November 17, 2023 – Congressman Cliff Bentz: Constituent Email
This finishes up another week of legislative business in Washington, D.C. If you have some time, I’ve outlined details of some of the interesting things that happened this week. I hope you’ll take a look! If you would like to see daily updates on my work in Washington D.C. and Oregon’s Second District, make sure you follow my Facebook HERE!
Congress Votes to Keep the Government Open and Operating
This week, Congress passed and the President signed into law Speaker Johnson’s short-term funding bill, ensuring that the government will remain open and operating through the holiday season. I proudly stood with Speaker Johnson because his short-term funding plan provides the time we need to continue working on spending reductions. As the Speaker understands, a shutdown would cause severe hardships for many who work in the military, the TSA, agencies responsible for issuing permits, and even agencies that distribute government entitlement payments. Moreover, a government shutdown would be detrimental to our economy and national security. I remain firmly committed to working with my colleagues to reduce spending while simultaneously keeping the government open and operating effectively.
Assistance with Federal Agencies
If you need help with the Internal Revenue Service, Social Security, the Department of Veterans Affairs, or another federal agency, please reach out to our office. We will do our best to help you get results from whatever federal agency you might be working with.
If you live in Oregon’s 2nd District, please call:
Medford: (541) 776-4646. My Medford office is open Monday through Friday, from 9:00am – 5:00pm Pacific Time
Ontario: (541) 709-2040. My Ontario office is open Monday through Friday, from 9:00am – 5:00pm Mountain Time
Votes and Legislation
Bills:
ON MOTION TO REFER H.Res. 863 – Impeaching Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, for high crimes and misdemeanors
YES: There is no question that Secretary Mayorkas has failed to carry out his duties as cabinet secretary, putting the American people at serious and decades long risk. His implementation of the Biden border policies has resulted in the worst mass illegal migration into the United States that we have ever experienced. As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, I have twice had the opportunity to personally question Secretary Mayorkas regarding his failure to protect our country.
The bottom line is this: if we actually want to impeach AND convict Secretary Mayorkas, we must proceed correctly, and go through “regular order.” “Regular order” means using the committee process to reach a solution.
The United States House of Representatives has the power to impeach, but not the power to convict. Articles of Impeachment are the equivalent of an indictment. To be removed from office, the impeachment resolution, once passed by the House, must be taken up by the Senate, a trial held, and then if there is a two-thirds affirmative vote in the Senate, the person is “convicted” and only then would he be removed from office. The Senate is not obligated to take up articles of impeachment, and I can guarantee you that the current Senate would never take up a resolution that had not gone through committee (regular order). This failure to follow “regular order” is one of the reasons that the second Trump impeachment was flawed, and a reason, among others, that many of us used to justify our votes objecting to that impeachment effort. Mayorkas is currently the focus of an impeachment inquiry in our Republican Homeland Security Oversight Committee, and we are told that this committee will act soon. (This is the committee to which the resolution was referred).
I will continue to do all that I can to hold Secretary Mayorkas responsible for his absolute failure to protect the American People. I will support conducting the impeachment process in a manner that maximizes our opportunity have Mayorkas face trial in the Senate and prevents the Democrats from arguing that we failed to follow the Constitution, failed to follow regular order, and failed to properly develop the facts.
I voted for this legislation, and it passed with 209 YEA and 201 NAY.
H.R. 6363 – Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act
YES: With government funding set to expire on November 17th, a stopgap extension was necessary to avoid a government shutdown. To this point, the House has individually passed seven of the twelve appropriations bills that fund over 75% of the federal government. Conversely, the Senate has passed only one appropriations package containing three bills that fund 17% of the government. We House Republicans used the Continuing Resolution as a means of denying Senate Democrats, and the White House the opportunity to “jam” the American people with a bloated, un-scrutinized omnibus just before the holidays – a common practice before now.
I voted for this legislation, and it passed with 336 YEA and 95 NAY.
