Republicans are sending us home yet again without passing a budget or a single bill that will make a difference in the lives of Americans. You deserve so much better than what the House Republican leadership is delivering, West Michigan. I promise you that I am doing my level best to let common sense prevail in all we do. That means that I will always look to compromise without compromising my values; so that you can have an efficient and effective government working for YOU. I’ll be ready to get back at it next week! Here’s a look at the week in review, and what we’re facing next week. 

The Big Bill on the House Floor this week was the Republican’s funding proposal that they attempted to bring to the floor last week, but then pulled at the last minute. I wrote pretty extensively about this last week, so I won’t rehash it, but you can revisit those comments here. In short, it’s a temporary funding proposal that also includes a policy rider that has nothing to do with the budget. In this case, it was a radical voter suppression bill called the SAVE Act. Republicans falsely claim that the bill “makes it illegal for illegal aliens to vote.” It is already illegal to vote in federal elections if you’re not a U.S. citizen. What the bill DOES do, however, is impose extraneous burdens on groups like seniors and our veterans to show additional documentation in order to exercise their constitutional right to vote. Especially this close to an election, it’s clear that House Republicans are trying to suppress the vote of key groups of people they have disenfranchised this Congress. It’s shameful. The bill was so bad, and the spending proposal in such bad faith, that not even the full Republican Conference voted for it. The bill failed with 214 Nays to 209 Yays. 

Here are some bills...

As Americans wait desperately to see whether we can avoid a government shutdown, House Republicans wasted another week without giving us a reasonable budget proposal (reminder: we already negotiated and compromised on a solution to this last November when we passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), and now Republicans are choosing not to adhere to it). If they had wanted to, they could have put a clean budget bill on the floor in line with the FRA, and taken away anxiety about the next few months. They could have, but they did not. Instead, they chose to fight culture wars and put up messaging bills to promote their “Anti-Woke” week. If you think I’m exaggerating, check this out:

Also brought in the "anti-woke" agenda was another truly poorly thought-out proposal–one to roll back recent EPA regulations on tailpipe emissions. The rule, set by the EPA back in March was one of the most thoroughly researched and commented on administration rules. The impact on public health, healthcare savings, and the environment cannot be overstated:

Annually, the net benefits to society for the light- and medium-duty final rule are estimated to be $99 billion. The final rule is expected to avoid 7.2 billion tons of CO2 emissions through 2055, roughly equal to four times the emissions of the entire transportation sector in 2021. It will also reduce fine particulate matter and ozone, preventing up to 2,500 premature deaths in 2055 as well as reducing heart attacks, respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, aggravated asthma, and decreased lung function.

Importantly, this rule is not a mandate for electric vehicles. It simply sets emissions and efficiency standards that automakers must meet to comply to keep our air clean enough for kids and other vulnerable members of our community to breathe. The transportation sector is the number one contributor to carbon pollution every year. You know I have not been afraid to vote in the past to repeal unreasonable rules of this administration. I’m loyal to West Michigan, not a party. I was proud to stand strong for West Michiganders, especially the most vulnerable among us. I was proud to stand for our automakers and autoworkers who are begging us to keep American auto manufacturing relevant and keep China from eating our lunch in the race to the future. And I was dang proud to stand up against this Republican bill that was nothing more than a bent knee to big polluters, at the expense of West Michiganders’ health and economic security.