In Week One, New GOP House Telegraphs a Hard Turn to the Right

The first week of a new Congress is an opportunity for lawmakers to project their priorities to the American people. Although most bills coming out of the House in the near future will be dead on arrival in the Democratic Senate, the newly Republican-led chamber is using this time to telegraph an agenda for the next two years.So far, efforts have ranged from pure political posturing to bipartisan agreements on international affairs. While the House has not yet looked to address inflation, a key campaign topic, Republicans have signaled that their top issues are China, abortion, the IRS, law enforcement, and the border.China, and America’s relationship and competition with it, have taken a leading role in the first week of Congress, with the House establishing a select committee and considering a bill on the subject.The establishment of the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party passed with bipartisan support, 365 to 65. The committee, consisting of seven Republicans and five Democrats, will be led by Representative Mike Gallagher, and is aimed at assessing “the Chinese Communist Party’s economic, technological, and security progress and its competition with the United States.”The House also took up the Protecting America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve From China Act, which would ban the export of petroleum or petroleum products to “any entity that is under the ownership, control, or influence of the Chinese Communist Party.”The House also took special interest in the federal regulation of abortion during its first week, passing the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and weighing a ban on taxpayer funding for abortion care.The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is a law guaranteeing the same rights to infants born prematurely after attempted abortions as those given any other child. It requires any medical practitioner to provide the same care to premature babies born after attempted abortions as they would any other premature babies of the same gestational age.Intentionally killing or allowing a baby to die following an attempted abortion is already illegal, and was addressed by the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002. It is also an exceedingly rare scenario.The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2023, which the House has not yet voted on, would ban the use of federal funds for subsidizing abortion or insurance covering abortion.There already exists a ban on the use of the funds to subsidize abortion care except in instances of rape or incest or in cases where the life of the mother is at risk. The new proposal would not affect state laws.On the subject of taxes, the first bill the new Republican majority passed was a $71 billion budget cut for the IRS that the Congressional Budget Office says will reduce revenues by $186 billion and increase the deficit by $114 billion.House Republicans also leaked to Fox News that they plan to reintroduce the Fair Tax Act, which would eliminate income taxes, payroll taxes, estate taxes, and gift taxes and abolish the IRS, according to a proponent of the bill, Representative Jeff Duncan.“If enacted, this will invigorate the American taxpayer and help more Americans achieve the American Dream,” Mr. Duncan said. “As a former small-business owner, I understand the unnecessary burden our failing income tax system has on Americans.”The act would replace lost revenue with a 23 percent sales tax that businesses, state actors, and investors would be exempt from paying. It would effectively raise the price of goods by 23 percent for consumers, while dramatically cutting taxes for businesses.The proposed cuts to the IRS came just as House Republicans took up a resolution expressly “condemning any efforts to defund or dismantle” law enforcement agencies, another measure they have not yet voted on.The House GOP also established a Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan, says will focus on potential infringement of First Amendment rights.The House is also set to debate the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act, which will require district attorneys of jurisdictions of 380,000 or more to submit annual reports to the attorney general.This report would require the disclosure of details such as the number of cases prosecuted, the cases an office declined to prosecute, and cases referred for plea deals, as well as other information on the operations of district attorneys in cities across the country.Another subject that the House GOP is signaling it will focus on is the border. A Border Safety and Security Act of 2023 and the Illegal Alien NICS Alert Act have been introduced, but neither has come up for a vote.The former would allow the secretary of homeland security to suspend the entry of “covered aliens at an international land or maritime border” for the purposes of achieving “operational control” over the border. The latter would require an instant background check and notify immigration and customs authorities whenever someone unlawfully in America attempts to purchase a firearm.

In Week One, New GOP House Telegraphs a Hard Turn to the Right

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