Pitt County Superior Court.
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OFF TO THE RACES
>>> Hassan dodges questions about $5 trillion spending scheme with this response
If anything, Maggie Hassan is consistent… consistently irrelevant. While Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema work are balking at the $3.5 trillion (actually $5 trillion) tax-and-spending spree written by Senator Bernie Sanders, New Hampshire’s junior Senator is hiding, afraid of her own shadow.
Last week, Hassan ran away from questions in the Senate hallways regarding her position on the bill. Yesterday, when asked if she agreed with Sen. Manchin about hitting pause on efforts to pass such sweeping legislation, Hassan provided this classic non-answer:
“People are talking to me about a number of really important priorities that are critical to the overall economy. So that’s what our focus should be.”
Translation: I have no opinion until Senators Manchin and Sinema make the coast clear.
Granite Staters know these types of answers aren’t new from Sen. Hassan. She is a master at not taking positions on hard issues and providing the press with word salad non-answers. Now, as the Senate debates one of the most consequential bills in recent history, Hassan’s irrelevance has hit an all-time high.
Statement from Spokesman T.W. Arrighi: “Maggie Hassan’s fake ‘independent’ label is turning into a parody of her time as a U.S. Senator. Her consistent refusal to engage on pressing issues facing our country and New Hampshire displays a complacency that is inconsistent with the values of her state. She may be content with running from the press and being a Senator of little consequence, but her constituents are not. It may be why her polling is so historically bad.”
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>>> Over 100 leaders of Virginia Hispanic and Latino community endorse Youngkin
Political outsider, successful business leader, and Republican nominee for governor Glenn Youngkin announced the support of over one hundred members of Virginia’s Hispanic and Latino community, nearly double the number of endorsements from Terry McAuliffe’s campaign.
“Hispanic and Latino Virginians recognize that I am the only candidate in this race that will get to work on Day One in order to make Virginia the best place to live, work, and raise a family for all Virginians, and I am honored to have their support.” said Glenn Youngkin. “Terry McAuliffe’s policies have raised the cost of living, lowered education standards, and made our communities less safe. We must pave a new path forward for Virginians.”
“Since Glenn announced his campaign in January, he has been actively reaching out to minority communities,” said Gaby Rengifo, Founder of the Hampton Roads Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and small business leader. “I am proud to endorse Glenn Youngkin for Governor because he is uniting everyone with his positive agenda that will make Virginia the best place in America to live, work, and raise a family.”
Failed leadership by liberal, one-party control in Richmond has made Virginia’s economy one of the worst in the nation to start a business and Virginia’s job recovery post-pandemic is ranked 44th in the Nation. At the same time, the cost of living continues to rise, Virginia’s cities are among the most dangerous in the country, and our education standards have gone down. In fact, the tragic reality is that 62.2% of Virginia students are failing to meet proficiency standards on 8th grade math, including 70% of Latino students. These issues have a unique impact on Virginia’s Hispanic and Latino community, and Glenn Youngkin has released a plan that will fully address them by:
Eliminating the grocery tax & suspending the recent gas tax hike for 12 months #NoGroceryTax;
Fully funding law enforcement and protecting qualified immunity for our Law Enforcement Heroes;
Keeping Virginia’s economy open & launching #JumpStartJobs to develop talent, train workers, attract investment, and make Virginia the easiest state to start a business; and
Keeping schools open five days a week, rebuilding crumbling schools, raising teacher pay, investing in special education programs, and increasing school choice by creating at least 20 new Innovation Charter Schools across the K-12 Spectrum.
The endorsements—from business owners, faith leaders, and retired military service members—come after Youngkin has hosted or attended numerous Hispanic- or Latino- focused events, including:
The debut Latinos for Youngkin event, a June 18th roundtable in Northern Virginia with local small business leaders to discuss key issues for the Latino community such as: good-paying jobs, education, and the need to support our law enforcement officers;
An event to meet with Latino supporters in Virginia Beach;
Participation in a service at Iglesia Mana del Cielo in Sterling;
Meeting with Bolivian-American business leaders in Fairfax;
Meeting with the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Richmond; and
Speaking at the 16th Annual Caribfest Festival in Norfolk.
Meanwhile, the Latinos for Youngkin coalition has had table presence at Salvadoran festivals in both Woodbridge and Manassas while also engaging in voter contact events in McLean and Prince William County.
On September 15th, in Woodbridge, Youngkin visited with Carlos Castro at his grocery store, Todos Supermarket,to discuss his Day One Game Plan. On September 18th, in Woodbridge, Youngkin hosted a meet and greet with supporters in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. The Latinos for Youngkin coalition also attended the 2021 Latino Festival in Warrenton.