H. Res. 869 – The Combined Rule for H.R. 5893 – Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (CJS) and H.R. 5961 – No Funds for Iranian Terrorist Act.
YES: The Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill provides net new spending of $58.383 billion for programs under the jurisdiction of the Subcommittee, which is $23.765 billion below the FY23 enacted level. The bill provides a non-defense discretionary total of $52.383 billion, which is $31.964 billion below the FY24 President’s Budget Request and $23.527 billion below the FY23 enacted level, and a defense discretionary total of $6.293 billion, which is $238 million below the FY23 enacted level and $678.1 million below the FY24 President’s Budget Request. The bill reins in the Washington bureaucracy by right-sizing agencies and programs and directs that funding to support the fight against fentanyl and efforts to counter the People’s Republic of China. Importantly, the bill utilizes the power of the purse to address the weaponization of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and bring an end to the overreach of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
In September 2023, the Biden Administration waived sanctions to allow $6 billion in Iranian funds in South Korean banks to be transferred to banks in Qatar for the release of five American hostages. NFITA imposes immediate, mandatory sanctions on any financial institution that engages in a transaction with the Qatari banks holding the $6 billion of Iranian funds – effectively freezing this money. The Iranian Regime is highly skilled in sanctions evasion and will do everything it can to hide the true use of these funds instead of using it for “humanitarian” purposes, as the Biden Administration claims.
I voted for this combined rule, and it failed to pass with 198 YEA and 225 NAY.
Cutting Wasteful Washington Spending
House Republicans are working to pass our spending bills the right way, unlike Congress has done for decades with an end of the year Christmas omnibus that only raises federal government spending. I wanted to outline for you the spending cuts that House Republicans have made to Fiscal Year 2024 spending levels. Below are each of the 12 spending bills with funding levels for Fiscal Year 2024, the change from last years levels, and the difference between ours and what President Biden put forward:
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration
- $25.313 billion
- $532 million (2.1%) below the FY23 enacted level
- $3.622 billion (12.5%) below the President’s Budget Request
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
- $58.676 billion Non-Defense Discretionary Spending
- $23.765 billion below the FY23 enacted level
- $31.964 billion below the President’s Budget Request Defense Discretionary Spending
- $238 million below the FY23 enacted level
- $678.1 million below the President’s Defense Budget Request
Defense
- $826.45 billion
- $28.71 billion (3.6%) over the FY23 enacted level
- $285.87 million over the President’s Budget Request
Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies
- $57.958 billion
- $143 million above the FY23 enacted level
- $1.63 billion below the President’s Budget Request
Financial Services and General Government
- $25.279 billion
- $6.232 billion (19.75%) below the President’s Budget Request
- $1.867 billion (7.0%) below the FY23 enacted level
- $581.9 million (2.25%) below the FY22 enacted level.
Homeland Security
- $91.511 billion
- $2.090 billion above the Fiscal Year 2023 level
Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
- $91.511 billion
- $2.090 billion above the Fiscal Year 2023 level
Labor, Health and Human Services, Education
- $147 billion
- $60.3 billion (29%) below the FY23 enacted level
- $73 billion below the President’s Budget Request
Legislative Branch
- $5.302 billion
- $262.9 million (or 4.7%) below the FY23 enacted level
Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
- $317.441 billion
- $800 million above the President’s Budget Request
- $3 Billion above the FY 23 enacted level
State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
- $52.5 billion
- $16.4 billion (24%) below the President’s Budget Request
- $7.2 billion (12%) below FY23 enacted level
- $1.7 billion below the FY19 enacted level
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
- $90.243 billion
$8.633 billion (8.7%) below the President’s Budget Request
$2.91 billion above the Fiscal Year 2023 allocation
Meetings in Washington
It was great to sit down with AGwest farm credit this week to discuss the Farm Bill, Crop Insurance, and coverage for specialty crops.
I had a great meeting with Kyle Frick, Vice President of MidOregon Credit Union, this week to discuss the Credit Card Competition Act, modernization of credit unions, and the $33 trillion national debt.
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