Call to Action – Defeat $4.5 Trillion Spending Bill, Election Grab
This week Jim Carafano, Vice President of The Heritage Foundation’s Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy shared insights on the situation in Afghanistan. Matt Dickerson, Director of The Heritage Foundation’s Center for the Federal Budget also joined us to share about the budget votes this week in the House. It’s a call you won’t want to miss.
Afghanistan
After a weeklong blitz that saw city after city capitulate to the Taliban, Afghanistan’s capital city, Kabul, fell to the Taliban in fewer than 72 hours. President Biden has three crises that he will have to confront.
#1 The Evacuation of Afghanistan: Biden isn’t accurate when he said the collapse of Afghanistan was inevitable. Even if he was right, a fighting withdrawal could not have been any less catastrophic. Now, the U.S. faces evacuating Americans, other Westerners, and Afghans who fought alongside our troops. The only option is through the Kabul airport, which has one airstrip, and access is controlled by the Taliban. Even if the Taliban permit people, there are tens of thousands of people who need to be evacuated. Biden has to focus right now on getting people out. It will be a dangerous and perilous activity for the foreseeable future.
#2 Transnational Terrorism: There is every expectation that Afghanistan will again become a sanctuary for terrorists. The Taliban controls more territory, more weapons, and more money than it did on 9/11. Second, the American humiliation is the greatest recruiting ad the Islamists could ask for. In the near future, the U.S. could see a resurgent global terrorist threat, especially considering the security vulnerability of a wide-open southern U.S. border. Biden will need to take immediate steps to deal with this challenge or we will face terrorist threats similar to 9/11.
#3 China: The Chinese will have no problem partnering with the Taliban. Many in the West will exacerbate this by wanting to “normalize” the Taliban, and attempting to mitigate our failure by claiming perhaps the Taliban won’t be so brutal. In reality, China will use Afghanistan to build a land-bridge to Iran. Further, China will access Afghanistan’s massive mineral wealth, particularly rare earth minerals. If Biden doesn’t rise to this challenge, China will outflank India and exert more control over all of South Asia. Biden just made protecting U.S. interests a great deal harder.
Americans don’t like to be lied to, don’t like to be humiliated, and don’t want another 9/11. President Biden must deal with the problem forcefully, or this geostrategic catastrophe will plague the rest of his term.
>> Read and share Jim Carafano’s full Afghanistan analysis
Infrastructure Rule Vote
Speaker Pelosi is continuing her efforts to tie the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal, and the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill together. This debate is still winnable in the House for conservatives. Some so-called moderate Democrats want to vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill first, and are reluctant to vote for the $3.5 reconciliation bill. Left-wing members want to pass the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill that contains their priorities. Speaker Pelosi cannot pass both bills unless all Democrats are on board, and support.
While publicly, there are nine moderate House Democrats opposing the budget until a vote is held on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, we know from sources on Capitol Hill there are even more who are privately leaning no, and others are undecided. On Monday night, Speaker Pelosi did not have enough votes to pass a rule, which sets the parameters for bringing a bill to the floor for a vote. Monday’s proposed rule would provide for debate on the $1 trillion bipartisan bill and “deem and pass” the budget resolution. To deem a budget means a vote for the rule automatically passes the budget resolution without a separate vote. We must keep up the pressure — pass this along to all of your friends and family, especially to those in the states, below.
Sentinels who are represented by moderate House Democrats should remind them that they should oppose the budget, and reconciliation bill. These representatives especially need to hear from constituents:
- Rep. Tom O’Halleran (AZ-01)
- Rep. Josh Harder (CA-10)
- Rep. Jim Costa (CA-16)
- Rep. Ed Perlmutter (CO-07)
- Rep. Stephanie Murphy (FL-07)
- Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux (GA-07)
- Rep. Ed Case (HI-01)
- Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03)
- Rep. Lauren Underwood (IL-14)
- Rep. Sharice Davids (KS-03)
- Rep. Jared Golden (ME-02)
- Rep. Elissa Slotkin (MI-08)
- Rep. Haley Stevens (MI-11)
- Rep. Chris Pappas (NH-01)
- Rep. Andy Kim (NJ-03)
- Rep. Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05)
- Rep. Frank Pallone (NJ-06)
- Rep. Tom Malinowski (NJ-07)
- Rep. Susie Lee (NV-03)
- Rep. Antonio Delgado (NY-19)
- Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR-04)
- Rep. Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
- Rep. Susan Wild (PA-07)
- Rep. Matt Cartwright (PA-08)
- Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07)
- Rep. Vincente Gonzalez (TX-15)
- Rep. Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
- Rep. Filemon Vela (TX-34)
- Rep. Elaine Luria (VA-02)
- Rep. Abigail Spanberger (VA-07)
- Rep. Kim Schrier (WA-08)
>> TAKE ACTION: Call your representative and urge them to oppose the $3.5 trillion budget and reconciliation bill and the healthcare taxes Democrats want to add to it.
H.R. 4 – The Pelosi Power Grab
This week, the House is expected to vote on H.R. 4. This bill would give liberal activists the ability to use the power of the federal government to overturn voter ID laws and prevent states from ensuring the integrity of their own elections.
Coverage formulas were originally included in Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, and the formula determined which states were required to “preclear” and receive pre-approval from the federal government in order to make any changes to their voting laws. H.R. 4 would reimpose preclearance based on a new coverage formula even more troublesome than the original.
H.R. 4 would require a state to seek preclearance from the Justice Department if the agency determines that 15 “voting rights violations” occurred by local jurisdictions or that 10 “voting rights violations” occurred by state government during the “previous 25 calendar years.” The purported violations would include reasonable things such as voter ID laws. It would also count lawsuits filed creating all kinds of opportunities for Left-wing activist lawyers.
Heritage Action has issued a key vote NO on John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4), and will include on our scorecard.
>> TAKE ACTION: Urge your House member to vote NO on H.R. 4, The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021.
