New Republican-controlled US Congress passes massive package of right-wing legislation

After Kevin McCarthy was elected as the new Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans promoted a series of straightforward Trumpist agenda legislation.

Just one week after the composition of the new Congress and the inauguration of Republican Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Members voted and passed in a record time several laws promoting the right-wing agenda of former President Donald Trump.

Most of these bills were part of McCarthy’s negotiations with the bloc of 20 more right-wing Republican members of Congress refusing to support the California congressman’s presidency without guaranteeing that the Trumpist agenda would be respected.

One of the first bills passed by the new Congress repealed a law recently passed by Democrats last year when they held the majority. The bill, which bore Biden’s signature, increased the amount of money earmarked for the IRS, the U.S. tax collection agency, to US$80 million.

With 221 votes in favor against 210 votes against, it was approved to eliminate US$72 of the 80 million, destined to hire 87,000 new agents for the federal agency.

In addition, the repeal, which was introduced by Representatives Adrian Smith of Nebraska and Michelle Steel of California, specifies that the IRS will only be able to spend new sums of money for purposes related to customer service and improvements related to information technology (IT) instead of hiring new personnel.

Biden had requested this expansion of the IRS budget to pursue tax evaders more effectively and to enforce the newly created wealth tax, which since its implementation has failed to be collected by the agency, according to them, due to lack of staff.

Also yesterday, committees were approved to investigate China’s interference in U.S. policy and investigate the Asian giant’s economic, technological, and security advances and how they affect local commerce.

The vote for the China-focused committee was overwhelming, with 365 votes in favor and only 65 votes against, with precisely 146 Democratic Members surprisingly supporting the bill, constituting the first bipartisan effort to investigate China.

Promises made. Promises kept.
✅ Voted to repeal the army of 87,000 IRS agents
✅ Established a Select Committee on China
✅ Created a Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government

And this is only Day 2 of the House Republican majority. pic.twitter.com/VXx1xC6TCx

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) January 11, 2023

That committee will be chaired by Wisconsin Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, a hard-line congressman who has already introduced multiple bills to sanction China for manipulating U.S. domestic politics and the U.S. economy.

Gallagher will be joined by 7 other Republican and 5 Democratic congressmen (the Republicans have more representatives on the committee since they have a majority in the House) and can call for public hearings and produce official reports with the evidence found.

It was also voted to create a committee to investigate the interference of the FBI and other security agencies of the federal government in the censorship of free speech, which will have the ability to subpoena all kinds of public officials, even President Joe Biden himself, to testify on the case.

This Republican victory resulted in a smaller margin, with only 221 votes in favor and 211 against.

This committee will investigate the White House for forcing and working with private social media companies and other technologies to silence and harass private citizens.

This committee will operate under the purview of the respected House Judiciary Committee.

It will be chaired by Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, one of the most influential figures in the party’s hard-line Republican bloc.

Jordan is one of the most outspoken politicians on the #TwitterFiles, revealed by Elon Musk and other leaked files showing that the FBI and the Biden administration interfered with Twitter, Facebook, and Google to suppress bad news.

At the same time, a series of bills will be voted on between this and next week that Republicans are expected to pass easily.

The first of these measures, introduced by Rep. Steve Scalise, number 2 in the Republican Party leadership, will seek to force abortion clinics to provide urgent medical care to babies who survive abortion attempts, an excuse that these clinics have been taking advantage of to perform abortions past legal regulations.

It will be surprising if Democrats vote against this bill since it is a bill that requires providing medical care to a living human being already born.

Today, House Republicans will bring to the floor the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and send the resounding message that this new majority defends LIFE.

Every baby is a precious life that must be protected.

— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) January 11, 2023

In another filing, Scalise wants to vote for a bill that would prevent taxpayer money from funding abortions through subsidies to abortion clinics or health plans to cover the practice of termination of pregnancy.

Finally, Congressman Mike Johnson presented a statement condemning the attacks made by progressive, feminist, and leftist sectors on churches and pro-life institutions.

This statement will force Joe Biden’s government to focus the necessary resources to guarantee the security and freedom of expression of pro-life associations and churches.

Unfortunately, these bills will have to pass through the Senate before becoming law, where Republicans are in the minority.

Although the Democratic majority is slim, and there are two Democratic Senators, Joe Manchin, and Kristen Sinema, who could vote in favor of many of these bills, there is what is known as a filibuster in the Senate.

The filibuster is a parliamentary rule that requires that before a bill can be voted on, 3/5 of the chamber must be present (or 60 of the 100 senators).

This implies that without 60 senators willing to see the bill passed, it cannot even come to a vote.