Over 100 members of the Latino and Hispanic community endorse Glenn Youngkin:
Isabel Alva De Leon, N. Chesterfield
Rachael Alvarado, Fauquier
Pastor Jose Andres Ruiz, Warrenton
Francisco Ascencio, Fairfax
Pastor Jonathan Avendano, Loudoun
Fred Avila, Loudoun
Juanita Balenger, Fairfax
Ximena Barreto, Arlington
Stephanie Belaoula, Fairfax
Lisa Braham, Leesburg
Nickolous Cabrera, Richmond
Monica Carpio, Fairfax
Joel Casanova, Virginia Beach
Josue Casanova, Virginia Beach
Honorable Jo-Ann Chase, Loudoun
Dina Contreras, Chesterfield
Roberto Coquis, Falls Church
Hugo Correa, Fairfax
Honorable Daniel Cortez, Stafford
Pastor Jose Cossio, Prince William
Marjory Coyer, Loudoun
Yvette Daniel, Richmond
Omar Daniel, Richmond
Retired U.S. Army Colonel Sergio de la Pena, Fairfax
Diego de La Pena, Fairfax
Elfego Del Rio, Virginia Beach
Matra Delacre, Fairfax
Obed Diaz, Arlington
Elsa Dixon, Rappahannock
Marcia Donovan, Fairfax
Matthew Ellsworth, Fairfax
Roberto Enriquez, Henrico
Irene Escamilla Hagerty, Stafford
Ursula Escoto, Arlington
Will Estrada, Lovettsville
Diego Feliciano, Fairfax
Marcia Finkel, Fairfax
Willard Finkel, Fairfax
Pastor Walter Flores, Loudoun
Ransom Fox, Fairfax
Maria Fruchterman, Fairfax
Astrid Gamez, Fairfax
Laura Gantt, McLean
Philip Garcia Chichester, Stafford
Christine Gomez, Fairfax
Al Guerra, Yorktown
Janice Guerra, Yorktown
John Guevara, Fairfax
Doug Gutierrez, Mechanicsville
Yenny Gutierrez, Mechanicsville
Andrea Hernandez, Fairfax
Hugo Hernandez, Prince William
Juan Hernandez, Fairfax
Pastor Juan Hernandez, Prince William
Honorable Saul Hernandez, Washington
Patti Hidalgo Menders, Loudoun
Honorable Grace Hughes, Rappahannock
Sandro Ibanez, Fairfax
Emilio Lau, Lynchburg
Mario Leon, Henrico
Ismael Leon, N. Chesterfield
Patricia Long, Fairfax
Pastor Elvin Lopez, Norfolk
Juan Carlos (JC) Lopez, Fairfax
Nora Lopez, Fairfax
Cynthia Love-Vazquez, Reston
Retired U.S. Navy Captain Ben Loyola, Virginia Beach
Jorge Lozano, Fairfax
Marisol Madrid, Prince William
Gloria Marrero Chambers, Fairfax
Former Virginia Secretary of Transportation, Honorable Robert Martinez, Norfolk
Martin Martinez, Prince William
Richard Mereu, Alexandria
Ana Metzger, Midlothian
Iris Miranda, Fairfax
Chelvy Nolasco, N. Chesterfield
Hector Olivo, Harrisonburg
Pastor Joel Ovando, Alexandria
Richard Panita, Loudoun
Jarely Parada, Alexandria
Joe Parada, Prince William
Enoc Parada, Prince William
Genaro Pedroarias, Fairfax
Michael Perez, Fairfax
Carmen Perry, Fairfax
Graciela Ines Pezo, Fairfax
Mitzyn Pierce, Fairfax
Judy Pino, Falls Church
Aida Raygada Mereu, Alexandria
Gaby Rengifo, Yorktown
Rolly Rigual, Loudoun
Marta Rollins, Virginia Beach
Zoila Rubio, N. Chesterfield
Fidel Rubio, N. Chesterfield
Jaime Sanches, Fairfax
Sarah Sanchez, Henrico
Mercedes Schlapp, Alexandria
Pablo Sejas, Fairfax
Francisco Semiao, Falls Church
Camille Solberg, Loudoun
Claudia Stine, Fairfax
Mauricio Tamargo, Fairfax
Yusuf Tejada, Virginia Beach
Olga Thomas, Alexandria
Dolly Torres, Virginia Beach
Madeline Torres, Stuart
Fernando Torrez, Alexandria
Justin Valez-Hagan, Fairfax
Angela Vargas, Fairfax
Honorable Yesli Vega, Prince William
Nelson Velez, Chesapeake
Earlie Washington, Alexandria
Leilani Washington, Alexandria
Carmen Williams, Chesterfield
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