OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
House Republicans do not have a very large majority in the chamber but it hasn’t stopped them, under Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership, from delivering big on the party’s promised agenda, the “Commitment to America.”
The party has managed to pass “a host of bills in the roughly four months they’ve controlled the chamber by the slightest of majority,” Just the News reported on Sunday.
During an event in Pennsylvania where he unveiled the agenda, McCarthy announced that a Republican-led House would hold a vote to eliminate federal funding for potentially 87,000 new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents in response to the inclusion of such funding in the Democrats’ $780 billion Inflation Reduction Act.
The Democrats’ bill, which had been approved through budget reconciliation without Republican support, passed shortly before the GOP took over the lower chamber. Subsequently, in January, after the start of the new session of Congress, the new Republican majority passed a bill to repeal the additional IRS funding.
Presented in September 2022, the ‘commitment’ called for advancing a “Parents’ Bill of Rights” and defending “fairness by ensuring that only women can compete in women’s sports.” In recent weeks, the GOP followed through and passed such legislation which also outlawed biological men competing in all-female sports leagues.
Just the News added:
The conference also vowed to “crack down on prosecutors and district attorneys who refuse to prosecute crimes.” The House later passed a bill to block a local Washington, D.C. crime bill that included lower penalties for such crimes as robberies and carjackings. The measure also passed the Senate and President Biden signed it into law.
Excellenthttps://t.co/18YfMlSIBq
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) May 14, 2023
The House GOP agenda included a section related to securing the U.S. border and combating illegal immigration.
Last week, the House passed a bill to beef up border security by continuing construction of physical barriers at open areas of the U.S.-Mexico border, enhancing technology at the border and resurrecting the Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy. The measure passed shortly before Title 42 expired Friday.
The @HouseGOP is committed to solving the #BidenBorderCrisis with the Secure the Border Act, which will:
✅Finish the wall
✅Advance border technology
✅Support our brave border patrol agents#CommitmentToAmerica pic.twitter.com/JbIrivsiNk— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) May 10, 2023
“House Republicans, who have a 222-to-213 seat majority, also passed a bill that would increase domestic energy production and reform the permitting process, which was a key part of the Commitment to America agenda that party leaders rolled out before they took control of the chamber,” the report continued.
The Commitment laid out the objective: “Maximize production of reliable, cleaner, American-made energy and cut the permitting process time in half to reduce reliance on foreign countries, prevent rolling blackouts, and lower the cost of gas and utilities.”
Under an item to “fight inflation and lower the cost of living,” Republicans set out to “curb wasteful government spending that is raising the price of groceries, gas, cars, and housing, and growing our national debt.”
Included in the House-passed bill aimed at increasing the debt limit by $1.5 trillion, House Republicans incorporated provisions to return to fiscal 2022 spending levels and implement a limit on domestic spending growth, capping it at 1 percent annually, Just the News noted.
Additionally, the bill encompassed the elimination of several “green” tax credits that were initially passed by the Democrats in December through budget reconciliation. The GOP House leadership estimated that their proposed legislation would result in a reduction of federal spending by $4.5 trillion over the course of the next 10 years.
In addition, McCarthy has established a House Select Committee on China, which was also part of the Commitment to America.
The agenda also included a section focused on reducing crime and ensuring public safety. It emphasized opposition to any initiatives aiming to defund the police as a means to achieve the goals.
This coming week, the House is scheduled to vote on legislating related to policing in addition to a resolution aimed at expressing “support for local law enforcement officers and condemn efforts to defund or dismantle local law enforcement agencies.”
