Example of a Weekly Email
Debt Ceiling Showdown Update:
Sensing a potential hint of McCarthy trying to slide back expectations on what the deal might look like to raise the debt ceiling, Russ Vought, Chip Roy, and the House Freedom Caucus all weighed in to reinforce the position that the current deal that passed the House must remain intact. Rep. Roy was right to point outthat with the looming debt ceiling “deadline” of June 1st, President Biden is in Japan, and the Senate isn’t in town.
The deadline is fake, of course, because the Treasury can prioritize interest payments well beyond June 1st.
The House passed an aggressive deal in exchange for increasing the debt limit, which is slated to save more than $4.8 trillion dollars over the next 10 years. For more information on the parameters of the deal, see our primer here.
In short, the deal consists of the following:
- A comprehensive top-line FY22 cap for FY24 spending that limits growth to 1 percent annually and results in $131 billion cuts in FY24 and $3.6 trillion over ten years.
- Clawback unspent COVID money to save roughly $70 billion in FY24.
- Repeal Biden’s unconstitutional student loan debt cancellations to save $550 billion in FY24.
- Enact work requirements for major welfare programs like food stamps and Medicaid to save $135 billion over ten years.
- Enact the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act to curtail the Biden administration’s destructive regulatory agenda on the working and middle class.
- Enact HR 1 to ramp up domestic energy production.
- Clawback IRS expansion.
- Repeal the Green New Deal in the laughably-titled Inflation “Reduction” Act (IRA) to save well over $270 billion over ten years.
- A $1.5 trillion increase to the debt limit that would last roughly one year to March 2024.
Due to the power-sharing arrangement of the House, agreed to in the Speaker deal back in January, conservatives are well positioned to hold the line and force Biden to agree to terms and signal to Senate Democrats to play ball. While we still need to see what the final deal looks like, this initial step puts conservatives in a very good spot during negotiations, AND this will bleed into the appropriations process later this summer and fall, where conservatives will have more opportunities to score policy and spending wins by targeting woke and weaponized government bureaucracy that is destroying America.
As you see arguments against the debt ceiling deal that just passed the House, please feel free to send them our way. For example, many on the left, including the White House and the Veterans Affairs (VA), are making the claim that the debt limit deal is going to cut VA funding by 22% (~$30 billion). This is absurdly false. Plainly put, the WH and the VA are lying to the American people. The debt limit deal puts in place an OVERALL FY22 cap on spending, which is to say that funding levels for 2024 for discretionary spending (not mandatory programs like Social Security) will be set at 2022 levels. The left is dishonestly claiming that this means all discretionary agencies and programs will be at FY22 levels. That is not true. Some agencies and programs will be set at pre-COVID spending levels (2019), while the VA will receive a funding increase and be at full FY24 levels. The WH and the VA know this because they have our funding tables and they themselves admit that the GOP are using our budget framework as their guide. Simply put again, the WH and the VA are intentionally lying to the American people and veterans to score political points. They should be called out for their lies.
The Entire Season 5 Of The Podcast Exposed: Border Invasion Is Out!:
Wade Miller worked with Texas Scorecard to create Season 5 of the podcast Exposed. Season 5 is about the ongoing border invasion.
Links to ads for Season 5 can be seen here, here, here, and here. Please share these widely to help bring attention to the need for Texas to take action to secure the border!
The following are links to Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5
Wade Miller will also be featured heavily in a documentary about the border invasion, as will our Senior Fellow Ken Cuccinelli. We will share promotional materials for the documentary when available.
Paige Agostin Testifies Before The House Budget Committee On Woke & Weaponized Federal Spending:
See Paige’s full opening testimony highlighting the problem of wokeness and weaponization in the federal bureaucracy. It’s a peak in the door of what is happening, and of course, our budget materials highlight many more specifics.
Steve Friend Testifies Before The House Judiciary Committee Weaponization Subcommittee About FBI Abuse Of Power:
Steve Friend is a former FBI agent who was targeted for removal from the FBI for providing whistleblower testimony to Congress on FBI abuses of power. Though it is illegal for the FBI to punish whistleblowers, they did so anyways. See his full testimony here. Steve outlines how the FBI retaliated against him, which is forbidden by law. In questioning from the committee, Steve explains how the FBI took him off of investigating important child pornography cases to have him investigate parents who attend school board meetings, including walking through parking lots and writing down license plates.
This is a good recap by UncoverDC about what was covered in the Weaponization Committee hearing. Our own Jeff Clark also did media summarizing the topics of the hearing. “The FBI has clearly become politicized and weaponized against people who are disfavored by the Establishment.” – Jeff Clark
Another FBI whistleblower provided heartbreaking testimony about how he was transferred across the country only to be suspended on his first day. The FBI’s actions forced his family to beg and borrow warm coats for their children because the family’s belongings were locked in an FBI-controlled storage facility.
We have called for every FBI agent responsible for carrying out these retaliatory actions to be held accountable and for Congress to use the Holman rule during the appropriations process to specifically fire each one of them.
