Last week, your House Republican majority was hard at work on Capitol Hill, introducing bills, passing legislation and holding the Biden administration accountable. The opioid epidemic is ravaging our country and our conference took action to pass the HALT Fentanyl Act. This bill will make permanent the current temporary class-wide scheduling order for fentanyl. It will also ensure law enforcement has tools to keep fentanyl off our streets and practitioners can research fentanyl-related substances.
We also passed S.J. Res. 11 and H.J. Res. 45. S.J. Res. 11 opposes the EPA's new vehicle emissions rule which is 80% more stringent than the already-strict rule in use. The cost of compliance with this Biden rule is so high that owner/operators of trucks & farm equipment will be forced to leave the market. H.J. Res. 45 nullifies Biden's unconstitutional student loan cancellation scheme. Only 13% of Americans have student loan debt. There's no reason 87% of Americans should be forced to pay off the debts that these 13% willingly chose to incur.
Notably, my office introduced our thirty-second piece of legislation so far during the 118th Congress. The bipartisan Expanding Access to Affordable Credit for Small Businesses Act, co-led by Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), optimizes the full capability of the free market by expanding the criteria of the Small Business Administration’s 7(a) loan program to allow fintech companies the opportunity to provide loans to America’s small businesses. Simply put, this bill will facilitate the authorization of loans to small business borrowers otherwise unable to obtain financing. We must expand access to capital.
I also participated in multiple Congressional hearings last week. Our Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee Hearing on gas stove regulations was particularly newsworthy due to the Biden Department of Energy's refusal to show. My mom's home has a gas hookup and Biden's new regulations would mean her kitchen has to be remodeled. The landlord will redo her kitchen and that cost falls directly on the renter. Now imagine how many other people are in that same predicament. We're dealing with people's lives and the DOE didn’t even have the guts to show up and answer questions. Democrats also refuse to talk about how much these regulations will affect each of our bottom-lines, and in previous hearings Biden's DOE could't even confirm if this drastic measure would cut the warming they say it will.
Finally, in regard to the debt ceiling, after I heard about the McCarthy-Biden deal, I was a no. After reading their debt ceiling deal in full, I am absolutely a no. Stay tuned for more updates as this rapidly developing negotiation continues to unfold.
As your Congressman, you have my commitment to work on your behalf and restore order and proper governance to The People's House.