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan Sabotages Texas Border Security Bills:
After making important border legislation (HB20) a Speaker priority, he used procedural tactics to sabotage and kill the bill. We have asked the Texas Senate to fix the problem, but barring significant action by the Texas Senate, no serious border security legislation will move forward. This leaves it to Gov. Abbott to act. Though it would have been nice if HB20 had passed, it’s not necessary for Gov. Abbott to invoke the powers and authorities he needs to properly secure the border with assets of the state of Texas only.
If Gov. Abbott will do it, then all Governors should send help, but not before Gov. Abbott assures everyone that those people and resources sent won’t be wasted.
Senator Tuberville Continues To Oppose Senior Military Promotions Over DOD Policy That Provides Tax-Payer Funds To Facilitate Abortion Procedures:
Wade Miller and our Vice President Dan Caldwell signed onto a coalition letter with over 3,000 veterans signaling our support of Senator Tuberville’s blockade of senior military promotions.
How To Frame The New Way Of Looking At Spending Fights:
On the call, we said we would include the introduction to the Woke and Weaponized Budget we produced because it explains the framing of how conservatives should talk about spending fights at this point in our history. It requires letting go some of the older narratives that conservatives are used to, but this paradigm shift is important to both understand and adapt if we want to win these battles with the woke left in the coming years. We need your help to make sure your elected officials grasp this point.
The introduction to the Woke and Weaponized Budget can be read here.
ATF Director Won’t Answer Questions About The New ATF Rule That Infringes On The 2nd Amendment:
The ATF introduced a rule that would classify pistols with stabilizing braces (usually in the form of a strap that wraps around the forearm) as short-barreled rifles. Doing so would require Americans to register their covered firearms with the federal government. Failure to do so would be a felony with a punishment of up to 10 years in prison. Rep. Thomas Massie drilled the ATF Director, pointing out that the ATF Director is acting contrary to the law.
Chopping Down The World Health Organization:
As the Biden admin and the World Health Organization (WHO) continue to collude together to de facto assert control over the healthcare decisions of Americans and suppress rights, we support aggressive legislation to shut down WHO influence on Americans. Read our primer here and our model legislation to start moving in that direction.
Tennessee Red Flag Laws:
It is likely that the Governor of TN will call for a special session to pass red flag laws for guns. Generally speaking, Red Flag Laws are laws that permit a state court, or otherwise, to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person. The deprivation of rights before an individual has had the ability to be afforded due process is unconstitutional. Until a court has fully determined that a crime has occurred, after the person has had the ability to face his/her accusers, see the evidence, argue a case, and have a jury render a verdict, then infringing on rights should never be allowed. Unless there is enough evidence to arrest or commit a person to an institution, the government shouldn’t have the ability to otherwise restrict rights. We stand with the Tennessee House Republican Caucus in opposing any bill promoted by the Governor of TN that would advance Red Flag Laws.
Efforts To Oppose The 2A:
We will be paying close attention to any effort to infringe on the 2A rights of Americans. Gun Owners of America has a good paper on how to better protect students in schools without infringing on the rights of law-abiding Americans.
Woke: Key Definitions & Concepts:
As the approach to federal budgeting continues to focus on woke and weaponized government, it is increasingly important that elected officials, staff, and activists define what these concepts mean using our language, not the language of the left, which redefines terms to their liking. Our new 2-pager focuses on this problem. Please check it out and internalize the concise meanings and be ready to answer the question…. “what is woke”? We will be following up with a longer version of this that provides more context and explains how the left defines these terms.
Woke: Key Definitions & Concepts – A Deeper Dive:
This is very much the same as the above document, but a deeper dive.
Our FY23 Budget to Fight Woke & Weaponized Government Out!!!:
As a reminder, below is a summary of a Twitter thread introducing the purpose of the budget we released that conservatives are now using as a blueprint for developing federal budgets and appropriations bills throughout this summer and into next fall:
“The release of Center for Renewing America’s Budget is meant to shift 3 paradigms as we approach upcoming budget fights. Whether a New Right activist or an old-time fiscal hawk, let us convince you with a preview of the introduction.
#1. The main priority of this first Budget from the Center for Renewing America is to consciously and indelibly link the efforts of getting our nation’s finances in order with removing the scourge of woke and weaponized bureaucracy aimed at the American people.
#2. The second priority of this Budget is to end this charade [over entitlements] and to focus the debate on the spending that is the easiest to cut practically and morally because it is funding the bureaucracies arrayed against the public.
#3. Budgeting is too often an exercise in accounting and austerity…This Budget is an effort to separate the spending the nation desperately needs…from spending that is not just simply unaffordable but ruining communities and funding organizations that hate the country.” -Russ Vought
Main Page For Budget Materials:
- Introduction to the Center for Renewing America FY2023 Budget
- Woke Weaponized Examples of Cuts
- FY2023 Budget Summary
- Full Budget: A Commitment to End Woke and Weaponized Government
- Defining “Woke” in the context of the Federal Budget and Appropriations Process
Over time, it is imperative that members of Congress think of spending and talk about spending in this way.
Additional Budget Materials:
